Looting the Anomalies (3)
Gulp. Han Yujin swallowed dryly. What the hell had drawn me in here?
In this cramped box, its warmth and texture pressed unmistakably against my back. Was it trying to save me? Or had it dug a trap and snagged me while I was at it? Enemy? Ally?
Thump—thump—thump—my heart pounded like it was about to burst from the tension.
Han Yujin cautiously rolled her eyes.
"......"
And then, she met them. A pair of bright yellow eyes glowing in the darkness. Cat-like eyes. In the pitch-black void, vertically slit pupils stared silently right at her.
Her eyes adjusted to the dark. She could make out its wriggling mass of legs. Was this thing an anomaly too? No, wait—why did it save me in the first place?
Just as Han Yujin's mind tangled into knots, a sound came from outside.
Scritch-scratch-scritch!
What the hell was that? Han Yujin pricked up her ears and realized. Something hard was roughly scraping across a paper-like surface.
But what?
No need to overthink it. It had to be that spider-like anomaly that had been chasing her.
Goosebumps prickled up her arms. And worse.
Scritch-scratch-scritch! Scritch-scratch-scritch! Scritch-scratch-scritch!
The encirclement was tightening—the sounds drew closer and closer. Then, right overhead: scritch-scratch!
"........"
Han Yujin instinctively held her breath. The yellow eyes beside her flicked upward too, having heard it.
Scratch. Scritch-scratch.
The sensation of something tapping the box rippled across her back. Then, all sounds cut off abruptly.
Silence.
Had it given up and left? Just as she started to exhale in relief—
Tap. Tap. Tap.
"...!"
Not scraping. Knocking. Exactly three times, as if it knew someone was inside.
And then, a horrific voice echoed from outside the box.
"Greee...kik... colll...d... it... feeeel...?"
A spine-chilling, nauseating voice. Not from human vocal cords. Like some insect forcibly narrowing its organs to scrape out a gruesome friction sound. It was mimicking human speech.
"Whyyy... noooot... oooppen...?"
Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.
Her blood ran ice-cold. Unlike the voice it couldn't quite replicate due to its physiology, the knocking was eerily just like a human's. That meant it had studied humans. Understood them.
...For what purpose?
Goosebumps crawled from her scalp to her toes.
Squish—
"!"
Something sharp stabbed into the box wall. Poke! Poke! Poke! It started stabbing wildly at the box.
Luckily, the box was tougher than expected, but that didn't last.
Creeeeak—!
A small hole punched through, and a sliver of the factory's dim light seeped in.
Han Yujin instinctively peered through the hole. And locked eyes with one of its hundreds of compound eyes.
It was smiling.
Kee-hee-hee— a grotesque laugh like grinding machinery.
"Ah...!"
I'm dead. She could see it rearing a massive leg through the torn hole for the finishing blow.
Right then—
Ding-a-ling~ ♬
A cheerful, upbeat melody echoed through the entire massive factory.
Today's shift has begun. Workers, please proceed to your assigned positions.
The thing tearing at the box froze like a lie. It flattened itself prone beside the belt, utterly motionless. Like it was playing dead.
As if it had encountered a natural predator...
—Clank. Thud!
Han Yujin whipped her eyes toward the sudden noise. Through the narrow gap, she saw the ceiling. And from it, massive iron plates descending.
A majestic sight, like angels descending. But atop them were no angels—just anomalies half-resembling human forms.
Too huge to be human, faces wrapped tight in bandages, the spots for eyes, nose, and mouth sunken deep and stained red.
Worker anomalies poured out of the elevators in droves.
—Shhhrrrrr.
At the same time, the conveyor belts whirred to life. This massive waste processing plant-like place buzzed into frantic activity.
One of the emerging worker anomalies spotted the spider anomaly. And that was it.
Shiver-shiver-shiverrr—!
The spider anomaly convulsed horrifically, like it'd been doused in insecticide.
Thud, thud. The worker anomaly approached the spider.
The spider, which had been rampaging moments ago, now lay meekly as it was dismantled.
Vrrrreeee— Slice-slice—
An anomaly butchering another anomaly. A chilling spectacle.
"......."
The workers finished dismantling and resumed moving along the conveyor belts. Checking boxes one by one.
◆ They moved along, inspecting boxes one after another. Some got ground up whole, others passed by.
That's when she realized. The criterion for worker anomalies disposing of box contents was how damaged the box was.
'...Damn it.'
I pondered seriously. Was there even a curse fitting for this situation? I wanted to spew every obscenity in the world, but nothing came to mind. All that escaped was, damn it.
And trying to ask the gallery for help? Impossible. The tiny hole in this box was too narrow even to focus the gallery camera.
The workers' footsteps drew closer.
What do I do? Jump out now? No way. I'd seen that spider freak shivering. There was clearly some rule in effect outside during work hours.
'Think. Think. Think.'
I'd figured out their pattern.
Stuck in a box. Anomalies are disposing of damaged ones. Mine's already busted. Anomaly pattern:
1. Worker anomalies scout for damaged boxes.
2. If damaged, the spotting worker approaches and marks it with a red 'X'.
3. Anomalies swarm the box: drrrrk!
4. Horrific screams, blood, flesh, box shards flying.
5. Other workers clean up the debris and dispose.
How do I survive? Hurry hurry hurry. Urgent af.
I hit post on the half-written reply without a care. The gallery wasn't helping right now.
If only I knew the rule, I could break it... Problem was, I'd mapped the pattern, not the rule.
—Craaaack!
Boxes with holes vanished one by one. Only about three left. My life hung by three boxes.
Drip. Cold sweat fell.
No answer in sight.
—Slice-slice-slice-slice.
Two boxes left. Endgame. No rulebook, no nothing—just dying without a fight.
"No, fuck!" What was the answer then? Trapped in a holed box, where any holed box gets shredded whole—in this bullshit situation, what could I even...
...could I even...
There was. Something I could do. How had I overlooked something so simple?
The answer was already in the pattern I'd analyzed. I'd been too fixated on rulebooks.
I hurriedly posted.
I gave up refreshing the gallery. No time to wait for replies and copy. The worker anomalies were already grinding the last remaining box.
—Drrrk! Drk!
Please. Please hold out just a bit longer. Whoever—or whatever—you are, I prayed desperately for sturdy bones.
Think. Using only materials here. A way to perfectly seal the hole without the workers noticing.
'Block with my hand?' No chance.
Tear clothes? Can't stick 'em.
Yeah. That's the issue.
A reply zipped in like it'd been waiting. I dug out floor cardboard scraps without hesitation. Tore up corrugated pieces too.
No. Why won't this tear—
—Riiip.
I looked up. My mysterious roommate had torn the cardboard and handed it over. It bobbed its head in greeting.
Then I shoved the pieces in my mouth and chewed.
—Swish, swish. Cleaning sounds.
Meaning we were next.
Ptoo.
I spat out the mashed cardboard, spread it thin, pressed it over the hole, and pushed hard.
I knew it was ridiculous. But it was all I had.
Please, please!
All that remained was prayer.
—Thud, thud. Mechanical footsteps halted right in front of the box.
I held my breath as long as possible. Heart about to explode.
—
"......."
—
"......."
—
"......."
How many minutes did I endure, mouth clamped shut?
—Thud, thud. Footsteps receded.
"......Ha."
Strength drained from my body as I collapsed against the box. Bright yellow eyes blinked right in front of me.