Chapter 1

“Well fuck…” A dull pain persistently pushed through the back of my skull into my left eye. That side of my face drooping due to the subsequent numbness as I try to focus on the long, country highway in front of me. “At least I’m close”.

It’s been months since my last migraine, and fortunately this is no where near as bad as they have been before. Remembering the worst of them happening at the gym before I was diagnosed around 11 years back. I was in the middle of my set when the weight suddenly fell from my hand. As confusion set in, the most excruciating pain I ever felt hit me. As if someone took an old screwdriver and thrusted it as hard as they could through the back of my head to break my skull, then slowly drove it through my brain to see how much pressure to apply to pop my eye out. Luckily my meds kept the pain to a minimum.

I probably shouldn’t keep driving but I had to get to my plant. The refueling outage began a week ago, and everyone’s work will be kicked into high gear now that the reactor was fully down. I am responsible for multiple applications tied to the Plant Computer System, and apparently I had to be onsite to “support the customer”. In reality, 95% of my work is done from my laptop, normally working from the comfort of my home most days. I seldomly had to come in except for when I had to configure a server on the controls side of the system. Which is fair, you don’t want remote access to servers that could inadvertently shutdown the reactor. But I guess that qualified me to work the outage shift onsite. 12 hours a day, 6 days a week. The overtime almost made my hour and a half one-way commute worth it. It will at least bring me closer to move me and my wife to the nice suburb only 30 minutes on the other side of the plant.

The drive, and the increased workload, is probably what caused this current episode. Fortunately, the plant was in the middle of nowhere. Just this straight highway that cuts through forests and the random sprinkle of farms. The current section I’m passing through had a cornfield on one side, cornstalks blocking the view of its surrounding forest. The other side of the highway was a cleared field, slightly hilly with woods covering the farmers house in the back. They started raising Black Angus cows a few years back, their herd grew to around 20 cows. It soon leaves my view and 15 minutes later I turn onto the road leading to my plant, get through the guard shack, and make my way into the admin building by the plant. Once I got to my cubicle, I sat down and stared out the window, admiring the large concrete dome covering the primary system. It stood 63 ft tall and reminded me of the Death Star.

“Huh, that was quick.” My headache was gone and sensation started to come back to my face.

“What was quick?” I turned to face Mike, my supervisor, staring at me over our shared cubicle wall. Mike was a large man, at least 6 ft 4 in tall and I would guess pushing 400 lbs which contradicted his soft-spoken demeanor. He’s a good guy and normally let me work remote due how far away I lived, but something about refueling outages caused him to go “old school” and wanted everyone to be onsite. Probably due to overhead pressure, we only make money if we provide power so refueling outages made leadership antsy, wanting to get things done quickly. The same leadership who preached safety and to not to let pressure influence your work a couple weeks ago before the outage began.

“Hey Mike,” I responded. “I started to get a headache on my way in. But it just went away.”

“Must be all of the shielding.” Mike moved his hand around his white hair, making a dome shape. “Blocks all of the random frequencies being transmitted nowadays.” He gave a light chuckle.

“Ha, maybe.” I chuckled back. I wasn’t sure if that is what was helping. I live out in the middle of the country and still got migraines from time to time, but they did normally last longer. We bullshitted for a couple more minutes and then went about our day. The 12 hour shift passing uneventfully, and I make my way back home.

“Hey baby!” Em answered cheerfully.

“Hey Em. Have you ate dinner yet?”

“No, not yet. I just started prepping to cook it now.” She knew when I had signal to call I was only a little over an hour away from home. She’s so good to me, I thought to myself.

“You know you don’t have to do that right?”

“Really? I didn’t know that!” She replied sarcastically. “Thank you sooo much for reminding me!”

“Anytime Em! I thought I should remind you since you’ve been out of the kitchen so long getting ready for the school year.” She hated the women should stay in the kitchen joke.

“Aww thanks. I did forget. We got this new tatted up admin chick and we’ve been planning on how to get rid of you and run off together.”

“Wow I’m impressed. You normally clam up like a high school boy when it comes to talking to women.”

“I mean, I got you didn’t I?” I heard the smug smile she gave.

“Bitch!”

“Whore!!”

“Slut!!!!”

“FLUUZZZYYY!!!!”

We went back and forth for a bit and eventually shifted our expletives to an actual adult conversation. My attention caught by the cow farm as they were the highlight of my commute. I noticed the herd gathered at the back of the field, just outside the woods that surrounded the farmers house.

“Ar..ou…payin…atten..on..to…e?” Her side of the call was going in and out.

“Hey Em, you’re breaking up. I’ll see you when I get home. I love you.”

“..kay….I…ve you to…oodbye fo..ow” Her message struggling to get through.

“Goodbye for now.” I replied before ending the call. Em always ended her calls to her friends and family with that. Something her dad did with her whenever he was away. Apparently a normal ‘bye’ was too final and may actually lead to that being her last conversation with them. I normally found stuff like that silly, but Em made it endearing causing me to not pick on her about it anymore. I turned up my music, suddenly feeling drained again, and made my way back home to Em.

“SO NOW I COOOOMME TO YOOUUU, WITH OOOPEN AARMS!!!” I belted out like my grandmas drunk friends from my childhood, making my way to work. Koreans love karaoke, I reminisced, my grandma had a whole set up connected to her big-box TV in the living room. Her friends would come over every weekend to eat, drink, and sing karaoke. I enjoyed sitting in the kitchen eating rice and bulgogi, chuckling to myself as I listen to them being off key. The memory faded as another headache came about. Right on time. The headaches have been consistent this past week while driving to and from work. I kept competing with Steve Perry to see who could sing louder as we entered the second chorus, determined to ignore the steady pressure in my skull. Then, all of a sudden, the volume turned down as if he admitted defeat. I went to try the volume control on my steering wheel. 35, still at the perfect level. The volume hadn’t been adjusted through the car’s sound controls. I reached to my cup holder and proceeded to unlock my phone to try it, the outro coming back. The phone must have shifted onto the volume button.

A black mass caught my peripheral, taking my distraction away from my phone to a cow at the top of the hill. It was moving strangely, as if it were a newborn calf. The rest of the herd seemed to avoid it, all gathered at the bottom of the hill next to the barb-wired fence. The one cow must have been sick. Maybe the farmer gathered them last night to give them medicine and the one at the top of the hill was just unlucky? I passed by the herd and frequently peeked into my rear view to feed my curiosity. A small calf left the herd, quickly climbing the hill towards the sick cow. The scene shrinking as I leave that section of farmland, being replaced by the surrounding forest. Another 12 hours of monotony passed before I make my way back home.

“Hey baby!” Em answered. “How was work?”

“The same as normal, could’ve been done from home. I’m actually looking forward to the server upgrade next week so I have an actual reason to be onsite.”

“Well at least you get to check on your cow friends. How are they today?”

“Pretty good, except for one. It was stumbling around like it was drunk and the rest of the herd was avoiding it.”

“Oh no,” she said with concern. “Have you gotten to the farm yet? Let me know how it’s doing.”

“I doubt that it will still be out Em. The farmer should have quarantined it by now.” I guessed. “I’m coming up to the farm now.” I scanned through the dusk lit property as I approached.

“I’m not seeing any of them yet.” Which was normal on my afternoon trips. “Wait, I see a few now.” Three silhouettes stammered over the main hill of the property, stumbling next to each other. I relayed this to Em.

“Oh, is that sickness spreading?”

“Possibly? But I only saw the one this morning, and there could’ve been more. Maybe these three are the only ones affected and the rest are somewhere else on the property?”

“That’s fair. Well hopeful…” Her voice faded as it’s replaced by static.

“Hey Em, can you here me?” I was answered by her sporadic syllables breaking through the static. I usually hung up at this point over the past couple of days as it seemed that the farm has became a dead zone, but this was the first time static came through. Maybe our carrier was finally fixing the area. I waited to see if our connection came back as I noticed something that sounded familiar under the static. I turned up the volume, straining to separate the sound from the static. Suddenly everything went quiet. I called out to Em with no response. She must have hung up after I just sat there listening to the static. I drove back home in silence thinking about why that sound was so familiar. When I finally pulled into my driveway, only one thought came to my mind. Wet.

I barely slept that night, my mind focusing on the wet sound which powered me through the commute the next morning. Why am I worried about this so much? It was only a slight sound found under static. But there was something more. I felt a tingle glide up my spine, and eyes watching it happen. The rest of the herd was back in the field, dotted across the hill and a large bull at its apex, staring directly at me. As I traveled along the side of the farm, the rest of the herd sequentially joined the bull as my truck drove past, their eyes piercing into my very nervous system as my left side went numb again. I sped up to get away from my spectators, numbness fading away the further I got from the herd. I rushed to my cubicle, seeking comfort in my works “shielding” and took a sigh of relief as the headache, who’s onset I didn’t notice, started to fade.

“Hey, is everything okay? I never seen you so eager to get to your desk.” Mike chuckled, using dad humor to mask his concern.

“Good morning Mike. Yeah sorry, just had to rush to check something I thought I forgot” That was a shitty lie.

“Well you look wore out. You need to go to medical?”

“No, I should be good after my coffee. My prep for the upgrade next week should help even me out as well.”

“Okay, well you’ve done a lot over the outage. If you aren’t too busy today you can leave a bit early and get some rest so you and Em can enjoy your Sunday off.”

“Thanks Mike. I appreciate it.” My day was then followed by every department needing me to verify how the upgrade would affect their processes, something the project team should have already done. Meeting after meeting led me to working the full 12 hour shift.

I made my way back home. The cows saw me before I could even process their silhouettes dotted along the side of the hill as I approached the property line. My truck then chimed as a text notification appeared on the infotainment screen. Ah shit, I forgot to call Em. But nothing appeared in the notification popup, not even a number. Must be the dead zone blocking the data from getting through. Suddenly, the chime rapidly repeated as tens of messages fought to get through my screen. I struggled turning off my phone, trying to get the noise to stop, as I was then interrupted by a loud blare of a car horn. Headlights blinded me as I looked up and swerved backed to my side of the road. Slamming on my breaks out of instinct. I sat there waiting for my eyes to re-adjust, catching my breathe as I felt being “seen” again. I looked out of my drivers side window, across the farm, to see all of the cows standing side by side in a perfect line facing me.

“MOOOO” The large bull bellowed, standing in the middle of the formation. The sound was low and guttural, with undertones of multiple familiar wet sounds mixing in. I drove off as fast as I could, and just paid attention to the road. I need this day off.

I spent the entire Sunday catching up on sleep.

“Your dumbass knows better than to mess with you car while driving.” Em scolded me. “Especially when you haven’t had much sleep.”

“I know, I know. But that’s in the past. What about the weird fucking cows?”

“They’re cows babe. Who knows what goes through their minds sometimes. They were probably just curious of all of the commotion you caused.”

“What about them standing in a straight line Em?”

“I don’t know? You’ve been really tired lately and it was dusk. Maybe your mind processed them being in a straight line, but in reality it was just a bunch of cows that turned around to investigate.”

I drove to work Monday morning, phone camera ready to capture what I’ve been seeing as I drive by. I saw them all standing on top of the hill in perfect formation again, their bodies facing straight towards the road, but heads turned to stare into me. There we go, that’s not normal. I held up my phone to record, but as I went to press the button a call came through with no caller id. I slowed down to fiddle with the phone, trying to slide the decline option over to end the call. I split my attention between the road and my phone which was refusing to register my input to decline the call or close the screen. I answered the call to see if I could hang up that way.

A low static blasted through my sound system, drowning out all other noise. The repeating wet sound prominently at the forefront as I failed to turn the volume down. As I gave up on my endeavors, I decided to listen to the wet sounds that filled my truck. The familiarity finally became clear to me. It sounded the same as your tongue slithering around the inside of your mouth.

“Hey Mike, have you been westbound on highway 10 recently?” I asked approaching him as he waited in the cafeteria line for breakfast.

“Good morning. No, not since before the outage started.” He said turning towards me. “Why? What’s up?”

“I’ve noticed some weird stuff at the cow farm not too far from here. Just wanted to make sure I’m not crazy.”

“I drove past that place the other night.” The man in front of us spoke up with a raspy voice. He had a contractor badge on that said Shawn, and was a stout man with short brown hair which was only slightly longer than his graying stubble. He must be an outage worker since I haven’t seen him around here or online before. “Some dumbass wasn’t paying attention and almost hit me head-on in front of that farm.”

“Oh wow, that wasn’t you was it?” Mike asked me with a chuckle.

“Ahh no.” I lied. “How often do you drive by there? Did you notice anything strange on the farm?”

“I pass through from time to time. I know a couple people who live out that way and I like to visit them when I’m in town. I’ve stopped by the last couple Saturdays since I came in for the outage, and everything seemed normal. I didn’t have time to notice anything weird the other day due to the time of night and, y’know, my life almost ending and all.”

That’s fair. “Thanks Shawn. Thanks Mike.” I went back to my cubicle and pondered what to do next. The cows were always ready for me when I got close to the property, and I assume that they are responsible for my electronics acting up. Maybe they know my schedule? That shouldn’t be too inaccurate. I have been in that area around the same times everyday, and Shawn hasn’t been messed with. I could be able to catch them off guard and at least get a video of them starting to act weird before they call my phone. Oorrr, I’m just fucking crazy.

I decided to leave work a later than normal. Fortunately, the upgrade was a diaster since the departments I briefed the prior week didn’t have their devices ready to connect. On top of that, corporate decided to push security patches to all the servers. Making it where nothing was communicating with each other, and leading me to be on the phone for hours to get corporate cyber to get off their lazy asses and fix their mistakes. Mike may have to have a sit down with me about how I shouldn’t call someone a fucktard, but I have bigger things to worry about now.

I left work an hour and a half later than normal. The summer sky transitioning from red to purple to black as the Sun just set under the horizon. Hopefully my camera can pick them up. I set everything up well before I got to the farm, aiming my phone that direction before I clear the tree line. I was able to make out the trees as I passed, then the open field came into view and while dim I could still make out some detail. The cows were nowhere to be seen. At least they aren’t waiting for me this time.

Suddenly, my car horn blared repeatedly like I hit the alarm. My windshield wipers swiped at full speed and the cabin lights grew blindingly bright as multiple calls came in. The phone answered itself and the wet slithering sound surrounded me, penetrating my ears. As I went to slow the truck down the cabin light popped, and the truck died at the same time. I rolled to a stop, able to pull off to the side of the highway next to the cornfield. I sat to catch my breath, checking my phone to see if it caught the commotion. Alright good, it’s still recording. At least I can prove that I’m not entirely crazy… “mmMOOOOo” I turned to look out my driver side window. All the cows were perfectly side-by-side standing right behind the barbed-wire fence, staring directly at me.

I pointed my phone at the herd, partially to wait for them to do something strange, but mostly so I can have a clearer view. To oblige me, the large bull who was directly across from me slowly turned his head upward to the point were I could see his neck strain. The striations of his muscles visible on my phone. Then, his front hooves left the ground and his body, defying physics, rose to stand on his hind legs head still facing the sky.

The bull then slammed down full force onto the fence. The audible tear of his hide was followed by a wet slap onto the ground as he bent down that section of fence. Barbed wire straining under his load. Every alternate cow rose their heads to stand up like the bull while the cows in between stared directly at me.

“Nope!” I yelled as I failed to start the car. I tried to open the driver side door but it was locked. I immediately reached to the passenger door which released me. Scrambling out of my truck, hearing the collective snap of the fence posts as they gave way. I heard a slow slimy tear as I entered the cornfield fleeing my bovine pursuers. Running as fast as I could through the field, sweat stinging the newly opened cuts cause by the leaves. I heard the stalks break in the distance as the herd entered the field. Their low moos calling out as they searched for me. After I ran what must have been acres, I stopped to get my bearings while my eyes slowly adjusted to my surroundings. Luckily, it was a clear summer night, the moon and stars illuminating the forest only 50 yards away from me. Maybe I could get in there and head back to the site? It’s miles away but if I lose the herd I should be able to make it. Give the guards an actual chance to shoot something.

“h..he…hello..?”

I held my breath. The call came a few yards behind me accompanied by a slow dragging sound as I watched the tops of the stalks lean. What the fuck? The “cow” kept calling out to me, straining to get it’s low whisper out. I heard its body slithering between the cornstalks. Observing them lean yards away as it started to circle around me. There’s no way I could lose it before I could make it into the woods.

“WELL HONEY NOOOWWW!!!” Ed Sheeran sang out from my phone. Fuck, Em’s calling. Thinking fast, I chucked the phone as hard as I could the opposite direction from the woods. I heard the “cow” drag its body towards where it landed breaking all of the stalks in it path. I quietly made my way into the woods as I heard a collective moo and Ed Sheeran went silent.

I tried to pick up my pace when I got through the treeline, but it was difficult as the canopy blocked out the light. Slightly turning right as to make my way back towards the site. I didn’t count on how dark it would be and only made it in about 60 feet when I realized I couldn’t see what was ahead of me. The light was swallowed by the void of the forest. I ducked behind a tree as I heard the collective hooves stomping on the soft forest floor in the distance, and I decided to face the unknown of the void.

I ran deeper into the forest, going from tree to tree as the darkness surrounded me. The herd wasn’t far behind, I think I heard them fan out but couldn’t be sure as my heart pounded in my ears. Lungs burning as I sucked in the cool forest air, not knowing whether I was going the right way. My only thought being that I need to get away from them. Then, the earth gave way to me as gravity pulled me down.

A soothing buzz brought me back, my face pressed against a smooth cool surface. Groaning as I turned onto my back, still surrounded by darkness as I felt the platform slowly rotate clockwise. I heard shifting earth and a cool magenta light pierced through where the circumference of the platform met the wall of dirt. Taking in my newly visible surroundings, I found myself in a pit around 15 ft deep with a 20 ft diameter that steadily widened towards its mouth. The platform I was on was metallic, with a slight lip along its edge and grooves that traveled towards the center of the circle. I looked up and saw the gleam of eyes and snouts looking down upon me. Getting closer as the entire platform slowly rose out of the pit. The magenta light shining through more to show the entire herd waiting for me.

I crawled on my back toward the center to keep watch, but the rotation was steadily gaining speed as it slowly ascended, and the centrifugal force slid me to the edge. This is the most fucked up merry-go-round I’ve been on. My heels caught the lip of the platform as I watched every “cow” come in then out of my field of view. Every alternate cow’s skin hung between their legs like a torn apron, blocking my view of the gore I imagined replaced their bellies. I was lifted about 3 ft when I decided to let the centrifugal force take me over the edge. I slammed against the wall of the pit and rolled down the slight slope to the bottom. Barely squeezing between the platform and the wall of the pit.

I rolled down another 15 ft landing on squishy ground, facing up. The lower section of the pit was fully illuminated by the underside of the platform. Magenta lights matching the grooves of the top, leading to one large bright circle in the center. I used my left elbow to sit myself up but it sank into something slimy. A putrid, rotten scent filled my nose as I scrambled to my feet. There were 5 hide-less cows at different stages of decay spread randomly around the bottom of the pit. I wiped my arm against the dirt wall and knocked the muddy viscera onto the floor.

A cool rush of air passed around me, and I looked up seeing that the spinning platform was now exiting the pit. I made my way towards the center of the pit where the most decayed cow was, and pulled out the partially exposed femur. The platform was now about 10 ft above the mouth of the pit fully illuminating the entire area. The herd poked their heads over the edge to observe me. I readied my makeshift weapon, trying to prepare myself for whatever is about to happen, as I stared at the large bull. The bull stood up onto their hind legs, it’s torn hide draping over its stomach. It then opened its arms to the side as if it was wanting an embrace, the strips of skin pulling to either side exposing its insides.

Thousands of large bulbous worms, around 6 inches in length and girth, slithered and swirled around each other taking shape of a new muscular structure to support the bulls new posture. I could here that wet sound as they did so. My eyes were drawn to the center of the mass of worms who slithered around something thin and lightly colored. The unknown mass flopped and twisted around as it was brought to the front of the bull’s belly, a portion of the worms sliding into it to fill it out. I could finally make out what was a portion of the upper torso of a man. The worms quickly filled out his chest and right arm, it looked as if that portion of his body was torn from the other section. They struggled to fill in his head as the skin that made out his jaw and neck hung from his right cheek. The newly filled head had medium length, light colored hair with a matching beard which swayed to and fro. The worms who tried to fill the void of a jaw made the shape of his lips.

“h..hey…b…baby”

Fuck that. I brought the femur above my head and launched it toward the mangled man. It made contact just below the him, worms catching the bone and dropping it back in the pit. I grabbed a small broken section of rib from the dead cow next to me and faced the bull again. Unexpectedly, a bright beam shot down from the center of the platform and surrounded me. I was then forced to stand straight up, arms out to the side dropping my makeshift shiv, and legs splayed out. The beam slowly brought me out of the pit till I was eye level with the mangled man. The rest of the torn cows standing up and making the same open embrace stance as the bull. Their worms slithered around inside of the cow skin-suit.

I struggled against the invisible force, trying to find anyway to break free. As I was doing so, the worms within the mangled man began to stir climbing over themselves to reach out towards me. Like a colony of ants making a bridge to reach from one branch to another. The worms from the torn standing cows did the same, all reaching to the center, to me. The deflated skin of the mangled man only made it halfway before he was discarded. I winced as the worms from the bull finally reached me, their caresses joined by the others shortly after. Their warm slime soaked through my clothes and everything went black as I was fully entombed. I could only hear the their wet slithers and smacks as they explored my body, unsuccessfully trying to enter my mouth as I clenched my lips shut. They went under my clothes as I silently protested, their firm undulations made my skin crawl as tears began to seep out of my closed eyes. They eventually found their access.

I felt my anus tear as they penetrated me. The burning rips caused me to involuntarily gasp as the pain shot through me. They took this as an invitation and entered my mouth. My gags from their salty, sour taste were only stopped as they cut through my soft palette. The pain was unbearable as they slithered around inside of me, separating my skin from my muscle. I prayed, Please stop this, God why am I going through this? What did I do wrong? Please God Why? I couldn’t feel my skin anymore, just the burning feeling of my violators exploring my body. Please make me pass out. I don’t want to feel this anymore. Please God kill me!

“don’t worry…this will all be over soon…” A unknown voice said within my mind.

I then felt the sting of the cold nights air run up my spin as my body was birthed out the back of my skin. The blinding magenta light stabbed my eyes which could not close to find relief. My body was brought back to the splayed position as the worms retreated back to their cow skin-suits. I was still facing the large bull, in front of it knelt my naked undulating skin. It stood up showing its 6 ft tall frame, long curly brown hair draping down its back as my exit slit reformed encasing the new residents. It turned to me, the worms that filled its eyes slowed and then turned hazel. It’s tanned skin glistened in the magenta light and it smiled at me. My body slowly started rising into the source of my entrapping beam. Before my head entered, the smiling man waved at me and said,

“goodbye… for now…”

I felt the inertia of my body flying through space, the area was all white and seemed infinite. Then my body suddenly stopped, and I was lifted up into a room much larger than what the platform should be able to hold. There were various circular panels of reds, purples, and magenta dotted throughout the room and its walls, floor, and ceiling. Tubes ran panel to panel completely filled with the worms traversing them. There was a strange, serene hum that filled the room accompanied by little beeps and boops. This was broken by a whirling noise that was approaching which stopped beneath me as I was then slowly lowered into a warm viscous liquid. I tried to hold my breathe when it reached my mouth, but the liquid seeped around my teeth and down my nostrils. I bucked and shook the best I could as my lungs were filled.

“…relax…”

The voice in my head spoke again. A warmness radiated from my newly filled lungs as the fluid began circulating on its own, and I realized that I wasn’t drowning. As I calmed down, I noticed the fluid was translucent with a slight pink tint. I heard my container seal and the force released me to float around. There was a couple feet above my head and below my feet. I reached forward to touch the glass, and when I pressed against it I shifted through the liquid my back touching the other side when my arm was fully outstretched. I spun myself around to analyze my surroundings. The opposite side of the room opened up, the pipes led from the panels and traced outer walls of a vast area that spanned hundreds of feet across. I could just make out openings to other rooms similar to mine, which lined the circumference of the area. All pipes led upward against the walls of the dome toward a large sphere that circulated with the worms.

My cylindrical container whirled back to life before I could analyze further. Moving me deeper into my room towards a wall that opened up into a long corridor. There were glass paned rooms that lined both sides, each completely filled with the slime and a skinless cow floating inside. The cows were doing various tasks like walking, running, eating, and such with lines of red lasers constantly scanned over every square inch of their bodies. I passed about 15 cows as I went through the corridor, looking to the last occupied one on the left as I approached it. A large skinless cow peered out at me as I was shifted backward into the empty cell across from it. The glass pane slid up closing me and my container in. I investigated my cell, it was 15 ft cube with grooves of magenta light stretched across its walls. I used my hands to spin around in my tube when I saw a body laying on the floor.

It was just the upper half of a torso with it’s right arm and it’s head. I thought it was dead for a second until I noticed its lidless eyes staring directly into mine. It’s chest rose and fell with slow labored breathes, and its jaw hung opened as it’s left side was broken. It let out a groan as it struggled to speak to me, but a hole instantly appeared and dropped it out of the cell. Once the hole was sealed again, slime started to fill the cell and the lid of my container opened. I crawled out once the cell was filled, and my previous container phased through the bottom of the floor.

The next thing I knew I was back in the woods. Wh…what’s happening? It was in the middle of the day, my skin and clothes from the previous night still fortunately on my body. Did I imagine all of that? The pit was gone and there wasn’t a cow in site, just a cleared path that stretches through the woods. I felt around my body trying to find my phone.

“…walk…”

What? My surroundings flickered back and forth between the woods and my slime filled cell as the lasers scanned my body.

“…walk…”

The image of the path in the woods steadied. I understood what was happening now, and I took my first step forward.