Formless Apocalypse Ch. 01

Swallowing the lump in my throat, I stepped inside. To my right was another room with a computer, and a lot more. I spotted boxes, some open, laying about, metal pieces and components had been strewn about the floor and over a few tables that looked really out of place. They were a variety of colored plastics, rather than the clean chrome of the desk or other tables I had seen.

I was brought out of my thoughts as a blast of water hit me from the floor. Oh, right, that had happened in the first room too. The stringing water struck my exposed skin and soaked my clothes. I hoped that the water wouldn't ruin the dressing on my wound. Then came the hot air to dry me off. I realized why there had been suits outside of rooms like this one now. I guess privacy wasn't a priority in this place.

I didn't feel particularly dry when the other door slid open. My clothes were damp, and felt uncomfortable on my skin. That, and the bandages I had put on were starting to sag. That was bad, I didn't want to risk reopening my wounds, which had so recently closed. Maybe only minutes ago they'd stopped bleeding. Judging by the red stains on the white gauze. Trying to fix the dressing, I limped into the room, pausing to take a look around.

Unlike the one I had woken up in, this one was lacking the large tubes that reached into the ceiling. There was a large bed of some sort, off to one side, it was attached to a large circular machine. The other side of the room held a number of machines that were wired into the wall, most of the innards were exposed, I wasn't sure what any of it was, what I was sure of was that there was no woman here. Had she lied to me? Why do that?

"Well, here you are," she spoke, as if to simply prove my thoughts wrong. I spun around, but there was no one around. "Up here." I turned and craned my neck. Above me there was a pane of glass that ran the entire length of the room. Letting anyone look down into the room, I think the first room had something similar. Behind the glass peering down at me was a woman. She was tall, from what I could see, Covered in a large white coat which covered most of her form. She was pale, almost as pale as me, I wondered briefly if she too had been inside a tube. She had very, very long blonde hair, that was in a ponytail, even from down here I could see it ran down past her waist.

So distracted was I with the fact I was looking at another person, I forgot to speak. She, however, did not and proceeded. "It's good to see you made it. The informis has been a large threat, but I've been mostly safe in the secure sections of the facility. I am Doctor Helen Taussig, I am, or rather, I was the director of this place."

I spoke up, taking a moment to be glad that my voice had lost the rough edge it had before. My voice coming out more naturally, I asked her what this place even was.

"This is the Tumult Disaster Research Center Site 3, located in Portland, Oregon. It's the place that was being used as a storage and research facility for the Informis. Until we experienced a total containment failure and the informis escaped. Now I'm the only human left in this location, possibly in the entire city."

What about me? How'd I get here then? Was I here before everything happened?

"In a manner of speaking." She laughed, pacing back and forth along the window. "I ran so many experiments on the informis, trying to unearth the secrets of their biology. I ran thousands of tests, experiments, and trials. You were one of those tests, Experiment subject 5127." The fact I was an experiment didn't get as large a reaction as she seemed to be expecting. The woman seemed to be braced for some sort of melt down, and looked baffled when I simply nodded. The revelation made a lot of sense to me, and I had no memories of any life I might have had prior. I had nothing to mourn over, no purpose lost.

"R-right," She combed the hair from her face, trying to get her composure back. It gave me the impression she expected this conversation to go a lot differently. "You were an experiment that was conducted to see how different conditions influenced infestation of human cells." Infested? What did she mean by that? "Informis infestation," She explained, "The informis is a small, slime-like creature, which infests and integrates into hosts. Mutating and altering the body. Those things you encountered on the floor below were informis-infested humans" Does that mean I was going to turn into a monster? She shook her head, "Highly unlikely, no, I'd say that the experiment was a complete success, but we need to be sure."

She pointed to the bed, "Lay down on there, and we can run a scan." I did as was asked. Laying down on my damp clothes. "There's much to cover, and not a lot of time to cover it. We have a lot to do, and you might be my last hope in this." I asked her to clarify, the machine kicked on and I was slowly pulled back into the large machine. I could just spot Taussig, she moved to a computer just barely out of sight. "Do try to stay still, I need a clean scan." I did my best. "Let's see, where to start...?" She was speaking to herself, I assumed. I couldn't see her now to see if she was talking to me. "It's assumed the informis is some sort of alien life, as it defies most understood natural laws. I, or I suppose, we at the facility were trying to understand them."

The machine whirred, and I struggled to hear her over the incredibly loud machine. "Firstly, the informis is a silicon based life-form, one with no defined shape, hence our naming of it. Yet, it is able to integrate and transform carbon based organisms. How does a creature like the informis even come to be, let alone survive on a planet like Earth?" I admit, I didn't really understand what she was even talking about.

She continued on speaking, mostly what seemed like to herself. Asking many questions about the informis, and how they sought to find the answers. I zoned out once or twice, it was very rude, but to be honest, I didn't really care. I knew nothing about the world, or the informis, for that matter. The fact that it was inside me was only concerning in the fact I was worried I would become like the multi-legged abomination that had tasted my blood. I didn't really care if they were here forever or were new. Everything was new to me.

I realized she had stopped speaking, and wondered if I had missed her asking me a question or something. So I just waited in silence, worried that asking a question would be too much movement. The machine eventually stopped making its loud noises, and the bed was slowly ejected, letting me stand. My damp clothes clung to my body, and I considered peeling it off. I knew that it would be bad form to strip in front of a woman I just met, thanks brain, so I just endured. Looking up, I found Doctor Taussig looking down at a piece of paper in her hand.

She looked at that long enough that I started to get uncomfortable. Not wanting to interrupt her, I began examining my wound again, it hadn't reopened. It was looking like I was in the clear so long as I didn't make any drastic movements. "A complete success..." I looked up to see Taussig, staring down at me. Her eyes were dark, but now had a light to them which brought her hazel eyes into sharper contrast. "The informis has completely integrated with your systems,"

I asked what that meant, and she stared at me like she expected me to answer the question in her place. "I don't know... None of our experiments have ever yielded these results before. The informis signature is unmistakable, I estimate the informis has integrated with roughly 85% of your body. However there's none of the negative signs that typically come with this level of infestation." She paused, then walked away from the window, returning a moment later with a chair that she sat in. "Subject 8127, you were a test to see how informis infestation was influenced by physical stasis. You were placed into a stasis tube, a new invention, and administered with an informis parasite. The informis did as it normally did, but instead of altering and changing you, it emulated your systems, leaving you entirely human in appearance. Which was not expected, but a very pleasant surprise. The informis inside of you is also a special strain."

The doctor stood up and walked around the window to a different side. "You were the last experiment I was able to perform before everything fell apart, but as time dragged on I began to lose hope. The informis inside you is what we refer to as IPS-07, and is unlike any other species. The IPS-07 doesn't overwrite the host's intelligence, like all other species, which the informis parasitizes and overwrites the host. The objective with IPS-07 was to create a mutualistic relationship, where both the host and the informis are able to benefit. You are the success of that experiment."

I stood there, letting that sink in. It made a lot of sense. Even after freshly waking up, I had the feeling that something was sort of standing beside me. It was that greater voice that had kept me from panicking or freaking out. Something helped to drive me on, and even now, it felt like this IPS-07 was standing next to me placing a hand on my shoulder. Only breaking down when I had seen that giant shadow on floor D. I asked Taussig about it, she paused, looking down at me.

"You saw a profligate... That complicates matters a great deal. That's not good, not good at all..." She ran to another section of the observation booth. "The profligates are like the opposite of the IPS-07, where the IPS-07 encourages the hosts growth and intelligence, the profligate is the opposite. It is a feral beast which consumes anything, and everything. The fact you managed to avoid it detecting you is some sort of miracle." She tapped her chin. "Unless, there is more to the IPS-07 than is to be believed? I need to run more tests." She stepped back to the window. Kneeling to open a box near the window and looking inside it. "You needn't concern yourself with things like that, I could tell I was boring you earlier. What you need to know is this, the IPS-07 is the only hope humanity has to survive." She picked up a black piece of equipment.

"I'll try and explain things in a way you'll understand, the IPS-07 is a super parasite, while it's completely harmless to you, to other informis, it is a terrible malady. It forces informis to mutate in a more helpful manner. Though our tests were largely downscaled, I believe that informis that are infected with IPS-07 will be more useful. It's hard to put into simple terms, but you should gain some manner of control over other informis, maybe even be able to alter them."

I was beyond confused, but it sounded useful. I asked how I could infect the informis. "The short answer is you need to put some of you in them. How you do it, I don't really care." She continued to work on whatever she was doing upstairs. "But you're going to need to. You'll need other informis to survive, they will have to be your safety net. Though putting it together is going to be very dangerous." I paused, letting that all settle in my mind. I asked if drinking my blood would be enough, and again she came up short. Taussig looked at my injured leg, and her eyes went wide. "One of them tasted you?" I nodded. "How much?" I told her I didn't think much since I was able to bandage up and stop the bleeding.

To my surprise, she waved off that reason. "The IPS-07 would greatly accelerate your healing speed. That's not a good frame to analyze how much blood you lost, how were you feeling after?" I told her I felt dizzy, and a bit cold. "That's stage 2, you might have lost as much as 750ml, That's a good bit of blood." She looked thoughtful, the more of IPS-07 they take in, the faster and greater the effects. If one of them has in fact consumed your blood, the effects will already be starting, and might even be magnified, since it's been who knows how long since they got a proper meal." I pointed out I believed the one which attacked me looked starved and Taussig looked ecstatic. "This is great news!" She exclaimed, then hurried to yet another part of the observation area. "Ah, right food. You've probably not eaten. I should make sure you understand."

She held up a gray wrapped box, "You need to eat, and eat a lot. I can help for a little bit, but one of our goals will be to establish a proper food source long term." She put that into a bag she was holding, along with all the other things she had been gathering. "Well, we could stand here talking all day, but we have work to do. I made you, so the least you can do is help me." I figured that was fair. "I've been stuck here for a few years now, and I'd like to leave, among other things. So, here's our current tasks." She held up her fingers and counted them off.

"One, we have to find a way to the level above us. I'm sure you noticed the maintenance shaft doesn't reach that level. The stairwell has collapsed, and the elevator is out. However, since I've seen that the other people in the facility escaped, and a great lack of informis, some other way must have been opened."

"Two, the informs on level B must be infected. They're starved and weakened. It's the best place to begin making your group." I wasn't sure how on board I was with letting monsters eat on me for the chance to get them to listen to me. Taussig smirked, "I never said you had to let them eat you. I just said you had to put some of you in them. There are other ways to get that across." I stared at her, what the hell was she saying? "I'm sure you noticed the femine appearance? They're all like that by design, so if another way is more pleasurable, then go with that." I stood in stunned silence, not sure how to process that this doctor had just suggested I have sex with monsters. Taussig continued on as if she didn't just say that.

"Three, reach the power facility on level C. I was able to shut down the power to floor E and most of the systems that are operated on a facility wide scale, but the power grid has a redundant system on level C, which is drawing power into places we don't need. If we can get into that system, we can stretch what power we have left much longer. As it stands, we have three, maybe four months left with the grid as it is." I said okay, still stunned.

"I threw this together for you," She held up a backpack, "It contains some of the essentials, food, and a tablet. You can use that to communicate with me, but it has a short power supply, so use it sparingly." She zipped it up, and motioned to the door. "I have this area sealed off, to protect myself, so I'll leave this in the decontamination chamber for you to pick up as you leave." I asked her if she could turn that off, so I didn't get soaked again. "Sure, I suppose. Not like it matters now, you can't get infested with IPS-07 in your body."

She stepped out of sight, and a moment later, I saw her on the same level as me, walking in the room with all the electronics laying about. She stepped into the water chamber, then walked right back out, and back upstairs. "Okay, it's clear to move now. I wish you luck, and do be careful. If you do something dumb and die, then I'm as good as dead as well." I looked up at her, not sure how to respond, then headed to the door. I suppose it wasn't time to rest.

(Thank you so much for reading! The next chapter is coming soon! If you have any feed back, please feel free to leave a comment!)