The blood rushed to my head as I clung to the ceiling. My tail whipped around in the air. Below me was a room full of corpses and a layer of deadly fog that was trying desperately to reach me. Despite all her speed, Amy couldn’t save herself.
Everywhere I went, a shadow seemed to follow me. A shadow of death and destruction. Leaving everything and everyone I touched destroyed. Including myself.
I’m cursed.
The dust reached out and tried to touch me. I flinched a little and almost fell. Whatever method allowed it to move freely, it wasn’t capable of reaching this high.
I crouched on the ceiling, my claws digging in deep enough to worry me. It wasn’t entirely within my control. The more anxious I grew the deeper they clutched. Eventually the concrete will give in. I heard a laugh from the intercom.
“You’re having some trouble, aren’t you?” Victoria mocked me. When I said nothing, she continued. “I can help you, you know. Those guns work on that dust just as well as anything else. I can send one of the guards in to make all the dust drop. All you have to do is agree to Polybius’s terms.” She continued. I listened in to see what else in the room I could hear. I didn’t get anything useful. When I continued to ignore her, she went on the offensive.
“Do you ever get tired of everyone around you dying?” She asked. The concrete below my feet crackled. “Would you really rather die than take his deal?” She asked. My heart dropped in my chest as I fell. In seconds I was surrounded by cement dust. I could feel it solidifying around me, attempting to turn me into a statue. Layer by layer, second by second, I was becoming entombed. The concrete built itself around my mask.
The force of landing knocked the wind out of me. I used my strength to shatter my concrete cocoon. The concrete layer covering my mask shattered into thick deep lines. I could barely see the light through the layer of fog, as the dust sealed me back shut and I returned to darkness. I could hear Victoria’s laughter before returning to eerie silence. I sat in darkness and listened to my heartbeat. The suit could filter oxygen, so long as it had power. I didn’t know how much I had left. It seemed to lose it a lot faster since the Amy incident.
I’m not sure if her kick damaged some of the internal structure of the suit, or what. I struggled to break through the concrete. It shattered after a moment of intense struggle. I crawled on my hands and knees as the dust around me attacked. I tried to force myself to a standing position and as I did, the dust turned me into a statue once more.
The effort it took to smash the concrete is immense. By the second attempt I was completely drained. I fell back to my knees and curled up into a ball. The dust swirled around me so violently that it pushed me across the floor as it solidified.
This is it. I’m done.
I’m gonna die here.
The shadow of death has finally caught up to me.
A concrete shell encased me and I was deprived of my senses one last time. Cut off from the world, I began to sigh.
Was it worth it? Did I do anything of value with the time I had?
Did my life have meaning?
I patiently waited for my life to flash before my eyes. Or for some profound feeling of ease to wash over me. Neither came and I continued to be frozen, terrified, in a ball of concrete.
My ragged breathing and the rush of blood echoing in my ears. My heartbeat booming in my chest.
I… I’m scared…
Why am I scared?
I took too many breaths and found my vision blurring. Then everything went dark.
…
I was slumped against a wall when I woke up. Every inch of my body and skin was completely and utterly covered in dust. The tips of my black hair that hung in front of my eyes looked grey from being caked in the stuff. I opened my eyes slowly and found that the dust was spread out in a sea across the room. It was ankle deep and I couldn’t see my legs spread out in front of me.
Skin? Where’s the suit?
I was shirtless and wearing only my black shorts. My head felt heavier than it usually did. I clenched my hands into fists and only one hurt, but that was normal now. The scars still covered it in fleshy strokes. I couldn’t even begin to think about what had happened.
“Jacob!” Someone yelled from across the room.
The sound of softened footsteps, followed by plumes of dust across the room followed the voice. I barely tilted my head and saw that it was my friends running towards me. Running away from the concrete statue that was Amy Bates.
Amy Bates. I couldn’t save her. Can’t save anyone. Won’t save them. Can’t save myself.
My body felt rigid. Like the muscles were locked up. Semi numb but not asleep. It was weird. Like I was disconnected from my body but still observing through it. A ghost in a hollow shell.
“Jacob are you alright?” Danny asked. Everyone behind him was out of breath. He was a little, too, just better at hiding it. I could tell by the way his lips moved a little too much when he spoke. I tried to speak but only ended up letting out a painful sounding breath. I tried again and wheezed out a few noises.
“I… Righ…” I suddenly realized I was drooling. My head slunk down and my chin hit my chest. I felt like a puppet with cut strings.
I barely lifted my head back up.
“What’d he say?” Danny asked the group.
“He said he’s alright.” Emily translated.
Danny grabbed me by the arm and hauled me to my feet. My head bobbed a little and I got a good view of my dusted legs. They looked so weird. Some parts of the dust had solidified into chunks of rock. Some smaller chunks fell off my skin as I stood.
“I don’t think he’s alright.” Danny mumbled.
I tried to speak but it came out as a cough. Then Gary laughed and I shot him and Joni a death glare.
Why are they here? So help me God, if you told them my secret. We shuffled slowly through the dust while Mar caught me up to speed on what had happened so far.
“So after those cop guys knocked us all out, everybody started waking up one by one. The lights were back on and everyone was really freaked out. Everybody tried to leave but the elevators went crazy the moment you went in them. We tried to break the windows but that didn’t work at all, so we bit the bullet and ended up here.” Mar explained without stopping for air.
The rigidity was leaving me bit by bit. I was half walking on my own and completely able to hold my head straight. Danny still held me up.
“Wait so how did Jacob end up down here?” Joni asked. We stopped for a moment. I looked over my friends and the look in their eyes said a thousand words. They were worried. They hadn’t told the two of them.
“They must’ve moved him for some reason.” Emily suggested. I nodded my head slowly. I felt my neck crack with the motion.
“But why would they do that to just Jacob in particular?” Gary asked.
“Please… Shut… Up…” I grumbled. I felt like my throat was spasming just saying that much.
“No, it’s a good question. Everyone else was in the lobby when we woke up. I’m pretty sure. But you were down here in a room full of dust and statues? This looks like a prison. This dust looks like the stuff from that guy that attacked our school. What the hell were you doing down here?” She accused me.
I don’t really care about societal norms. I mean if I cared about them, why would I go around dressed like a monkey fighting criminals? What I’m saying is, I swung at her.
I missed her, but in the process I left Danny’s grip, and landed face first into the ankle deep dust. My eyelids closed shut, and I hit the ground with a thud. The dust must’ve recognized me because I felt pricks and needles all over my face as it turned to stone and clung there. Danny lifted me off the ground and tried to wipe the worst of it off.
“You shouldn’t hit girls.” Danny said frankly.
“I… didn’t…” I muttered. Emily leaned in close.
“Where’s the suit?” She whispered in my ear quiet enough that our intruders couldn’t hear.
“No idea.” I whispered back in a ragged voice.
“They’re hiding something from us.” Gary accused. Joni gave a nod.
“What are you hiding? What has Jacob done?” Joni asked. The two of them took a step back away from the rest of us.
Had I been paying closer attention I would’ve noticed that they were walking back into a large pile of dust. But I was struggling to get to my feet. Danny was busy trying to keep me from falling on my face. Mar was trying to figure out what to say to Joni and Gary. In the end it was Emily that warned them.
“Wait! Look behind you!” Emily warned.
They looked back too late. The dust started to shift beneath our feet. I could see thin cord-like tentacles moving in the dust. They all seemed to be coming from the large patch that Gary and Joni were walking into. They noticed it and ran.
It was Joni screaming that seemed to irritate the patch the most. It started to stand and shake. Mar and Emily started running away too. Danny tried to hobble away from it while holding me. But I pushed away from him and allowed myself to fall down onto my knees in front of the creature.
Enough dust fell away from the mass to reveal what was beneath. Matter Chameleon’s skull face was uncovered first. Its one remaining eye seemed to burn with fury. It stood and it was several feet taller than any person.
The polymer fur all over it had taken on a light grey color. They whipped around more erratically than before. It moved the fur on its face over to create a makeshift eyepatch. It took a step towards me, and it looked pissed.
