Gestation

“It is a sickness of the mind, which in turn warps the body.”

Work in progress

 

Dream notes —————————————————————————

A detail of soldiers are dispatched to inspect strange disappearances at a work site. A warehouse had been erected over the main site, it looked like the developers were trying to hide something.

Upon entering the site, I noticed the that it was not an ordinary construction site as we had been led to believe. Instead, there were many large trenches dug into the earth and these seemed to dive down below the surface – a network of tunnels.

We were directed to what looked like the largest tunnel opening by one of the workers – I noticed he seemed to be too scared to get much closer to the opening – he looked sick. The squad entered cautiously, guns raised and flashlights on. The system was extensive and the main tunnels were large enough to drive a car through. After steadily walking downhill for a while, we eventually came to what seemed to be a room with a stone vault in the middle. It was intricately carved and had ornate hand axes within it. The perimeter of the room dropped into darkness, making the middle look like it was suspended in midair.

It was very cold. We could hear a faint scratching sounds coming from all around us. A huge number of mutant humans were scrambling out from the depths of the perimeter trenches. There were so many. We fired our guns but most of the soldiers weren’t able to reload before they were overrun – kill 1 and 3 took its place. I dropped my gun and lunged for one of the axes and just started swinging. We got separated in the struggle, one half of the platoon being pushed back through the tunnel they came, myself and 2 others were forced to retreat through another tunnel.

*My perspective
Running deeper into the tunnel system, still sloping downwards. Emerged into a huge room, another deep trench on one side, a plank situated across the trench led to another passage. Looked behind me, a tide of bodies clawing towards us. I ran for the plank, teetered across and popped the pin off of a grenade. Blew the bridge off and a few of the creatures which had started making it across. The trench was too wide, they couldn’t jump – some had tried. They moved like one creature, made of many bodies.

*Perspective switch to the other part of the platoon
Running back through the tunnels we initially came through, soldiers getting picked off from gaps in the floor and walls all around me. The tunnel seemed different than when we had first walked down. Came to a fork in the tunnel that had not been there before, still running. Scratching and screeching all around me. I’m running downhill where I should have been running uphill, the whole system had changed somehow.

*Perspective shifts again and zooms out from the running soldier, down a trench in the ground, twisting and turning and diving deeper into the system. Creatures stand still/dormant throughout the dark trenches. In the heart of the system, a chrysalis sits, pulsing and glowing. Suspended from the roof of the biggest chamber. Many creatures cling to the sides of the walls – enslaved to protect it. Laughter echos throughout the chamber, the resonance deep and ancient.

*The perspective flies back the way it came, out through the tunnels back to the surface. The soldiers are gone. Consumed by the hive mind. The perspective keeps zooming out, out from the  warehouse, out from the village, out from the continent.

Earth sits in space, slowly spinning on its axis while a red glow grows and spreads like a tumor along the surface.