Unsafe Working Conditions : A He Who Fights With Monsters 6+ Companion Story

Chapter 2 - Essence for Dinner

 The clothes he wore did not have any pockets so Liam removed the bag from his back and slipped the awakening stone into it. The sturdy fabric it was made from was rough to the touch and while it appeared as if it would easily snag, it did not appear to have been damaged by his recent fight.

As his breathing subsided, Liam felt the return of the hollow feeling which he wouldn't describe as emptiness but more like incompleteness. There was something missing that he couldn't describe, like a word out of reach it slipped away like the details from his memories. Only thing that seemed to be real was emotion, in his memories or like earlier when the anger had driven him to hunt. Something inside him urged him to chase that feeling, a survival instinct that said if he didn't continue to fight he would die.

His stomach growled, and with it he realized he had not eaten in quite a while. Thinking it would have been nice to have found some food in one of the cabinets he continued down the corridor the way he had been traveling. Glancing at the place the trash can monster had been gnawing at he saw that it appeared to have been trying to access a space through the wall.

His curiosity piqued, he crouched down and peered into the hole in the wall. While the opening was no bigger than his open hand he could clearly see the other side was a room identical to the one he had been in. One glaring difference was that it was filthy, the compartments had been ransacked. Many of their doors were askew, some completely removed and on the floor. While he was observing the state of the room, through the opening he heard and saw that a family of small rodents had made a nest. Catching a glimpse of one of the creatures he again saw a twisted amalgamation of flesh and machinery.

It appeared that this world was one where the living and machines have begun to intermingle and reach some sort of harmony.

Standing up he continued down the corridor, noting the wall where the door of the room would be located looked identical to every other section. The weight of the bag on his shoulders combined with the realization that he could be passing rooms without noticing made his skin prickle. If he had hair it would be standing upright.

Liam picked up his pace while traversing the corridor, it was curving to the side while maintaining its elevation. Soon he heard the sound of skittering, and it was growing louder faster than it should be if it was stationary. With nothing behind or in front of him apart from the corridor and no way to tell where a room was he removed the bag from his shoulders. Reaching inside he removed another makeshift weapon, this one smaller than the scissors, it looked like a scraper of some sort only the tip of it was sharp.

Walking so there was enough distance from his bag that he would not trip over it but if he was forced to run he could grab it, he stood and waited. While the noise was growing it didn't sound like anything he could recognize and his mind conjured different horrors unbidden before the source of the noise came into view.

The monster looked like some sort of childs drawing come to life through the efforts of a well intentioned but horribly skilled architect. It had the body of a zebra replete with stripes and a mane, there the familiarity ended. Where legs should be, mechanical tentacles extended and the head looked like a piece of heavy machinery opening to either side like a mouth. The skittering sound was generated by the tentacles attempting to propel the monstrosity along the industrial floor. From behind what would be considered teeth a green flame peeked out, like the creature was gasping.

Despite lacking anything that were recognizable as eyes, ears, or other features Liam realized that the creature had sensed him. With a sound recognizable as a horse's whinny, but twisted by its machine nature into something horrid the monster's movements sped up.