Project Piper

PART FOUR- PROJECT GOOP

The night went on, however what Parker told me had stuck with me. Why was that his worst nightmare? I would never hurt Parker. Would I? What if that was what Cordelia trying to tell me. Something might happen? I might lose control? I'm overthinking it. I tried to clear my head to eventually fall asleep.

The next morning came along and I heard nurse Connie coming down the hall, along with a second set of footsteps which must have been Tyler. As usual they both unlocked the doors and took us to get ready for today's test.

On the way to the next test I heard distant screaming from down the hall. Connie snapped her fingers to draw my attention back to her. "We don't stick our noses where they don't belong". I nodded and kept walking. The screams were quite concerning. It made me wonder. I've never led onto the thought of what other creatures and people are here. Gifted people.

The door to the room we were in slowly opened. The room was big and completely grey. There were obstacles and random pillars on the floor. Some were leaning across on each other like frozen dominos. Some were cracked, some were in perfect condition. Parker came through the door shortly after me. "You may have noticed you're doing more partner work. This is what we originally intended, which is why your rooms are opposite each other" spoke a scientist who stood next to the door. I must have walked right past him. Nurse Connie shut the door and waited outside with Tyler. Me and Tyler smiled at each other. The scientist approached us. He was rather old with a bloated stomach. His feet wore oversized boots and a lab coat which was too small for him. He had silver circled glasses and a thin moustache his hair was silver and patchy. "Todays test will determine how well you really work together. This one will be particularly difficult to kill". He smiled and exited the room. Me and Parker prepared ourselves for what horror was gonna come through the cage in the room. At that moment, alarms blared and the cage sides came crashing down like an unfolded shape. Out hopped a.. rabbit?? Parker laughed. No way was I going to kill a rabbit. This was hard. But like always, when I think it's one thing, something else happens. I don't know what they make here but it disturbs me how this happens. The rabbit began to shake rapidly until it exploded. Me and Parker had the same shocked expression. "Did you-?" Parker asked me. "Weren't me" I replied confused. When it exploded there was no guts. No blood. Just thick, ink black goo. The goo began to travel off the walls and floors and even on us. It slid down and merged back into one where the rabbit had exploded. The goo quickly expanded and rose above our heads. It was massive. It travelled up the wall and sprung out legs made from the goo, attaching itself to the wall and climbing like a maniac. Its many long legs scurried across the ceiling to get lost into the pillars. "What the FUCK was that?!" Parker yelled. I had no way to answer him. That's when the speakers blared again, with the same voice. "Welcome Piper. Welcome Parker. Today's test is project 0081. I want you to kill it. Yes it is a literal goo monster. But do not underestimate it" the speakers crackled and went silent again. Me and Parker looked at each other, clueless.

After a few minutes of umm's and confused gestures, we headed into the pillar wreck. There were small lights so it was harder to see. Me and Parker kept going, climbing and ducking under the pillars that lay in the way. My hand slipped but Parker caught me. I felt safe with him. "Where on earth did it go?" asked Parker. "I have no clue" I replied. That's when Parker stepped in something. "YUCKKKK". Some oil black sticky substance was on the floor and sludged on the bottom of his shoe. Had the monster left a trail? "That's disgusting" complained Parker, as he wiped his shoe on the pillar next to him. Then we heard sizzling. The first layer on the bottom of Parker's shoe was dissolving. The goo was acidic. "That's not good" I let out a panicked laugh. Parker was lucky it didn't burn through his whole foot. "Well I guess we gotta be careful of the floor now too. Great" he said in an agitated tone.

The more we journeyed on, the darker it got. I was getting tired, and I think Parker was too. So we took a rest. I tapped my foot around the floor to feel for any more acid goo. All clear. I slowly sat on the floor and felt something touch my leg. I jumped with a scream. This made Parker scream. It was actually hilarious. "Piper, that's not funny!" He complained, with a smile on his face. I let out a laugh. I felt down around my leg and that's when my hand touched something cold and solid. I recognised this shape. I picked it up immediately. "Look Parker, a torch!!" I yelled with a little excitement. It had a note attached to it. "For your troubles. Well done for making it this far. The battery life is not perfect, so I have left batteries around the place for you". Well that is insanely helpful. I banged the torch and it turned on. I accidentally had it pointed up and it flashed my eyes, blinding me. This torch was brighter than a lighthouse. Parker laughed at me, blinding myself. "Ha ha very funny" I said sarcastically. That's when I heard a hiss. "Parker.. Do you hear that?" I asked. He nodded. We both slowly tilted our heads up and saw a horrifying sight. The goo monster had nested onto the ceiling like a virus. It looked like it had infected the wall. Black vein like shapes run down the wall and ceiling. The middle of it opened up to show countless teeth, sharper than a knife itself and let out the most painful and defeating screech. It spat goo, which me and Parker jumped out of the way to avoid. "RUN!" He shouted as we both turned around and ran for our lives. I heard the torch as steady as I could but my hands were shaky, and I was running. I could hear the creature gaining on us, as it left a snail like trail while it sprung out millions of legs climbing after us, between the pillars like a monkey, swinging on vines. Parker tripped over and rolled along the floor. The goo creature halted and spat out some of its acidic substance, landing in between Parker's legs, barely missing his crotch. I held my hand out and flexed my wrist, launching the goo creature back smashing right through some pillars and crashing to the ground. I helped Parker to his feet and we continued to run. The torch began to slowly dim. I banged my hand on it and it returned to its original brightness. Me and Parker had no choice but to stop to catch our breath. That's when the torch died. "Are you SERIOUS?!" I yelled. Parker shushed me. "We don't want it to hear us". He said. He was right. But I don't like to be shushed. We had two choices. "If we keep going straight, we will reach the light and where we started, or we can look around for batteries and kill this thing". Me and Parker thought about it for a while. "Parker. Think about everything we have accomplished. We have been there for each other every step of the way. Let's kill this thing" I said, looking into his eyes as I put my hand on his cheek. He smiled and nodded. "Let's go find those batteries.

After a while of looking around, we found four batteries. They were in small drawstring bags. Two per bag, since the torch only required two. But it didn't hurt to have some spare. Who knows how long we will be here. After the second break, Parker had found a small leather over the shoulder bag. It had two bottles of fresh water, bandages and unfoldable shoe covers to protect our feet from the acid puddles that thing leaves everywhere. We rationed our water and put on the shoe covers. I put the spare batteries in the leather bag Parker wore over his shoulder. We began to move again.

After more exploring we found nothing. So we decided to try to find our way back to the start and go from there. We continued to search and finally it was in sight. "Parker look! The entrance is right there!" I yelled to him with relief. With a blink of an eye the goo creature bust through a row of pillars scaring the life out of me. When I'd recovered from the Jumpscare, I held my hand out ready to attack. But then the unexpected happened. The goo creature flung a formed, slimed arm, wrapping around my fist. It was strong. It pulled me in towards the goo monster and continued to tie itself around me like I was a parcel, being wrapped for shipping. It took off with me, stuck in its firm grip. Since my hand was compromised, I tried to use my mind but nothing was working. Somehow the creatures goo managed to prevent my powers from working. It continued to take me back to the start and sped into the corner. It was as if I was caught in a web. My heart was pounding. Was it going to eat me? That's when I heard Parker call my name. "PIPER!" He shouted as he looked up horrified. The goo creature had consumed me. It's long tentacle-like legs continued to tighten around my legs. I slowly felt it wrapping itself around my throat. "I think Parker had realised I couldn't use my powers. He ran up to it. "LOOK AT ME YOU HIDEOUS BEAST! LET HER GO" I heard him shout. Things began to feel distorted. I felt like it was consuming my life force. My strength. Parker jumped up at the demon and pulled it by its tentacle. He pulled it to bring it down but it tore off. The creature let out another soul crushing screech. It looked at Parker and I saw his eyes glow the beautiful vibrant orange. He was in. I slowly felt the tentacle loosening around my throat. Then my legs I came crashing to the floor and Parker caught me in his arms. I looked into his eyes and he looked into mine. That's when I realised we started to move closer towards each other. Then the creature screeched snapping us out of the eye contact. I held both my hands out. It continued to screech. I slowly moved my hands apart and the creature began to split in half, slowly until it was torn completely apart. I let out a scream and it blew to parts. As it landed it slowly sizzled and disintegrated. Parker gave me an unexpected hug. "I thought I was gonna lose you" he tightened his hug. "I'm not going anywhere" I replied. That's when the door opened. Both Connie and Tyler came in to congratulate us. We later left and got showers, followed by dinner and into our rooms.

Some time had passed and Parker hadn't said anything yet. I wanted to start a conversation but I wasn't sure what to say. "Hey I have a question" he began to speak. "Go on?" I replied in curiosity. "If your telekinesis is with your mind, how come you use your hands when using it?" He asked. Finally a question I could answer. "I can use my mind. I don't even have to move. However when I use my hands, it gives me more direction and more control. Using my hands gives me a better aim" I replied. He seemed genuinely interested. "That's so cool" he looked at me. "My turn for a question" I said. "Go ahead," he replied. "What's it like when you're in someone's mind?" This will be interesting. "It's like walking into a new world, except I'm in control of everything. It's like their thoughts are mine. As soon as i'm in, they are practically my slave". He replied. "Woah. Imagine having the power to get someone to do whatever you want". I said. His gift was incredibly interesting. "You know piper, if someone were to get a hold of our gifts, they'd be unstoppable. That's why we make such a good team". Him saying that made me feel warm inside for some reason. I gave a little laugh in agreement. I liked the thought of us working together. I wonder what tomorrow's test is. I think today was the scariest. Considering I nearly died.