𝐏ʜᴀɴᴛᴏᴍs || ᵗʸˡᵉʳ ʰᵉʳⁿᵃⁿᵈᵉᶻ ˣ ᶠ ! ʳᵉᵃᵈᵉʳ ⁽ˢˡⁱᵍʰᵗ ᵒᶜ⁾ || ˢᵇᵍ

(𝐒𝟐) 𝐄𝐩𝐢𝐬𝐨𝐝𝐞 𝟏𝟓

Long chapter.

TW; slight profanity.

𝟏ˢᵗ 𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐎𝐍 𝐏𝐎𝐈𝐍𝐓 𝐎𝐅 𝐕𝐈𝐄𝐖.

"𝐀𝐡, they're all in rooms similar to yours. So don't worry." They grab their tablet and tap on a few things, they turn it to me and i see everyone in an identical room to mine.

I softly sigh in relief until i take notice of something. '..They also got Tyler and Aiden..'

"..And you're the one taking care of them too, right..?" I ask as i take a bite of the sandwich.

They nod. "I am."

"Why are we here in this place? Where even is this place at..?" I ask as i furrow my eyebrows and look at them.

"I can't tell you the exact location. However, we are in a contamination facility." They tell me.

'That's a lie.'

I slightly flinch as i hear that. '..so it's not a contamination facility.. it's something else. But, what?"

"You're here because of a fungus we're currently trying to get a handle on." They told me.

I furrow my eyes and look at them. "A fungus..?"

"The fungus is parasitic, causing intense hallucinations until taking over the brain. Once it does... we'll there's lack of better term. It causes zombie-like symptoms." They said.

I press my lips together. '...in better terms.. we'll turn into a phantom..?'

'But then again it sounds obscure. It would only make sense for them to know this if they had other people held here..' I think to myself.

I look up at them. ".. So, what i'm getting is that you're trying to say that we have a parasitic zombie fungus? No offense. But, do y'know how obscure that sounds?" I say a slightly blunt tone.

"It had shown up on both yours and your friend Tyler's, hospital report." They said.

"What, so now you're looking through our hospital reports? What's next you know everything from our past?" I ask with a scoff.

They sigh. "That's not important right now. When we did more digging we found that you kids went to savannah during the beginning of the year."

"So, you're digging through our school life? Did you also dig through our personal life? What else do you know." I say with sharp eyes.

"Let me finish speaking. We specifically found that y'all went to the Sorrel Weed house. Mind you, we have found that some fungus has been growing in the basement." They told me.

"We didn't touch any fungus." I said.

"We've found that the infection occurs by breathing it in, not physical being touched." They explained.

'There's no way that everything that happened thus far has been a hallucination. Everything.. it feels so real, i feel it. I feel my insides wanting to fall out. I feel the blood spilling through the bandages.' I think to myself as i look down at the table and clench my fist.

'How to go to a different dimension each night? It doesn't make sense. None of this makes sense. There's more to this then they're saying. I- no. WE need to find out what else they're hiding.' I think to myself.

'I agree. I think for now, you should comply. We don't know what they're capable of right now. Just play as their pawn. Then when they least expect it use what information you've gathered and use it against them. One thing for sure, Don't let your guard down.'

I mentally nod at the words.

"Once we figured out what was happening, we immediately went to safely secure y'all." They told me.

'Suree.. safely secure my ass. Y'all drugged us and kidnapped us.' I think to myself and mentally roll my eyes.

They seemed to notice my slight irritation. "I know, it was a bit jolting the way we did it, i apologize." They apologized.

'At least you have the decency to apologize.'

"We didn't know how heavy your hallucinations were at the point and thought it'd be safer to explain later in a more secure environment." They explained to me.

"If this existed.. why isn't it on the news?" I ask them.

"We're trying to avoid mass hysteria. If word were to get out about this, we could only imagine the riots and robberies while trying to stock up on items for a possible "apocalypse". Until we find a cure for this, it's best to keep it under wraps." They told me.

'Right.. they have a point. But, then again, people need to be reasonable if word were to get out about this..' I think to myself and mentally sigh.

"For now, we'll keep you guys as comfortable as possible. We'll try to make the food a bit more appealing than hospital food, and run test every now and then." They told me.

"..Tests..?" I ask.

"Yes, to keep track of your state." They told me. I nod.

"You even have TV's and we'll give you a communication device that can contact me if you wish for any specific items, like books or snacks." They told me.

I stay quiet and nod. I look at them before i look back at the table i grab my water and drink a bit.

'This all sounds surreal. A fungus? I mean it's believable but.. that woman.. she did this on purpose. For what reason? Why, why, does everything feel real? What the hell is-' My thoughts get cut off as Alex stands up.

I look up at them. "I'm sorry that you and your friends ended up in this situation. We'll do our best to get you out of it as quickly as we can. So i ask for your cooperation, please" They tell me as they bow slightly.

I stay quiet and look at them confused as they bow.

'Remember, comply and play as their pawn.'

"..There's no need to bow.." I mumble.

They nod their head and stand up straight. "..Can i see the infected?" I ask them.

They look at me and nod. "I have some pictures and photos on here that i can show you." They told me as they grabbed their tablet. I nod.

'..There's a chance that these pictures could be fake but.. i'll ask afterwords.' I think myself.

They began showing me pictures of the infected. I scrunch my nose up. "Ew... is that how we're gonna look?" I ask as i look up at them.

They sweatdrop. "..Well- maybe. If we don't find a cure." They told me. I simply nod.

"..How do i know these aren't edited in some way?" I ask them.

"If your asking to see them i cannot let you. We had a... incident when we took your friend Ashlyn to see them." They told me.

I furrow my eyebrows. "...Is she okay?" I ask. They nod.

"Yes, she is fine." I softly sigh in relief.

They seemed to get a notification on their tablet. They looked at it and furrowed their eyebrows. "..It seems you'll have visitor later, Miss Gomez.." They said a bit strained.

I look at them confused and nod. "..Alright.."

They start heading out the door. "..Your visitor will be here, shortly.." They told me and head out the door.

I watch them as they walk out the door.

'Something's tells me something ain't right.'

I keep it in mind and wait.

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Word count; 1218
July 6ᵗʰ, 2024
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