Horrific Revelations

4:00 PM

“Why is there nobody here?” I asked Orthos.

“I don’t know, something seems off,” he replied.

We were walking around the medical facility and noticed there was nobody around, even the androids were charging. I wondered what happened out here, while we were stuck in the black room.

The medical facility was very spacious and was hard to navigate. Not to mention, everything looked similar due to the all-white color being everywhere. Thankfully, Orthos was going through the General’s memories to figure out the layout of the facility. He was trying to find a specific hallway that he saw from my memories, while looking through the General’s memories.

“Found it,” he said as he pointed at a hallway.

We both began to jog towards the hallway. When we reached the hallway, I was slowly being filled with dread.

As we walked down the hallway, I noticed there were multiple white rooms with windowed doors. Everything looked clean inside each of them, almost too clean.

We ended up at the end of the hallway, where a white door stood in front of us. Orthos pulled out his keycard and swiped it on the card reader. The white door began to open.

I wish we hadn’t opened that door.

Orthos walked in ahead of me but couldn’t take another step forward.

“What’s wrong, Orthos?” I asked.

“We should turn around, Tom,” he said.

I pulled him back so I could see what was ahead of him.

What…the…fuck…

Humans were attached to these tubes, getting their blood sucked. What kind of sick fucking joke was this? It wasn’t a joke. It was a horrific revelation.

I slowly walked forward, past Orthos, to get a better look. The lights were dimmer in this hallway and gave off an eerie vibe, overall. There had to be hundreds of bodies lined up, left and right. Multiple tubes were attached throughout each body. The tubes were connected to some container full of…blood.

Orthos began to walk again after taking a deep breath. I couldn’t stop looking at each of the bodies. Some of them were pale, while others had their veins popping out.

I slowly walked through the hallway, while Orthos increased his pace. I noticed he was trying to get to another door, which was at the end of the hallway. As we were walking passed the bodies, he stopped and looked more closely at one of them. It was a woman’s body.

He walked over to it and picked up the data sheet near the woman’s body. He tightly gripped the datasheet.

He whispered to himself, “Mother…”

TEN YEARS AGO

“Orthos! Orthos, where are you?!” shouted Queen Adeline.

Orthos was hiding under one of the dining tables, giggling to himself.

She’ll never find me here, he thought.

The Royal Kingdom was extravagant. The building boasted many bedrooms and bathrooms and was the most prestigious area of the higher section.

Otto was also trying to find Orthos but gave up quickly and played by himself in his room. Orthos knew he was the best hider in the kingdom. If he was the best hider, then there had to be the best seeker as well. Lina, who was one of the head maids during this time, earned the title of being the best seeker.

“I found you, my little prince,” said Lina, as she looked under the dining table.

Orthos was shocked for a second and then had a dejected look. She brought him out from under the table and began to comfort him. As she was patting his head on her lap, Queen Adeline stumbled upon them.

“Lina, you found him. Don’t you have other duties to attend to, right now?” asked Queen Adeline.

“I have finished cleaning all the upper floors, madam,” Lina replied.

Queen Adeline stared at them both for a couple of seconds before walking away to do something else.

Lina looked down at Orthos and smiled. She began to whisper to him.

“You’re my sweet little boy, my sweet little prince.”

4:15 PM

Orthos stared at the woman’s body with her blood being sucked. Her skin was very pale. He got closer and noticed there was blood dripping down her cheeks from her closed eyes. His eyes became watery.

“Orthos, you alright?” I asked, as I was patting his back.

“Yeah, Tom, I’m…fine. Let’s keep going,” he said.

As we continued to walk down the hallway, I couldn’t shake this feeling. The feeling of uneasiness. I kept hoping my mother and brother were safe…but I knew I should be expecting the worst.

We finally got to the next door at the end of the hallway. Orthos swiped his keycard again and the door opened. We both walked in and noticed there was nothing inside. There was a huge window separating us from what seemed to be…cubicles. I tried to look around but didn’t notice anything unusual in the room. There was an android in the left corner of the room, but it was charging.

We both walked out feeling…confused.

As we were about to leave, I noticed something to my right. There was a closed hatch with a label above it that read, “DUMP HERE” in bold red letters.

When I opened the hatch, I saw a chute heading downward. The smell was horrendous. While I was looking inside the chute, the white door at the other end of the hallway began to open. Orthos immediately pushed me down the chute and jumped in as well.

4:14 PM

“You mean to tell me, the General and the boy were inside this medical facility?” questioned Emperor Pius.

Emperor Pius was walking with three other Royal Guard soldiers inside the medical facility. He pointed down the hallway that had the white door at the end.

“That door? They both went through it?” he asked.

“Y-Yes, sire. They both walked through that door,” answered one of the soldiers.

“Why hasn’t he checked his device?” he muttered to himself.

They walked down the hallway and eventually reached the white door. He swiped his keycard and the door opened.

“Wait here,” he said to the soldiers.

He walked inside and didn’t notice anything peculiar. The bittersweet smell of the blood still filled the room. He may have heard a noise but couldn’t pinpoint where it came from. He walked down the hallway, checking for anything out of place.

He eventually reached the next door and opened it. The room was clean inside, nothing out of the ordinary.

He left the room and looked over to his right. He opened the hatch and checked inside the chute but didn’t notice anything different. It smelled like death in there, which made sense since that’s where all the defective and dead bodies were disposed of. He walked back to the white door and opened it again.

For the first time since the Great War, he felt slightly uneasy. The Royal Guard soldiers waited outside the door patiently. He asked one of the soldiers a question.

“You’re sure the General and the boy walked inside this door?”

“Y-Yes, sire. I have camera footage to support it, if you would like to see for yourself.”

“That’s…interesting. No worries, soldier, let’s get going,” said Emperor Pius.

They began to walk over to the pad. Emperor Pius took out his device and sent another message to General Vogel. It was unusual for the General to not respond within seconds.

Emperor Pius decided to focus on other things back at the church in the meantime. The General not responding back to him was the last of his worries.

4:18 PM

Orthos felt something vibrate on his chest. He dug into his left breast pocket and pulled out a device. He threw it away. He was lying down on something that felt very…moist. He tried getting up but couldn’t manage to sit upright. He couldn’t see too well due to the area being dark.

Tom was passed out after coming out of the chute headfirst. Orthos touched whatever was moist and began to rub his fingers. It was wet and felt a little thick. It also smelled disgusting in the area.

As Orthos tried to sit up straight, he felt something. He felt…the palm of a hand? He began to move his hands around him to get a better understanding of what he was feeling under him.

He began to feel arms, legs, even hair. He came to another horrific revelation. He was on top of dead bodies. He called out for Tom’s name but there was no response. He was starting to stress out.

“Tom!” he shouted again.