CITY OF SINKS

The city pulsed with life beneath a burning afternoon sun. Streets jammed with honking cars, neon signs flashing over endless crowds of people. It was just another day of commerce, conversations, and oblivious dreams. Beneath the sidewalks, the pipes trembled.

A tiny diner tucked between two skyscrapers hummed with activity. Waitresses shouted orders, customers laughed over greasy plates of food, and somewhere, deep in the kitchen, a bathroom sink began to rattle violently.

Water gushed from the faucet without warning. A janitor mumbled to himself, grabbing his mop and making his way toward the disturbance. As he reached the door, a loud cracking noise echoed through the hallway.

The sink burst free from the wall, porcelain shards flying through the air. Twisting pipes flailed like arms as the creature lunged at the janitor, clamping onto his face. His muffled screams died in seconds, replaced by the sickening sound of something fusing to bone.

Oblivious, the customers continued eating. A faint splash from the bathroom barely turned heads.

Outside, the sidewalks grew tense. A man stumbled from the diner, soaked and wide-eyed, a white porcelain shell fused to his head. He swayed, water dripping from his clothes, his movements jerky and unnatural.

A woman approached, asking if he was okay. He lunged.

Within seconds, she was pinned to the ground, struggling as a second sink shell was forced over her skull. People screamed, scattering in all directions.

Chaos exploded into the street. More figures emerged from alleys and stores, water pouring from their bodies, white porcelain fused to their heads like hideous helmets.

The sidewalks turned into a battlefield. People trampled each other, desperate to escape the infected.

Across the rooftops, a cluster of Camera Mechs stirred. Designed for surveillance, they blinked online, zooming lenses focusing on the madness below. One by one, they jumped from the rooftops, landing heavily among the chaos.

Mechs waded through the crowds, scanning, recording — but they weren’t built for combat. One mech tried to intervene, shoving an infected figure aside, but another tackled it, dragging it into the growing flood on the street.

From the storm drains, a chorus of gurgling laughter rose.

Manholes burst open, geysers of water shooting into the air as more creatures crawled free. Twisted sink bodies, pipe limbs lashing wildly, bounced and surged into the open.

A family piled into a minivan, desperately trying to flee, but a sink smashed through the windshield, dragging the driver out by the throat.

The traffic jam became a graveyard of honking, unmoving cars.

Overhead, camera drones zipped through the thickening smoke. Their feeds flickered, struggling to keep up with the spreading infection. Helicopters buzzed past, spotlights cutting across the destruction, too few and too late.

Downtown, another diner erupted in screams as its bathroom exploded outward, sinks tearing through walls and ceilings. A wave of porcelain and piping swallowed the building whole.

In the mayor’s office, staffers watched the footage in horror. The mayor, pale and shaking, slammed his fist onto the desk and barked orders, but the truth was clear: the infection was already beyond containment.

Across the river, another district fell. A row of luxury apartments collapsed into the street, shattered by the weight of dozens of monstrous sinks slithering through the foundations.

Citizens sprinted toward subway stations, desperate for escape, but the tunnels were worse — tight, wet, echoing death. From the darkness below, countless glowing eyes peered back.

The first subway car derailed before it even reached the platform. Its windows shattered outward as the passengers were pulled out, one by one, into the waiting flood.

Back above ground, a single Camera Mech sprinted toward a news station, battered and sparking. It crashed through the lobby doors just as the first sink creature smashed into the glass behind it.

In the control room, stunned technicians stared as the mech uploaded its footage.

The whole city watched as, on every screen, the nightmare unfolded live.

There was no more hiding it. No more saving it.

The city was under siege.

And the war had only just begun.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              PART 2                                                                                                                                                       The lunch rush hit like a tidal wave. Office workers poured into the city’s main food plaza, crowding into fast food joints, coffee shops, and tiny bathroom-lined hallways.

Every stall was packed. Lines snaked out of restaurants, past flickering soda machines and battered restroom signs.

Somewhere behind a bathroom door, something rattled.

Inside a dimly lit workplace bathroom, a janitor mopped mindlessly, humming to himself. His mop squelched across the floor as the lights overhead flickered.

Without warning, the faucet on the farthest sink sputtered, spitting brown water. The janitor frowned, stepping closer.

The sink groaned.

Before he could react, the porcelain exploded outward, a snarling, dripping pipe-limbed creature erupting into the room. The janitor barely managed a scream before it clamped onto his head, forcing a shattered sink shell down onto him.

He dropped without a sound.

Outside the bathroom, customers complained about the wait. The smell of greasy fries filled the air, masking the faint metallic tang of wet pipe.

The door creaked open slowly.

A woman in a pantsuit exited the bathroom, her hair soaked, her head lolling unnaturally to one side. People barely noticed her until she grabbed the nearest man, wrestling him to the ground.

A porcelain mask slipped over his face. He spasmed once and fell still.

Chaos broke out instantly. Trays of food crashed to the ground, people screamed and shoved each other, and the line to the bathroom shattered as dozens tried to flee.

Camera Mechs stationed in the mall kicked into action. One mech, battered and scratched, pushed through the stampede, its lens darting left and right, trying to assess the growing nightmare.

More sinks exploded from within the walls, punching through drywall like fists through paper. Pipes sprayed water across the floor, making escape impossible.

The bathroom corridor became a kill zone.

A single camera mech’s feed showed the bathroom from above: stall doors rattling violently, puddles rippling as something massive moved underneath the tiles.

In the women's restroom, sinks burst through the mirrors, shards of glass raining down. Half a dozen women screamed as white porcelain creatures lunged at them.

The mech pivoted its lens toward an emergency exit sign glowing dimly in the distance.

It sprinted toward it, sloshing through ankle-deep water, but a wall of bouncing sink creatures blocked the exit. They piled over one another, forming a grotesque, writhing barrier of porcelain and pipe.

Desperate, the mech extended its arms, swinging them wildly, smashing sink creatures apart with mechanical precision. Water and shattered ceramic rained down.

But for every sink destroyed, two more replaced it.

The mech stumbled backward, sparks shooting from its joints, systems struggling to stay online. It managed to punch a hole through the sink wall—only to freeze as a new threat emerged.

From the shadows of a darkened restaurant doorway, a hulking form slithered forward.

It was a sink creature, but twisted, massive—three times the size of the others, with pipe limbs ending in jagged claws and two giant porcelain heads fused together.

The mech raised its arms, preparing to fight.

The sink monster lunged.

They collided in a storm of flying water and shattered tiles. The mech managed to crush one of the monster's heads with a powerful punch, but the second head clamped down, piercing the mech's arm and short-circuiting it.

A thick pipe tentacle whipped out, wrapping around the mech’s waist.

The mech struggled, arms flailing, but the pipe tightened, pulling it closer, dragging it down into the flood of broken porcelain and writhing pipes.

The monster forced a broken sink shell down onto the mech’s head.

Its feed glitched violently, bursting into static, then cut to black.

The mall’s lights flickered and died, plunging everything into darkness.

In the gloom, the sinks multiplied.

They bounced through the ruined food court, spraying water, dragging down the last of the screaming survivors.

Bodies lay motionless, porcelain shells fused to their skulls, water pouring from their mouths and eyes.

On a television screen above the abandoned plaza, a news broadcast crackled into life.

A frantic reporter shouted into the camera, her voice shaking:

"We’re getting reports of attacks across the downtown district—hospitals, schools, even police stations—if you’re hearing this, do not use the water. Stay away from the drains!"

Behind her, in the newsroom, a sink creature smashed through a glass wall, sending the broadcast into chaos.

The feed cut out.

Above the mall, helicopters hovered uselessly, spotlights sweeping over broken streets where sink creatures roamed freely.

The city was beginning to drown.

And there was no cavalry coming.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         PART 3

The city was drowning.

It wasn’t just the mall anymore. The sinks had spread through every corner of downtown. From subway stations to high-rise offices, they poured out like a flood, dragging people into the depths of their monstrous, porcelain bodies.

The camera mech on the frontlines powered up, its lenses flashing to life. From its elevated position, it could see the full scope of the nightmare: streets flooded with water, storefronts shattered, entire blocks submerged.

A massive group of sinks bounced and tumbled through the rubble, their eyes glowing as they swarmed. The camera zoomed in, capturing the chaos. For every mech trying to hold the line, two more sinks appeared.

On the ground, the camera’s POV shifted to a nearby alley where several civilians were frantically trying to climb over debris, but their path was blocked. The shadows seemed to move on their own.

Then it hit.

A sink creature, taller than the others, barreled out from the alleyway with a screech, its limbs spouting jagged, cracked pipes. It lashed out, grabbing one civilian by the leg and pulling them backward, dragging them into the flood.

A camera mech on the far side fired a burst of energy at the creature, trying to stop it. But the shot missed, striking the ground just as more sinks flooded the alley, bouncing into the path of the mech. The flood was unstoppable.

In the sky, a transport mech dropped down, landing with a thud, sending ripples through the water. From its hatch, soldiers spilled out, prepared for battle.

The mech’s massive hands gripped the streets as it attempted to pry through the sink horde. But no matter how much it crushed, more appeared from the shadows, from every drain, from every crack.

In a nearby skyscraper, an office worker looked out of a shattered window, watching the horrors unfold below. Her gaze shifted to the street, where the sinks were crawling up the building’s exterior. They were everywhere, now. The flood wasn’t just physical—it was inescapable.

Down below, mechs and soldiers were trying to form a barricade, but the sinks kept overwhelming them. It wasn’t a battle. It was survival.

On the roof of a different building, a lone camera mech zoomed in on the surrounding destruction. Its feed showed the dense city streets, where the water was creeping up toward the skyline. The sounds of shrill screams and heavy machinery echoed from below as the mechs fought to reclaim what they could.

The camera mech turned its focus to a group of civilians, trapped on the second floor of a crumbling building. They frantically pounded on a window, desperate for escape, but a giant sink creature lunged toward them from the alley below, snapping its jaws shut with a deafening crunch.

The civilians froze as the sink creature launched itself into the air, reaching them in seconds. They barely had time to react before the creature latched onto the building, forcing its way through the walls.

The glass shattered as the sink creature’s massive pipe arms reached inside, dragging one person out of view before the building started to shake.

Across the city, military forces scrambled to respond. Helicopters soared overhead, their floodlights barely making a dent in the nightmarish scene below. Ground units clashed with the sinks, but every time a squad managed to thin the horde, more came crashing through the streets like an unstoppable tide.

At the center of it all, a towering mech emerged from the ruins, its camera lenses glowing bright blue. This mech, unlike the others, was far more advanced. Its movements were swift, its weapons precise.

But even this advanced model struggled as a wall of sinks closed in from all sides, bouncing up and down in a relentless wave.

The mech’s feeds glitched, briefly cutting to static before returning. A strange buzzing sound filled the air as it locked onto its target: a sink creature charging toward it with terrifying speed.

It aimed its cannon and fired. The shot hit the sink’s center mass, sending a spray of water everywhere. But the creature didn’t stop. It was only stunned for a moment before bouncing straight back up, more aggressive than before.

From the shadows, another sink creature emerged. It was different. Larger, more vicious. Its head was formed from a broken sink, sharp and jagged, gleaming with a menacing sheen.

The battle grew more brutal. Mechs were torn apart. The streets turned into war zones as sinks continued to multiply. They surged through alleyways, collapsed roads, and flooded entire buildings.

A camera mech’s feed panned over the city’s destruction—skyscrapers shattered, entire blocks underwater, and everywhere you looked, the signs of the creatures’ invasion.

The mech stumbled back, its systems failing, just as a huge sink creature launched from the side, knocking it to the ground. The metal screeched as the sink creature’s enormous claws scraped against it. Sparks flew, and for a moment, everything went silent.

Then—explosions.

From above, a fighter jet soared through the smoke, strafing the ground with missiles. It hit the sink hordes, sending massive plumes of water and debris into the air.

But even as the bombs dropped, more emerged from the drains. The flood was endless.

The camera’s POV zoomed in on the sky, revealing the moonlight reflecting off the devastation. There was no escaping the tide of sink creatures. No stopping them.

In a final, desperate attempt to break the siege, military mechs began dropping heavy artillery on the outskirts of the city, trying to contain the wave. But it was clear: they were too late.

The flood had already started.

And now it was only a matter of time before the city would drown.

PART 4

The survivors ran.

Down broken streets and flooded alleys, across rooftops and shattered malls, they ran. The city was lost, swallowed by the endless flood of sink creatures. Every drain was a threat. Every puddle could be hiding death.

A squad of battered mechs led a group of civilians through the ruins, their heavy metal frames sparking and dented. Their optical feeds constantly scanned the horizon, searching for safe ground that no longer existed.

Behind them, the monstrous sound of bouncing metal and splashing water grew louder. The sink creatures were hunting, tireless and endless.

They reached a tunnel entrance, its mouth yawning open like a grave. Water trickled out from inside, but it was their only chance. The mechs ushered the civilians into the darkness, their cameras flickering under the dripping ceilings.

Inside the tunnel, echoes of movement surrounded them. The water was ankle-deep now, and every splash sounded like a gunshot. One of the civilians stumbled, sending ripples down the corridor.

Immediately, the mechs reacted, raising their arms and scanning the dark.

Something moved at the far end of the tunnel.

A twisted sink creature emerged, dragging itself through the shallow water. Its frame was cracked and broken, but it moved with horrifying speed, throwing itself forward like a predator.

The lead mech fired a pulse blast, hitting the creature square in the chest. It screeched, the sound bouncing off the tunnel walls, before collapsing into the water with a hiss of steam.

For a moment, there was silence.

Then a dozen more appeared behind it, their eyes gleaming like stars in the dark.

The mechs opened fire, the tunnel erupting in flashes of light and steam. The civilians ducked behind debris, screaming as the battle raged around them.

One mech took a pipe to the chest, sending it sprawling backward. Another tried to hold the line but was dragged under by a swarm of smaller sink creatures, disappearing beneath the rising water.

The squad leader barked an order through static. They had to move. Now.

The survivors scrambled deeper into the tunnels, pursued by the relentless tide of monsters.

Up above, the city’s skyline was a silhouette of fire and broken glass. Explosions rocked the night as military forces desperately tried to slow the invasion.

On a rooftop overlooking the chaos, a lone camera mech stood watch, recording the fall of civilization.

Its feed captured the horror below: giant sink beasts crashing through city blocks, dragging vehicles into swirling pools of water; helicopters crashing into buildings; people fighting and losing.

Suddenly, the rooftop buckled beneath the mech as a massive form landed beside it — a Titan-class sink, larger than anything seen before, its sink shell cracked and steaming.

The mech turned to run, but the Titan moved faster than anything that size should have been able to. It grabbed the mech in one clawed hand and squeezed.

The feed cut to static.

Deep in the tunnels, the surviving mechs regrouped, their numbers halved. They found a stairwell leading upward, toward what they hoped was an abandoned shopping district.

They pushed open the rusted doors and emerged into a flooded mall, the water waist-deep and reeking.

Mannequins floated past, broken and eyeless, their arms twisted into grotesque poses. The survivors moved carefully, every step sending ripples across the surface.

Then a noise—a wet slap, like something heavy dragging itself across tile.

The mechs froze.

Ahead, rising out of the water, was a new kind of sink creature. Larger, more grotesque, its body made of fused sinks and piping, with dozens of grasping arms.

It shrieked and charged.

The mechs formed a wall, taking the hit together. Metal groaned. Civilians screamed. A mech lost its balance and was dragged into the water, disappearing without a sound.

Blasts of energy lit up the mall as the mechs fought back. The creature howled, parts of it breaking off under the assault, but it kept coming.

In the chaos, a young civilian stumbled into a broken fountain at the center of the mall. As they tried to climb out, water geysered upward, revealing another hidden sink beast.

One of the mechs dove forward, shielding the civilian just as the creature attacked, but was impaled through the chest.

Sparks rained down as the mech collapsed, clutching the child tightly, refusing to let go even as its systems failed.

The others fought desperately, carving a path through the creatures. They grabbed the wounded and ran, knowing they couldn’t win this battle.

Above the ruined mall, the sky was burning.

Jets roared overhead, their missiles streaking into the city below. But it wasn’t enough. Nothing was enough.

The chapter closed with the surviving mechs and civilians disappearing into the misty ruins, chased by the endless sounds of splashing water and distant, monstrous laughter.

There were no safe havens anymore.

Only escape—or death.

TO BE CONTINUED