“Judith!” I screamed, grabbing the girl by the shirt, as the wheelbarrow sank. There was a massive hole, the size of a hot tub. The hole, I assumed, was dug by the now waterlogged orange little excavator that rested beside us. The water was nearly still, but there was a flow of water that drifted into the pool. Judith had only gone under for a second, but I could see that it had more than bothered her. Her arms flailed around a bit before she clung to me, nails digging deep into my gear. I felt her heavy deep heaves as we stood on the edge of the hole. I looked up to see one of the boys had come from the bricks and was heading in our direction.
“Hey, what happened?!” He shouted from afar, loud enough to hear over the constant rainfall. He was headed right for the hole that the wheelbarrow had just sank to the bottom of.
“Watch out! There’s a —”
He jumped right in the hole and stood, water coming up to his chest. He swam across it easily before reaching us. He was a Native American child with jet black hair slick with water. His goggles hung around his neck like a necklace more than protective eyewear.
“Hey what’s going on here?” He said.
“We were trying to reach you, the three of you, before this hole in the ground swallowed up our wheelbarrow.” I said.
“I’m paraplegic,” Judith said, “so I needed the extra help getting around.”
Without another word, he came to us and tucked his head under Judy’s armpit letting her arm rest around his neck as she hung between us. We were soaked from head to toe, rain relentlessly showering around us.
“Come on, I’ll take you guys to the tower.” I glanced ahead at the poorly stacked structure of bricks being battered with rainfall. Tower? That thing didn’t tower over anything. “You gonna grab a leg?” he asked.
“Oh, right.” We each grabbed one of Judith’s legs and carrying her became significantly easier.
“This works pretty well,” Judith said as she settled between us. “Good thinking uh…?”
“Takoda," he said, as we took our initial steps toward the tiny tower of bricks. "Everyone calls me Tako.”
“My name is Judith, nice to meet you Tako.”
“I’m Madison.” I said, my eyes low, watching my steps. We walked around the large dark hole where our means of transportation was now sitting. For a moment I considered trying to add the wheelbarrow to my inventory but I remembered I probably couldn’t lift it underwater, even with rope. We would have to find another way to get around.
“So… why were you trying to reach us?” Tako asked, his tone humble, as if asking why would anyone ever try to reach him.
“I’ve been coming around to let people know to use their memories, people that weren’t actively helping with building.”
“Hmm, well, I already used my memory,” he said, “it really helped me make a decision. I was working with Jax before I came over here.”
“Really? What made you leave?” I asked.
“I decided to help look after this guy over here, he’s been sitting unresponsive since the start of the phase. We think he might be catatonic. Me and Jason have been calling him Kat.” Perspective made someone catatonic at the start of the phase? How fucked was this experiment?
“Does he walk or talk or do anything at all?” Judith asked.
“Well if we guide him he can walk, but he hasn’t said anything at all,”
“Damn this place,” I said, shaking my head.
“We built this tower here, but we hadn’t even considered that the water would get so much higher. I guess we’ll add to it when the time comes, keep building up.”
I looked at the 3 minutes left on the Physma countdown and wondered if he even considered the dangers that came with that. We got to the tiny tower, which was about four or five feet wide and tall. Jason, a chubby kid, wide eyed with concern, sat with a small black boy.
“Hey, we saw you guys fall in,” the kid said, his hard hat dripping with rainwater, “do you guys need some help?”
“Yeah, Jason,” Tako said, “she’s paraplegic and they just lost their way to get her around. We’re going to need to make some room. Madison, there’s a few steps here.”
“Here let me take her off your hands,” Jason said, walking over. I nodded, letting the two boys take Judith, as we climbed the rudimentary steps. When we got to the top, I looked out to see the raging storm.
The two large structures looming in the storm were like flourishing icebergs protruding from the water. growing in stature. I sat down, feeling ours shift under my weight. I looked at the catatonic boy, rain dripping from his hard hat, as he stared in the distance in silence. His goggles were off and even in the rain I could see he had familiar brown eyes and those short dreadlocks poking from under his hard hat hadn’t had the chance to grow yet.
“I know him.” I said. It was the Prime delivery guy.
2 minutes
“Do you know his name?” Tako asked.
“No, we were both taken together when he came to deliver an Amazon package.” I leaned forward, and glanced into his eyes. He looked back at me, mouth quivering with a slight twitch. Shit.
The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
“There’s only a couple minutes left until those things come, man, I don’t know what to expect.” Jason said. He was a twitchy child, his hands opened and closed with darting eyes. “then there’s what to do with Kat when the water gets too high. Damn it, we should have went to Jax’s tower before it got this bad.”
“There’s still time,” I said. “We can go back to Jax,”
“No,” Tako said, “he made it clear he won’t accept Kat. He told me he’s a liability.”
I hated to think that bastard Jax was right about that. But I damn sure wasn’t letting Kat out of my sight. Not after this place took us both together. His life at least seemed put together compared to…this.
“We’ll figure this out Amazon dude,” I said, grabbing his hand. “I’ll make sure you get a chance to escape, kind of like you tried to give me.”
“This is too much,” Jason said, “I don’t care what you said Tako, but we’re all gonna die man.”
“Relax,” Tako said. I glanced at Judith who had squinted eyes and a taut mouth, a knowing glance of suspicion.
“I don’t know how you two feel about this,” Judith said, “but I think we should disclose our afflictions. It’ll help if we’re on the same page and there’s no surprises. As you can see, I am paraplegic this phase.”
“I don’t see why not.” Tako said. “My affliction is alcoholism. There’s no alcohol here so it really hasn’t affected me at all. Yes, I want a drink right now, but there’s no drink to be had.”
“And I’m morbidly obese,” I said, looking down. “in case you didn’t notice.”
Tako shrugged, “You seem alright to me Madison.” I looked at him and smiled. Tako turned to Jason. “Feel like I should have known this. What’s your affliction Jason?”
Jason looked between the three of us and sighed. “Look, I don''t feel comfortable sharing that information. I’m a private person.” I nodded. Privacy about this should be okay. HIPAA laws exist for a reason after all.
1 minute
“No. We won’t just trust you,” Judith said, looking at me for support, “we just had to deal with four psychopaths so it had better be something that isn’t threatening and I want to know,”
“It’s okay Judith,” I said, turning to her, “let him have his privacy,”
“No, Madison, this is serious,” Judith said, raising her voice. “This guy could be a serial killer for all we know and he’s just biding his time, waiting for the perfect opportunity—”
“I’m not a serial killer, what the hell?” Jason yelled. “I just helped you up here didn’t I?”
“It just doesn’t make sense why you’re being secretive when we’re all in this together, just make it make sense,” Judith said.
“It doesn’t have to make sense to you!” Jason shouted, “Tako, can you vouch for me? This is ridiculous.”
“He’s been great since I’ve been here, and we’ve had no problems.” Tako said. “We’ve been looking after Kat together,” he shrugged, looking at me with a ‘get your friend to chill out’ face.
“Judith,” I said, “stop. We can’t just ask people to reveal personal things about themselves when we first meet them. He’s been kind to us right now.” This was starting to feel like when she almost killed those girls.
“Fine whatever, I’ll let it go,” she said, “just don’t turn your back on him.”
“What the fuck is wrong with you?” Jason shouted, standing on the tower. “No one is bothering you Judith, mind your own damn business!”
“Let’s all just relax—” Tako said, before:
0 minutes
A hulking frog-like creature bounded from the water with blue and green streaks glowing along its slimy bubbled skin. The Physma was the size of three horses ripped apart and stitched together at the sides. It had six thick long hind legs that stretched out before it landed in the yard with a monumental splash.
“Fuck!” I shouted, standing and gawking at the creature. Goosebumps rippled over my skin as fear overwhelmed me. As Jason turned to see the monstrosity, his eyes widened, pupils tiny and black with horror. His body seemed to spasm backward, silent in dumb stricken awe before a wretched scream was ripped from his mouth.
“WATER!” Jason shrieked, “IT’S MADE OF WATER!” The massive frog’s croak was deep and rolling, its glowing translucent sac expanded to appear filled with thousands of writhing worms. I felt Judith’s hand grasp mine, and glanced down at her wide eyes, face full of remorse. We both knew immediately. Aquaphobia. Jason’s Big-Three affliction this phase was Aqua-fucking-phobia. I thought back to Hal’s last comment as I left the Upgrade room. Perspective really did hate some people.
We need to stick together. I said. At least I thought I said. No it was only a thought. My mouth was open, but no words came as I gaped at the frightening sight. How do we fight? How can we fight such a creature?
“Use your remedies,” Tako said, his voice quiet and stern. “Make sure your spheres are active and ready to be broken if necessary.”
“No!” Jason shouted, continuing to quiver. “That won’t do shit! Look at that monster!”
“Use your memory, Jason,” Tako said. “I know you weren’t open to using it before, but now is as good of a time as any.” I wasn’t sure what would happen if someone activated a memory in front of a massive threat. The Frog-like creature hadn’t moved from where it appeared, but its bleached bone colored eyes with inverted triangles for pupils loomed in our direction.
“No, fuck that!” Jason yelled, “It’s too late for that! We need to run!” Then, without another word, Jason leapt through the air from the tower with more force than I ever could’ve considered the chubby boy to muster.
There was a croak from the Physma, as a tongue as black as death lashed out of its mouth. It flew through the heavy showers with astounding force and speed, latching to Jason’s face. In a loud snap, the tongue recoiled, ripping the boy''s head off. Jason’s adolescent corpse spun through the air, continuing its descent into the water, where it disappeared, leaving three glowing spheres behind where his body lay. As if the Physma was for him, and only him, the frog-like creature flickered and vanished as well.
“Jason! No!” Tako screamed, looking where his friend was thrown. In the distance, more frog horrors, various shapes and sizes, began to appear from the water, loud croaks and children’s shrieks filling the stormy sky.
From behind me, there was a mumble before words became audible. “I’m scared of water too,” Kat said.
[ Beginner Class + Morbidly Obese ]
[ Team : 1 of 3]
[ Remedies : 1 ]
[ Inventory : 4]
[m. str. sphere] [m.surv. sphere] [empty] [empty]
[ Memories : 0 ]
[ Missions : 1 ]
[ Connect with the Idle Clients - 8 / 10 ]
[ Time until Phase One completion: 39:28 ]