You are inexplicable. | ONC 2021

iii (continued)

Your new companion leads you through a vast maze of eerily desolate streets.

Smokestacks loom on the horizon ahead, spewing green vapor that melds into the sky like the churning brew of a cauldron. As you advance, a terrible sulfuric smell stings your nostrils, and your eyes begin to water.

Buildings blur past as your legs work to keep up with the woman. Twice, she pulls you into a side street, beckoning for silence with a finger pressed against her lips, her eyes wide and shifty.

While standing still, you first notice a vibration in the earth beneath your feet.

As she motions for you to proceed, it grows more intense, shuddering through your bones. Soon, you feel your teeth rattling in your skull as a deep rumbling tears through the falling dusk.

The woman doesn't acknowledge it—only quickens her already-swift pace.

The huge veins snake down almost every street, pulsating, engorged with...something. They seem to weave and merge together into even larger vessels. In the back of your mind, a terrible thought grows—that you're nearing the massive heart of a living organism.

Perhaps more disconcerting is the chrome underbelly of the colossal object above, inescapable as you trek through toward the center of the city.

It occurs to you that you could ask your new acquaintance about all of this. But this was Kai's world, and you're supposed to be used to it. Apparently.

You try your best to ignore it, but it seems that everywhere your eyes fall lies a sight more terrifying than the last.

Finally, the woman gestures for you to enter a quaint little antique shop, wedged discreetly between more welcoming storefronts.

Inside, delicate items shake and clang against each other upon rows of tall shelves. At the far back, an elderly man stands behind a counter, applying a coat of shiny, smelly varnish to the side of a mantel clock.

He looks frail, but his eyes are clear and blue, almost like those of a newborn.

"Jeane! A sight for sore eyes!" he exclaims, pausing his work to gaze up at her. "They're in the back room. They've already started."

Then the old man notices you, staring over his bifocals. "And...who's this?"

Jeane chuckles, clearly dismissing his question as a joke. "Sorry, we're in a hurry! You've already met Kai." She turns and disappears through a doorway. The old man continues staring as you follow her.

You swear you hear him utter a frank statement under his breath: "That's not Kai."

You freeze. Stiffly, you peer over your shoulder, heart pounding.

The man has turned back to his work, sliding his brush along wood, eyes pensive.

After a moment of sinking, paralyzed terror, you turn and cross the threshold into a room lit only by the flickering glow of candlelight.

Five people are seated at a round table, their eyes fixed on you expectantly.

_______________

If you enjoy the story, here are some possible sources of inspiration/similar media:

Half-Life (the series of games; I replayed the second one just before beginning this work)

Annihilation

Children of Men

Perhaps less related, but stuff I'd also recommend: Arrival, Mad Max, A Scanner Darkly, Blade Runner, Snowpiercer.

also A Cure for Wellness (this one went south toward the end, but I adored the insidious feeling that something wasn't right + the foreign setting)