Star memories

Production line

The vent was narrow, Starr could comfortably crawl through it, but standing or even just sitting up caused her head to collide with the ceiling. It was dark in the vent the scarce light shone through here and there, occasionally giving Starr a view into another room. The mechanical sounds were still very much prevalent in the vent, and now Starr was getting some insight into where they were coming from. She entered a vent, slightly larger then the previous vents she was in, she could practically stand if her head wasn't in the way. From this larger vent every few minutes she walked by an opening where, through a grate she could see into a massive room. In the center of the room she could see massive conveyor belts that were bringing odd shaped scraps through some heavy machinery, all heading to the far end of the room. After a few more of these openings, the shape of the scraps started to become more familiar to Starr. Human limbs, heads, torsos, all covered the conveyor belts and moved further towards the center of this massive building, the same direction Starr was heading. There was very few people watching over this grotesque machination, everything seemed to be automated, only every now and then did she see a person in a hazmat suit overseeing the machinery. Nobody seemed to have noticed her infiltration yet. Starr did not see the big man from earlier, but she did feel his presence somewhere in the far end of the building above Starr. She couldn't tell how she knew, just that she did. She got close to the end of the room, one more vent let her see the back wall of the huge room. Through a window in the room overlooking the room at roughly the same height Starr was at she saw him. He stood nearly 8 feet tall. Even with his back turned Starr could feel his overwhelming presence. He turned slowly a brown hood obscured most of his face but from what Starr did see he didn't seem entirely human, almost like an animatronic or a cyborg. His eyes fixed on the vent where Starr stood, there was no way he could see her, was there? Then she thought, since she entered this building she could feel his presence, what if he could do the same... Starr braced herself for the worst, but after a few long agonizing seconds he turned back to the other side of the room he was in. Starr backed into the vent and waited a minute to catch her breath before continuing onwards.

Up ahead the vent split into two paths, a narrow smaller vent went off to the left towards where she had last seen the guy, meanwhile the other path went deeper into the building towards the center of operations of this place. When confronted with the choice Starr was conflicted, this place intrigued her, especially if it had something to do with her memory. At the same time however, she had been told to complete the tasks in order to get her memory back, and the task at hand seemed to have something to do with this massive man. At the intersection she went left, the vent was smaller from this point onwards, she was forced to proceed on her hands and knees. Unlike the previous vent there was no openings, nothing to let her see what was going on in the space around her. What seemed like an eternity later, and a distance much to far to have gotten her to that room she saw before. Nevertheless up ahead were three openings to her right, that when she got closer she found that they led into that room. Inside she could see the man and standing in the center of the room watching a video feed on the multiple monitors on the end of the room opposite of Starr. Two more people sat at the monitors and operated them, switching between different videos. The video feeds showed people getting massacred, and the man riding his massive horse through the streets committing these acts of atrocity. Throughout all of these though Starr noticed a few common themes, he only ever went after people outdoors, he never followed them inside or into alleyways, and it was always nighttime when he rode, and probably the weirdest part... nobody tried to resist or stop him. Starr turned her gaze away from the monitors and back towards the man, and as she did so, so did he turn to face Starr. His hand slowly extended towards Starr, his bone fingers opened revealing a hand much to big for the corresponding body. One of the other people in the room got up and started complaining to the man. His complaints stopped soon after the man snapped his neck with his other less big hand. Pointed talon-like digits dug their way into the wall above and below Starr. Starr crawled forwards as quickly as she could, and lunged just barely out of the way as the man closed his hand crumpling the vent as if it were aluminum foil. The other man in the room had seen what was happening and was now hiding under the monitors. His gaze followed Starr's movements even though there was a wall between them. With no warning he punched the wall where Starr currently resided, sending the vent with Starr still inside through the wall and into the previous room.

Starr was dazed, it hurt to breathe, and she could feel her leg twisted in a weird way beneath her. Barely able to get up, Starr took in her surroundings, she had been knocked through the wall back into the room with all the limbs and conveyor belts. The belts continued to move now carrying some debris alongside the body parts, and any worker that had once been inside of the room was now gone or in hiding. The big man stood at the edge of the hole in the wall he had made looking down at Starr, as if trying to determine whether he was successful or not. Starr looked back up at him, trying her best to look unfazed, but the pain was hard to mask. The man jumped, aiming to land straight on Starr. Starr barely managed to avoid getting crushed, but was knocked back off of her feet by the impact. Starr looked up, she could quite clearly see his face now, as she had expected he was not entirely human. Half of his face was completely normal, and if just looking at that part he looked like some old action movie hero with the blond crew cut and strong chin. The other half of the face though was creepy, it looked like his skin had been torn from his face to reveal a skeleton. Except instead of bone and marrow, iron and circuitry held the skull together. His hands matched the face, one was normal and one was made of metal bones. He didn't speak or move his face in the slightest, his face stuck in a permanent grimace. Starr dragged herself backwards away from him, the big man followed, slowly. He seemed intent to finish the job. Starr felt a wall behind her, the man was still slowly closing in. With the help of a nearby crate Starr propped herself up into a standing position. Immediately she regretted this, behind was not a wall, but a conveyor belt transporting left arms, and immediately to her right was a huge machine that was taking in said limbs, and doing who knows what to them. Starr hoisted herself up onto the conveyor belt and did her best to scramble to the other side without touching any limbs. She slid off the far side of the conveyor belt and spun around, she hadn't heard him follow onto the conveyor, but was still wary of his position. He wasn't there. At the far side of the conveyor where he had been was nothing. Starr glanced around, but didn't see him anywhere. She could still feel his presence however... in fact. Starr spun around, he had somehow gotten behind her. He wasn't moving, just staring, as if waiting for Starr to notice him. Starr took a deep breath, she had been in situations like this before, all she needed to do was eliminate him. Take him out then she could return to the gray room. Starr closed her eyes, and took another deep breath. She could hear everything more clearly now, from the gentle hum of the conveyor belt behind her to the loud metallic clanging of the machine to her left, she could even hear the man. Despite his metal body, he breathed out low raspy breaths. Starr also realized something else in her deep meditative state, the limbs, the arms on the conveyor belt behind her weren't real human arms, they had a metal skeleton, and a realistic silicone coat. Starr couldn't tell how she knew this, her eyes were still closed after all. Her thoughts were soon interrupted by movement. The man had begun approaching Starr once again, still moving slowly as if toying with Starr. But now she had nothing to fear, this factory, just like the limbs behind her, was fake. Just another sick "test" on her path to reclaim her memories. Starr charged the man, moving at bullet speed. Her eyes still closed she concentrated all of her energy into her fist. With the power of a passenger jet her fist slammed into his abdomen.

... He didn't move, not even an inch. Starr felt pain all up and down her arm. Her wrist was definitely broken, along with most bones in her arm. Her vision which had once been so clear was now clouded. Fear, real fear has entered Start for the first time. She could feel tears form and run down her cheek, their salty coldness stinging her cuts and bruises. The man looked down at Starr, completely unfazed. Starr backed away slowly, her arm lay limp at her side. She tried to concentrate again, to regain any sense of clarity she had before, but the metal clanging of the machinery blocked out any coherent thought she could muster. She opened her eyes, the man had moved closer to Starr, and had begun extending his skeletal arm towards Starr, the hand opening in a vicious claw easily capable of crushing Starr like a can. Starr's head was spinning, but she somehow saw her way out, to her right probably about seventy feet away was a door. Rubble from her fall earlier had nearly hidden it. With the metal claw closing in, Starr closed her eyes and mustered all she had left to run straight towards that door. Her head hurt, and with her eyes closed she had no idea where she or the man was, but it didn't matter. In a matter of seconds Starr had crossed the room and busted through the door not stopping for a second. Once through the door, it was as if the factory behind her had disappeared. All the noise had stopped. But Starr didn't stop. She ran straight into a wall, blinked her eyes open long enough to see the solid gray walls before falling unconscious.