[System Online...]
[Anchoring Consciousness Thread... ERROR]
[Searching for Host Identity... NULL RESPONSE]
[Localized Existence Parameters: UNSUPPORTED]
[Host presence detected in Non Origin Universe]
[Ontological Threat Detected: Class Omega — "Blip Remnant"]
[System Advisory:]
[You were not meant to arrive here. Something erased you.]
[This instance has been authorized to persist.]
[I am your anchor. I will adapt. You will survive.]
With shaking unfocused eyes, Sam stared in bewilderment at the flickering blue hologram suspended in the air before him.
"What the hell is this crap?! 'System'? 'Anchor'? His voiced cracked from raw frustration and confusion. "What the fuck is going on?!"
Sam has no clue—not even an inkling of any idea how he was even still able remain conscious from experiencing something straight up biblical the devil torture, the kind of pain most people would've snapped by now.
The room—no, the scene around him was horrifying and gut wrenching, everything was soaked in blood, the smell of reeking rot and something metallic permeate the air, but unfortunately those were the least of the worst.
There were human remains—bits and pieces such as bones, flesh, and various internal organs scattered all around in a grotesque and nauseating display of whatever carnage that has happened here.
And the excruciating pain he felt... It's something no human should ever experience in their whole lives. Because that—that wasn't normal pain, that was the kind of pain that burns into your memory and every inch of your body, the kind that makes people beg to die a swift death.
He tried to stand up.
Fell.
Tried again for the second time.
Fell again..
His legs felt like shattered concrete, and his whole body feel like a mess of wreckage. On the third try, he search for a way to support himself, a broken shelf. Gripping the broken shelf for balance, he managed to drag himself upright—only to stumble forward and collapse again, face first into a think, coagulated dark red puddle.
"Ghh! Dammit!"
Covered in blood and filth, he grit his teeth until his gums bled and summon every last drop of his strength to began crawling. He didn't care what method he use or where he will go next, but if there's one thing for sure its that he needed to get out of this cursed place as soon as possible.
"Anywhere's... Better than this hell hole..." Sam muttered defiantly under his breath as he dragged his way through the busted exit like a broken man.
The door creaked open.
And then—
What greeted him outside was... Unexpected.
Outside, the surrounding environment was unnervingly quiet and eerily empty without a single soul in sight, like a ghost town in a horror movie.
There's no clear sign that could pinpoint what kind of disaster that happened to this place before his arrival. The only thing present currently was him alone and the dead space akin to a place without single pulse exist.
Fortunately the night sky was not without light, the moon hung full and bright above him, casting a cold silver light over the empty streets. A few building still had lights on but many looked like the place he'd just escaped earlier—Abandoned, lifeless, and preserved in suffocating invisible weight.
As Sam continue surveying his surrounding with the ever present phantom pain in his body—he saw some street lamps flickered overhead, and beneath one of them stood an empty old green painted public bench.
He forced his arms to move, dragging himself toward it like a dying man reaching for an oasis in the middle of a desert. After what felt like an eternity, he finally reach the place and immediately slumped into it, he exhaled like he hadn't taken a breath in hours.
Sam's appearance were dirty from crawling on the ground, his body trembled ever so slightly as cold sweat dripped from his chin, some tiny scratching like wounds marred his pale and clammy skin especially on his forearm.
"This... This has to be a Nightmare," he whispered weakly, shutting his tired and heavy eyelids.
"But..." His pale dry lips trembled, his voice shaking.
"No... It can't be. All that pain was real, all of it was way too real for this to be a nightmare."
Sam gaze over the fresh wounds on his forearm still being licked by the cold night air, his dirty ragged appearance also support the fact it was extremely unlikely for all of this to be a mere nightmare conjured in a fucked up dream.
He began fumbling through his coat pocket hoping to find something, and fortunately he found his phone is still there intact without any damage.
It was then a flicker of hope sparked, he can try to contact the authority and ask them what's happening and where the hell he currently is.
"Yes! Thank god, if I can just—"
But unfortunately the moment he pressed the power button—
Nothing.
The screen remained stubbornly dark, the usual sign of a dead battery.
"Now?! Of all times, you choose to die now?! Damn it!"
He furiously pressed the power button again and again for a few minutes, but overtime he can feel something deep down, he knew it was useless. With a groan, he let the phone drop onto his lap and he leaned forward, burying his face in his hands.
"Where the hell am I supposed to get a charger in the middle of... Whatever this is?"
He sat there for a long moment, trying to cool himself down regardless the still faint aching pain he felt.
Although the silence all around was too still for comfort, oddly enough it kinda helps Sam to gather himself and recover altogether just enough.
Finally, with a somewhat stable headspace he raised his head, his eyes began scanning the unfamiliar streets again.
"Alright... First, where is this place?"
"Second, why does it look like a ghost town?"
"And third, what in tarnation happened here?"
It didn't look like his hometown, not even close. The layout, the buildings, even the air felt off—too sharp, too fresh, too unfamiliar if that makes sense.
"There's no way this is a war zone, no war zone could look like this untouched." He tried to thought of everything he knows to make sense of the situation he's in, but in the end it yielded nothing but more and more questions.
"At most this looks like an abandoned urban street, what the hell? Am I in silent hill or some shit?"
Unfortunately no concrete answers came to mind, but at least his breathing was no longer ragged, and his heart also stopped trying to burst out through his chest.
Slowly—very slowly, his body continue to recover some more as he's racking his brain for an answer, like an engine left out in the cold finally remembering how to run.
Eventually, he stood up from the old green bench. Luckily this time his legs held quite steady, still a bit wobbly, but steady enough to move around.
One foot in front of the other, he didn't fall this time. "Alright... Let's find someone—well... Or something in this godforsaken place."
Sam kinda wander around aimlessly but after some time he spotted something, up ahead under the flickering lamplight stood a narrow building with a neon sign still glowing faintly above the door.
THE MADAME
A diner? A bar? A cafe? Whatever it was, it had power and seemed to be the most normal looking one amongst the other place he saw earlier, and that was enough for Sam right now.
He shuffled toward it, every joint still aching everytime the cold wind blew pass him.
There's one thing he noticed that remains unchanged while he walked toward the place, there was no animals, no noises be it from vehicles or human nearby, only the the unnatural silence lingering in the air.
"What a weird ass place," Sam muttered in a hush tone, ignoring the creeping feeling crawling on his spine.
When he arrived, he pushed open the glass door. A little bell above jingle once, sharply.
DING!
Inside, Sam was hoping for someone—anyone to meet him and explain what's going on, but once again unfortunately what greet him inside is another disappointment.
The silence resumed like a vacuum inside of the place, only the faint sound of air vent was present, there's not a single person in sight.
"Hello?" He called out, louder this time. "Hey! Anyone here?!"
No response.
He walked further inside and began to check each and every place one by one, he checked the booths, the counter, the kitchen, everywhere he could look into—but still, nothing.
Don't get him wrong, the place looked nice and quite neat but... that's it.
"Seriously, what the actual hell? Where is everyone? Playing fucking Bingo??"
After a long pause, he just sighed and... Shrugged. Honestly, his brain was done trying to analyze and explain any of this, at least for now.
Behind the counter, near the cash register, he spotted a miracle—a wall socket with a universal charger already plugged in.
He almost cried.
"Finally... Something that makes sense."
He fished his phone out of his pocket and immediately plugged it in, and yet—the screen remained dark. He tried to adjusted the cable, checked the socket... Still nothing.
No charging animation, no buzz.
Dead dead.
He stared at the phone, his reflection is the only thing showing on the screen.
His shoulders slumped and he stares down at the floor, the air felt pressed down on him as if heavy boulders weighing him to the ground.
Then—a drop of tear rolled down his cheek unnoticed and hit the floor.
"I wanted to call mom... I wanted to tell Jessie I didn't disappear on purpose..." His voiced trembling, the accumulated exhaustion threatening to break him.
Suddenly—
SLAP!
He slapped himself—hard, and its immediate effect was enough to snap him back.
"No... Not now. I can't fall apart here, not yet."
He stood back up, his gaze looks as sharp as possible, scanning the whole diner like an eagle searching for prey.
"There has to be something here... Some clue, some lead, anything!"
It didn't take Sam long as in a few moments later he noticed it, a TV bolted to the wall still on with live feeds.
The mounted TV above the bar was playing a muted emergency news loop. Onscreen there's a graphic headline:
BREAKING: Kediri City under lockdown amid reports of Mass Casualties and Terrorist attack! Evacuation operation in Kediri City is still ongoing.
Sam's brow furrowed, weirdly enough although he somehow understand the words that appeared on the screen, it doesn't seem to be anything he seen before.
Although not a genius or a walking Mr.dictionary he knew some languages besides English but this is not something he recognized.
Sam shook his head and brush off the oddity that's happening and focus at the matter at hands. "Kediri City... That's where I am right now?"
"And terrorist attack? No way, that can't be. What kind of terrorist turns people into chunks and pieces??" The scene of carnage play like a short movie in the back of his head, the gut wrenching memory of the blood drenched shelves and meat pulp remains scattered everywhere resurface unintentionally.
His body shivered in disgust, and as if on cue his head began to ache—his throat felt parched.
"Ugh... Whatever, this damn headache's not helping. I need water—" he stepped behind the bar, opened the mini fridge, and grabbed a cold bottle of water.
But the moment his finger touched it—
[System Notification]
•Local Environment: Unstable
•Ambient Hazard Level: ↑↑↑
[Analyzing Anomalous Signatures...]
•Faint Ontokinetic Residue Detected
•Cross Referencing Patterns...
[Result]
•Entity Detected: SCP-O-010 "Fizzed"
•Threat Type: Reactive Chemical Anomaly
•Status: Data Acquisition 9%
•Risk Factor: Lethal on Ingestion and Interaction Of Fluids
[Advisory Protocol Triggered]
•Recommendation: DO NOT consume any liquids for half an hour
[Emergency Flag Raised]
•Nearby liquids exhibit hyper carbonation signature
System Note: Stay dry. Stay calm. Stay still.
Sam froze in place like a block of ice.
The cold bottle in his hand began fizzing, bubbling. And it hadn't even been opened yet.
His eyes also darted to the puddle of condensation on the counter, it was hissing—evaporating unnaturally fast. His hands began to stiffened up.
"You've got to be kidding me..."
Sma began to placed the bottle down very very slowly...