Chapter 34 Monster Factory
Monster Factory
“First priority,” Asher announced with the determination of a man planning a wedding, “clean clothes.”
We’re in a death maze designed by some twisted doctor, and Asher is concerned about proper attire for seduction.
“There should be staff lockers somewhere,” Levi said, playing along with the delusion. It was easier than fighting, and part of him craved the normalcy of clean clothes.
They found the staff changing area off the main lobby with a row of metal lockers that had somehow escaped the building’s reconfiguration. Most were locked, but Asher made quick work of the simple mechanisms.
“Here,” he said, pulling out scrubs that looked about Levi’s size. “Medical scrubs. Very... clinical.”
The way he said it suggested he found the idea of Levi in them appealing.
“They’re clean,” Levi said pragmatically. “That’s what matters.”
Asher turned away while Levi changed, a gesture of respect that felt surreal given everything else he’d done. He began going through the other lockers, pulling out abandoned personal bags and purses left by long-gone staff members.
“Hey Levi? Do you think if I find the right place for us and we die again that your virginity resets?” Asher asked, his voice casual as he continued opening lockers.
Levi froze while he pulled down his jeans. “What do you mean?”
He can’t be implying what I think.
“Well, we don’t come back all fucked up, right? So you’d always come back as a virgin.” He heard Asher’s rummaging stop for a moment before he let out a pleased hum. “That just makes it more special, I think. I get to be your first forever.”
I think I’m going to be sick.
Levi caught glimpses of him rummaging through the contents—wallets, makeup, personal items that painted a picture of normal lives interrupted.
Then Asher found something in a small travel bag that made him pause before he pocketed whatever it was with a smile that looked like a child who’d just successfully stolen a twenty from his mom’s purse.
Worry about all that later.
The clean fabric felt like a small miracle against his skin. No blood, no grime, just soft cotton that smelled faintly of hospital laundry detergent.
“Better?” Asher asked, turning around once Levi was dressed.
“Much.” And it was true. The simple act of being in clean clothes made him feel more human, more in control.
“Good,” Asher said, his voice warm. “Now we explore. I want to see what your friends missed.”
They retraced their steps through areas they investigated before the building started its deadly dance. Passages that formerly sealed or rearranged now stood open, revealing spaces that had been hidden before.
“Look at this,” Levi said, pointing to scratch marks on a wall. “These aren’t random. They’re deliberate.”
The marks formed crude letters: HELP ME.
“Someone was trying to communicate.” Asher ran his fingers along the gouges.
Or something, Levi thought, but didn’t voice it.
They explored deeper, finding more evidence of the sanitarium’s dark history. Old medical equipment that looked like torture devices. Files scattered in corners that detailed “experimental procedures”. Patient rooms with restraints built into the walls.
“This is perfect,” Asher said suddenly, stopping in front of what looked like a doctor’s private office.
“Perfect for what?” Levi asked, though he had a sinking feeling he knew.
“For us. For your first time.” Asher’s eyes were bright with enthusiasm as he surveyed the room. “It has a couch, soft lighting from that lamp, and look!” He gestured to a small adjoining room. “A private bathroom for... preparation.”
Jesus Christ. “Asher, we’re in a haunted hospital filled with monsters.”
“Former hospital,” Asher corrected. “And the monsters are mostly in other areas. This wing seems quiet.”
He began moving the desk, adjusting the couch cushions, even finding a small vase and placing some wilted flowers from a nearby planter into it.
“There,” he said with satisfaction. “Much better.”
Levi watched in horrified fascination as Asher continued his “preparations.” He found medical charts and stacked them neatly, as if tidying up would somehow make the idea less insane. Then he located a small radio and spent several minutes trying to find a station that wasn’t static.
“Music is important,” Asher said. “For ambiance.”
“We’re surrounded by death and horror,” Levi pointed out.
“All the more reason to create something beautiful,” Asher replied, finally finding a classical station. Soft piano music began playing from the radio’s tinny speakers.
He’s lost touch with reality, Levi realized. But there was something almost endearing about Asher’s sincere effort to create romance in the most inappropriate setting imaginable.
Like someone trying to set up a romantic dinner in a boss arena.
“What about the candles?” Levi asked, playing along despite himself.
Asher’s face lit up. “I almost forgot! Let’s keep looking.”
They continued exploring, Asher occasionally pointing out other potential spots with unadulterated delight. A patient room with a nice view (“Look, you can see the courtyard from here”). A reading nook in what used to be the library (”Very intimate, don’t you think?”).
It was during one of these surveys that they found the trail of scratch marks leading deeper into the building’s hidden areas.
They moved through the service passages, following the desperate marks. The scratches grew more frantic, more desperate, leading them toward what looked like a section Levi didn’t recall seeing before.
“I hear something,” Levi whispered, stopping to listen.
From ahead came a sound—wet, rhythmic, like someone trying to breathe through damaged lungs. But underneath it was a mournful sound that might have been crying.
“We should go back,” Asher said.
But Levi was already moving forward, drawn by some combination of curiosity and dread. The sounds were getting louder, more desperate.
They rounded a corner and found the source of the sound.
It was Zoe. Or what remained of her.
She crouched in the passage, her body a grotesque amalgamation of human flesh and surgical horror.
Sharp pieces of bone and metal jutted from her arms and back, some looking like failed surgical grafts, others like crude spikes that had simply been driven through her flesh and left there.
Her spine curved wrong, twisted into an unnatural arch that made her movements jerky and animal-like.
But her face was still recognizably Zoe’s, though her eyes were wild and unfocused, darting around like a trapped animal.
When she saw them, she froze for a moment, something almost human flickering in those desperate eyes.
“Help...” she whispered, the word barely recognizable through lips that had been split and sewn back together incorrectly.
Then the moment passed. Whatever remained of her rational mind disappeared behind pure animal instinct. She began pacing back and forth in the narrow space, her movements agitated and unpredictable. Sharp protrusions scraped against the walls, leaving fresh gouges.
“Levi, get back!” Asher shouted.
But it was too late. Something triggered her flight response—maybe their voices, maybe just their presence—and she bolted toward them with desperate, uncontrolled panic. Not attacking, just fleeing like a wounded animal trying to escape a trap.
The sharp bone spur jutting from her chest was aimed at Asher as she charged past them toward what she thought was freedom.
Levi didn’t think. He just moved, shoving Asher aside and stepping into her path.
The impact was immediate and devastating. A jagged protrusion punched through Levi’s abdomen with a wet, tearing sound. Her momentum carried her forward, driving the bone deeper before she crashed into the wall beyond, whimpering and cowering like a beaten dog.
“No!” Zoe’s ruined voice wheezed, her eyes focusing on what she’d done. “No, no, no...”
Levi looked down at the gaping wound in his stomach, watched his intestines spill out through the torn fabric of his clean scrubs. The pain was distant, shock numbing everything except the surreal sight of his own organs sliding free.
I need to put them back, he thought with strange clarity, pressing his hands against the wound and trying to push everything back inside. They’re supposed to stay in there.
Levi sank to his knees, his strength failing as blood poured between his fingers. Behind him, Zoe curled into a ball against the wall, whimpering and rocking back and forth.
Asher stood frozen for a moment, staring at Levi’s failing body. Then something shifted in his expression—a decision being made.
“I don’t want to keep going without you,” he said, his voice filled with a strange peace.
He reached out and snapped off one of the longer bone spurs from Zoe’s twisted spine, ignoring her whimper of pain. The piece came away with a sharp, jagged edge.
“Asher, no,” Levi whispered.
“I don’t want to do this without you,” Asher said, tears glittering in his eyes. He pressed a kiss to Levi’s forehead and drew the jagged bone across his own throat. Blood sprayed in a wide arc, spattering across Levi’s face as Asher collapsed beside him.
“Together,” Asher gurgled, his hand finding Levi’s blood-slicked fingers.
Together.