Chapter Text
You hated this stupid orphanage. The children were loud, and the staff barely cared about any of you. The silence at night drove you mad, and the lack of entertainment and friends irritated you. Luckily, the orphanage wasn't too far from the main city of Wrenwood, so you'd sneak out at night and walk around town at times. Maybe shoplift a snack. Maybe listen to the noises and cars around you. It was.. Calming. The louder silence. Of course, you had to be wary. No city was safe enough for a child to roam around, especially at night where anyone could lurk around. You took a few glances to your left and right.. The sidewalk was bustling tonight. Maybe some event was going on? Who knew. Clearly not you. After a bit, you turned around fully to look inside a nearby drug store that had TVs in the windows. Most of them spoke of some new virus that had been found in some dead bodies. It sent chills down your spine.. You heard of there being an entire virus that wiped out a city once! But, you heard it from the older kids, so you always assumed they were just mere rumors. But seeing this.. Maybe they were right.
As you kept watching the TV, you took another look around, and spotted a nearby alleyway. It had some yellow tape covering it, and you could practically hear the danger that came from there, like a melody that only dogs could hear. One last glance to see if anyone was looking.. And you walked closer to the tape. Obviously you wouldn't walk past it, you weren't that rebellious, but you were still a curious kid. You stood on your tippy toes and pushed yourself against the brick wall, trying to peek over the tape, but only found a rat skittering out of the dark which made you yelp and cover your eyes in fear. After you peeked out between a small sliver in between your fingers and saw that there was no big, scary monster there to eat your brains.. You calmed down. Somewhat. Your heart was still beating out of your chest.
You yet again looked around to make sure no one was staring at you after that embarrassing reaction, and no one cared. Just kept walking. You rolled your eyes and looked back at the tape, growing a nagging urge to go past it.. You should've been heading back to the orphanage by now.. But you didn't have "Stranger danger" implemented deep into your head yet. So, you lifted up the tape and walked right past it.. The alleyway wasn't massive like you imagined it, and you spent a good chunk of the time staring closely at the walls to see if there was any super secret doors you could open.. You always wanted to walk right into a new world! But, to your dismay, there weren't. Obviously. Going back to the task at hand, you walked to the end of the alleyway to where a door was. It looked old and smelled like.. Well, wood. You shrugged off the eeriness and used all your might to shove open the door. After a few good pushes with your body, the door flung open! And you fell right on your back. The wind was temporarily knocked out of you, and you struggled to properly breathe. After a few seconds, you pushed yourself off and dusted off your back before going deeper in. You bumped into some shelves and tossed around pots and pans, nearly knocking yourself back onto the dusty, gross floor. But, you finally found a door and opened right up.
It was a kitchen, the smell of mold, stale, forgotten and rotting foods, and whatever dead rodents filled your nostrils and lungs. You coughed for a moment, the dust in here was so thick you could compare it to someone blowing smoke in your face. After waving your hand in front of your face as if that would do anything, you navigated the abandoned room, grimacing at the mold that grew in corners or the unknown liquid that you accidentally stepped in a few times. You hurried up your exploring in this room and went into the next, shoving open another door that led to what looked like the main area. You walked inside, wary of where you stepped this time, even if it was so dark you still managed to step on broken glass or trip on wooden boards that must've fallen from the ceiling. Pushing yourself back up, ready to explore more, you paused as you heard footsteps. You held your breath, and you froze the moment you finally straightened up. "What was that?"
You struggled to see in the dark, and you crouched down to grasp the wooden board you just tripped on, but it seemed to just.. disappear. After uttering a few curse words that you picked up on from the older children, you grabbed a shard of glass. It was tiny though, and the moment you stood back up, you dropped it on instinct and lost it again. Before you could try to find it, the footsteps grew louder, and large, scaly hands grabbed your face and neck. You gasped and immediately thrashed around, hands scratching at the arms and fingers, your mouth opening up to take a finger in your mouth and bite down hard on it. You heard a hiss, and the hand around your neck tightened like a hydraulic press about to crush bone. You gasped and spit out the finger, feeling light-headed and unable to breathe as you passed right out.
When you woke up, the first thing you noticed was the smell. It went from grime and mold to.. Cleaning products and the faint smell of something dead. At least the rotting was consistent. You opened your eyes in a slow, blearily manner. Your eyes met the blinding light of the LED panels on the ceiling, and you winced and covered your eyes. You turned to your side and nearly fell off, forcing you to grab the corners of the stretcher and look down.. Why were you on a stretcher? Where were you? You noticed your clothes after noticing the stretcher.. Your usual attire was gone, replaced by an oversized hospital gown that reached your knees and nearly swallowed your upper arm. "Someone must've changed my clothes while I was unconscious!"
You looked up and around the room.. It was small, with a measurement machines around the stretcher. You slowly sat up and noticed the plush chair in front of you, right next to a little table that had a lamp on it. The table had some.. Notes on it? You slowly got off the stretcher but whined as you felt a pinch in your arm. You look down and realize some.. needle was inside you, taking your blood into an IV tube. You shuddered and ripped it out, wincing a bit as some tiny beads of blood wept out. You went back to the mission at hand and walked over to the table to grab some notes, but the door to your left creaked open. You let out a loud squeal and covered your eyes again, shaking like a broken down door eaten by termites in the harsh winds. You heard the same footsteps, slow and calculated like a king being slowly moved to corner a pawn. The footsteps came to a pause right next to you, and you couldn't help but let out a broken whimper. Nothing happened yet. You couldn't even hear the person's breathing. Then, you heard a voice come out, lethargic and careful, like a lullaby that you knew was meant for disaster.
"No need to be afraid, Mx. Y/n. You're safe here." The person whispered, knowing it would calm down your racing heart. And it worked. You spread your fingers a bit, peeking through the small gaps to look up at him. He was.. Tall. Very tall. Your head alone nearly reached their forearm. You had to take a few steps back to properly look up at who was speaking to you. He had a strong scent of leather attached to him, and his coat looked similar to snake's skin. His face and hands.. Something was wrong with them. All withered with scars, and you saw the quick forked tongue that momentarily flashed itself from behind his chapped lips. His visor was the most intriguing thing about him. The cameras whirred and made little noises that for some reason made your posture less tense. Maybe because they were such useless, tiny noises that made him seem far less intimidating.
"Who are you?" You finally put your hands down and took a few more steps back so you didn't have to lift your head up so high that it hurt your neck. You watched the man's skin stretch out around his mouth as he grinned, revealing his crooked, golden teeth that seemed to look pointy near the tips, like fangs. But you didn't wanna get too close to find out if they were. He bowed a bit, attempting to make himself eye-level with you while bringing his arm down to go under his chest.
"Dr. Victor Gideon.. At your service."