The Disparate One

Cal glared down, his glow covered the entirety of Ray’s paling face. He didn’t speak immediately. He glanced into the large room made out of glass. The holograms floating near the desk shone bright with vivid colors and clear voices. One of which was dangerously familiar. He returned his gaze to Ray.

“What are you doing here?” asked Cal when sounds of marching came from the corridor.

“I was trying to give myself a tour around the facility, quite large really,” answered Ray, keeping still despite seeing a pair of guards coming out from the hall, marching down the staircase.

Though, it apparently didn’t change Cal’s face. Cal explained that it was very odd for someone like Ray to be here even though the elevators didn’t reach this far down. He even added that the only way for someone to get here was down the elevator shafts, where Ray came. Add the fact that this place was hidden on the map.

This sparked curiosity in Cal. But it wasn’t just Cal who was having suspicions, Ray was having one as well. How did Cal know he was here out of all places? How did Cal even know this place existed if he claimed this was hidden?

The pair of guards stationed near the only way out. Ray kept his gaze at Cal who was waiting for his defense.

“Strange to see both of us here,” said Ray nonchalantly. He kept his mouth shut when he thought about the chip in his pocket.

Cal knew what Ray meant to say. His eyes widened before swiftly turning around to the guards. Ray remained confusedly silent. Out of nowhere, Cal spun back around and kicked Ray on his chest, sending him back into the room, rolling across the floor, and hitting the console with his head.

Cal stomped towards him, the guards remained in their position. Ray grunted from the pain, it felt like his skull cracked like an egg. His vision blurred and spun around him. He could still see the hazy figure of Cal. He tried standing up but he was easily pinned on the floor when Cal kicked his stomach, then his head, nearly knocking him out. Ray coughed and wheezed. Strings of saliva sprung out.

Cal decided kicking him wasn’t enough. He raised his right foot and smashed Ray’s left leg with a loud crack. Ray squealed, veins protruding.

Ray heavily gasped on the floor as he stared at the gold feet. He knew fighting him was no good. It was metal versus flesh. He felt the freezing hands pressed on his face and lifted him, forcing to look at those golden eyes of death.

“This time, I’ll make sure you’ll die!” Cal delivered his final blow to Ray’s face, sending the light out of him. His body laid unconsciously on the floor.

He summoned one of his guards and tasked it to take Ray away for good. He threatened the guard that he would execute him on the spot if he ever saw Ray’s face again, whether outside or inside the facility. The guard nodded and Cal watched the body get dragged out. The two guards left him alone.

Cal gradually looked back to the room as he stood before the console, seeing the numerous, different videos scattered around. He had been working here for decades and yet he had never seen anything like this. He found this place a long time ago. He couldn’t open the door despite trying to pry it open with their prying tools. Until now.

Thanks to Ray.

He removed Oxford’s name on the search bar and placed his own. An evil grin grew on his face.

Ray regained his consciousness for a moment. He found himself sliding across the floor. No. Being dragged across the floor. He tried wiggling or weighing himself down to create friction, but it was impossible. His vision remained unclear as if he went out and had drinks with Oxford again. His vision blackened eventually.

He didn’t know how long he was out when he awakened in a frosty and putrid, absolute dark place. He no longer had his general hat with him. The first thing that came to his mind was he was brought to the facility’s garbage disposal. He could hear flies buzzing around in harmony, having a feast. His hands searched the floor, within seconds, both were covered with unknown slimy substances with the same horrible smell. It nearly brought everything Ray ate in his life back out.

His head turned sideways when his ears picked up noises from the distance. It sounded like a machine, roaring, followed by a series of clinks and clanks and clinging chains. All echoed faintly.

Carefully, he lifted himself to his feet but regretted it afterward when he was reminded by the soft sounds of cracks from his left leg. A few tears dropped from his eyes when he crashed on the floor. Teeth grinding, he lifted himself again, but this time, shifting all his weight on his right foot. He did his best to ignore the pain as it wiggled about when he began to move.

His heart stopped when he suddenly heard someone’s voice piercing through the darkness.

“Help me! Please!”

Ray’s ears directed him to a certain direction, which he guessed by the clarity and intensity. His eyes narrowed when he inched towards the noise. Unfortunately, his right foot caught on something, sending him back to the ground with a tiny plash. A few drops reached his mouth. He spat them immediately.

He was about to get back up when a bright beam of light appeared in the middle of the darkness as if the gods above decided to show up. Finally, he could see! He could see something in the far distance. He could see someone!

He squirted for a moment then shot wide. The figure looked weak. Its body was covered with red liquid. It was blood. How? Surrounding the figure were numerous body parts! Piled on top of one another!

Ray covered his mouth when he could suddenly feel his stomach growling. He quickly remembered where his hands had been. He nearly puked again.

Then, the sounds of a machine roared nearby and approached the light. It slid out of the wall of darkness, revealing itself as a giant claw fixed to an arm that was attached to a railing. A rotating set of harpoons revolved around the arm.

Ray gasped when he caught one of the harpoons fired. Its javelin zipped and punctured the figure with ease. They shouted in pain and began to gurgle right after. Ray wanted to look away, but his mind forced him otherwise.

The body was dragged away across the floor scattered with bodies like a mop. The beam of light vanished. Their scream for mercy was consumed by the darkness. Ghost-silence returned.

Ray’s fingers gyrated in fear when the scene ended. What was this place? He wanted to convince himself that this was only a dream and he would wake up eventually. All of these must be hallucinations.

Once regaining a few bits of himself, Ray returned to hobble, hoping to find a way. Every time his foot bumped onto something every inch of progress, he was reminded by the sight of decomposing body parts. He shook his head when his mind asked, from whom these belonged?

He bravely ventured in one direction for minutes. The same direction where he last saw the claw drag the body. He continued to move when he passed someone whispering in a different language, gurgling as well. He closed his eyes, hoping to wake up in Chap’s laboratory, drugged, or back in his own quarter.

Eventually, while Ray was waving his hands around in front of him, he suddenly felt a tall flat surface. He was somehow relieved to sense something new. He assumed he ended up in a wall, which could be a good thing. He kept himself near it as he slid across the darkness. Finally, after what seemed to take forever, he found a flickering, faint, orange light far away. He could hear numerous machines hissing and humming. He inhaled deeply, wishing it wasn’t the claw-with-harpoons.

He cautiously approached the orange light.

Ray’s hair on his skin slowly stood up when he sensed warmth. When he got to the light, he found a door with a window on it. It was covered with thick dust. More like ashes. His hands fiddled around when he grasped the handle, turned it, and the door swung heavily open with deep hums. He passed the hidden sign above that said “Food Processing Section - I”.

The putrid smell was gone, however, he was greeted with scorching heat. It felt like he returned to the burning penthouse. He raised his hand above his eyes and squinted through the harsh lights. There were loud noises of crackling, boiling, and other sounds which reminded him of Fier’s cooking.

Then, an alarm went off followed by deafening bangs. Ray glanced at his back when he found out that the door where he came from was a part of another larger door that was sliding open. He hurriedly limped behind a giant humming container when something large screeched through the path.

A giant locomotive dashed in front of him. At first, he thought it was similar to the one they used to travel from the facility to New York, until he inspected further. It was a cargo locomotive with long cars of containers with their tops filled to the brim with… dangling body parts. The putrid smell returned.

He stayed in his place while he watched each container open its doors underneath, unloading the body parts to a flowing pool below. Ray looked through the grating, watching individual bodies swim around as if they were clothes in a washing machine. The bodies were then moved to a set of conveyor belts, one of which ended on top of a funnel connected to a thumping machine.

The locomotive chugged away once all containers were empty, leaving Ray befuddled in the boiling heat. His sweat fizzled on his skin as he kept his eyes on the large conveyor belt from the banging machine. He inched towards it, seeing fifty red patties on each row passing in front of him. His eyes narrowed by the sight while following the conveyor to a large tub of bubbling oil.

The patties were submerged and re-emerged at the other side, all of them were slightly brown. He continued to walk alongside the conveyor belt, watching a machine season the patties and flipping them over, seasoning them again, and cooking them.

Then, when the conveyor brought the patties upwards, it finally dawned on him. He glanced in another direction, seeing the same line of process, but the product was sausages. He found another line, the product was steak. Seconds later, he found himself standing on a catwalk where he could oversee the entire area. All these bodies… were being turned into something edible!

Who would eat such a thing?! Ray thought, keeping his vomit at bay. He returned to the conveyor belts moving straight up.

He used the catwalks built around them, following them, eager to know where they would end up. He struggled walking up with only one foot. But, the higher he went, the colder the air got. Soon, after a world-breaking number of steps, he found the conveyors going through the ceiling. At the top of the stairs was a metal door with a green exit light flashing above it.

His mind was immediately filled with joy. He jumped up the stairs and pushed the door, but it wouldn’t budge. He pushed himself against it again, nothing happened. He rolled his eyes when he suddenly thought about it.

This was easy.

Ray raised a brow and gave a doubtful look when he gazed at the exit sign. He found a scanner next to the door. It was covered in dust and when Ray pressed his hand on it, nothing happened. He tapped it, and when he furiously wiggled it, the entire device popped out of its place. He murmured and rolled his eyes at himself.

Seconds later, he smacked his head when he found a lever on the opposite side of the door where above it was a sign that said “Turn to unlock door”. He did and the door suddenly clicked. He pushed the door and it easily swung open.

Bright lights and polluted air, together with roaring wheels and honking vehicles greeted Ray when he walked out. He was in an alleyway filled with funnels of steam and crazy graffiti artworks.

The door closed shut behind him, followed by the sounds of its locks. He didn’t know if he should be happy or traumatized. He kept a straight face despite walking over a puddle where he caught an image of himself. With blood all over him, dangling left foot, putrid smell, and wearing a white general uniform, it would be impossible to not get someone’s attention.

He did some shopping in one of the nearby dumpsters and found some ripped, oversized clothes. He appreciated their smell of trash. After putting them on and making sure his appearance was mostly covered, he walked out of the alley and flowed with the crowd. A bubble of space formed around him. When he crossed the street, he looked around and found out where he came from.

It was a fast-food restaurant. Its burger mascot was familiar, especially the logo. Ray burped and began to barf at the sight. He refused to believe he came out of that! No wonder he found one of its stores empty long ago!

No wonder it was called CanniBurger!