Hollow Dead-Shift:[1]
Chapter 1: Alive
INITIATION SEQUENCE – MARIAH
[FACILITY LOG: 00384-F – REACTIVATION WING]
The light came in pulses. Harsh, sterile, and cold.
Project 99 woke to a ceiling of flickering fluorescence, their eyes adjusting to the blurred reflections of themselves in the glass walls. Every breath felt thick. Their muscles ached as if they hadn't been used in years. No memories. Just instincts.
They were sitting on a cold slab, dressed in a gray uniform. Their head, bandaged up except their mouth. One by one, the lights buzzed to life, revealing the stark isolation of a containment chamber. The room was sealed in by glass—thick, soundproof. Behind it, scientists moved, gesturing, mouths moving.
They took off their clothes, not liking the design.
No sound.
The silence was louder than anything.
Then—click.
A red indicator blinked on the far wall. The chamber door creaked, unlocking with a low mechanical groan. Beyond it, darkness.
[BOOTING SYSTEM: T4BB13]
From a charging panel in the corner, a disc-shaped drone unlatched and hovered into view. A soft whir and digital chime echoed as it activated. The green glow of a screen lit up on its face, projecting a bright-eyed, cartoonish girl with bunny-ear antennae.
"Welcome to the shift, sweetheart~!"
The voice was far too cheerful for the setting.
"You're looking a lot more stable than Project 98. Poor guy couldn't handle the heat—or the claws. But you? You've got that something special."
Project 99 stared blankly at the floating screen.
"I'm T4BB13, but you can call me Tabbie. I'll be your AI assistant, recruiter, and emotional support unit. Your first assignment: kill everything that wants you dead. Which is… well, most of them."
The lights in the chamber dimmed. The door slid fully open, revealing a corridor smeared with grime and old blood. A rusted metal sign above flickered weakly:
CAFETERIA – SECTOR 3D
The smell of expired grease and something far worse drifted in. Tabbie floated alongside 99 as they stepped into the hall.
"You're heading toward Specimen 5. She runs this place now. Calls herself Mariah. Used to flip burgers here, before she flipped her humanity."
[OBJECTIVES LOADED]
☑ Make her a Meal
☑ Clean the Kitchen
☑ Fix the Generator
☑ Escape the Maze
Tabbie lowered her tone, the digital edges of her voice sharp.
"She wants dinner. You're the chef. And the dessert if you fail."
Task 1: The Meal
The diner was lit in a haunting neon green, flickering overhead like a dying jukebox. A stove sat in the corner, still warm. The ingredients—if they could still be called that—were rotting on shelves.
With shaking hands, 99 cooked:
Burnt burger, soggy fries, grayed nuggets, a moldy shake.
They placed it on the rusty serving counter.
A voice slithered through the air. Sweet. Sharp.
"Oh my~ You do know how to make a lady feel special."
Task 2: The Cleaning
The kitchen reeked of blood and bile. Rotten food, cracked bones, and what could only be described as leftovers were smeared across every surface.
99 grabbed a mop. Scrubbed. Gagged. Scrubbed again.
The smell clung to their skin. The blood wouldn't stop dripping from the walls—even after being wiped.
"Good help's so hard to find," Mariah cooed from somewhere unseen.
Task 3: The Generator
Deep below the diner, the generator room buzzed with dying energy. Sparking wires. Leaking fuel. It needed a full restart.
99 found a wrench beside a broken toolbox—rusty, but usable. They turned valves. Realigned wires. Tabbie pinged gently as the power surged back online.
"Nice work, 99! One more task to go. You're really knocking 'em dead—uh, figuratively."
Task 4: Hide and Seek
Back in the diner, the lights dimmed. A bell rang from behind the counter.
"Let's play a game, sugar~" came the voice. "Hide. I'll count."
Tabbie's voice whispered:
"Don't argue. Run. Now."
99 bolted through the exit, the double doors slamming behind them. Ahead was a maze, twisting metal halls filled with mirrors and flickering signage. Each turn felt wrong. The walls were too tight. The air was humid with her scent.
Footsteps echoed. Laughter bounced off steel.
"Five… six… seven…"
99 sprinted, wrench in hand. Tabbie blinked red.
"There! Elevator ahead!"
They reached it. Slammed the button. The elevator groaned as it rose. At the top—a twenty-foot door. Beyond it, daylight.
Freedom.
They pushed the metal open…
And there she was.
Boss Encounter: Mariah
Towering. Twisted. Skin split. Her limbs long and wet with blood. Her right arm had become a jagged blade of bone and tendon. Her eyes gleamed with hunger. The large metal doors were nothing more but crushed, broken.
"You made it through… I'm so proud."
With an animalistic shriek, she lunged—slamming into 99, pinning them against the platform.
Tabbie screamed, glitching.
"NO—!"
In desperation, 99 raised their arm—and something awoke.
A crackle. A pulse.
Their right hand transformed, a light orange spike of bone bursting forth. They drove it into her left eye.
Mariah screamed—shrill, monstrous.
Staggering backward, she clutched her face, lost her footing, then toppled over the railing.
"No—no—NO!"
Her voice echoed as she fell, deeper, deeper… until it was gone.
Silence.
99 stood, hand still trembling, the bone-spike retracting into skin.
Tabbie floated in slowly, scanning.
"…That wasn't in your files," she muttered. Then smiled nervously.
"I think you passed orientation."
[MARIAH: TERMINATED]
[NEW POWER: UNKNOWN — RIGHT-HAND PROTOCOL INITIATED]
The elevator door opened.
The next floor awaited.
And so did the next monster.
[1] This series was made in 2024.