Anomaly Story

Wherever I looked, I saw nothing but darkness interrupted by the reddish glow of flashing lights. Maybe because I was alone, the hallways seemed colder than when I first arrived here, when the place was full of life. Now, everything felt simply dead, giving off a strange sense of abandonment.

I kept walking down the corridor until I reached a fork with three paths: one to the left, another to the right, and one straight ahead. To be honest, I have no idea where each one leads, but standing here definitely won't help me.

However, I wasn't completely lost. I looked at the wall, got closer, and opened a portal, diving back into the dark world. I began to "swim" until I emerged on the surface, well above the hallways.

I kept swimming upward until I reached a good height, then looked down. As I expected, I could see where the three paths led. The left one led to some kind of arsenal, where a few guards were present, arming themselves with all kinds of weapons they could find.

Although I didn't know exactly what was going on, it seemed pretty serious, considering the level of their weaponry. The corridor on the right led to a control room, and along the way, there were cut-up tentacles scattered across the floor—honestly, a repulsive sight. The tentacles had spikes and mouths where the suckers should be. Further down, I found the door to the control room, with about eight guards positioned in the corridor and at the entrance.

(Ah! So that's where they are. They seem fine, thank God. Honestly, if something happened to them, they'd probably make that old man my new caretaker... just thinking about it gives me the creeps. I don't know why, but I'm sure he's got some sinister plans in mind)

Inside the control room, Laura, Emily, and Victor were busy hurriedly organizing everything. Laura and Emily seemed focused on analyzing the situation, while Victor was preparing for something—he was stuffing his pockets with ammunition, which made me think this had something to do with the tentacles.

Finally, there was the path ahead, which seemed to lead to an exit—not the same one we came through, but another route out of this place. By the way, more of those tentacles were trying to invade, banging repeatedly against the door. Using my power to identify their weak point, I noticed a thin, glowing line in rainbow colors connecting the tentacles to something in the forest.

My first instinct was to follow this line to reach the main body of that thing, if I could even call it that. At least, the tentacles weren't its weak spot; even if we kept cutting them, that wouldn't stop whatever was behind them.

By the way, what kind of anomaly is this with tentacles as weapons? A giant octopus, maybe? I could imagine something like that, or at least something similar, but honestly, I don't even want to think about what this thing must look like, given how the tentacles appear.

Besides, Victor definitely seemed willing to go out and face the situation. Although he acted tough, the chance of him dying was pretty high. I wasn't underestimating him, just recognizing the facts. In the end, Victor was still human. Taking all this into account, I set my goal and swam toward the control room, where the others were.

***

(POV - Emily Parker)

Although Emily was somewhat used to irrational situations—after all, working with anomalies almost always led to abnormal and unscientific events—she had to admit that problems like this didn't usually happen so often. However, for some reason, it seemed like a new kind of problem cropped up every week, and in all of them, the little anomaly was always somehow involved.

"The situation isn't looking good. For now, we've managed to eliminate all those tentacles, but if more show up, we'll probably only be able to handle two more waves at most. After that, we're completely screwed"

Emily calmly listened to Victor's opinion, but although she kept a calm appearance, inside she was far from calm. The mere thought of those grotesque tentacles trying to grab her to devour her made her bones freeze, and she felt like she might vomit at any moment.

"We can't stay stuck here anymore. I can't contact the guards who were supposed to be watching the lake, so I have no idea what's going on. I don't even know if the lake is causing this. It's the first time I've seen anything like tentacles"

Emily could hardly identify the exact moment when things started to spiral out of control. It happened so fast that, before she could process it, tentacles appeared from all sides, trying to grab anything alive.

And the question that consumed her was: why so suddenly? There had been no sign of anomaly in the previous four months. So why, right after the arrival of the little anomaly? Although Emily didn't know exactly why, it wasn't like she didn't have an idea of who might be behind it.

(Graham, what the hell are you after with all this?)

Emily had no doubt that Graham was the one responsible for everything. If she stopped to think, it was him who, in the beginning, practically forced them to go to Base 17 with the little anomaly, using his authority and somehow convincing the council to back the decision.

"I hope the little anomaly is okay. I wonder if these tentacles are trying to get it"

Emily heard Laura's lament. To be honest, she was also worried about the little anomaly, but deep down, she knew she didn't have time to worry about others while she herself was still in danger.

"You don't need to worry about the little anomaly's safety, Laura. The containment room where it's being kept was originally designed to trap whatever that lake thing was, using the most resistant material we had at the time. It's probably safer than we are"

"I know, but... still..."

Laura seemed about to say something when suddenly, silence filled the room. Emily raised an eyebrow and turned to see what was happening. To her surprise, when she turned around, she saw something on the floor: a small head emerging from the surface. Its bright eyes were unmistakable. The head briefly scanned its surroundings before focusing on Emily. When the little creature tilted its head and blinked, Emily, almost involuntarily, mirrored the gesture.

"Little Anomaly! You came to save us again!"

Emily snapped out of her thoughts as she heard Laura's cheerful shouts, who, as usual, threw herself into a hug with the little anomaly. Although Emily also felt relieved by its presence, she couldn't shake the doubt of how exactly the anomaly had managed to escape.

(She may look bored, but she's never actually broken anything in the facility to try and escape. Besides, we replaced the glass since she broke it last time, and we reinforced the containment room a lot more... The only option left is that she used that ability I saw when she faced the [Skull Wolf])

Emily turned her gaze back to the little anomaly, who, as always, didn't seem to enjoy Laura's hug at all. As soon as she had a chance, the little anomaly quickly vanished into a body-sized portal that opened beneath her feet, reappearing next to Victor.

(With this, that's three different anomalous abilities now, including her eyes... But how many anomalous abilities does the little anomaly actually have?)

Although Emily was curious, she knew that the current situation wouldn't allow her to investigate this. Also, even if she believed the little anomaly could be useful, she understood that, in practice, the creature didn't fully comprehend human speech. However, something simple, like asking her to follow someone, was probably something she could manage.

Emily really didn't want to scare Victor, so she had kept quiet up until then. However, since her arrival, the little anomaly hadn't stopped staring at Victor, as if sulking over something. Interestingly, even though she was staring at the back of Victor's neck, he seemed focused on Laura, raising an eyebrow and his lips trembling as if he was about to say something.

"You know, I never mentioned this before, but it's really strange how you two keep calling her 'little anomaly'..."

Laura was the first to turn toward Victor, blinking her small eyes with a confused expression before breaking into a wide smile. Even to Emily, that smile seemed a bit odd.

"Hehe, you're just saying that because she won't let you call her that, right?"

Victor sighed at Laura's words. Emily wasn't much different: she knew that Victor didn't really care about how he referred to anomalies. In general, he called them "monsters" without exception, except for a few that he referred to by their assigned name.

"Actually, no... it's just that the name's kinda dumb. I'm sure I could come up with a much better name, something that wouldn't make her seem as harmless as she really is"

Laura pouted, crossing her arms. Some of her actions were, in a way, pretty childish, so to speak. Still, the names given were important because they helped identify the nature of each anomaly at first glance. In the end, even Emily was curious about the name Victor thought would be fitting for the little anomaly.

"Humpf, in that case, why don't you tell us the brilliant name you came up with?"

Victor put a hand to his neck for a moment before turning to face the little anomaly. They locked eyes for a few seconds, and then Victor's lips subtly moved as he started to speak.

"What do you think of [Angel of Death]?"

***

(POV – Protagonist)

(... what the hell is this guy talking about now?)

I ignored everything else in the base and came over here, but in the end, what do I get? A name that's clearly very specific to me, but in a negative way? What kind of weird view does Victor have of me to come up with something like that? Although, honestly, it's probably better than any name Laura would have given me.

But seriously, what the hell kind of nickname is that? I mean, I liked the "angel" part, but why did he have to add "death" at the end? I don't remember killing any humans since you guys found me, you know? That name isn't just because I ripped the heart out of that dog-anomaly in the forest when we first met, right? Victor, you're way more petty than I thought.

The worst part was that I couldn't deny the name since I couldn't speak. Or rather, is there really a way to speak? I don't have the organs for that, so my only alternative would be to somehow get a psychic anomalous power or something. But does such an anomaly even exist? Come on, anomaly, show yourself and let me talk.

"Humpf, really didn't like that name. Why put "death" at the end? That's totally the opposite of what our little anomaly really is... but I'll admit, I liked the "angel" part!"

No, seriously, why did I still have any hope in Laura? Aren't you supposed to be a scientist, Laura? Why do you always act like this when I'm around you? And why does no one comment on it? Is this normal? My God, I'm surrounded by crazy people here.

As I tried to process my new name, which I clearly had no say in, Emily approached, and when she got close enough, she crouched to be at my level. I blinked in her direction, not really sure why, but feeling like she was about to say something really serious.

I tilted my head slightly, watching Emily. She smiled and let out a soft laugh. I couldn't think of anything I'd done to make her laugh, but seeing how relaxed she seemed, I figured everything was fine. After all, the situation we were in was definitely not the best.