The searing pain cleared away the haze.
I could feel myself slipping back into obscurity, lulled by by an incessant whisper.
Yet the sweet scent of iron kept me anchored.
I had been dispatched in secrecy to the edges of the Orion Sector to investigate a hostile facility.
My body felt alien to me, and when raising my gaze to the reflective wall bordering this infinite white room, there was only a monstrous figure lumbering over the scattered remains of a man, gnawing at its bisected upper body.
Sharp fangs kept tearing into flesh and bone while blood dripped from elongated scythes hanging above two hands holding prey in place. A gaping hole reached the interiors of the head, as a discarded rifle now lied pooling crimson.
The whisper had risen to a distorted scream compelling me to sink.
Lifting one hand, the dense muscles twitched as a nail began to poke into the wound before it healed.
With a snap, the scream stopped, replaced by blaring alarms and the distinct echo of footsteps beyond the wall.
With a wet squelch, the claws released the body to the ground and the monster in the glass rose, pale gray skin and dark crimson carapace fading into the surroundings before the doors opened a gateway into this blank space marred by carnage.
Guns raised, several men stepped slowly beyond the threshold unaware of the beast towering above them. As they recoiled before the sight, an acrid scent started to drift in this enclosed space.
A chill ran down my spine, to the tip of a bladed tail.
Hunger.