After receiving a delivery call, a pizza man arrived at an old factory still undergoing renovations. He pulled his old pizza car into the broken down sidewalk and stepped out. His car blew fumes from the front hood, but he figured he'd worry about the old dark green vehicle after he made his delivery.
He recollected someone telling him to get rid of the car, though attempting to recall who specifically said it proved to be futile since dozens of others had told him the same. "Those other cars are too fancy for me, besides have you seen the price on those things?! It's not worth it, I'm living fine with what I have." He sighed, as he remembered telling a customer that very line earlier that day. Even if he could afford a newer car one day, he wouldn't change the one he has.
It has gone through a lot with him. It has never once stopped him from making deliveries. "It's also why you don't have a girlfriend and never will." The customer joked after receiving his order. The pizza delivery man laughed along with him though he found the comment cruel. "I wouldn't want a chick like that anyway!" He's told himself these things time and time again. It somehow always went back to that. It wasn't like he hadn't heard it a thousand times from his own mother. Never did he buy into the notion of love often sold by movies and people who only sought money while regurgitating the same lines.
"Someday when I open my own pizza shop, I'll eat all the cheese I want!!! AHAHAHAHAHA!" He happily nodded, stepping onto the sidewalk. "The best delivery guy, soon to turn pro! I can see it now, the pizza king on hundreds of billboards!" He spaced out, with a wide smile at the thought of himself with a crown and numerous women around him.
"OH YEAAAAAH!!! MY PIZZA'S ALL OVER THE PLACE! CHEESE HERE, CHEESE THERE!" He proudly pointed to himself, envisioning the thousands of pizzas he'll supply neighborhoods all around. All the smiling faces he'd put on many people of all ages. They'd swarm him with unconditional love, he shaked his hips side to side, too giddy for his own good. There was no delivery he couldn't complete. He'd deliver everywhere, even if the place were a rundown factory outside the city. He tilted his head up to the cloudy sky, as an ominous wind passed by. Chills grazed his arm, but he paid no mind to the goosebumps. He carried on towards his intended destination.
The delivery man took in the cold air that entered his nostrils. He adjusted his cap and realized that it was snowing in the area up ahead. "It's spring, why is it snowing over here?" He scanned for anything or anyone, but there wasn't anyone in sight. Just lines of dead, black trees. Tilting his head up, he noticed a greyish light coming out from the top of the factory. "One of the infirmirators must be busted," he guessed, only to shrug it off. "Oh well, not my business. I'm just here to deliver this pizza, onnnnly me."
He figured there was no point in questioning. He just had to do his job and leave. The order was for hard working men like himself. He built up his courage. He'd get it over with and return to the cozy pizza shop he had worked in ever since dropping out of high school eight years back. The pizza delivery man made his way to the old fence that was just a few feet away from his car. He moved it back and squeezed through with the pizza below his arm. It took him a moment to get the pizza box through properly, but after a few tugs he did so and walked through the snowy terrain on foot, as the sun finished coming down.
He could see the factory in the distance as he avoided the piles of snow and took a path that had a trail of footsteps leading to the entrance. There were random construction tools and other devices laid out in the area, seemingly unused. "How long have they been there? No one here either." Snow was stacked on top of the construction vehicles.
Judging from the distance, he guessed it'd take him five minutes to reach the entrance. An uneasy feeling spread all throughout his body as he got closer and closer to the front gate. "Maybe... I'll leave the pizza at the top step. Or actually, let me call to let them know I'm out here, so they can come out and get it."
The pizza man brought out his phone and tried calling the number of the construction worker who had made the order. In the distance, he heard ringing faintly. Oddly enough, it rang for twenty seconds yet wasn't answered. He hung up and tried again. Once more, the ringing seemed to be coming from the entrance area.
"You've gotta be kidding me." He gripped his phone. "That's the oldest trick in the book... thinking he's gonna get a free pizza out of me by not answering?! Think again!" He stomped about four feet, only to stop. "On second thought... what if it's a setup?"
"Aw, come on don't be a wuss. If you made a delivery to Jisatsu Forest, you can do it here, too. It's just up ahead, let's do this!" His knees shook weakly, but he adjusted his hat and continued on. Each step, he felt his stomach burbling. "Maybe there's a bathroom inside? I'll use it before leaving," he kept talking to himself to fill the awkward silence until he made it to the entrance gates.
The gates had developed moss over the once golden ridges. "How long has this place been down?" he asked himself, taking a look up at the gigantic sign that read "Fillies Factory." "So it's a candy factory?" He shrugged and pushed past the gates, which were now wide open.
He went up to the entrance and knocked. Three loud bangs, with no reply. The door creaked backwards. Seeing this, he found it odd, but decided he'd go in and inspect the area. He couldn't return back to the pizza shop with a failed order. Not to mention that he spent money on fuel for the car. "Where are all of the hard working men?" he asked loudly, with chuckles, but no one responded back.
"Yeahhhhh, this is the part in the movie when the character should run, but he goes inside anyway, right? I'm an idiot. I'm too lame to be in a movie, but that'd be awesome," he thought. "Let me call that phone again, maybe he'll pick up this time."
The pizza man, for the third time, made the call. This time, the ringing was much louder, so he followed the sound... right to his feet. Right in front of him, the phone laid with its screen slightly cracked.
Although his fear of the big place grew by the second and his whole body told him to run, he stayed still, not daring to move another inch. Just then, he heard a slam behind him and flinched, only to realize it was the wind whipping the door back and forth. Reassuring himself that nothing was off, he entered the darkened place. Dust particles littered the corridor ahead as if frozen in time. Suddenly, a nauseating smell smacked him across the face, prompting him to cover his nose and pass through quickly. He heard squeaking, and wondered exactly how hardworking men could possibly eat in such a place.
Up ahead, a bright light shined down. It seemed welcoming and familiar. A sense of relief washed down on him. He happily approached the light, stepping into the lobby. The radiant lights blinded him momentarily, so he took a moment to adjust his sight.
Once he finally opened them, he noted that something rushed behind him. It felt like it was crawling up his back, so he reached over and tapped his back, only to realize nothing was there.
"Agh! What the?" He smacked his free hand to his back, moving it along his shoulders as far as he could. He didn't feel anything. Just to make sure, he twisted his head back, and froze. His skin turned a pale blue for a second, as he caught a glimpse of a shadow mixing in with the darkened hallway he had just been walking through.
"Hehe, this place must have a really bad rat problem. That rat's shadow almost gave me a heart attack." He laughed nervously and picked his hat up, which had been knocked off when he looked back. He reached over to lift it, only to see that its orange color darkened as it laid over a puddle of red.
He tripped backwards and fell down on the dusty carpet. His first thought was to rush out through the darkened hallway, but the entrance door that he had left open was now closed. A strong breeze blew against it, coming from an old dirty windowsill from the upper right corner. For a second time, he could have sworn he spotted a face past the windowsill.
"Okay, okay... first the snow, then not picking up my calls, and now this? Was I pranked into coming all the way over here? I swear if it was a group of lousy teens again... you know what!? Someone's paying for this pizza!" He stood back up, upset, but his anger turned back to fear.
In retrospect, he should have turned tail instead of attempting to deliver the pizza, but he never had to run from an order. All his hard work would be thrown down the drain if he did that. Though he could always come back another time, he quickly argued with himself and decided to bolt, but soon realized that escaping the place was futile.
Everytime he walked towards the hallway, he looked down to his legs and saw that he was walking in place. He hadn't gotten anywhere. Shadows shifted along the metallic entrance door that was at the end of the hall. He took a step back and twisted his head around. "Crap, this place is too creepy. I have to get out! Exit, EXIT!"
Just as he saw an exit sign with a red arrow and was going to run for it, he heard a faint "Hello."
What kind of person could speak so softly? Only a child. It had to belong to a child. The hello was weak. In his head, he imagined the worst scenario, being that it was a little girl who had been wounded, lost in the factory or maybe even kidnapped. Anything was possible nowadays. He considered turning around to look in the direction of the voice. "But what if I get attacked?" he thought.
He argued in his head whether he should or shouldn't look back, until he finally turned around. To his surprise, it wasn't a child. Instead, it was a young woman, who seemed no more than twenty.
"I should have turned around sooner!" His mouth nearly dropped along with his glasses, but he caught them and nervously placed them back on. The fumes that blew out of his nose floated up, fogging up his glasses as the area seemed to grow cold. His cheeks instantly turned red. She had on what seemed to be a nun's outfit that accentuated her curves. He could see that under the nun cap she wore, she had light purple hair that appeared silky. The light shining from the snowy sky made its way down around them, complementing her.
"Wow..." She looked completely innocent. All he could see was a young woman who might need help finding her way out of the factory, like him. Yet, she seemed completely fine, especially with the smile she had on.
"What could a young woman like her be doing all the way out in a factory? A trap? Or a cult?!" He felt his heart pound against his chest, accelerating at his thoughts.
"You've got one new voice message." The sound of his phone startled the pizza man, causing him to almost fall over as he brought his phone out and saw that the voicemail was from the very phone of the man that had ordered the pizzas. He excused himself for a second and pressed play. The voice message lasted for seven seconds of a man screaming. "AGHHHBKD AGHBHBHHABHA ACKKKK!!!" The traumatizing shrieks ended abruptly along with the voice message.
He looked down to the sticky note on the pizza box. "Factory under renovation, one box of pizza for a group of hard workers." His eyebrow raised. He hadn't really noticed the note until that moment. "For a group of hard workers... only one box?" The creepiness of this order set in. "Why didn't I notice before?! I should have asked if they wanted more." On the note, there was a second number.
The pizza man quickly reached into his pocket nervously, nearly dropping the phone in the process. He dialed that number, only for the ring to come from the girl that was just a few feet from him.
He looked at her stomach, where the ringing came from. "Huh!?" His sight became hazy, as he started to feel sick. "Why? Is my hearing okay?" Rather than question, he told himself it was time to go.
The young woman spoke softly a second time. "Uh... excuse me."
The pizza man blinked, his attention setting on her face. She had an unsettling smile. "Yes...? Sorry. I came to deliver a pizza, but it doesn't seem like there are any workers, so I'll just have to excuse myself. BYE!" With that, he turned his back to her.
An unnaturally wide grin formed along her face, releasing black smoke that spiraled past her shoulders. The woman's smirk curved upwards, straight to the ends of her ears as the delivery guy's heart throbbed in desperation. A strong urge to escape overcame him. Now he missed the sun and it's warm sunlight out of all things. Her head cocked back, and from it, black smoke poured out, taking irregular forms.
"WHY ME?! I'M NOT LOOKING FOR TROUBLE!" He screamed within. His sight became distorted for a moment. He found himself trembling under the haunting gaze of the woman before him. Her black attire shifted to a shining red as her eyes enlarged abnormally. To make it worse, he became frozen under her glowing golden eye that mixed with a salmon-like color. The eye soon disappeared behind the black smoke that had been amassing around him. He suddenly felt his balance tip, as if someone had swept his feet.
He fell over, but caught himself. He didn't understand what happened and looked over only to see... his right foot circled around in loops that traveled around his neck. He was being choked by his own leg. "AGGGHHHH!" He struggled with it until it spasmed back and he glanced down to see that it was now missing.
Hot blood stained his hairy stump and red tainted his tattered jeans. His eyes widened and he screamed, twisting his sight away from the horrific sight of his missing leg. Before he knew it, the black smoke formed into three large monstrosities that could only be described as some variation of massive wolves.
Their golden eyes all glued to him. To his horror, one of the three was devouring what seemed to be his foot, while the others neared closer for another attack. The black smoke all around further prevented his mobility. His shrieks rang out through the lobby, passing through many of the corridors. All the pleading, no one to help in his time of need. Only he could help himself.
"What's all the screaming for?" A voice echoed, coming from the top floor. A sliver of hope cast high over him. An individual walked hurriedly to the staircase that led down to the center lobby. Each of his hurried footsteps made the metallic floor below his feet vibrate until he had stepped onto the marble floor.
"Silence!" The individual spoke in a stern, demanding voice. When he said this, the pizza man found that his scream for help had been silenced. He continued to scream, but it was inaudible over the blizzard that started to brew outside of the factory. Though he soon realized that not even he himself was making noise; his voice, simply empty. Hopelessness sunk in, as that last dwindling hope extinguished.
The female turned over to a tall slanky gentleman that had on a bloodied coat. The pizza man managed to only see a zipper at the top of the individual's head, as the rest of his body and even his clothes, all had spiralled lines going down.
Tears blew through the pizza man's eyes and snob erupted from the pizza man's nose. "Am I going to die? Grandma, no..." In a complete state of panic, he couldn't fathom what he got himself into, only that he had to get away as fast as possible. He flopped back on his back and wormed his way backwards, clawing into the carpet, refusing to be dragged off, but they all lunged onto his back, breaking apart into gooey monstrosities that tore simultaneously into him.
"Oh dear... Seilei, you stained the carpet again. Just when we cleaned up, too." The being ran his hand across the top of his padded head, glancing down to her.
"What do you want me to say, Konbasa? That I'll clean it up? Not happening, hehe. Keep luring them here and that carpet won't stay clean." Seilei shrugged, nipping at the tip of her index finger before swinging it towards him with a faint pout. "And that's very reckless. Do you want to get us caught? Ugh, I swear..." she further complained, not that Konbasa bothered to reply with as much energy.
He softly replied, explaining himself. "Ease up a little. I couldn't resist. I gave the place a call for some... now toppled pizza." He shot a glance to the overturned box, disappointed. "And after I called, I tossed the phone away. One of your Shikis ate it, hm? You made yourself a fine meal out of those who were working in this section of the factory. You got your fill, I haven't."
"We don't have that much time left at this location. If the master gets word of this..." Seilei faced away, worried. She contemplated the possibility of being found earlier than anticipated.
Konbasa lifted his head up, as if speaking to the empty dark ceiling. "Oh well. Mormur, take the rest to the boiler room. I'm headed there later. So much work, so much work. I wanna finish in time for my break." Konbasa disappeared out of view with his words.
The monstrous entities twisted their heads up and broke apart into smoke that steadily seeped back into the ends of Seilei's lips. She watched a being manifest. "Mormur," Seilei said, after drawing in the last of the black smoke. This being silently floated to the partially eaten body of the pizza man. The remains floated up towards a hidden stairwell.
Seilei shrugged to herself. "Never any casual chit-chat." She shook her head and went off to the long stairwell at the center of the dusty lobby. She began making her way to the top step, where she was greeted by another fellow, less sinister looking.
"Dredger! Is the manufacturing going smoothly? I came back real quick to check up," she said, as she twisted the tip of her pony tail up across her lips.
"Yes, marvelously! All thanks to you, of course. I would have never dreamt of having it up in just a month! Production is going even better than planned. Tonight, another wave will be finished without fail!" he answered, sliding his hands behind his back.
"You're welcome," a third voice echoed through. The two glanced at a fellow walking up the steps. He had on a helmet with an odd swan design spread over the front and was accompanied by a fourth, who had a smirk as he puffed away inhaled smoke.
"Oh, Neifer? And our client?" Seilei gasped, surprised.
"Seilei, shouldn't you be out with the others? There's still much to do tonight. Strict business that has to be completed," Neifer reminded her in a cold tone.
"Yeah! You see... I wanted a little break. I've done sooo much already, but I'll get back to it. Thanks for reminding me, master. I expect a reward from you later tonight." She nervously giggled and took flight, leaving Neifer with the other two.
Finding his moment, the businessman cleared his throat after drawing a smoke. He adjusted the silver pipe he had between his lips. "About those papers, what prog-"
"As you can tell, everything is in order, Mr. Burke. You'll have your papers soon enough like we discussed; if you want, you can even leave in advance and we'll send it to you."
"Great, I wouldn't expect any less from the Bakufu, hahaha! I'll stay to have them in hand, so I'll be keeping you company until tomorrow night." His laughter quickly died down, replaced by a crazed look as he rubbed his belly. "A friendly reminder: you and those bottom-feeding Strays better do a good job or I'll have your asses!"
"I assure you-" Neifer paused when he heard the businessman speak over him.
"I'm concerned for good reason. Those damn Ikigai of the Hachi are too skilled not to find this raggedy place. I don't want any mistakes, CAPISCE?!"
"Don't worry, the head Rikutos of the Hachi are gone."
"Even so, I wouldn't put it past those dogs to find this place," Mr. Burke broke out into a pace, going back and forth, visibly nervous.
"Don't worry, we have everything covered. Go rest in the office. Your trip here was long, and sneaking here must have been stressful enough as," Neifer said, giving off a menacing vibe that shut the nervous businessman up. "You should have sent someone else in your stead."
"No, Noivern wanted me here... but nevermind that. For your sake, have those papers here by tomorrow night. Oh, I almost forgot, get the girl, too. That little sh*t evaded me long enough, and I hate it when I'm ignored!"
"You're turning red, please lower your tone. Right this way," said a Stray who entered. Mr. Burke turned over and was led back up to the office where he'd relax.
Neifer waited until the sound of the businessman's hurried steps died. Once it did, he sighed. "Dredger..." He brought his attention to the other being beside him who quietly observed the exchange. "We still have much work to do. How are things on the production side?"
"It's all well, follow me to the boiler room." Dredger flapped his white, bloodied coat aside, skimming his fingers along his turtleneck long sleeve. Neifer glanced at the blood that splattered on the ground, then followed him down a series of hidden stairwells until they found themselves inside of a steamy room.
Wires covered the walls all around, most torn, as the passage of time was evident in the molds. Within the narrow space they got through, a horrid stench washed up against them, though neither noticed due to being used to the smell of corrosion and death. Thick heaps of gas blinded them momentarily as they maneuvered through the many pipelines until they arrived at a clear opening. Up ahead, a series of capsules hovered along the walls of the dimly lit room. An old television provided the little lighting available, as its static expanded out, past them.
Dredger pointed over to the capsules. Each had a long see-through tube hooked at their side. These tubes spread over to a boiling red pool that had steaming water constantly being pumped into it and heated up to intense boiling degrees for the capsules. Neifer strolled over to one of the capsules and peeked inside, where a series of human limbs floated around inside. "It's to have them cleaned..." Dredger spoke up.
"Hmm... an interesting process you have going here. I haven't seen it for myself," Neifer observed carefully.
"I know, right!? Isn't it beautiful?" Dredger exclaimed. "Over there, we've got the tables. I put the construction workers to good use. They're such hard workers..." Dredger pointed over to the center of the room, where there were over two dozen irregular humanoid shapes.
The now mutated construction workers, all sat around the two long conveyor belts, breaking apart the human bodies that passed them as their souls weeped, begging for death. A number of dismembered parts belonging to the slain pizza man.
"Mhm, nice use. The others are sure to bring more without being captured. And those Setsus haven't the slightest clue. Soon enough... we'll be reunited, my darling," Dredger thought aloud. "I'm back, and this time, my revolution will not fail. It'll expand everywhere, and you'll have it all, my sweetie. The Tensei has no chance of stopping me!" Dredger dramatically raised his hands up, relishing the future he envisioned. The static from the old television continued to fuzz over, momentarily darkening before lighting up again.
Meanwhile, Neifer brought out a watch and checked the holographic numbers that it released. "4,401 and counting..."