"Fuck! "What in God's name?" The image was so awful that I took an instinctual step back.
The opening revealed a subterranean station that looked like something out of a horror movie. A disgusting, flesh-like substance was adhered to every visible surface—walls, floors, and even the ceiling—giving the space an unpleasant, unnatural feel.
The drone's infrared footage did not record colors, but even in black and white, the gruesome scene was chilling enough to send shivers down my spine. I could almost imagine what it would be like to stand in the heart of such a behemoth, the air thick with rot and, much worse, something alive.
The audio feed wasn't any better. The moist, squelching sounds of zombies plodding across the meaty floor were disgusting. Each step made a horrible sound, like bare feet pounding against raw meat. Worse, as they lifted their feet, they heard a sticky, sucking sound, as if the floor itself refused to let go. It was horrible beyond description.
"It looks like a lair. Maybe it belongs to that tall beast you fought last night, but we can't be certain," Ariella said, her voice firm despite the horror on the screen. "I'll move the drone forward; see where they're headed."
She expertly guided the drone through the bizarre landscape, dodging around the slow-moving undead. It quickly reached the station's deep depths, where large stairways had crumbled, revealing what appeared to be a concealed base underground.
Then we saw it.
The flesh pulsated. It truly moved, expanding and shrinking in time, as if it were breathing. I got shivers when I realized that this monster was living. Bones jutted out like monstrous support beams, contributing to the eerie atmosphere. Tendrils of the same slimy material stretched down from the ceiling, winding around unwary zombies and carrying them into the darkness above.
Ariella and I watched in stunned silence as the 'living' monstrosity absorbed its own kind. The trapped zombies were broken down—limbs fusing into the walls, their blood and flesh becoming part of the grotesque network.
Just how many people had been sacrificed to build this thing?
And more importantly… why?
We soon got our answer.
The drone's camera panned out, revealing the true horror of this place. The zombies moved methodically, drawn toward a massive, gaping hole that resembled the mouth of some ancient, slumbering beast. Rows of jagged, irregular teeth lined its cavernous opening, making it appear like a grotesque larva, waiting to feed.
At first, we thought it was merely consuming them.
We were wrong.
Ariella adjusted the feed, and that's when we noticed it—a second opening at the other end of the creature.
"Wait a second... that's not just a feeding pit," Ariella whispered. "There's another exit on the opposite side."
The horrific reality sank into my gut like a lead weight.
"It's not just eating them. It's—" I swallowed and felt bile rise in my throat. "It's transforming them."
The zombies emerging from the other end were not the same as those that entered. Their limbs had stretched, their stance had changed, and their motions were unusually quick—too fast.
It struck me like a freight train.
"This... it's forcefully evolving them!" I almost yelled, my heart pounding against my ribs. "It's turning them into the fast ones—the same kind I fought last night!"
Ariella remained mute as her circuits processed the atrocity before us. This type of organic engineering should have been impossible. The intelligence required to construct such a system—one that adapted, evolved, and recycled life itself—was beyond our comprehension.
She had no idea what had happened to this planet, but in just a few days, she had witnessed things that challenged her understanding of biology and technology. Even with her semi-organic AI brain, the thought of such a complex mutation was unnerving. The ingenuity behind it surpasses even the achievements of her homeworld.
"I don't know how it's doing it, but it's elevating these creatures to a higher state," she told me. "This amount of adaptation is unprecedented in nature. "If this continues, we could be in serious trouble."
I did not need to hear that. I knew we were in deep.
If these things were mutating at this rate, how long before something considerably worse appeared? How long before they were pushing themselves beyond not only physical but also mental limits? What if something evolved that was not only swift or strong, but also intelligent?
Ariella's silence indicated that she was thinking the same horrible prospect.
Then the drone feed faltered.
The huge, worm-like thing in the heart of the lair convulsed, its ugly form shaking. Several slits opened around its lips, revealing something even more unsettling: luminous, lidless eyes.
And they were staring directly at us.
"Fuck! It spotted us!" I shouted.
"That is impossible! The drone is shrouded and silent. Even by human standards, detection should be beyond its capabilities. Ariella's voice was full of uncertainty.
"You're forgetting something," I murmured, my heart beating in my ears. "That thing left humanity behind a long time ago."
Before she could react, a shadow moved across the screen.
The feed switched to static.
"Shit!" I threw my fist into the console. "What the hell was that?"
Ariella was already scanning the remaining information. "It must have used a frequency outside our range of detection," she said quietly. "Our sensors are set for human perception, but these objects may have developed beyond that. If it used echolocation like bats but at lower frequencies, we would never have caught it."
She was correct. And that means it had been aware of the drone long before we were.
"What about the black shadow that destroyed it?" she inquired.
I shake my head. "I'm not sure, and I don't want to find out. Right now, we must warn those folks. If this creature spreads its new mutations, the entire area will be overwhelmed. You can leisurely examine the feed to determine the answer."
"What? Are you really still thinking about them? We have to find a way out of here! A peaceful location where we may recover and prepare our next steps!"
And we were at odds again. Another ideological war against imminent disaster. But while we argued, neither of us noticed the impending disaster beyond our screens.
The factions closing in had no idea what they were getting into.
By the time they realized… it would already be too late.