Elian. 

Blood. Again.

I pushed harder with the mop, scrubbing the floor clean. The red stain had dried into the tile making it nearly impossible to remove. It was probably from another training accident or maybe worse but it doesn't matter. 

My job wasn't to ask questions. 

Once I made sure to clean the blood, I moved to the other room. The cart behind me, creaked, wheels sticking to the floor like they didn't want to follow. Annoying. The sharp flicker of a bulb in a dimly lit room, made my eyes twitch. 

Nothing new except the fresh blood that hadn't been there yesterday.

I began mopping. I wore the same oversized uniform as yesterday, the same batch, almost faded. "ELIAN ROOK. 26. Maintenance." 

I am just a cleaner. A nobody. 

The gifted passed through sometimes, their boots barely touching the ground, I mean it. Literally. Some of them hovered like they couldn't even stand on the same floor that I am working on everyday. Not once they looked at me. 

That's good. I don't want their attention, anyway. 

I know what happened to the ones that got it. Jay, a fellow worker of mine, bumped into a gifted once. A new one - I believe. Jay dropped screaming in pain, bleeding from nose and ears and died. No one helped, not even tried. The facility hid his death perfectly, only the 4 people in the room along with me and the gifted knew. 

Jay's body was gone in under 3 minutes, so are his records from the log book. 

That's when I knew why the science facilities recruit only orphans. 

Posters lined the walls, all praises of the gifted. "Guardians of humanity" Yeah, sure. 

I passed the break room as I heard the TV play. The Hollow breach in the south. Fourteen casualties. Neutralized. The same nonsense. 

I moved down the sublevel hallway in the east part of the facility, where it was always quiet. I like it here. Just me and the mop. Oh- The security drones as well. 

The lights flickered, it wasn't anything new. Another red smear ahead. 

I bent down.

Then it hit.

A sound? More like an absence of none. My breathing became loud - too loud. Wired. 

My heart began to thump louder as I felt vibration under my feet. My skull felt like it was being squeezed. The floors are moving and the walls are closing. I tried to grip the wall as my legs were giving out. 

The mop clattered beside me. Something was wrong. Very wrong. 

The ground rippled. No- the air warped in front of me then cracked. A split in the air, devouring the light. 

A door? Shit, yes.

And then it came. The hollowed. 

I have never seen one in person, not like this, not this close. Its body was all wrong. Its body is twisted and asymmetrical. Too many eyes, and charred leathery skin. It walked upright with backward-bending legs. I heard the sound of bone cracking, with every step it took. 

 It lunged suddenly. 

I turned and ran. 

Didn't get far. 

Pain tore through my body as it slammed me into the wall. I tasted copper. The hollowed hovered over me, it smelt awful. Rotting. 

My vision started to blur as I screamed without thinking. 

"Please!-" 

It snarled and then…stopped. 

It turned its head with a wet cracking sound and locked its eyes with mine. Multiple eyes looking directly into my soul. 

And, it trembled. 

It backed away. Slowly. Cautious. Like it was afraid. Of me. I don't understand. I couldn't even move. Then it turned, disappearing back into the crack, like the whole thing was a mistake. And then the door sealed shut behind it like it had never been open.

I blinked.

I was alone. Soaked in blood, But alive.

Why?

What the hell was that?

Something's wrong. I don't know what but I need to figure it out. Before they do.

Darkness. Silence. I think I passed out.