Tainted Blood (Lovecraft inspired superpowers in a authoritarian state)

[Z75]

This is, in fact, a story written by me without commissioner prompting. That means I am allowed to meander towards and poke around with whatever random thing I want to. That means lots of worldbuilding, story, and the espionage/action blend I'm addicted to.

Broad warning here, and never again because if I put warnings before every time something happens, then there's no surprise. There is lots of violence and body horror shit here- mainly from a big "realistic" think about what shapeshifting powers would look like.

Also no smut. Well. Maybe a little. Not yet at least. It- You know, it really depends on what the audience wants later on. But you don't know what you want yet, you don't know because you're not the audience yet, because you haven't even read chapter one!

-Tainted Blood-

-Arc Start: Drowning on Land-

-Drowning on Land: Ch1-
​

Dear loyal citizen.

You have proven that you're hungry for more in life, that you have the drive to improve yourself, and the will to contribute to society's Progress.

You have proven that you are proud to be a member of the Federation, and the Federation is proud to give you the opportunity you have fought for.

Attached to this letter is your very own C03 citizenship ID. Be aware, this pass is temporary in nature and dependent on your attendance to Alavon University. It will expire if not renewed within one year's time, and can only be renewed four times.

Full C-class citizenship will be granted upon graduation, along with a generous one time payment to help you get on your feet. We have high hopes for you.

Pro Progressus!

The handwritten letter came on a finely pressed piece of paper, and attached on the back was something worth far more than its weight in gold.

A crisp, clean, and freshly minted C03 ID. While it wasn't technically a real C-class citizen ID, the only difference between a C03 and a C01, was that a C03 didn't give the right to buy land, and could be revoked by law enforcement rather than exclusively just the court system.

Other than that, it was the same legal protections, same district access permissions, same healthcare and insurance benefits…

Chloe held the slim metal card up, the light gleaming as it reflected off the picture of her face and the golden electronic chip embedded under the photo.

"Heheh." Chloe giggled dumbly, in a disbelieving sort of way. "Heheheheh."

She kept giggling as she flopped back on her sheetless mattress, and rolled around like an idiot with her new ID clutched tightly to her chest. This moment was a lot less dramatic than it had always been in her dreams, but she couldn't really bring herself to care.

She had it! She was a citizen! A real citizen! All those years of stupid qualifying tests, morality screenings, and mental assessments had finally finally paid off! And thank God for it, she honestly wasn't sure what she would have done if this plan had fallen through. It would have made all the years she's spent studying and reading textbooks, instead of getting a second job, a complete waste of time.

Speaking of jobs, she had a very condescending and smug resignation email to send to her boss after she packed.

But that could wait for later. This was her special moment, for herself and no one else.

With a big goofy grin she held her new ID up above her face, and just took a moment to stare at it.

Name: Chloe Smithson

Age: 21

Height: 5 feet 10 inches

BirthID: GF-482342-568

A picture of herself stared back, with long unkept brown hair, an ill fitting dress, and deep circles under her green eyes that stood out like a sore thumb against her pale skin.

The her in the photo looked so drained, and miserable. It was her back when she hadn't been certain that the countless all nighters, and all the stress, and all the effort would actually amount to anything.

But it had amounted to something, and just the realization of that had tears welling in her eyes. With a squeal of glee, Chloe jumped up off her mattress on the floor, and to her feet.

Her room was small, really more of a large closet than a room, with only enough space for a small dresser, a plastic storage box, her mattress on the floor, and some posters pinned to the walls. This size was what allowed her to go from on her mattress to the hallway in a single leap.

She ran down a hallway so short it barely qualified as a hallway, threw open the bent door at the end of it, and rushed out into the main room of her home, which had been repurposed to act as the front of a small shop.

The front room was full of hanging racks of ruined clothes that had been patched back together, and boxes of string and thread. A sign was propped up on the wall, an older version of the one hanging outside, that said:

JIM'S SECONDHAND CLOTHES AND CLOTHING REPAIRS

Jim was a massive hulking man with arms the size of tree trunks and a body muscle mass that was more muscle than mass.

He was wearing a sleeveless shirt that showed off his enormous biceps, the snake tattoos that ran all the way from his shoulders to his wrists, and his scars. So many scars. You would be hard pressed to find a spot where you could draw a straight line without hitting an old knife wound, a burn, or a bullet entry/exit point.

His hands were as massive as he was. They could wrap around a man's entire head. They were calloused, and covered with the same scars as his arms- His left hand specifically was half discolored from a horrendous burn in the past, and was missing his pinky finger.

They were old hands, well worn from lots of use.

They were hands that had hurt people. A lot of people.

He was hunched over the desk with the tiniest of needles pinched between his meaty fingers, as he carefully stitched a damaged shirt back together.

But when he heard Chloe run down the hall he looked up at her with thick bushy eyebrows and soft blue eyes.

"Dad! Dad! I did it! I really did it! Look, look!" She said as she skidded to a stop in front of him in her socks, with a giddy look on her face. She held up her ID to him, almost bouncing on her feet as she did so.

"That's amazing, Sunshine. You deserve it."

Because what else was he supposed to say? How was he supposed to express the tangle of emotions in his chest, for his daughter to reclaim something so important that his own arrogance had stripped from her before she was even born.

"I'm proud of you." He said with a small smile, and a sad look of pride in his eyes.

"I'm proud of myself too! Eeek! I'm so happy!"

"I guess that means you got accepted into that university then? No more small town slums for my daughter."

"Yup! I got in! The letter says it starts in a week, so I have to get packing before I leave the district…" Chloe trailed off as she realized something. "Ohmygosh! I have an ID! I can leave the district!"

She turned to rush off, but yelped as a meaty hand grabbed her by the collar and gently tugged her backwards into a bear hug.

"Daaad." She whined. "C'mon, I gotta go."

"Let your old man have a moment with his daughter before she leaves him."

"I still have a week with you, you old lug." She mumbled into his shoulder as she returned the hug. "And you're acting like I won't ever come back to see you."

"You shouldn't." He said softly.

"I will."

"It's safer over there."

"I'm always safe with you, dummy."

-Tainted Blood-
​

The dumping grounds turned into a special type of unpleasant place as the sun set, which was to be expected of an entire district full of D-class citizens.

Chloe made her way through the dirty, trash filled, back roads and alleyways of the D-class district. Shacks leaned into one another like drunkards trying to stay upright. Some had walls patched together from mismatched sheet metal, old rotting wood, or whatever else the owners managed to salvage. Others looked as if a strong wind might send them collapsing over like rusty dominoes.

She kept her head down, and the hood of her jacket low as she made her way towards the one and only sign of REAL civilization in this trash heap- the roads.

The four massive roads that crossed the D-district were the only piece of infrastructure that the government put the effort into maintaining. Six lanes across of smooth asphalt, with large sidewalks on either side, all well lit with tall symmetrical metal street lights.

They were so large that they were practically impossible for any protest to barricade, and they were perfectly maintained because-

WEEEOUP!

The D-class civilians that were walking along the sidewalks flinched back at the loud sound of the siren, and ducked away as a patrol of four armored vehicles drove down the street.

-everything that the police used was kept in perfect working order.

They were eight-wheeled armored vehicles with chunky, almost boxy silhouettes. They sat relatively high off the ground, supported by four large wheels on each side. Their hulls were angular and thickly armored, painted a dull gray, with sloped panels designed to help deflect small-arms fire.

The back of the vehicles had a hatch with a soldier's upper half poking out. Two of the vehicles had men operating spotlights, the other two had machinegun turrets.

Unlike the other D-Class citizens, Chloe didn't cower as the convoy drove past, instead she pulled her hood off, held her head high, and smiled. She wasn't set to be a D-Class much longer.

Chloe followed the wide open sidewalk, walking past open aired shops and carts that were trying to pawn off salvaged goods and recycled scrap, and headed towards the north end of the district.

A towering concrete wall slowly came into view, 25 feet tall, seven feet thick, with spotlights, cameras, and lookout posts dotted in measured intervals along its length.

The wall circled all the way around the entire D-Class district, separating it from the rest of the word, not entirely unlike a prison. Which, it kind of was.

The D-Class citizens might have served their sentence for whatever got them demoted to that rank, but, well, if a man murdered someone once before, why would you ever take the risk of putting him back with the rest of society?

No, it was better for the chaff to be separated from the good grain, so that the bread does not get ruined.

That's what she had been taught in school, from a very young age, and she didn't see anything wrong with that logic. Don't let the rot spread.

And sure, a lot of people were born as D-class because that's what their parents were, but considering that they were being raised by the types of criminals bad enough to be stripped of most of their civil rights in the first place, most of them weren't that much better.

If someone didn't deserve to be here then they would rise above expectations and earn their way out- like she had.

The type of people who said otherwise and complained about it were the ones that deserved to be here, that's what her teachers told her, that's what the guards around her school told her, and that's what her father told her.

Her speed picked up and her smile widened as she approached the police checkpoint at the bottom of the wall.

This wall had been the edge of her world since the day she had been born. She knew about the world beyond it, obviously, from school, books, media, and government broadcasts, but she had never seen it herself.

That changed today.

She skipped past the vehicles from the few companies that were willing to lower themselves to business with D-class, that were waiting in line to be inspected, and stepped into the line for people which was completely empty.

"Halt!"

Two men wearing the gray and white kevlar uniforms of the security forces stepped into her way, their hands hovering on their belts above the holster for their pistol and stun baton.

"Not a step further. Show an ID now or get lost."

"Of course, sir." Chloe fished her ratty excuse of a wallet out of her pocket, and handed over her card with a smile. She was practically beaming at the opportunity to use her sparkling new ID.

The guard took it, gave it a look over to make sure it wasn't an obvious fraud, then turned to walk back towards the checkpoint. He stepped up to the booth, and bent slightly to slide the ID through a narrow slot beneath the plastic screen.

Inside, the uniformed woman looked up from her monitor, grabbed it with a gloved hand, scanned the metal chip embedded in the card, then handed it back with a small nod. "She checks out."

"But we've already accounted for everyone who entered today, 34 in and 35 out? That doesn't make any sense. And she doesn't look like an aid worker to me."

"C03." The woman said bluntly.

The guard scowled and handed the ID back to Chloe with a disgusted sneer.

"You can go through, but at least wipe your feet before you leave, so that you don't drag anymore of your filth through than what's absolutely necessary."

"Of course, sir! Thank you sir!"

The guards watched her go with narrowed eyes, but let her pass without issue. They could manually check all the info on her card; everything they could ever want was on it, from birth date to blood type and birth number, but the system said she could go, and the system was never wrong.

"They're giving out way too many C03s this year." She heard one of the guards say behind her.

"They solved 80% of all violent crime across the commonwealths, and it's like they want to undo all of that!"

"Guys, come on, the program only gives those out to kids. And only to kids who have gone through a rigorous process to prove they have good moral values, and a sense of patriotism."

"Kids who were born and raised by criminals, you mean. I don't see how anyone feels safe sending their children to that university."

-Tainted Blood-
​

Beyond the wall was… strange. There was a different feeling to it that took her a moment to place. Everything was so wide open, and completely different to the claustrophobic walkways she'd grown up in. It was like the main roads, but everywhere.

It was chilly, with a strong wind blowing through.

She felt exposed.

The immediate area past the gate was a massive compound for the guards, with garages for patrol vehicles, a firing range, and a number of barracks for anyone who wanted to sleep on site.

Beyond that was some kind of industrial district, with a sea of machinery stretching as far as her eyes could see, lazily billowing out the stacks of black and white smog that had been a part of her skyline for her entire life. Seeing them in action was like finding the point a rainbow touched down on the ground- it just didn't feel real.

Not really knowing what to do, Chloe followed some factory workers (presumably fresh off their shift) down a wide flight of concrete stairs and into a subway.

She looked around in awe at just how clean the place was for something entirely underground. The tiles on the floor were white- and not the grimy piss yellow "white" that white things tended to become in the D-district, but actual proper white. And more than that, they stretched out in every direction without a single crack or stain on them.

A digital sign glowed above her: Track 47-Maglev to North Spire-Departing in 00:07:27

And when the sign counted down to zero, the train sighed in a few seconds early, and popped its doors open with a gentle hiss. No graffiti, no knife scars, no piss in the corners, or empty needles. When she stepped on, it was just rows of empty, well cleaned seats.

She barked out a short bewildered laugh of near disbelief at it all. In the slums they had two trams that barely worked, and they came when the driver felt like it, usually an hour late and leaking oil.

Chloe picked a window seat, and sank down into the seat made out of real leather- not splintered plastic. The train eased forward without a jolt, so smoothly that it took Chloe a few seconds to realize they were moving, even though she was looking out the window. Outside tunnels lit with soft amber bulbs raced by, and she realized that there wasn't a single bulb out or flickering.

She pressed her forehead to the cool glass and felt something inside her chest crack open- something between terror, excitement, and disbelief.

All her life she'd been told by people jealous of her that that this would never happen, that she wasn't good enough, that the world ended at the barricades for anyone born in the dumping grounds.

She'd fought her whole life for this, and now that it was happening, she didn't know what to expect.

…

Ding~

"Our next stop is [North Spire Station]. We will be arriving in T Minus [23 minutes]. Please don't forget to take your personal belongings with you when you exit. And remember, littering or defacing public property is a crime."

An artificial female voice announced over the speaker.

Chloe smiled until her face hurt, then smiled some more, because no one here would beat her for it.

-Tainted Blood-
​

As she was walking up the steps out of the subway, it was the air that hit her first. Before she even saw the capital city of Commonwealth 1, her expectations had already been met and then some.

It was clean.

There was no diesel haze, or faint sulfuric sting, or sour reek of overflowing sewers. No it was just cool, clean nothing.

And when she finally crested the last stair, her jaw dropped.

As the sun sank toward the horizon, its warm orange glow reflected off towering skyscrapers that stretched so high they vanished into the clouds above. Their glass and steel sides caught the sunset's colors, scattering it across the skyline. Raised walkways connected between the largest of the buildings like spiderwebs.

Crowds pushed along every street and pathway, more humans than she'd ever known existed moving in such volume that they seemed to flow like a liquid.

Holographic advertisements illuminated the air as the daylight faded. Some were small, such as a stylized cat that chased a can of fish around a lamppost. Others were much larger, with the biggest one being a woman in a tight officer uniform that leaned up against the side of a building.

On the ground level there were smooth asphalt roads for cars, a raised bike lane on either side, and a railed sidewalk to prevent any sports balls from bouncing out into the street with a child chasing after it.

There were fewer cars on the roads than you would expect of such a large city, but that was the result of the train lines and frequent bus stops taking a lot of the strain of mass transport. The bike infrastructure helped as well, but to a lesser extent, as it was really only good for short distances and mainly used for exercise.

Ahead of her, a large bus pulled into a side stop to let off passengers, and it took a few seconds for Chloe to remember that she could get on herself if she wanted. She had an ID, and public transport was free for all citizens of C rank and up.

She debated it for a few seconds before deciding not to- she might not get a window seat, and she didn't want to miss anything.

She passed the sign for the public bus network, giving it a passing read as she went:

"Ride with purpose. Ride with pride. Ride for Progress! The Unified Transport Line: One direction. One people."

It was all so amazing- and just like the air it was all clean.

No litter, no gum under the benches, no beggars on the corners.

She was amazed that they managed it without having guards on every corner. There were guards, don't get her wrong, she could see one patrol out and about already, but you would need an army of enforcers to get the D-district to even begin to act this organized.

I mean, just look at the storefronts! Dozens of businesses, and restaurants had their doors open all up and down the street. They had glass windows, those would have been shattered in hours if not in minutes back home. And the stores just had items… out on shelves! The few that would open locations in the D-district had everything locked behind screens, or in little plastic lock boxes, to prevent shoplifting.

It was (she was going to overuse this word to the point it stopped meaning anything) amazing!

In her mind it was just confirmation for the line that had been hammered into her head since she was a kid. D-class citizens are inherently more violent, more prone to crime, and less civilized than the rest of society. They made the dumping grounds into what it was today, without any assistance from anyone else, and they deserve what they have brought upon themselves.

She passed a wall of digital screens that fed her more advertisements as she passed by.

"Struggling to afford enough elbow room to build the house of your dreams? Want to own land, but everything is just too expensive to buy? The Ministry of Expansion has good news for you! There's plenty of space out in space!" The screen blurred upwards to show an endless expanse of stars. "Earth is the beating heart of Humanity, but she's not alone. Land on the colonies is orders of magnitude cheaper than land on Earth. Still not enough for you? Sign up for frontier colonization, and not only will we give you a plot of land for free- we'll pay you to do it."

"Hungry for progress? Try the new RegulaBar, now fortified with all the vitamins you need to help push Humanity forward. RegulaBar- Eat. Work. Advance."

"Tired of job hunting? Sick of endless interviews? Let the Ministry of Resources help! Apply to the Workforce Optimization Program today and receive your state approved career within 48 hours!"

If she was at all confused why there were just as many ads for government ministries as there were private companies, Chloe didn't show it. She just kept walking with an oblivious smile on her face.

She was going to use the money she got with her ID to buy some new clothes, and get a nice bag, that way she wouldn't stand out when she got to the university.

And most importantly, she was going to eat some good fucking food!

-Tainted Blood-
​

An hour later, Chloe was chowing down on the best hamburger she'd ever tasted while she walked down the street in a new pair of jeans, running shoes, and a shirt that stretched taught over her chest with the most adorable print of a dog's face on it.

"I'm going to be able to eat real meat everyday." She sobbed tears of joy as she took another bite. "Hish bis ha beshd fing to efer habbenm to me."

She greedily polished off the rest of her burger, even going as far as to lick the melted cheese off the wrapper, before hunting down a trashcan to throw away her trash- as was her civic duty as a citizen of the federation!

But as she turned the corner, something caught her attention.

It was a nightclub- and not the "nightclub" that the Johnson brothers ran in the dumping grounds, which was just a bar with loud music that all the hookers sold themselves out at. No it was a nightclub, with flashing lights, and a DJ, and a line of people waiting outside, like the ones from the movies.

She hesitated for a few seconds, it was getting late and she should probably head back home to get packing… Buuuuut this was her big night! How could she possibly say no?

Her feet made the decision before her mind did, and carried her into the line for the club.

She was momentarily blinded when she stepped inside. The lights flashed brightly, cutting through the dark in concentrated multicolor beams. There was a beat from the speakers that she could feel travel through the floor and up into her chest.

She let her feet carry her into the party, but she was torn between jumping onto the dancefloor and joining the drunken mosh, or following her stomach and getting a plate of chicken wings at the bar, because she could smell the plate that one guy was eating and it was making her mouth water like nothing else.

After a few seconds of very heavy internal debate, she decided on the wings first. Oh, but what flavor? The sign had so many! Honey BBQ, lemon pepper, ponzu, garlic parmesan, salt & vining-

SMACK!

"EEEK!" Chloe yelped as she grabbed her ass and jumped a good foot into the air. She came back down with a flushed face and murder in her eyes. "What in the world do you think you're doing!?"

Slapping someone's ass in public was highly indecent, and really only a few steps short of sexual assault, but alas, it had the same problem that most things in life did.

Anything will be seen as a lot less problematic when it's a hot woman doing it.

"You look a little lost, hotstuff." A fully authentic goth girl, with glossy black lipstick, eyeliner, and deep red eyes (presumably from contacts) smiled at her. "Need someone to show you how to handle the ropes of this place?" She lowered her eyelids and wiggled her eyebrows. "I'd hate for you to get tied up without me~"

"I- You slapped- wh-what-" Chloe sputtered like a broken record.

"Bwahaha! The look on your face is golden!"

The woman stood only five and a half feet tall even in her platform boots. Her hair was segregated into thick, stripes of black and bone white, like a skunk's warning markings, that fell all the way down her back.

Chloe's attention was gravitationally pulled towards a pair of full, heavy breasts on the Goth's chest that strained against the front of a far-too-small black corset, like they were about to forcefully rip it in half. Chloe could swear she heard the fabric creaking faintly whenever the girl took a breath.

Below the corset, was a torn fishnet top which matched her leggings that crawled up her sinfully plump thighs and disappeared under a short pleated skirt.

"Like what you see?" The girl teased.

"M-maybe." Chloe blushed. "But don't change the subject! You can't slap a girl's ass like that without permission."

"Oh I'm sorry." She said in a tone that said she wasn't sorry at all. "Can I get your permission then? It was just my way of showing I was interested, and I can tell you're interested in me." She winked and used her arm to prop up her tits.

Okay, now, Chloe this is where you take command of the situation. You man up and make her understand that you have boundaries.

"J-just not in public."

"Ohh? So I can touch your ass as much as I want if I take you somewhere private?"

"...yes." She whispered shamefully.

Weak willed woman! Where is your spine! Chloe shouted at herself in her head. She was getting bent over the knee of a girl half a foot shorter than her!

"B-But you're going way too fast." She pushed away, trying to sound like she wasn't a virgin turning into a puddle under the focus of the first attractive female to give her any attention. "At least, like, take me on a date first." She blushed.

"Oh I'm sorry, where are my manners? My name's Ashley." She purred. "It fits in your mouth perfectly for you to scream it when I make you see stars."

Chloe whimpered.

Clean streets, clean air, no gangs, no skanky prostitutes, no thugs waiting around to mug you, free public transportation- and on her first night out a bombshell knockout of a girl was aggressively flirting with her?

C-class citizenship fucking rocked!

"Dinner first, at least." She objected, trying to maintain what little of her dignity was left.

"Oh, don't worry, I have something a lot better than dinner."

Ashley licked her lips as she pulled a small vial out of her skirt, tipped with a syringe needle. It was full of a thick crimson tar, which looked like someone had somehow managed to make blood sour and thicken, curdling like milk.

There was something deeply wrong about the color of the liquid that caused the hair on Chloe's neck to stand on end. She stepped back, cringing like she had just smelt rotten eggs.

"Nono, wait a second, I, uh, I really can't afford for anything to show up on my drug test next week."

"Oh, don't worry, it's nothing like that~ Just a little pick me up." Ashley purred as she slid closer, and Chloe's objections died in her mouth as Ashley pressed her fat heavy tits up against her with enough force to pin her against a wall.

"C'mon baby~" The serpent of temptation hissed. "Don't you want to have a little…" She used a finger to tug down the front of her dress, giving Chloe a direct view down the open maw of her sweaty cleavage. "Fun~"

"Uhhhhhh…" Chloe replied dumbly.

Road to full citizenship and a better life, or the fat and steamy massive mommy milkers of an authentic goth girl?

Such a choice was a war between mankind's relentless ambition to rise and seize his place in the world, and the animalistic ravenous hunger to conquer and claim for yourself.

But before Chloe could pull herself together and 'reject the drug no matter the kind' like Commander Patriot would want her to, Ashley made the choice for her. The goth dug her fingers into the back of Chloe's scalp and dragged her head down into a kiss.

"Mmmnph!"

Chloe was melting, that was the best way to describe what was happening to her. Her brain sputtered and error signs popped up, as her eyes rolled back, and her first kiss was forcefully taken from her by a tongue that had no qualms with violating her mouth.

She had five seconds of pure bliss before, like all who had flown too close to the sun, she was violently dragged back down to earth.

"OW! FUCK!" Chloe stumbled back, clutching the bloody puncture wound in her arm where the needle had just been forcefully stabbed into her.

"What the Hell was that for!?" She snapped, ready to slap the bitch, but when she looked up Ashley was gone.

Frantically she looked around the bobbing heads of the rave, but she couldn't see any sign of black and white hair.

The only trace that the woman had ever existed was the empty syringe rolling away lazily on the dance floor.

Of course landing a hot goth chick was too good to be true! She was so stupid!

"Shit!" Chloe cursed as she dashed for the door. "Shitshitshitshit!"

She had no idea what was in that vial. She had to get home before it kicked in. She couldn't afford to get caught by the cops while drugged out of her mind, or pass out in an alleyway like some kind of cheap whore for any passerby to have their way with.

She needed to get home, go to sleep, eat a lot of food, and get this shit out of her system over the next few days.

-Tainted Blood-
​

…

Chloe was sinking.

That's all she knew.

She was sinking in frigid arctic cold water.

She tried to struggle at first, but it was useless. The intense wet cold seeped into her bones, sapping every ounce of heat from her body and left her limbs as unmovable lead weights.

And so she sank, face first, down into the dark abyssal depths.

Everything around her was pitch black, and the only light she could see was the moon far above her.

It was beautiful.

So large in the sky, and with such a pretty silver sheen to it.

It was almost like a magnet, holding her attention hostage, and slowly pulling her towards it.

…

But that couldn't be true.

After all, she was sinking, face first into the ocean.

How could the moon be pulling her in if she was sink- wait, how could she see the moon in the sky if she was face down?

The moon wasn't supposed to be at the bottom of the ocean.

The moon wasn't supposed to be silver.

…

Th-The moon wasn't supposed to be waking up!

The moon cracked like an egg, splitting open like a flower bulb made of blood and bone, and at its center one giant black eye stared up at her.

Chloe screamed.

The icy water rushed into her lungs.

!

Chloe shot up in bed, covered in sweat, shivering like a leaf in a hurricane, and coughing up mouthfuls of salt water.

Instinctively she flailed for something, anything, but all of her limbs were numb, and slow to respond.

When she finally managed to stop choking, and was awake enough to process everything, all she had was vague pieces of a nightmare she couldn't remember, and a mattress absolutely drenched in sweat.

With a disgusted face she pulled off the blankets from her bed, changed into dry pajamas, and dropped down on her bare mattress feeling oddly exhausted.

She would wash the sheets in the morning. She had to get a full night's rest, the university was starting in a week, and she couldn't afford to get sick.

-Tainted Blood-
​

…

Chloe was sick.

The week that she should have been spending getting ready for university starting, she instead spent alternating between writhing in pain on her mattress and hunched over the toilet.

Migraines were constant. It felt like someone was inflating a balloon in her skull and that at any moment her head was going crack open like an egg.

She could hardly go an hour without emptying her stomach. What little medicine they had was damn near useless as it would all wind up coming right back out.

She was so hungry.

And… thirsty.

She was sweating what felt like entire buckets of water every day, and emptying her bowels of whatever liquid was leftover.

She greedily gulped down any drink she could get her hands on, only to taste it a second time as it immediately came back up.

The dehydration only got worse as the days went on and she kept losing liquid.

Her skin felt leathery, her mouth was parched and cracking, and her eyes were so dry that she swore she could feel them scraping against the back of her eyelids.

She was so thirsty that when she did manage to fall asleep, she dreamed of water.

A great sea, a bottomless ocean that had abyssal depths

Every night she would desperately dive into that sea, and drink as deeply and greedily as she could before she was ripped back to reality.

Her father fussed over her, like the pappa bear he was, putting ice packs on her head, washing her blankets, and bringing her soup for her to inevitably throw up.

Chloe tried to distract herself from her misery but nothing seemed to work.

The radio was too loud and would cause her migraines to flare up- the same with music. Her hands were shaking too bad to hold a pencil steady to draw. And there was no way in Hell that she was going to be able to do anything outside.

She spent a few hours reading the small government stamped paper book that was sent in the mail with her ID, but even her excitement for the future couldn't help her to forget the pain she was in.

"From Ditizen to Citizen! Everything a D-class needs to know about stepping up in the world."

No. Chloe's days passed slowly and horribly, and she came to the conclusion that Commander Patriot was a hero above all other heroes for going on TV to warn kids not to do drugs.

"I'm sorry commanderrr…" She sobbed deliriously into her pillow. "I should have listened to youuu…"

Her only consolation was that the opening ceremony for her university was still half a week away, and she was slowly getting better.

-Tainted Blood-
​

"BEEP BEEP! Rise and shine! It's never too early to make PROGRESS! BEEP BEEP! Rise and shi-"

A hand slapped down weakly on the Commander Patriot alarm clock, silencing it.

Chloe groaned and rolled over on her mattress, trying to will away the morning.

On the floor beside the mattress was a case of water bottles her father had brought over for her. It was new and unopened after she had gone through (and thrown up all of) the previous one.

Only half awake she reached over and grabbed at it. She fell half off of the mattress and tore at the shrink-wrap with a desperate fury and shaking fingers.

The first bottle popped free and she didn't even bother with the cap all the way, she just twisted it until it cracked and hung off the side, then let the lukewarm room temperature water spill down her chin and neck as she tipped it back.

Gulp. Gulp. Gulp.

Chloe drank like someone drowning in reverse, swallowing so hard and so fast that her throat burned, and the water poured out from the side of her lips.

Gulp. Gulp. Gulp.

She chugged down the entire bottle in seconds, but it didn't help.

If anything the thirst was even worse now.

With a sound that was half a sob, and half the cry of a dying animal, she dragged the next bottle to her mouth. And then the next one. And then the next one. And the next one. And the next one.

Gulp. Gulp. Gulp.

Bottle after bottle, wolfing down the water, unable to stop, even as she choked, even as her lungs burned for air, even her stomach began to ache from overcapacity.

She kept drinking.

Eventually the last bottle clattered to the floor empty, and Chloe fell back on her bed, gasping for air.

She felt… good.

Better than good, actually.

All of her aches and pains were gone, her head didn't feel like it was exploding, and her stomach wasn't doing flips in a paper shredder.

For the first time all week her nervous system was calm, without any pain signals, and it felt heavenly~

She was a bit numb for some reason, sure, but she would happily take being a little numb over whatever that sickness had been putting her through.

Chloe let out a satisfied groan, rolled over, and buried her face in her pillow. She felt so good that she was right on the edge of just drifting back to sleep and snoozing the day away.

Actually… that sounded like a great idea. It was too early for any functioning human to be up. Why had she even-

"THE UNIVERSITY!" Chloe shrieked as she launched herself out of bed. "I'm going to be late! Oh my God, I have to take a shower, and brush my teeth, and get dressed, and make sure my suitcase is all packed, and-"

She muttered spastically to herself as she scrambled to scoop up what she needed off the ground of her room.

She was so out of it that she was halfway out the door before she remembered to reach behind her and grab her bag.

She was so out of it that she didn't stop to think that feeling a bit numb all over might have been a bad thing.

She didn't notice that she couldn't feel the ache in her leg that had been bothering her since she fractured it as a kid.

She also didn't feel the way her bones bent and snapped, how her muscles tore themselves apart into strings, and how her skin ripped into bloody strips as her arm stretched double its natural length to grab her backpack, then reeled back in like a rubber band and stitched itself back together.

No, she didn't notice that.

The only thing on her mind was that she couldn't be late…

…and that she was just a bit thirsty for a cup of water.

-Chapter End-
​

You know, I've never watched Worm.

People keep asking me if I take inspiration from it in my science stories, or being like "I love how you referenced worm in a roundabout way", but I don't know anything about what it is, other than that the MC is a villain by accident with worm powers from eating Cthulu's hair or something. And I've only picked that up from overhearing people talk about it, without any context.

So, I got it into my head that it would be really funny if I wrote a story "inspired by worm" despite never having watched the show, because it would be like the story inspiration equivalent of the telephone game. And I don't have to worry about ripping the original creator off by making it an original work instead of a fanfic, because it'd be physically impossible for me to copy anything, or reference anything, because I don't actually know anything.

So. That's what this story is.

This is so fucking stupid, but I'm excited for it.
Any comments with ideas, opinions, or thoughts would be helpful. Thank you for reading!

 

[Z75]

Attention Citizens! Please pay attention for your daily obligated Progress Reminder!

Today's Reminder: SPEND!

Every Gilden you earn is a Gilden someone else spent, and every Gliden you spend is a Gilden someone else earns.

When you spend a Gilden at a store, you not only help the employees of that store to pay their bills, you also help fund the government through your taxes- and in turn fund the infrastructure the Federation relies on.

Look around your city. That Gilden you spent goes to funding hospitals, schools, passenger trains, and to building new roads and bridges.

Don't hoard your wealth like a greedy oligarchic, and let it gather dust in some bank vault, do your Civil Duty and SPEND so that others can SPEND for you!

This Message Is Sponsored By The Ministry Of Information And Truth.

-Tainted Blood-

-Drowning on Land: Ch2-
​

Alavon University was nothing like she expected.

Instead of one big building, she found herself in the middle of a massive campus complex, made up of dozens and dozens of structures of every size, it was like its own mini city! All the buildings were stylized with roman arches and white pillars, giving it a consistent Greco-Roman theme throughout the entire area.

There were beautiful water fountains, and statues of the founding fathers of the federation, and small monuments dedicated to historic events, and even three massive granite slabs that the names of every student that had graduated and had gone on to do something worthy of being elevated to an A-class citizen. A good quarter of the last slab was still empty, and Chloe wondered if she might one day have her name carved there.

The university was like its own world, with a large bay of water separating it from the capital city, and nothing but beautiful grassy fields in a one mile circle from the university's center in every other direction.

The only way to get to or from the campus was either by air, or high speed train.

Chloe, naturally, arrived by the second of the two options.

She arrived early in the morning, handed her bag of meager belongings off to the staff, for them to deliver to her dorm, was given her school uniform which she immediately changed into, and then wandered the campus in a daze for the next few hours until her homeroom started.

She was the first one to class, getting there 20 minutes early, and sitting at attention for the better part of half an hour before the other students started fullening in.

A deep horn rang out over the speaker system, and Chloe shot to her feet so fast that her chair nearly fell over behind her. Everyone near her looked at her weirdly, but she had already managed a perfect salute to the flag hanging in the corner of the room, with one fist over her heart and the other arm held behind her back at a perfect horizontal angle.

Quite a few students were right behind her in speed, and had even crisper salutes, though none had the same urgency to their movements. Others were close behind, but lacked Chloe's speed or the military kids' perfect form.

To her great shock, there were a handful of students that were sluggish to respond, taking a moment to put a bookmark in their story, or finish sending a text, before standing up and lazily saluting.

She gulped and waited for the teacher to punish them, but he made no move to.

What? Was the shock stick not universal? Surely those weren't used exclusively in the D-district education centers?? No, that- it had to be because this was a place of higher education! She had been told that the small zap for failing to salute on time was to teach children the importance of quick action, and of proper respect. Now that she was in a university, the students were being treated like adults, that's what it must be!

With the mystery solved, Chloe nodded to herself and waited for the part of the short trumpet jingle to chant the daily pledge of allegiance with her class.

""I pledge loyalty to the flag of Humanity. One federation, united in purpose, and in the pursuit of progress and prosperity for all.""

The trumpet ended and only 15 or so seconds after standing up, the class sat back down.

The teacher looked over the class with a scowl on his face. He was clearly a veteran of some kind, going from the way he held himself, and from the large scar that covered half of his face and crossed over one dead gray eye.

"My name is Matthew Johnson, I served in the navy for 15 years before retiring. I've seen worlds burn, and the enemies of mankind crushed under our boot- both those beyond our borders and those within. You will refer to me as Sir, Sir Johnson, or Mr Johnson. If I hear a nickname, any jokes at my expense, or any disrespect at all, I will have you run a lap around the entire campus- and I will run it with you so that I can find amusement in your failure. My eye may be shot, but my ears are still as sharp as ever. Do you understand?"

""Sir, yes sir!"" The kids who had stood up at the same time as Chloe barked back in unison- they were definitely from military families.

"I said, do you understand?"

""Yes sir!"" The rest of the class echoed.

"Good." Mr Johnson scoffed. "To get here you all took a lot of classes, memorized a lot of flash cards, bubbled in a lot of copy paste test sheet answers. But I don't care about your grades before now- no, that's what the bean counters who stamped your acceptance sheet care about. I want to know if any of you actually learned anything in all the years you spent in class." He scanned the room with his one good eye. "Can any of you tell me why the Federation exists?"

"For the sake of progress towards utopia?" A girl said as she raised her hand.

"Wrong! That is what it strives to achieve, but is not why it exists!"

"The Federation exists for the same reason all governments do, because after experiencing the chaos and lawless bloodshed of anarchy, humans are willing to give up parts of their freedom to a central power structure in order to live in safety and peace."

"Exactly! Now, you were taught about the failures of the political systems that came before the federation. The failure of democracy, the failure of communism, the failure of facism, the failure of monarchy. But can you tell me why they failed? Why did the old world collapse?"

"They were all too busy fighting each other to progress as a whole for Humanity." Said one student.

"True, but not what I'm looking for."

"They were idiots." Someone said to giggles.

"REAL answers, please!"

"They grew stagnant and fat under the spoils of any success they achieved. The government would grow bloated with bureaucracy and corruption would rot them from the inside out." Said another.

"Bingo!" Mr Johnson clapped "That's it! Now come on, give me more."

"The citizens were incentivised to benefit themselves over spending their wealth and energy benefiting the nation and society at large, often harming the society at large via spoils, corporate greed, corruption, or embezzlement for personal gain."

"Brilliant! Now how has the Federation avoided that fate?"

"We avoid it by our dedication to Progress and the forward progress of Humanity!"

"Yes, but give me a definition! What is the idea of Progress that we so desperately chase after?"

"Progress is the advancement of industry, technology, and cultural structure in enough of a quantity to have a measurable impact. It can also include national statistics that have a correlation to the healthiness of Humanity as a whole, such as colonization, population increase, and the improvement of average living standards."

"Taken word for word from the book, but I want an example." Johnson looked around. "Use your heads, what would you say is the best example of Progress on a civilizational level that we have achieved, and why?"

"The citizen class system." Chloe said firmly as she raised her hand. "The citizens of the federation that do their part to benefit the whole of the collective are rewarded with special rights and privileges, while those that harm the collective to benefit themselves have those privileges stripped from them. This aligns the incentives of the individual with society as a whole, and means that the most selfish thing you can do to help yourself is to help others."

The teacher grinned and gave her an approving nod.

"I have high hopes for this class." He said as he trudged back towards his desk.

"In the dark times, before the Federation, the old world was a dangerous and terrifying place. Humanity was split into hundreds of different nations, each with their own cultures, their own languages, their own religions, their own militaries, and their own hatred for each other.

"The world was divided, and chaos was everywhere. Conflict was constant. There was no standard of law across borders, so the drug trade ran rampant, and nations each fought to stoop lower than each other in their use of dangerous AI for an advantage. The richest individuals would migrate abroad to evade taxes, choosing greed over their civil duty, and forcing the bottom rung of society to bear the full weight of the nation on their backs.

"As the nations grew more advanced, so too did their weapons of war, and their confidence in themselves. In their greed and arrogance the pigs of the old world killed themselves on their own swords.

"The Federation, seeded by the remnants of the world's best military and greatest scientific minds, was what pulled Humanity back from the brink! The Federation rebuilt civilization, the Federation unified Humanity under one banner, the Federation led us into the light and into a new era of Progress and Prosperity!

"We are one Federation, one Government, one Earth, one Humanity, one People, one Culture, one Purpose."

He looked over the class with a steely gaze, making sure to make eye contact with each of them directly.

"And you are our future."

The other students didn't seem particularly impressed by the speech, but Chloe was practically bouncing up and down in her seat.

Yes. This was the future, and she was a part of it. All of her effort had been worth it, and because it had paid off, that meant everything she had been put through was justified.

It had to be. She wouldn't accept any other answer.

-Tainted Blood-
​

"I need to ask for a vacation." Ivan Yelts yawned into his hand. "10 hour work days is already rough even for the pay, but now we're doing weekends too? I need to demand a raise, or threaten to quit the project."

He grumbled to himself even though he knew he wouldn't walk away from this even at the cost of his life.

This was the cutting edge of science, a new field that would revolutionize not just society but humanity at a fundamental level. This was PROGRESS, a true breakthrough that would push all of humanity forward.

They just had to get the damn thing to work consistently first.

So no matter how much he complained or how many weekends he had to work, he would always wind up in this stupid elevator at 4 in the morning, descending who knows how many miles underground.

The magnetic elevator slowed to a stop, but the moment the doors opened with a soft ding, Ivan was grabbed and yanked outside.

"H-Hey! Let me go!" He cried as two men in black security uniforms forced him to the ground and began searching his pockets. "I'm one of the leading scientists on this project! I'm a B-class citizen! Unhand me!"

But the security men did not listen to his objections, and they continued their search, confiscating his phone and his wallet, and practically ripping off his lab coat.

To Ivan's dismay he could see that it wasn't just him, in the entry way dozens of his lab staff were being held against the wall with their hands behind their head.

"You're going to pay for this! Do you have any idea what you're interrupting, or who the director of this project is?"

"The director is the one who ordered this search." One of the security said, causing Ivan's protests to die in his mouth.

They patted him down, checked for anything hidden in his clothes, then hauled him to his feet and began pushing him out of the room.

"You're coming with us, the director wants to see you."

"What are you doing with my staff members?"

"They're being searched for contraband, and held for questioning. If they're found to be clean they will be released back to work as usual."

Ivan wanted to curse at them and tell them that none of the brilliant men and women he'd worked with over the years would be responsible for… whatever had caused this reaction!

But he held his mouth shut, and let the men drag him down the winding tunnels of the underground lab.

It was cold down here, cold enough for a thick layer of mist to coat the metal floor and for frost to cling to the corners on sharp turns. Without his thick labcoat or his gloves, Ivan was shivering and desperately wishing for the heated break room.

Soon he was dragged in front of a familiar sealed door, and the guards let go of his arms.

Ivan shot them a dirty look and scanned his ID (which would have been extraordinarily illegal for anyone to take away from him, even for police, let alone private security). The door slid upwards with a silent hiss, and he was very satisfied when it slammed shut behind him when the guards tried to follow him in.

"Dr Yelts, I've been waiting for you. Come in, come in." A voice called out from further inside. "I apologize if the guards roughed you up, but this is a very dire moment that we have on our hands."

The director was tinkering with a machine. It was a large cylinder in shape, about ten feet long and twice the length that any man could wrap his arms all the way around.

It was made of thick reinforced steel, and the sounds of pistons could be heard inside even at a distance. The machine seemed to lurch as it did its work, pumping and pressing the thick slurry it was being fed into a solid mass of some kind, which was then pulled out of the vat as it drained.

But at the center of the machine, visible through reinforced glass, was a core of living tissue. It was dense flesh of meat and organs that pulsed and throbbed in tune with the whirring of the eclectic engine that supplemented it. Thick wires were plugged into the side of the machine to supply it with electricity, but alongside them were two pipes that pumped blood in and out like an artificial heart.

It was similar to a lot of the most advanced machines down here, in that regard. They weren't really alive, but they weren't quite dead either.

"Director, what in the world is going on? Our own security is holding our best men hostage! I was practically assaulted the moment I entered the facility- and I'm being told it was on your orders!" Ivan shouted. "I know I'm pushing my authority here, but sir, frankly I am too angry to care. There better be a damn good reason for all this!"

"...We're missing multiple batches of pure blood."

All at once it felt like the temperature of the lab fell several degrees.

"Oh…" Ivan swallowed hard. "Oh."

"Someone has been tampering with the inventory logs. Logging extractions for tests that never existed. They have been stealing our most valuable asset from under our noses."

"This is very bad." Ivan said as he wiped his suddenly very sweaty palms on his pants. "How much are we missing? A few samples? Maybe a gallon?"

"Try an entire tank's worth."

Ivan's face went pale.

"How did this happen!?"

"Slowly. A bottle here, a few ounces there, for almost an entire year." The director laughed dryly. "We take meat, we draw bone marrow, and we drain blood by the gallons every day. It all grows back like magic, but we can only take so much at a time before we risk killing it and losing our only supply. If our supply was being tapped, it would explain why we've been falling behind schedule."

"If that much blood makes its way into the public-"

"You're worrying about things beyond our control at this point. Forget prevention, we need to focus on preparing for damage control. Whoever's behind this hasn't done anything with the blood, at least nothing major. But when they do, we need to be ready to shut it down, quarantine the area, and clean up the problem before anyone else gets involved."

"And if a civilian gets infected?"

"Then we clean up them as well."

Through the glass window in the lab below, a female scientist with black and white dyed hair kept her head down and kept working to not draw any attention to herself.

-Chapter End-
​

 

[Z75]

Attention Citizens! Please pay attention for your daily obligated Progress Reminder!

Today's Reminder: REPORT!

Crime is a plague that rots societies from the inside out. Crime is different from honest business because it does not generate wealth for society, it only steals wealth from others with a negative exchange value.

If a criminal breaks into a business to steal 10,000G, the store does not just lose the 10,000 Gilden that the criminal now has, they also have to pay to repair all the damage and pay the cost for additional security far into the future.

This is what we mean by a negative exchange value. The criminal may earn some, but the victim always loses more than that, thus the amount of wealth overall in society has decreased.

This negative value doesn't have to just be in pure money, either. Murder is one of the most abhorrent crimes because it deprives a family of their loved one, a child of their parent, the economy of a worker, and the government of a diligent tax payer.

Crime can come in many forms, but all of them drain the overall wealth and prosperity of society.

There are petty thieves, drug dealers, CEOs avoiding taxes, politicians taking bribes to work against the good of the public, retailers price gouging above lawful percentages, treasonous thinkers, and violent killers that either murder others- or even murder themselves.

These all directly or indirectly harm the pool of resources that keep all public and private organizations running, and so they harm everyone when they happen.

Every crime that happens is a crime against you! That's why you should do your Civic Duty and REPORT any suspicious or unlawful activities.

All citizens that do their duty to REPORT information that leads to an arrest will be financially rewarded, if the accused is ruled guilty in court.

This Message Is Sponsored By The Ministry Of Information And Truth.

-Tainted Blood-

-Drowning on Land: Ch3-
​

The notification came after class. Chloe was bent over a water fountain, thoroughly expressing her right as a citizen to have access to clean drinking water. Maybe, you know, maybe a bit too thoroughly but hey that was her right, and it was her civic duty to make full use of her rights.

Anyway, as I was saying. After class her phone buzzed with a notification. It was worryingly simple.

[Chloe Smithson, report to room 12A in the management building, for administrative purposes.]

It said administrative, not disciplinary, so she wasn't worried. Well she was, but she wasn't worried for logical reasons. She couldn't think of anything she had done wrong, even if only because she hadn't been at the university long enough to do anything.

She fiddled with her uniform as she made her way through the halls of the administrative building. Smoothing out her white tunic, straightening its high collar, and fiddling with the brass buttons that were stamped with the institution's crest. The fabric was cut sharply at the waist and had subtle golden thread lining along the shoulders and cuffs. The matching trousers fell straight and crisp to the tops of her polished black leather boots.

In all, the uniform (that had been given to her for free mind you) was the most expensive piece of clothing she had ever touched, let alone actually worn.

But she could only fuss over her clothes for so long before she finally arrived at the right door, took a deep breath, and went in.

Inside was a modest office, with a 70 something year old man sitting behind a rich wooden desk. Behind him was a wall of awards, medals, and a long list of degrees, all framed and hung up neatly. To his right was a nurse who was reviewing something with him.

"Excuse me? Uhm, I was told to come here?" Chloe leaned into the room and held up her phone with the message on it.

"Ah, Miss Smithson, I've been expecting you, please take a seat." The old man gestured to the chair on the other side of his desk. "I am Dr. Aurelius Vann Calder, although you only need to know me as the headmaster of Alavon University, which means I'm the man who decides who gets to stay at my school." He said with a glint in his eye.

Chloe's irrational fears started to feel a lot more rational as she sat down.

"Now there are several things I would like to discuss, but first- Miss Roth, if you would?"

The nurse stepped over to Chloe, and pulled a small rectangular device from her breast pocket. She clicked a button and the front slid backwards, revealing a needle and an empty vial.

"Please roll up your sleeve and hold out your arm. I need to take a blood sample for your checkup."

Chloe swallowed hard and tried not to panic as her mind went back to that vial of mystery fluid that hot goth girl had injected her with at the club- the stuff that had made her sick as a dog for a whole week afterwards.

"Think healthy. Think healthy. Think healthy. Think healthy." She muttered under her breath as she felt the needle puncture her arm.

Strangely she felt… something as she muttered that to herself. Her breaths seemed to come easier, and the small headache that had been bothering her for the last few minutes went away.

Huh. Must have been something in the needle?

The little device whirred, then beeped green, and the nurse pulled away.

"She's all clean. Not a single trace of any substance in her system." She said as she read the readings on the small screen. "Good blood cell counts, perfect blood pressure, balanced hormones, no signs of Kidney or Liver problems. She had a perfect bill of health, as far as I can tell, better than anyone I've ever seen from the D-District."

The nurse pulled out her phone, which projected its screen into a holographic tablet, and she fed the device data into Chloe's file.

Chloe was so taken aback by what the nurse had said that she didn't catch the rest fo what she said, or even realize when she left the room.

Her? The healthiest? She had been sickly all her life, and had at least one broken bone that had never healed right. Maybe her papa was right, and drinking milk everyday was a secret to a long and healthy life?

She was given a few moments to think that over, as Dr Calder finished something on his computer, before turning his attention to her.

"As you know, Alavon University is a very prestigious institution that has the honor of working directly with many government agencies. The history of our graduates consists of people that have gone on to become household names throughout the entire federation. Almost a quarter of our attendees are A-Class citizens. To be accepted into our student body, you have to be incredibly intelligent, very well connected, or from a prestigious family."

The doctor paused to take a sip of water from the glass on his desk. Chloe found her eyes glued to the liquid.

"Or." He said. "You get in through the C03 program."

"Trust me, sir, I know how incredibly lucky I am to be here."

"Luck has nothing to do with it, miss Smithson. The C03 program is very exclusive. Your skills and dedication are what got you here. What I hope is that they continue to hold up, even under the pressure of the real world.

"Across the Federation, the C03 program has an abysmal success rate of only 64%. That is, out of every 25 students that qualify for the program, 9 are sent back to the slums to live as a parasite on society's resources for the rest of their life. Under my direct supervision, Avalon's C03 program has achieved a 84% success rate. Where it takes an average university 25 students to find 9 failures, it takes us 100."

Calder leaned back in his chair, and looked off to the wall, where numerous awards and plaques were framed and neatly hung in rows.

"This success is why the amount of C03s sent to Alavon has been increasing every year, and why the academy's standardized test scores keep decreasing. A decade ago our students tested heads and shoulders above the best schools in the entire Federation, but now we are fighting desperately just to maintain our spot as the best among the Commonwealths on Earth. The best school in the Lunar colonies passed us last year, and Commonwealth Two's New Oxford isn't far behind."

Chloe swallowed and hung her head in shame.

"I-I'm sorry, sir. I didn't know. I'm not trying to be a burden, I just want to become a productive member of society."

"It's not your fault." He waved her off. "School rankings, and test scores, are only numbers at the end of the day. My civic duty is to the Federation, and if reforming criminals through the C03 program is how I can help, then that's what I will do without complaint."

"Even so, I'll do my absolute best! I promise it, I won't be a burden!"

Dr Calder's lips turned up in the ghost of a smile for a moment, before he smoothed them out.

"That dedication is actually exactly why I wanted to talk to you today." He said as he leaned forward. "We do our best to ensure that the student body isn't aware of who is here through the C03 program. It's in everyone's best interests that the C03's graduate and fulfill the requirements to become full C-class citizens.

"For the government it rids the world of a criminal while adding a constructive tax payer to society. For us at the university it improves our image and helps maintain our reputation as the most prestigious school in the world. And for you, it is a direct route to a better life. The social isolation, bullying, or harassment that might come from other students if they knew which of their peers aren't real citizens would greatly lower the success rates of the C03 program. But that leads to its own form of social isolation, as you might expect."

"What do you mean?"

"Holding a secret like that, bottling it up and never telling anyone for fear of what could happen- it can slowly build up and crush people from the inside. It's a large factor as to why a number of C03's fail. And I want your help to fix it."

Chloe sat up straighter, with firm resolve on her face. "I'm here to prove that I can benefit society. What can I do?"

"I've read your file, and I am impressed. You are a dedicated and intelligent young woman, who truly understands the burden of responsibility in front of you. I want you to be a role model figure. I want to tell the other C03's in secret that you are also a C03. I want you to do as well as you possibly can, so that when another C03 is struggling they can look to you for inspiration."

He held a hand up, to hold any complaints- not that Chloe had any to begin with.

"Naturally I would take great measures to not let your status slip to anyone outside of the program, but I believe you could do some real good for the other students like you." He looked at her meaningfully. "If you agree to it, that is."

"I would be honored. When can I start?"

"As far as I'm concerned you already have. Just keep your clean record, and strive for the best grades possible. Remember, your fellows are counting on you now." The chairman leaned back in his seat with a soft smile, and glanced at the old analog clock hanging on his wall. "Ah, but you should get going. I don't want to hold up your holiday time."

"...holiday?"

"Don't tell me you've forgotten?" Calder asked with a small smirk. "It's Progress Day."

Chloe's eyes widened.

She had been so sick, and so caught up with becoming a C03 student, that she had completely forgotten.

"There's a real festival!" She exclaimed out loud, before she could stop her stupid mouth.

"Yes, the festival." The headmaster chuckled. "Why don't you go enjoy it?"

"Of course, sir! Thank you very much for the opportunity, I won't let you down, sir!" Chloe blabbered, her words tripping over each other, as she stood up and walked backwards as fast as she could out of the room.

As soon as the door closed behind her, Calder let his forced smile drop back into his tired and annoyed resting face, as he turned back to his work.

In reality he told the same thing, and offered the same fake position, to every C03 student. The fake sense of leadership and responsibility for their fellow C03's was a great motivator, and had been proven to raise performance by double digit percentage points in some subjects.

Sure it was deception, but it was for the success of the program- which was for their own benefit, for the greater good, and for Humanity's progress towards the best possible future.

Exactly like the Federation itself.

-Tainted Blood-
​

"WELCOME NEW STUDENTS, OUR HOPE FOR THE FUTURE, TO PROGRESS DAY!"

A voice boomed over a loudspeaker somewhere nearby, and Chloe could only stare out with her jaw hanging open.

Everyone, in every city, in every colony, everywhere celebrated Progress Day, even in the slums of the D-District! Every town and city set up their own festival to celebrate just how far Humanity had come since they had almost wiped themselves out centuries ago. To celebrate how much Progress had been made since their lowest point as a species.

And the celebration here had been tailored to fit the university.

There had to be a hundred booths set up, all trying to convince students to sign up for classes to go down various career paths. Hundreds of students in uniform walked around in every which way, eating food, chatting,and stopping at the booths. Royal blue banners and steamers had been put up everywhere, alongside posters and patriotic music from speakers.

Easily one of the largest, if not THE largest, booth was for military service.

"Take a step inside and test your metal!" A grizzled veteran boomed to the crowd. "This is a genuine training sim that we use to train our drone pilots. How many terrorists can you kill? The top scorers will get the opportunity to take the real deal for spin. YOU could be a copilot for a day, to some of our best operators!"

Chloe couldn't even see what the booth looked like, through the mass of students that were lining up by the dozens to get a peek.

She was noticed by the staff, and a woman in a navy uniform came by to hand out a stack of flyers to the students in the back of the crowd.

Semper Fortis. Semper Victores.

Always Brave. Always Victorious.

The flyer had the mottos of both branches of the military (the armed forces, and the void navy) at the top, with a picture of a soldier and a sailor standing side by side in their full uniforms.

Behind the soldier was a faint fade in of an orbital assault in progress, with drop pods falling from the sky, fighters streaking overhead, and a legion of tanks and walkers charging forward.

Behind the sailor was a wide shot of several massive warships floating in the void of space, covered in huge strips of chunky armor, bristling with cannons, and firing a full volley at something out of frame.

At the bottom of the strip was a message printed in small silver font.

A full term of service, with active combat participation, guarantees B-class citizenship.

B-class, oh what a dream that would be. Chloe almost sighed wistfully as she tried to imagine it. She had a hard enough time wrapping her head around C-class, but B-class, that was like something out of a fantasy.

Even more privileges and legal rights than a C-class? What could anyone possibly even use those for? What was it like to be trusted enough to be able to tell police they couldn't search your home without a warrant?

Oh, the Federation was generous beyond belief, and the reminder of its wonder was enough to have patriotic tears welling up in her eyes!

She tucked the flyer into her pocket, and moved on, planning to come back when there was less of a line.

Representatives of the various companies in the defense industrial sector stood proudly beside displays of sleek weapon prototypes, ballistic shielding schematics, and holographic projections of orbital defense platforms, with one aerospace firm even having a mockup of a full sized fighter on display. Quite a few students were talking with those representatives, eagerly fishing for internships, while the representatives fished for future employees.

In the middle of the festival, a teacher cleared her throat into a microphone, pulling the attention of everyone nearby.

"On behalf of the university's Band and Choir, please accept our favorite song, the anthem of the Unified Federation of Greater Commonwealths." The teacher bowed to light applause and stepped aside for over a hundred students in a military marching band to begin their march through the wide brick streets.

The trumpets sounded out first, playing a regal and proud colonial tune with the other brasswind instruments. And as the marching drums began to thrum, the choir sang out.

"Oh Progress, oh progress! All hail the mighty state! Our nation, Our mother! So wonderful so great!

Boldest and grandest, withstanding every test! Oh Empire wide and glorious, you stand supremely blessed!"

Then the chorus sang in unison.

""God bless, our mother! And keep her brave and strong,

That she may grow in power and worth, Throughout the ages long.

God bless, you Empire! And keep you brave and pure!

So you may grow in power and might, Throughout the ages sure!""

"Eeek!" Chloe let out a little squeal of excitement. It was a real military band! "Can this day get any better?"

Well, it very much could- as she found out when her nose picked up a smell that instantly had her mouth watering. She followed it like a bloodhound, around a corner to find a food booth run by an old couple wearing cowboy hats.

"Authentic frontier fry. One bite and your taste buds will be transported out of your mouth, out of the solar system, and all the way to the outer colonies!"

"I'll take four!"

"From ashes and ruin, from wastelands you rose,

Progress our savior, in your glory we are clothed!

Our Mother, our Empire! Your regal banner high,

Send forth your glorious splendor! Defying every lie!"

""God bless, our mother! And keep her brave and strong,

That she may grow in power and worth, Throughout the ages long.""

Chloe had to hold herself back from moaning and melting into a puddle as she ripped the tender meat off the first of her four wooden stakes. It was so juicy, and fresh, and it had this savory sauce to it that just- UGH! It was so good! She was never going back to the slums! HEr taste buds would never survive!

The only problem she could raise about the food was that it was pretty salty, and it was making her a little… thirsty.

Her stomach rumbled at the thought of more water, and she unconsciously licked her lips.

Luckily she was in the GLORIOUS Federation, which had the solution to all of her problems.

She gasped, her jaw dropping, as she rushed over to a vendor stall.

"Is that a limited edition Captain Patriot water bottle!?"

"Emblem of Progress! She set our hearts aglooow!

With thoughts of founding fathers, and GLORIOUS Fort Arioh!"

""God bless, you Empire! And keep you brave and pure!

So you may grow in power and might, Throughout the ages sure!""

This time Chloe couldn't help but moan as he wolfed down another piece of meat, and chased it down with a gulp of freezing water from her new cup.

It was a sleek black metal cup that had a second metal cup inside it, connected at the edges and with some supports, but mostly with an airtight vacuum between them. Add in some rubber as a resistor at the connection points, and it was a near perfect temperature regulator. If you put in a cold cup of ice water, that ice would last for days.

More importantly, it had Commander Patriot's helmet on the front, and golden text that read "I live for Humanity" and "I'll die for Progress" in the shape of twin guns.

"Mother of heroes, we come your children truuue!

Proclaiming our allegiance! Our FAITH! Our LOVE, for you!"

""God bless, our mother! And keep her brave and strong,

That she may grow in power and worth, Throughout the ages long.

God bless, you Empire! And keep you brave and pure!

So you may grow in power and might, Throughout the ages sure!""

"You there! Young lady!"

"Me?" Chloe asked in bewilderment as a military man pointed at her as she walked by his booth.

"Yes, you! Are you a progressive individual?"

"I would like to think so!"

"Do you enjoy doing your civic duty?"

"Of course!"

"Then you should do the most progressive thing you can do, and buy WARBONDS to support the military industrial sector!" The man said as he gave her a blinding smile. "Those filthy aliens aren't going to clean themselves off our future colonies, you know. Every bond you buy is a bullet in the barrel of our best boy's blaster."

""God bless, our mother! And keep her brave and strong,

That she may grow in power and worth, Throughout the ages long.

God bless, you Empire! And keep you brave and pure!

So you may grow in power and might, Throughout the ages sure!""

The song ended to deafening applause and chants for an encore.

The military band received it all with wide smiles, and moved onto the next song as they continued their march- this time a battle song glorifying the navy.

The music faded away from Chloe as the band drifted away from her, and she wandered into one of the less populated parts of the festival.

Here, one exhibit in particular caught her eye.

Hidden in the shade between the flashy shows and tables begging for attention, was a tiny booth with only three people running it, and no students there.

The three men sitting under the shade of their small gray tent were all dressed in sharp black suits, and looked completely uninterested in the celebration around them.

Intrigued, Chloe walked over, and looked at the flyer on the table- one that was in a near identical style to the military.

Semper Puri.

Always Pure.

M.I.T.

Ministry of Information and Truth.

Just reading those three letters caused her hands to clam up, and her skin to start sweating profusely.

Spooks. They were spooks. She had just brazenly walked up to the spook booth.

All the rumors and conspiracies she'd heard over the years clawed at the back of her mind.

People disappearing without a trace. Dark suits watching from the shadows, only to vanish when you blink. Mind controlling radio towers, and human experimentation. Criminals that had been hiding deep off the grid, for years, suddenly being dragged into custody just days after getting a Spook put on their case.

No. Nono, keep it together. She was a citizen now. All the functions of government worked for her benefit, and that included the Spooks.

The Spooks that had all gone silent as she approached, and were staring at her intently.

Chloe swallowed down her nervousness and forced a smile.

"Hello! I, u-uh, I was just interested to see what y'all had over here."

One of the men reached under the table and pulled out a metal cube that he placed down in front of her.

"Solve the puzzle and we'll enroll you in our program. We give you full credit for all the classes you're in, and you stop attending them because they stop mattering. Instead you spend the next four years training to maintain the Truth of Progress, and protect the Federation from interior threats."

"O-Okay." Chloe gulped as she picked up the puzzle stiffly.

It was a segmented metal cube, shaped kind of like a rubix cube if it was eight squares across instead of three. Each section had one of six markings on it, but unlike a rubix cube, if you pushed on it the puzzle would open on a hinge, revealing another marking on the backside of all the squares.

"How do I know if it's solved? Am I trying to make it into a certain shape, or get all the colors on one side?"

"Figuring that out is part of the puzzle. It's critical thinking and problem solving skills mixed with investigation and deduction. There's no time limit."

Chloe nodded and began fiddling with the device.

It wasn't that hard of a guess as to what she was supposed to do with it. There were six types of markings, six sides to the cube, and given the fact it was shaped like a giant rubix cube the obvious thing to do would be to solve it like one. Just get all the markings separated to each side, and do the same in the ones in the interior.

Or rather… She thought the answer was obvious, but the way the three men almost immediately lost interest in her when she started doing that made her doubt herself.

Chloe scowled and tried harder, but it was a lost cause.

The markings on the inside made her feel stupid. You had to close the cube to make any adjustments, and no matter how much she tried to keep track of what would be going where when she turned anything, she would open it again to find that the interior markings had spun in a completely different way than what she did on the outside would imply.

Over ten minutes later of no progress, she placed the cube back down on the table.

"I can't do it." She said, dejectedly. "I'm sorry."

"It was a good try." One of the men said diplomatically, in a way that said it really hadn't been, as he took the puzzle back. "Don't feel bad, very few people have brains that work the way our field needs us to. You're the normal one, compared to us."

"Right. Uhm, have a good day."

"And you as well."

Chloe found it easier to breathe as she scurried away and put distance between her and the Spooks. She felt warmth return to her hands, and she naturally gravitated towards the sounds of laughter and jolly cheer.

Another large booth was one set up by the security services. Police, guards, first responder teams, all of those professions. Most of the people in those organizations were ex-military, but there was nothing wrong with looking for new blood.

Where the military had a whole training sim, the security services had put together a shooting range.

A burly man with a graying beard in a guard uniform, knelt down next to a little girl, helping her to handle an oversized pistol, while her father (a teacher) watched from the side with a proud smile.

"Now place your right hand as high as possible on the grip, good just like that, and align the barrel with your forearm. Put your thumb like this, there you go, and don't put your finger on the trigger until you're ready to shoot." The guard said as he helped the girl, who couldn't be any older than 8, hold the gun properly.

"Like dis?" She asked, sticking her tongue out a bit as she adjusted her tiny hands on the grip.

"Exactly like that. Now, this is a police weapon, it fires stun rounds, which are mostly non lethal so long as you don't hit 'em in the head. It doesn't have as much kick as a normal gun, but there's still some recoil so be ready."

Another one of the officers came over, dragging a dummy that had been at the far end of the range, much closer for the girl to shoot at, then hurriedly jogged out of the way.

"Alright little miss Jenny, you are now a temporary member of the guard, and that is your target." He leaned down, putting his head on the same level as hers. "He's a rebel that's been trying to undermine the Federation, and stand against progress."

The girl, who Chloe now knew as Jenny, raised her pistol, aimed down the sights with one eye closed, and pulled the trigger.

The gun let out a dull thwump, rather than the bang of gunpowder propellant, but the faux-bullets still came out plenty fast, and with enough force to puncture into the target dummy before popping in a burst of static electricity.

The kick of the first shot startled her, but she quickly recovered and a downright cruel grin spread on her face.

"DIE DIE DIE DIE!" She screamed as she unloaded the rest of the bullets in the magazine at the head of the dummy. "DIE REBEL SCUM!"

Rather than be upset, or unnerved, at the preteen girl deliberately aiming at the one part of the dummy that she'd been told was a fatal shot, all the adults just laughed and cheered her on.

"Great shot sweety!"

"That's right! Let him have it!"

"She's a natural!"

Chloe watched from a distance with a smile, as the little girl asked if there were any bigger guns she could shoot.

"Maybe I could go into the security services?" She hummed to herself. "It would be a good way to contribute to society, and if I get a posting in the D-District, then I could even see papa while I'm on duty."

That wasn't too bad of an idea, actually.

""Hello! Hello!""

Choe yelped and jumped back in surprise as two people jumped right in front of her face.

It was a pair of twins, not identical but close. One was a boy and the other a girl. They both had very pale skin, hair so naturally white that it looked silver, and metallic gray eyes. They also just looked really nice, they had smooth blemishless skin, big eyes, and good facial features. The girl especially cut a very nice figure in her student uniform.

"Do you care about children?" The boy asked.

"Uhm. What?" Chloe asked in confusion.

"Do you care about children?" The girl repeated.

"Yes?"

"You wouldn't intentionally drink, smoke heavily, or take illicit substances while pregnant, would you?"

"Of course not!" Choe rebutted, offended.

The twins looked at each other and smiled, before turning back to Chloe and stepping closer.

"Then would you like to sign up for the Federal Eugenics program?"

Chloe blinked, taking a moment to process that.

"What?"

A flyer was shoved into her face, it had a picture of a nurse shielding a young girl from a giant twisted and evil looking strand of DNA. It read: SAVE YOUR CHILDREN! SAVE OUR FUTURE!

"We're doing our part to help combat the hereditary diseases that have plagued humanity for millenia. You can help too! All you have to do is join the program, and if you ever get diagnosed with a disease that can be passed on to your children, choose to adopt a child instead of conceiving it yourself."

The female twin stepped over and clung to Chloe's arm with tears in her eyes. "Think of all the poor, innocent babies, born to live a life of pain and misery because of the choices of their parents!"

"Choosing to risk infecting a child with a life altering disease is no different than choosing to risk crippling a child by drinking heavily while pregnant!" The boy rolled up the flyer and poked Chloe in the chest with it. "65% of all women in the Federation's population are proud members of this program, because they value the lives of their children. Do you take some sort of twisted joy in maiming babies?"

"If not, then you should sign up!" The girl cheered. "It's absolutely free! All we need is your name and your signature, and we'll take care of the rest of the legwork of getting you enrolled!"

"Think of it as a backup, a safety net. If nothing bad happens, then you'll never even notice anything has changed, but if something terrible does strike, you'll have the support network necessary to deal with it."

"Save your children, and save our future."

"Be a good person."

"Be a good citizen."

"Be a good mother."

""Do your civic duty!"" They shouted together.

"I-I uh, I mean, O-Okay?" Outnumbered, surrounded on both sides, and with the twins bouncing off each other faster than she could think, Chloe relented and scribbled her signature down on their (already half full) signup sheet with a shaky smile.

"Yay!" "Let's go!" The twins cheered.

"I'm happy to help, I guess?" Chloe sweatdropped as she backed away. "But I have to go get my dorm set up, so I've gotta go."

She wasn't even lying either, she did need to go check in to the dorm and make sure her luggage had been delivered.

The twins watched her go with thoughtful expressions. The girl nudged the boy, and the boy, after thinking for a second, nodded and flashed her two fingers.

"We're so sorry, we forgot to properly introduce ourselves." The twins said as they stepped in front of her again.

"I'm Melvin." Said the brother.

"I'm Malin." Said the sister. "And we're a part of Nextkin Eugenics."

"The official program sponsored by the government is good, but not great. It's preventative, but not proactive. We are a group that believes Humanity can do better- that we NEED to do better, for the sake of progress."

Something about that phrasing sat in Chloe's stomach the wrong way.

"What do you mean proactive?" She asked with narrowed eyes. "You're not… doing anything to children, are you?"

"Oh, good heavens no! Of course not." Malin said, appalled. "We love children, we wouldn't do anything to them."

"Tell me, would you want the best possible future for your child? If possible, you would give them the best education, and the best tools that you could possibly afford to give them the best shot at a successful future, right?"

"Well, I mean, of course." Chloe shrank in on herself as the twins circled her like sharks.

"Then you'll be overjoyed to hear that the best future for your child can be guaranteed for free, and is available to you today with the Nexikin program!" Melvin clapped his hands. "C-Class citizens make up 60% of the Federation, B-Class 20%, and A-Class 3%. However, despite Nextkins only making up a 12% minority of the human population, 75% of all Nextkin are B-Class, with a further 6% being A-Class."

"Those are really good statistics!" Malin said as she threw an arm around Chloe's shoulder. "And they're that way for a reason, too! Your children would be guaranteed to have perfect vision, perfect teeth, perfect health, and a top percentage IQ."

"And of course be tall, strong, and fast enough to be able to top the team in any sport they want- so long as they train for it, obviously." Melvin added with a whisper, and a nudge with his elbow.

"What's the downsides?" Chloe asked, understandably suspicious.

""Absolutey none!"" The twins said together.

"It's free for you, and paid for by Nextkin communities like ours!"

"The egg implantation procedure has been proven to be completely safe and pain free. The entire thing takes less than 30 minutes!"

"Wait, wait, wait. Egg implantation?" Chloe stopped in her tracks, making Malin stumble. "Wouldn't that mean it wouldn't be my kid?!"

"Of course it would!" The twins rushed into damage control mode. "The baby would still grow in your womb. You would give birth to them. You would hold them in the hospital, and give them their name. You would nurse them from your bosom. They would be your child a thousand times more than any adopted child ever could be."

See, they said that, but Chloe was starting to suspect that they were more than just a little biased.

With their odd hair and eye color, their near identical appearance, their perfect faces, and their very enthusiastic support of the Nextkin program- to the point that they were out evangelizing to try to get people to enroll, Chloe had a very strong suspicion of who (or rather what) these two were.

"Look, that's great and all, but I really need to go check into my dorm. So let's put a pen in that, and come back to it later, or never, you know, whichever comes first."

Chloe smiled, forced her way past, and marched off, leaving the two Nextkin behind.

"You pushed her too hard." Malin said as she whacked her brother on the back of the head with her clipboard. "She was a perfect candidate."

"Yeah, we should have gone with opening three, instead." Her brother sighed.

Chloe fought back a scowl as she heard them talking behind her back as she walked away. They likely hadn't intended her to be able to hear them, and even she was surprised she had picked it up so clearly, but regardless of what was intended she had.

Improving all of humanity by such an extent would be progress towards the utopia that everyone was fighting to build together, but still, the idea of being pregnant with and birthing a kid that wasn't her own just didn't sit right with her. That was, like, an entirely new level of getting cucked.

Wait, did that make her against progress?? No! No, it couldn't be, she was a very progressive person, she believed in the full authority of the Federation, and the absolute supremacy of the Human race! She wasn't like those regressives who occasionally popped up and advocated for the destruction of decades of progress, under the guise of "old school conservatism" and "personal freedoms".

Thankfully before she could run her mind in circles about the issue, the speakers interrupted her thoughts as they crackled to life.

"A new spur of the moment demonstration is being held by our honored veterans on the East side of the festival. You don't want to miss this. Please, make your way to the East side of the festival."

"The East side?" Chloe whined through a bite of chicken as she looked over at the big dorm building she was assigned to. "That's the opposite direction of where I need to go!"

She grumbled some choice words under her breath as she started jogging towards her dorm. Maybe if she was fast enough she could get everything done, and then swing back around and still catch a bit of the demonstration.

"The Progress Festival is a wonderful event to celebrate how far we have come as a society. Please stay and enjoy the festivities."

The speaker announced again as Chloe passed the empty MTI booth.

Huh, that was weird, where did they go? Did all three of them have to go to the bathroom at the same time?

It was just like a spook to disappear the moment you took your eye off of them.

"Today is a special day, you can put off those things you need to do, in order to enjoy the fruits of Progress! Please stay and enjoy the festivities. Again, a spur of the moment demonstration is being held by our honored veterans on the EAST side of the festival. Please stay and enjoy the festivities."

Chloe continued jogging West.

-Tainted Blood-
​

When Chloe arrived at her dormitory, there was almost no one else there.

The building was massive, easily large enough to house hundreds, but there were only ten people at most wandering around the area.

The low numbers did make a bit sense, considering most people had likely been drawn over to the east side of the festival for the big show, but still…

"This place feels like a ghost town." Chloe frowned as she looked around at the empty booths and stalls that had set up at the very edge of the festival.

She walked over to the large glass doors at the front of the dorm building, and peered inside, but it was just as empty in there. No one at the front desk, no janitors, no occupants. She tested the door to find it unlocked, and let it swing open in front of her.

There was something… off here.

Obviously there was the lack of people, but something in her gut just had this horrible feeling, like a spring was winding itself up slowly in her stomach, and was about ready to explode from the pressure.

Slowly Chloe walked back, out of the doorway, and away from the building. She must have looked like a crazy person as she walked backwards into the square, glaring at the dorm, and trying to puzzle out what was wrong.

"Excuse me, miss?"

Chloe jumped a little as she was startled.

"Do you know which way it is to a restroom?" An older woman asked as she walked over, with her son in tow.

"Uh, right down that street is the Fine Arts center. There's a restroom directly down the hall to your left when you enter."

"Oh, thank you so much, you're such a dear. I swear this place is like a maze." The woman sighed and shook her head.

"Are you a student here?" Her son asked.

"Yes. Yes I am, actually." Chloe said, puffing up in pride at the awe in the little boy's eyes.

"Woah! That's so cool, you must be, like, SUPER smart! I want to go here when I'm old enough, just like my big sister!"

"My oldest is attending this year, that's why we're visiting." His mother elaborated with a fond smile.

"If I could do it, then you absolutely can as well." Chloe smiled as she ruffled his hair. "But you have to make sure to study for every test, make sure to listen to your parents and teachers, and eat aaallll your veggies. Can you do that?"

"I can! I can!"

"Then you'll do great, kiddo, I just know it." Chloe winked and gave him a thumbs up.

This touching moment was interrupted by the sound of multiple bombs going off.

The explosions ripped through the dormitory, ripping apart the main support beams that the fame rested on, and shattering windows.

Chloe's heart slammed against her ribs as she spun around to see the six story tall building shudder and tip towards her. The brick walls cracking as the structure began to rip itself apart as it toppled over.

Chunks of stone and metal began to loose from the main collapsing body and fall in a deadly rain hurtling toward the square below.

Straight towards Chloe.

Straight towards the little boy and his mother.

A number of things ran through Chloe's mind in that moment. Disbelief, fear, regret, anger, but a single clear thought stood out like a neon sign in the fog.

She was not yet a real citizen. These two were.

"MOVE!"

With strength she didn't know she had, Chloe grabbed both of them and threw them out of the way, shoving the pair clear just as the world collapsed around her.

-Tainted Blood-

…

..

.

!
​

Chloe bolted away with a gasp, and immediately began coughing and hacking up all the dust she had just sucked down her throat.

She could hear sirens and people shouting, but it was all muffled. Why it was muffled didn't exactly need einstein on the case to be puzzled out.

She was buried alive in a tomb of rubble, twisted rebar, and stone. More specifically she was in a pocket formed by large chunks of stone, from the debris that had fallen onto the square. She couldn't see the sky, but she could see light filtering in from a number of cracks and small openings, so she wasn't too far deep.

Most of the building had collapsed in on itself downward, and only a section had fallen to the side- not that Chloe would know, or that it would help her if she did.

Her head throbbing like a war drum, and it felt like someone was blowing a high pitched dogwhistle directly into her ear. Her body ached all over, even through the comfortable numbness that had been hugging her since she got sick.

Panic clawed at her chest as she got her bearings. How long had she been out? Seconds? Minutes? Had she gotten the other two out of the way? Were they dead? How was she not dead?

"F-Fuck man…" She cursed. "HELLO! I'M ALIVE IN HERE! CAN ANYONE HEAR ME!?"

She began to pat herself down to make sure she was all there, wincing in pain from pressing on bruises and cuts, but when she got to her leg…

Chloe froze, and she began to choke on air as her brain seized up and her lungs refused to work properly.

The dim light filtering in was just enough to let her see the mangled ruin of what had once been her left leg. Trapped beneath the massive slab of concrete that was holding up the entire pocket, her leg had been pulverized into a grotesque slurry of skin, blood, and bone.

If it weren't for the shredded pieces of her blue jeans mixed into the ribbons of skin that had been ripped off like banana peels, pulling clumps of muscles with it, she wouldn't even have been able to recognize it as a leg.

Nausea bubbled up in her gut, and she suddenly felt incredibly dizzy as she stared at the pulp that had been her thigh, with a splintered femur jutting through the skin.

"Oh God. Oh God. I- oh- oh, I'm gonna puke." She stuttered as she began to slip into shock.

But then, before she lost her lunch, something strange happened.

The blood strapped under the rock began to bubble out of the cracks, and the splattered pieces of flesh began to writhe.

Choe's eyes widened in horror as what was left of her ruined limb began to twitch and move unnaturally, the bloody mess bubbling and shifting like boiling tar.

Chloe screamed as she watched her own flesh revolt against her.

Muscles ripped free from bone with sickening pops, only to slither to her stump like snakes and knit back together. The largest bone fragments were pushed together by the moving flesh, and the marrow oozed out like molten wax before hardening into seamless white, without even a lingering crack.

Veins pulsed grotesquely, inflating and deflating as if they were breathing, while they slowly spun through the regenerating muscle and fat like a spiderweb. Pale skin wrapped around everything, around and around, again and again, like layers to an onion.

Then.

"Wh-What?"

It was over.

Chloe lay there, trembling as she stared at her leg.

Her whole leg. Completely rebuilt without any evidence that it had been mulch below the knee, not even half a minute ago. Even her old scars were gone.

Normally in superhero movies, after discovering their power, this would be where the main character says something witty, or something that might grow into a catchphrase.

But this is not a superhero movie, and Chloe's response-

"BLEUGH!"

-Was to puke out everything in her stomach in absolute disgust of what she had just seen.

-Chapter End-
​