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cryptidsofwakemoor · 8 months

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Chapter 1 - First Sighting

Story starts here! Freshly escaped from Aria Labs, an experimental bioweapon seeks shelter in a quiet seaside town...

~*~

Spooky

Project Matchstick’s heart drummed rapidly against his ribcage as his feet pounded against the grass and dirt below. The uneven ground was completely alien to him, a far cry from more familiar smooth, sterile tile flooring. No, there were obstacles here- rocks, twigs, branches that whipped past and scratched him, bushes that threatened to trip him up... The uneven ground was only one obstacle of many. But he had to get through them, because what he left behind him was far more terrifying than the unknown he was running blindly into.

He had no idea how long he'd been running, but it somehow felt simultaneously like five minutes and an eternity. He was no longer on fire, but he had to have been leaving some kind of trail of smoke and soot regardless, his frenzied breaths puffing out of his mouth in the form of dark clouds.

Everything hurt.

He may have been built for strength and endurance, but he still had limits... and he'd probably hit his a while ago, running purely on adrenaline ever since. The trees and grass were blurring together, and his head was starting to feel like it was floating... A sudden pain of his foot catching on something startled him back to alertness, but by that point it was too late for him to do anything as he was sent tumbling down a hill.

Any bearings he had were completely lost as a moment of weightlessness ended abruptly, the world turning over and over as the ground battered him from all directions. It mercifully stopped as he finally landed with a loud WHUMP in a ditch below. He just... laid there for a bit, stunned and desperately trying to catch his breath. Having been forced to stop, any attempt to get himself to move again was a LOT more difficult... Alarm bells were still blaring in the back of his mind, but his body was absolutely fed up with cooperating by this point.

He was in that ditch for a while... There were times where approaching bright lights would shine across the leaves in front of him and a loud vehicle would pass by on the nearby road, each time making him go completely still and hold his breath in hopes he wouldn't be spotted... Maybe because it was dark by this point, he mercifully wasn't.

It was hard to tell how much time passed, or if he was even conscious for some of it... but eventually, his exhaustion eased enough for him to move again. Instead, it was replaced by a new uncomfortable- yet vaguely familiar?- sensation in his stomach. He wasn't... sure why, but the rest of him wasn't feeling much better either, so he shrugged it off for now as he climbed out of the ditch and hurried across the road. The sky was still dark, but slowly getting lighter... And it wasn't much longer at all before the trees were mostly gone, replaced with what he could only recognize as more buildings.

Surprised, he hid behind the closest tree he could and peeked around it, trying to get as good of a look as he could without being spotted... The building he'd escaped from had been a large one, and it looked nothing like the ones he could see from here. These were way smaller, and had more bright colors around them, and windows... He couldn't see in through them, though, because they were too dark. There were a few parked vehicles around... but most notably, there were no people to be seen.

He cautiously waited for another minute or two, before the lack of people gave him enough courage to venture closer, beyond the treeline and into the town. He looked with curiosity at the various colorful signs that adorned the buildings and streets, and the hanging lights that blinked yellow in places where the roads intersected. He approached one of the parked cars, silently reading out whatever letters and numbers he recognized on the front plate before pulling the windshield wipers up to see what would happen. He pulled at a handle on the side of the thing too, but then it started honking- angrily, he assumed- and he scrambled to get away.

He ran behind one of the nearby buildings- a large one, with a big glowing sign out front- and spotting some huge boxes, he wrenched open the lid of one of them- padlock breaking and clattering to the ground as he did- and climbed inside to hide. The smell in there... was not very good, and he was surrounded by plastic bags. Those guys who cleaned the lab kinda carried around something like these things... Never had any idea what was in 'em.

Without much else to do, he tore one open to see what was inside, and to his surprise, little bags of bread came tumbling out! Food! Holy shit, these things had food in them?! That feeling in his stomach came back with a vengeance, an ache so deep that he almost felt nauseous. Regardless of the fact that some of the bread was a bit spotty in places, his brain seemed to shut off for a few moments and the next thing he knew, he had ravenously torn into the packaging and devoured two whole loaves and was halfway through shoving a third into his mouth when the lid above him suddenly opened.

Mystic

When the lid is removed and light shines down around the box, he could see a figure behind it, silhouetted with impossible to discern features. The blazing light made it impossible to see much more than the outline of a head and set of shoulders.

There's a clatter of junk and plastic as the stranger gasps.

"Hey!" They yell, the voice one that he'd never heard in his life- and with a level of outrage he'd never heard in his life, "-is someone in there? You get outta there! You broke the padlock?? Get! Get out!"

The light- which appears to be coming from a metal rod grasped in one hand- moves aside, letting the feral kid in the dumpster see a bit more of their face. They're a scruffy-looking human of some kind, with a scraggly startup to a beard and tousled hair. They're glaring down into the dumpster, dropping something else they were holding- another bag of foodstuff? It makes a clinking sound when it hits the ground out of sight.

The hand that wasn't visible before comes back with a broom, shining the flashlight directly on the teenager in the trash this time.

"I said get out! You're going to attract- raccoons-"

Their anger dissipates into shock and surprise at the sight of the strange kid, stumbling back from the dumpster.

"What the hell-?!"

Spooky

For a moment it probably looked like two flashlights were shining right back up at him. The strange kid in question had gone completely still in fright the moment the lid had lifted, but while his body could blend in with the shadows easily enough, his glowing eyes were another story entirely. He flinched when the angry-sounding human pointed the light directly at him, and the moment the man reacted, he did so as well. The shadowy figure lunged upwards, scrambling out of the box and tearing off across the small, empty employee lot, before clearing the fence on the other side of it like it was nothing.

Preoccupied with escaping the human, he didn't pay attention to where he was going until he was confronted by a rapidly approaching pair of other bright lights, followed by a loud honk that got him to leap out of the way just in time to avoid being run over. Nerves thoroughly frazzled by this point, he kept running, desperately searching for a place to hide. Apparently this place wasn't as empty as he'd thought, and with the rise of the sun it was only going to get more active as the town woke up...

Mystic

"Whoa- what-?! AHH-"

The stranger's yelling fades quickly as the kid absolutely tears ass away from the building.

He ran and ran into the darkness of the night, dodging the glaring spotlights of streetlamps and vehicles soaring past him on the roads. Startling, to say the least!

The men in lab coats would come looking for him- he knew they would. They were furious when he managed to break out of containment, the intimidating one with the ponytail the angriest of all. He knew they had flying drones with cameras- he'd seen them taking video footage of his 'training' sessions, the few times he didn't blast them out of the sky himself. He couldn't let himself be seen. Not by anyone, not by any cameras.

Solace is found only at the very edge of town, where the lights are few and the people fewer. It was late at night, now. Everybody must be asleep. The only experience he had with 'night' was whenever the ponytail man in the lab coat said it was time for him to sleep. Shortly afterwards, he would fall unconscious whether he wanted to or not. It was way past that time, now, and he didn't feel the slightest bit sleepy, all hiked up on adrenaline as he was. Nonetheless, his bones felt like they were quaking under his skin from exhaustion. Guess being tired wasn't the same thing-

-and the ground suddenly dips under his feet as he jogs along the tree line. He's sliding down a dirt hollow, into a divot in the earth. The soil was softer under his hands and butt than he expected- and as a result, he kept sliding deeper, until he slid to a stop.

...It was pitch black in here, but he could still see the entrance. He could see the back, too. Shallow, but wide. A vacant den of some kind?

Spooky

He propped himself up on his elbows, trying to take in as much of his surroundings as he could, but it was too dark in here for even the glow of his eyes to fully penetrate, and in the mostly enclosed space his anxious breathing sounded too impossibly loud for him to hear anything else over it. When nothing immediately popped out of the dark to attack, though, he carefully rolled over onto all fours and crawled around the perimeter to make sure he was alone before he finally allowed himself to relax a bit.

At the very least, he was fairly certain no drones would be able to spot him down here. They'd probably see a hole in the ground, but any random creature coulda made that, right? And humans didn't seem the type to crawl into a dirt hole in the ground. They wouldn't see him here...

There was a worried thought of 'what if whatever dug this place out came back', but everything else pointed to this being the safest place he'd found all day. There was only one way in, so no one could sneak up on him at least... Too exhausted to think of any better options, he moved over and situated himself against the back wall of the den, where he could keep an eye on the entrance. He sat there for a little while- legs curled up, his arms crossed over his knees with his chin rested in them- and did his best to keep watch, though his eyes refused to stay open for long. Exhaustion could only be fought off for so long, and there was only so much adrenaline one could burn through in a day. Within minutes, he was out like a light.

~*~

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#stickman #stickman oc #cryptid oc #lab experiment oc #cosmic fiasco #cryptids au #original fiction #writing #rp format #fedoraspooky #mysticdoodles

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cryptidsofwakemoor · 8 months

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Chapter 2 - Burger Burglar

After escaping the lab, Matchstick runs into a new challenge: trying to find enough food to sustain his furnace of a stomach.

~*~

Mystic

...

...…

Something was tickling his face. It was persistent, and poking through the muddy dreams he'd been wafting on.

Oof. And that pain in his gut had come back, mildly nagging at his insides. What was that? It wouldn't go away, either.

Fluttering his eyes open, he was greeted by the sight of the earthy den he'd fallen asleep in. Sunlight was starting to trickle down through the entrance, teasing at his cheek.

Or- maybe that was the red and black bug he saw, poking up at the edge of his vision. It was small and round, and shiny in the morning light.

Spooky

...Buh.

Had he fallen asleep...?

And- damn it, what the fuck was touching his face? He blinked, and caught the movement of the small creature out of the corner of his eye. Startled, he breathed in a dry gasp and brushed it off, scooting his butt away from where he'd been seated. Shit, what the fuck was that thing?! He couldn't see it now, because it had gone flying somewhere, so he was left sitting still for a few moments with a feeling of unease.

Grrrghghlllll...

...And what the fuck was THAT? The sunlight shining in through the entrance lit the burrow just barely enough that he could see nothing else was in here with him, save for whatever that tiny thing was, but he was pretty sure that thing couldn't growl like that...

He waited and listened carefully until he heard it again, a low gurgling growl coming from- from... himself??

The fuck?

Was he dying or something? He felt like shit... His stomach especially, and now it was making worrying sounds... This hole in the ground was safe, but that wasn't gonna do him any good if he fucking died in it!

His mind raced as he tried to think of something he could do about this. His stomach had felt like this the night before, too, but it did seem at least a little less pressing before he'd slept... His thoughts wandered back to him eating those loaves of bread, it seemed to have helped a bit... In fact, he kinda wished he'd grabbed some when he escaped, but he hadn't thought to do that at the time...

His glowing tongue slid out and licked at his dry lips. Yeah... He wished he had more... But damn it, that human was gonna chase him if he went back for the rest of it.

His eyes slowly wandered back towards the light filtering in through the entrance. There had to have been more food out there, right...?

He found himself torn, not wanting to leave and expose himself to danger again, but there was also nothing in here to help distract him from the nagging feeling in his stomach... He huffed out a breath, and reluctantly began his crawl back up to the surface. He poked his head up from the soil, squinting at his surroundings as his eyes had to readjust to the light. The coast seemed clear enough...

Okay. If he could find some food close enough, he could just come back here whenever he needed to hide again. Maybe that'd work...

Mystic

...It didn't take long before something that smelled delicious tempted at his senses. What was that heavenly aroma? Mmm... he didn't have the adjectives to describe it, and it made his stomach complain worse than ever.

It was definitely harder to keep hidden in the daylight. He was very acutely aware of the fact that he had no camouflage, now that the cover of night was gone. Whatever the scientists had done to him to give him this lava blood and charcoal flesh, he stuck out like a sore thumb.

Don't be seen. Don't get caught.

Getting to the edge of the treeline again was easy. Figuring out where the smell came from, even easier- he could see an establishment not too far away that had some sort of fire box visible through a window, with patties and slices of red and brown material sizzling away. The rich smell had to be coming from that.

But actually getting over to it... that wouldn't be so simple. It was across one of those strips of black ground, where metal boxes with lights had zipped along and almost hit him. Those had to be vehicles of some sort, right? He'd overheard conversations among the scientists talking about something called 'trucks', used to move things around. Including him, on rare occasions.

Stomach growled again, demanding.

Spooky

He swallowed, staring at that building with an intensity that felt like it should've been able to bore holes through it, had that been one of his abilities.

It had given him such tunnel vision that it was only after he started to step out from behind the tree that he noticed how busy it was around the building. A 'truck' rolled past, breaking his line of sight, and he noticed some people walking around and talking to each other- some human and some not. There were more 'trucks' too, some sitting still and others moving around. His breath hissed through his teeth at the close call, and he ducked back behind the tree before any of them could see him.

Shit.

How the fuck was he supposed to get over there?!

And... thinkin' about it, there were probably more people in the building too. Even if there were no people outside, he couldn't just walk in... His previously hopeful expression soured in jealousy as he saw people walking out with food in their hands. Like it was so fucking easy.

The worst part was knowing he was strong enough that he could just as easily take it from them, but that would draw way too much attention. And apparently, going off what happened the night before, there were guards out here, too...

...About that, though... If he couldn't walk in through the front of the building, what if there were more of those food boxes out back behind it...? If he ran as fast as he could, maybe he could make it behind there before anyone could get a good look at him.

Fuck it, worth a shot.

Waiting for another 'truck' to pass, he crouched low and sprinted across, ducking into the shadows behind the building. Aw, fuck... There weren't any big boxes, just some metal cans... Nobody else back here though, at least...

Since he had the chance, he decided to see if there was at least something in the cans, so he pried the lid off one of them and tore open the bag inside. It wasn't food, just various crumpled paper-like materials tumbling out, although some were soaked in grease, or some kind of yellow and red stuff. It certainly didn't smell as good as whatever was in the building...

Though given the insistence of his stomach, he was still tempted to see if these could be eaten...

Mystic

Hm... they had something similar in smell to what was coming through that front door. Not quite the same, but close.

Maybe...

Grabbing one of the waxy papers and inserting it into his mouth didn't yield the best results. Some of that savory smell was on the paper in the form of taste, but... above all, he was tasting the waxy outer coating on the paper, which melted in his iron-hot mouth. Ugh, it was gumming up his teeth! Didn't feel very good to swallow, either- he had to cough out a small cloud of smoky embers, as the paper went down as dry ash. Not very appetizing, in the end.

click-click

Shit-

He had to duck back into hiding to avoid being seen, as a door on the side of the establishment opened outwards.

Another daytime stranger in a stained white apron- not a lab coat, thank god- stepped out into the alleyway. Some sort of tall bug-like person? In their clawlike arms they had a plastic bag, similar to the ones found in the box last night. They stopped at the trash can, with the lid still dropped to the ground. Scratching at their head, the bug person grumbles and kneels down to pick it up.

"Damn raccoons," they grumble, holding the lid aside as they drop the bag inside. Once the lid is replaced on top, they take some sort of tethers from their pocket, and strap the lid down to the trash can with the camping rope. Dusting their hands, they go back inside, shutting the door with a click.

Spooky

They kept saying that word. The hell was a 'raccoon'?

Despite the first thing he tried in that can not being the most appetizing thing he'd ever put in his mouth, he still felt a sinking feeling as he watched the stranger tie the top down. Damn it... So much for trying anything else in there.

His eyes followed the strange man back to the door, which closed. He waited for a bit before coming back out, half tempted to try and go in there too despite the danger. Maybe if he was quiet, or fast enough, he could slip in and grab something, then slip back out...

He tentatively reached out and grabbed the handle he'd seen moving on the door, and tried to slowly turn it, but it wouldn't budge. Hm. Maybe he needed to turn it a little harder…

He kept trying to turn it until the lock busted with a loud enough POP that he backed off with a grimace, knowing someone probably heard that and walking in would be a mistake. Unfortunately, with the lock part broken, the door slowly swung open anyway. There was one guy who didn't seem to notice him at all- he had some weird device over his ears and was making humming sounds as he scrubbed some metal thing next to some running water. There was one other guy though- the bug guy from before was standing next to a surface covered in sizzling patties, and the door slowly swung open juuuust enough for them to make eye contact.

.....

Fuck it, guy already saw him.

The famished bioweapon darted inside and made a grab for some patties, completely unaffected by the heat of the grill. He managed to snag two and stuffed one in his mouth like a frenzied animal before making a break for it back out the door, not stopping even as he heard shouting behind him and a flat ended instrument of some kind was thrown after him, bouncing off his back.

His back was still wounded and it stung like hell, but whatever the fuck that food was tasted so much better than anything he'd ever had in his life that he didn't even care! Fucking worth it.

Mystic

The yelling and flailing of the bug person got the attention of not only the man wearing the strange device on his head, but also the passerby and customers of this establishment.

"What the hell was that?!"

"I don't know! Was that a kid, or-?"

"No, it was like a shadow! What the fuck!!"

The outcries of the people follow the kid even as he bolts away from the storefront, swallowing the second patty of brown stuff with wild abandon. God, it was so good! Nothing had ever tasted this delicious in his life! He'd eaten meals only rarely, as rewards for 'good performance'. This made those meals taste like utter garbage by comparison. Steam puffed out of his mouth, the sound of sizzling emanating from his own throat as his inner fire burned up the material. Was this what made that delicious smell? Setting fire to food?

It satisfied the rumble in his stomach, for now. The gurgle in his gut had receded.

Back across the black stone path, he was under cover again. Safe.

And right on time, too. The familiar whine of electronics passes by overhead. Camera drones. He dodged a bullet, there.

Spooky

He ducked back into the cover of the woods and headed back towards the burrow to lay low. One drone was too much for his liking, but all bunched together like that, it was too dangerous to blow any one of them up without alerting the others. He'd caused enough alarm for now, and now that his stomach was feeling better, he didn't wanna push his luck any further than he already had.

Hopefully those people would calm down once they hadn't seen him for a while...

Once he made it back to the burrow entrance, though, he crouched with a bit of hesitation, licking the remaining patty grease off of his hands in thought as he tried to savor whatever left of that taste he could.

Yeah, he could go back down there and hide, but... then what? He wasn't tired, and he'd just be sitting in a hole in the dark for hours and hours, probably until his stomach hurt again and he'd have to come back out anyway.

Maybe it'd be better to explore a little bit first? Get familiar with the area. That way if he got chased again he could have some kind of an advantage... Or heck, maybe he could find some food out here. Animals had to eat too, right? People food was risky, but it was so good... The thought of going back to eating what he'd been used to before kind of sucked after experiencing something that nice, but fuel was fuel.

Standing back up, he started to wander again, though was sure to steer clear of the direction he'd just fled from.

~*~

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#stickman #stickman oc #cryptid oc #escaped lab experiment #lab experiment oc #cosmic fiasco #cryptids au #cosmic fiasco cryptids #original fiction #writing #rp format #fedoraspooky #mysticdoodles

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