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Everything was going absolutely spectacularly!Jasmina got to go upstairs and catch up with some old friends while doing a work order on the Little Prince. Sergay had been sent to disciplinary for the day to help deal with a new arrival, which hadn’t caused any problems, and the speaker had chimed out a rare bit of good news, announcing they had reached over half of the day's quota.Now Jasmina wasn’t the type to act overly chipper when in a good mood but even the densest of employees could see the small smile on her face was truly genuine. Thus she found herself engaging in surprisingly pleasant conversation with the central commands captain, Firenze, before the gentle hum of her wristband informed her of her next work order. Glancing down she felt her mood slip a little, insight work on T-01-31, an aleph…It wouldn’t be her first time working with an aleph, but that didn’t mean the prospect was any less nerve-wracking. One wrong move when dealing with an Aleph could spell the end of the entire facility. Not to mention the very air around them seemed alive. A twisting mass of invisible evil that would penetrate one's mind and send them to the brink of insanity. Despite the worrisome beast culminating in her lungs at the mere prospect, she rose from her chair, steeled her posture and bid Firenze what hopefully wouldn’t be her final farewell.The sound of her feet seemed to echo off of the shining tiles, disappearing into the endless reaches of central command. Jasmina tried to focus on the noises, the soft hurried footsteps around her, the gentle chimes that escaped the second hall, and the gurgled crying that sprung from the first. She let her finger trickle across the ticklish chill of her spear, savoring the numbness that overtook them as she sunk deeper into her thoughts.A normal result. That was the goal. Perform too well and risk the abnormality escaping. Perform poorly… Well… Even her overactive mind couldn’t fathom such an outcome.Still immersed in the jungle of her own thoughts Jasmina reached the fourth hall, absentmindedly brushing her wrist against the lock. The doors slid open with that familiar grinding whoosh before the sound of buzzing filled her ears. Buzzing?Immediately broken from her thoughts Jasmina stared at the all to real source of the unfamiliar noise. Bees. But not your normal everyday bees - No, no, no that would be far too normal a problem for these hellish halls. In the bright fluorescent hallway were long, spindly creatures with tattered wings and pulsing abdomens. Large almost teeth-like mandibles ruled the things faces twitching curiously over their latest victim, a red stain that only seconds ago was surely a clerk.As if on reflex Jasmina forced the door to shut. Heart pulsing in her head as she ran through every abnormality in the handbook, searching the halls of her shaking mind for BEES! Her search was heavily impeded however by the other various worries throwing themselves at her. Why hadn’t the alarms gone off? When did this start? Were these something she could take on herself?A sharp beep cut through the noise of her own thoughts. Jasmina’s breath hitched as she snapped her head up to warn the poor soul of their impending doom.A clerk.Of course, it was a fucking clerk.“DON’T OPEN THAT DOOR-” The hoarse shout that tore itself from her throat was overshadowed by the deathing screech of the door being pried apart. Razor-white mandibles ate through the metal, allowing long, black, stick limbs to crawl through the opening. The creature stood salivating over the poor trembling clerk. Their cries - High, shrill, helpless - were cut short by the things gaping maw.CRUNCH! CRACK! THUD!Flesh tore as easily as metal. Bone snapped like toothpicks under the pressure, brittle and meaningless. And just as quickly as it entered, it fell.The clerk’s limp body fell to the floor with a sickening thud, a pool of red soon flowing from the surprisingly clean cut. And much like the blood, Jasmina's mind soon became flooded.Then - Red.A blaring siren. A warring of the end blared in her ears.Everything was red.Her mind spiraled down a road of impending doom. Till a light in the chaos opened up and swallowed her whole. An order.“JASMINA! STEP AWAY FROM THE BODY! THOSE THINGS ARE PARASITES!”It was an order. An order from her captain. And as the perfect employee Jasmina would follow it to the T.Slamming shut the floodgates of her mind Jasmina flung into action, jumping away from the corpse as it began to twitch and pulse till…POP!It exploded into a beautiful gory firework, painting the floors around it into a disturbingly familiar stain. Rising from the viscera were more mandibles, more spindly limbs and another striped abdomen.SIx.There were six Bees.“GET BEHIND ME!”Jasmina wasted no time in following through on her captain’s command, sliding across the tile till she was safely out of the humming machine’s sights. Upon seeing the lid of the large grinder-like gun rise she had the surprising foresight to cover her ears. A blinding light shot across the room followed by the piercing song of the already damned, engulfing the rampaging creatures and granting a rare moment of peace.But when the light faded the image of spindly limbs crawling towards was revealed.Firenze clicked his tongue, an almost unnoticeable action that chipped away at his cheery facade. “We’ll need to hold them off till Maki can get here. Harmony’s slow to recharge, but I signal before firing.”The intention was clear. Jasmina was expected to fight these things one-on-one.Clutching onto her spear as her final lifeline she nodded before valiantly dashing forward to meet the creature's strike. Without her gloves, the chill of Frost Pieces into her hands, yet the numbing chill seemed to settle her mind allowing her to pick apart the patterns.One hit, Two hits, Three hits. It would strike.One hit, Two Hits. Harmony would fire.She focused on that pattern, ignoring the five other bees crawling towards her. After the fourth scream from the captain cannon, it was down.Twenty hits from Frost Pieces.Four hits from Harmony.Four strikes from the enemy.Four strikes.Her legs shook. The room spun.Five Bees.Four strikes each.Twelve hits in total…She couldn’t stop herself from shaking, her spear was cold after all. The hyperventilating was just from over-exertion. She was fine. She had to be fine!Twelve hits.Just Twelve hits…She was going to die.As the second creature scuttered towards Jasmina, she could barely find the strength to lift her arms.One hit…She couldn’t move. It was over.And just as the endless red carven came to welcome her into its embrace, its white chittering gates parted in celebration. The Buzzing came to a crescendo, a private choir announcing to the world her demise. But then-Weightlessness.Her whole body went limp. But instead of the warm embrace of death, she was caught by the surprisingly strong arms of her captain, yanking her away from her well-earned release.The heavy grind of metal filled her ears as the door to the third hall shut behind them.Then-BANG!A lone gunshot penetrated the air.Then another.The final was joined by a chorus of defeat.And then- then there was silence.Ah…What a wonderful day…