Fear Built Us

Written by Matthew Shute

Stressed? Yes, I can see that you are in state considerable distress and turmoil. Well, I'm always here for you. I always have been.

All you can do is follow through with what you have started. Drive out of yourself. You are a toothed sperm, swimming through a tunnel of dripping meat, leaving a trail of acidic flotsam. The drug is taking its toll. You are spinning out of control once again.

You smash through the door. Look at the faces blur. Power. Left right left right left.

Turn on your inner-screen. Full power. Suppress the anxiety. Internal screams silenced.

You're right. God, this is horrible. I hate this place. I feel all of your fear and more. But I can be strong for both of us.

Ooze forward. You've either got to keep moving or die. Crawl on. The night awaits us. Need. Urge. The violence... you know that it always helps.

Damnation! Look over there, to the right. Those moronic curs are patrolling the streets again. Bastards! Have they seen us? I think they have.

What is it to be? Fight or flight? The angry mob looks... angry.

Run.

Stumble. Scramble. Spiral. Stagger ever onward. The drug helps, I believe. Destroys all inhibitions. Clarity of thought is to be welcomed. You are all one mind now. See your unified glory. You are an infinite inferno, a hurricane sweeping through this city. Sweet it clean. Keep swimming away from your pain. Eventually, you'll be free. You can feel yourself coming beyond yourself. Neurones fire. Seemingly, most of them.

Set the flame to the dry grain. Don't pin down your motives. The gloves were a good idea. You are a prudent man.

Yes, I can feel the frustration swelling within you. Just keep seeking. Breathe. Battle onward, and you'll have your reward. One day, you'll be able to just lie down and know that you can fall down through yourself forever.

But not now. Search and enjoy. Try to enjoy your work. Forage. Somehow... survive.

Is this systematic enough for you?

If not, move on. If so, move on. Whatever happens, just keep moving. Movement is the key. Here you are. There you go. We'll find something soon.

Strange. More methodical, yet even more chaos persists. Unwise to resist. Endure.

The tempest is gathering strength. Fear is sharpened, like the edges of these tools. The drug is taking its toll.

Whiling around so fast, a 360 every 247. Sweat trickles. Specks of slime, thick like treacle. Avoid diseased globules. Unscathed? Suffocating inside a condom? The antidote is just ahead. Here we go now, through the eye of a needle and through the void beyond. As long as we follow the beat of your pulse we'll be okay. A cannon, aimed at a pub full of people. Just... unload-explode-rupture-rapture-release-expand-extend-explode-unload... Flooding out of ourselves. Draining away all the dirge. Every vein purged, sucked dry, then replaced by crystal-clear waters. A pure ocean. There is no bottom. Down. Down we go.

Is this escape? Does oblivion await?

Down, down, down...

How fast? Faster than the speed of light is not fast enough. We're burning to death on the way down. Who set us on fire? A trail of smoke, light-years long, in our wake. It can only get deeper from here. Magnetism. Can you feel the pressure beginning to build up? Our body of ice is cracking. Like the pavement. Hurtling closer. Impact unavoidable. Inevitable... torment.

No. There's no escape. The rat-maze is all there is. This city of human filth.

Keep stalking. Avoid the murky pits. The Ripper's blade is hunting flesh. Stealthy. Cloaked. Hollow footfalls.

Treacle lane.

This is right. This is a good thing. Surely. Yes, surely this is the moral thing to do. This is what the preacher really meant.

No! The pain!

Oh, the depravity of this scene! Look at her. Syphilis rot. She offends my eyes and nose equally. And now the screams of a billion souls roars though my ears and yours. All the innocents butchered. The terror and the hatred. We must implode into the centre of this white fire. This is the critical threshold, for sure. Unbearable pressure. Noise. Agony. The wasps. The sharks. In hell, the corridors are endless. Tormented life that will not end. So many locked doors. Too much fear and futility. It's burning up my hands, my head, my chest. It pushes your pulse towards seizure level again. Follow your... your heartbeat. Follow...

Panic.

No way back.

Panic.

She's right here, in the alley. Look how she leers at us, the disgusting whore. Look at those brown teeth in her drooling mouth. Ah, but observe. Now that you're stabbing her, they're becoming stained red. Far better than nauseating sepia. Yes, keeping going. You can't stop now. I want to see her intestines glisten for myself. Surely the inner depths of her guts contain some meaning. Drag them out.

No. Nothing. Just the blood and the meat. Just the slop.

Fear built us. Dread drove the hand.

Now... we must run.