Black Melt

by Indy McDaniel

  Moving over to the dresser, Alyx spotted a tipped over frame. Lifting it up, she heard the crunch of broken glass and saw that the picture had been smashed. The broken shards of glass were just as drenched in the black sludge as the dildo, as if some ooze-leaking freakshow had taken great pleasure in lapping its bloated tongue across the photo before breaking it to pieces. She could hardly make out the picture underneath all the gunk, but it looked to be of a young girl. “Fucking gross,” she groaned, tossing the broken frame onto the floor. Declaring the bunk a dud for anything of value – or good taste – Alyx decided to try another.

  She made her way down the hall to one of the two rooms closest to the elevator shaft. The hell with the others, she thought. I’ll tell Gavin there was nothing of value in the other ones and we can get outta this damn place. Alyx ducked into the last room she intended to check and she vowed to not be distracted by any slimy sex toys or equally slimy family photos. She swept her flashlight across the room and froze almost immediately. The room was only half as large as the others, thanks to an amorphous, spongy growth filling up the back of it. Frozen in stunned fear, she slowly moved the flashlight beam across the growth. The urge to vomit returned as she saw it pulsing and jiggling. Whatever the fuck the thing was, it was alive.

  Once her eyes locked onto the thing, Alyx found it impossible to look away. She was horrified beyond comprehension. In her flustered head, she’d already turned tail and run screaming back to the elevator, clawing her way up the shaft to the safety of the world so far above her. But her body was having trouble processing those orders with the bizarre black man-sized tumor thing staring her in the face. When she finally managed to at least look away from the thing, her eyes fell onto an open journal. Like everything else, it had a layer of the fuzzy mold growing across the spread open pages, but she could still see the words written through the haze.

  Could be important, a little voice in the back of her mind told her.

  Could be, another responded. But I’m not going anywhere near that goddamn thing.

  Alyx slowly backed out of the room, wanting to put as much distance between herself and the growth as possible. The pulsing monstrosity had her so on edge that when she backed into something solid obstructing her way out of the room, she didn’t think. Just reacted. And that reaction was to launch herself forward whilst letting out a high-pitched scream of terror. She had enough presence of mind to not leap directly into the blob-like thing at the back of the room, but she was a good deal closer to it than she would have liked. Close enough to see the surface of it ripple with excitement in response to her scream.

  A gelatinous bubble rose to the surface of the thing before popping. In the damp echo of the pop, Alyx heard a half dozen voices seep free of the thing, wetly slipping and sliding over each other in an ominous cacophony of whispers. They seemed to slither over her, barely intelligible yet hammering through her head.

  Bet she likes coffee. I want a taste.

  You’re not supposed to be here.

  Run.

  Come closer so I can taste that pretty cunt of yours.

  Get out. Now.

  Flesh and bone and muscle and fat. Tip toe closer so we can get a piece of that.

  Gordon, stay back. You’ve been infected.

  Mommy? It hurts, mommy. Please, make it stop.

  What the fuck are you doing here?

  That one. We know that one.

  We like the other one more. Looks tastier.

  “Alyx, why the hell are you freaking out?” Gavin’s voice snapped her out of the montage of voices. She turned to see that he was the object she’d bumped into. As she turned, he looked past her to see the rippling growth along the back wall and his eyes went wide. “Holy shit.” He reached out to take Alyx by the arm and slowly guided her back away from the growth. “Okay, I’m with you. We got what we came for. Now let’s get the fuck out of here.”

  As Alyx allowed herself to be moved away from the pulsing thing on the wall, more bubbles surged to its surface and popped. A fresh wave of whispered voices crept over her, a mix of ages and genders.

  You broke quarantine, one hissed with anger and fear. You fucking idiots.

  You broke quarantine, another repeated, this one filled with relieved glee. You beautiful sack of feast.

  Time to come out and play, yet another added in a childlike sing-song voice. Time to come out to stay. Gonna gobble you up all night and day.

  The mass rippled with excited strain, visibly bulging outwards from the back of the room several inches before coming to a lurching halt. It shook with more force, angrily jiggling as more and more greasy bubbles popped across its surface.

  Unable to move, the ooze growled out. Mobility compromised. Prolonged survival through self-destruction only option.

  Get to freedom, get to feed, tasty flesh is what we need.

  “Goddammit, Alyx,” Gavin said, tugging harder on his girlfriend’s arm. “Snap the fuck out of it and let’s go!”

  Alyx took another step back, overwhelmed by what she was seeing and hearing. She watched as the black growth ceased its rippling and bubbling and instead sucked inwards. Her eyes went wide, horrified and mesmerized by what was happening before her. She took another step back, was just about to turn and run from the room, when the growth burst. Thick black sludge splattered outwards as Alyx let out another scream. She got a solid blast of the gunk into her mouth before she clamped her jaw shut and turned away, squeezing her eyes tightly as the all too warm substance drenched her body. When the tidal wave of goo ended, she opened her eyes, looking up at Gavin to see he was just as soaked in the shit as she was. Tasting the bitterness of the slime on her tongue, she found it impossible to resist the urge to vomit any longer. Dropping to her knees, she hurled, sending an unintentional stream of partially digested food and bile onto Gavin’s already soiled shoes. She kept vomiting until her throat burned and her chest throbbed. She realized that at some point, Gavin had pulled her out of the hellish room and back towards the elevator shaft.

  As the pair hurriedly prepared to make the long climb back out of the lab, Alyx realized that she could no longer hear the legion of fragmented voices squirming through her head. Looking down at the sludge soaking through her clothing and sliding across her skin, she wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not.

  * * *

  Getting back to their apartment, Alyx wasted no time stripping out of her gunk-soaked clothing. She tossed the soiled outfit on the floor, in as neat a pile as she could manage, with the very serious intent of burning the clothing as soon as she got the chance. Which would be as soon as she finished scrubbing herself raw in the hottest damn shower she could make. Maybe even while gargling a shot of bleach. Her skin itched terribly and she had no idea if it was due to some sort of allergic reaction to the tar-like shit she’d been soaked in, or if it was all psychological. Either way, she needed to get clean. After stripping down to nothing, she scampered through the apartment, making as fast and short a path to the bathroom as possible.

  Getting into the bathroom, Alyx pulled the shower curtain back and twisted the knob for hot water until it wouldn’t go any further. A powerful spray of water shot from the shower nozzle and splattered against the back of the tub. In only a few moments, she could see the steam rising from the stream of water. She dipped a hand underneath the spray and winced from the heat. She knew it wasn’t going to feel good, but at that moment, an entire body’s worth of second degree burns sounded a whole hell of a lot better than having the gunk on her for even a moment longer. Taking a deep breath, Alyx stepped into the tub and allowed her body to take the full brunt of the steaming hot shower spray. Her breath came out suddenly in a yell of discomfort, but she didn’t jump out or reach for the cold water knob. Instead, her hands went to a bar of soap, snatching it up and roughly rubbing it across her exposed flesh.

  It didn’t take Gavin much longer than Alyx to get into the shower, but she’d already finished with her initial sudsy scrub down and
had started on her second. They scooted around one another in the tight confines of the tub so that Gavin could start rinsing off the slime covering him. Alyx let out a shudder as some of the gunk on him rubbed back onto her clean form. She focused her soapy attack on those spots for several long moments before continuing with her systematic bathing. After the second lather and rinse, she tossed the half-used bar of soap towards the small garbage bin under the bathroom sink. It hit the rim and knocked the bin over before dropping to the floor. Alyx didn’t care. She was already tearing off the wrapping of a fresh bar of soap and started another thorough cleaning of herself. Gavin had his own bar of soap and was doing the same.

  The heat of the water had lessened significantly by the time Alyx got her pounding heart under control. She’d damn near gone through the entire second bar of soap before finally declaring herself clean enough. She found herself staring at Gavin’s flaccid cock, dripping water and suds as it dangled between his thighs. Her hand moved out and took hold of him, wrapping her fingers around his girth and beginning to slowly pump along his length. The rush of adrenaline had her amped up and now that she was no longer surrounded by – or drenched in – sticky black death, her body was primed for sex. Looking up into Gavin’s eyes, she saw he felt the same way. Balancing herself on the tips of her toes, she met him halfway and locked lips with him, feeling his manhood surge towards a fully erect state in her hand.

  Alyx gasped into Gavin’s mouth as his hand moved to her crotch. His fingers slid through her wet lips to find the hard nub of her clit and gave it a firm stroke. Alyx’s thighs shook as she damn near came right there. She moved closer to Gavin, sliding her free hand around him to grope his ass while she jerked his cock between them. She could feel the heat of his stiff erection against her belly and wanted nothing other than to feel it inside her. Her lips broke free of Gavin’s and she nibbled across the side of his face until she got to his ear. “Fuck me, baby,” she whispered to him, her breath already heavy. “Do it hard. Make me forget all about that shit hole you dragged me into.”

  Gavin needed no further encouragement than that. He moved his hand away from her pussy and encircled his arms around her. Taking hold of her plump rear end, he lifted Alyx up from the floor of the tub and turned to push her back against the wall. Alyx spread her legs and wrapped them around Gavin’s waist, feeling his cock slip lower. She only had a brief moment to appreciate the feeling of the head of his prick touching against her swollen cunt lips before he drove forward into her. Alyx cried out, digging her fingernails into Gavin’s back as he filled her up. She bucked her hips forward, further impaling herself on his thick member. She soaked in the pleasure-pain of his sizeable member stretching her sensitive inner walls then let out a fresh scream of ecstasy as Gavin met her request for a hard fucking.

  Alyx screamed her way through three gushing, thoroughly satisfying orgasms before Gavin went tense against her. He groaned against her throat, breathing hot air across the bite bruise he’d left there. His fingers clutched her buttocks firmly as his cock jerked within her clenching slit, firing off his warm spunk deep into her body. As he grew soft within her, Alyx lowered her shaking legs back to the floor of the tub. They stood, clutching one another in the now chilly stream of the shower as the pleasant tingles of climax trickled through their bodies.

  “I fucking love you,” Alyx gasped. “Get yourself a sandwich or something and then get your ass in bed. We’re so far from finished with this.” She disentangled herself from Gavin and got out of the shower, grabbing a towel to dry herself off. “And before you get any bright goddamn ideas, leave the maple syrup in the fridge. I’ve had enough sticky shit splooged all over me tonight to last a fucking lifetime.”

  Chapter Two

  False Positives

  The heat of the morning sun drew Alyx up from the depths of sleep. She turned her head and squinted at the bright light shining in through the window. Grumbling, she tugged the bed sheet up from the foot of the bed and pulled it over her bare back to keep from getting cooked alive. She rolled onto her side, facing away from the window and slid a hand out for Gavin. His absence didn’t surprise her, but it was still a disappointment. So much for some early morning under the sheet wrestling, she thought with a groan. She considered masturbating, but didn’t really feel like it. She flipped her pillow to get to the cool side and let her eyes fall closed again, hoping to get a little more sleep. After twenty minutes of tossing and turning in search of a comfortable position, Alyx gave up on bonus sleep and kicked the sheet away.

  Sitting up, she scooted off the bed and shuffled over to the window shedding so much unwanted light into the disheveled bedroom. Just because she was awake, didn’t mean she had to deal with the dreaded sun. She stood before the open window and reached for the curtain cord. As she snagged it, she glanced out the window to notice a wide-eyed young man staring at her from the apartment building across the street. She looked down at herself and let out a sigh, realizing she was giving the kid a full frontal view of, well, everything she had to offer short of her sharp wit. That and my awesome jiggly butt, she thought before flipping the young man an upraised middle finger before pulling the curtains closed on the unexpected peep show. Hope he doesn’t chafe his dick off from jerking off now, she thought with a smirk before turning away from the window. With the privacy of the apartment secured for the time being, Alyx snagged a clean pair of panties out of the dresser and slipped them on. With the warm temperature, she figured the underwear was more than enough of an outfit for now.

  Alyx made her way out of the bedroom and into the central area of the apartment. The size and state of it certainly did nothing to show off the tidy sum of money both she and Gavin had in their respective bank accounts. Fancy mansions, designer outfits, and Italian sports cars were all things Alyx would have listed in her ‘totally awesome’ category, but they didn’t do much for keeping a low profile. Gavin and Alyx were good at what they did because they weren’t afraid to be ghosts. And because they weren’t stupid with their money. A chunk of the profits from each successful gig they pulled went to getting better, newer gear for the next gig. Another chunk went into savings accounts and stock options. The rest went to day-to-day living expenses, aside from the small bit Alyx took out to toss toward wildlife charity organizations.

  “Why do you do that?” Gavin had asked her once.

  “Cuz I dig furry animals, bitch,” she’d shot back. “My money, my choice. I don’t rag on you for splurging on live-action superheroine on tentacle porn.”

  “I don’t care what you say,” he’d replied. “Justice Beaver is, by far, the greatest story ever told. With tentacle sex.”

  She’d mocked Gavin for it, although she was guilty of occasionally firing up an episode of Justice Beaver when she was feeling frisky with a side of freaky. It wasn’t terrible, for porn.

  Aside from being a bit cramped, the apartment was also plenty cluttered, which didn’t do much to help the cramped feeling of it. Despite Gavin’s occasional bitching, Alyx maintained that there was order within the chaos. She knew where all the gear was and, since she was the techie of the duo, that was all that mattered. He accepted her argument, albeit with an occasional grumble about her needing to clean up her shit. As she walked the narrow path leading towards the small kitchen, her eyes shot over to the floor near the front door. The pile of gooey clothing she’d left there was gone now, although she could still see a dark stain in the wood where it had laid overnight. She made a mental note to break out the industrial strength cleaning supplies on it later. But first came coffee.

  * * *

  After being properly caffeinated, Alyx sauntered back to the bedroom to throw on some extra clothing. She normally didn’t mind streaking through her own apartment, but she wanted to reduce the risk of touching the offensive black stain as much as possible. So she threw on an old long-sleeved shirt and a pair of ragged jeans. A pair of rubber gloves from under the kitchen sink completed her outfit. She snagged a mop bucket and
a bottle of dish detergent, pouring a good helping in and filling the rest with warm water. With that done, she snatched a scrub pad and carried both that and the bucket of soapy water to the stain.

  She scrubbed at the stain until it had gone from an oily black mark to a light grey one. Doubting she was going to get much more of the stain out with such meager tools, Alyx got back to her feet and carried the bucket back into the kitchen. She poured the used water down the drain and tossed the scrub pad into the garbage. Even though the stain wasn’t completely gone, she felt a good deal better. Even if there had been some kind of bacteria in the sludge, she was confident that the soap would be strong enough to kill it off. With that task complete and her ratty clothes soaked through with water in a number of places, she decided to strip back down to her more casual attire and get to some proper work before Gavin got back from wherever the hell he’d wandered off to and no doubt distracted her.

  Grabbing a fresh cup of coffee, Alyx plopped down in front of her computer system. She knelt down to fish through the duffle bag of gear and pulled out the flash drive containing all the data she’d ripped from the underground lab’s central computer. She shut down the internet on her computer – on the off chance there was any kind of tampering programs waiting for her with the rest of the data – then slipped the drive into one of the front USB ports on the machine. The speakers let out a soft ding as it recognized the drive and pulled up a browser window for it. Sure enough, a second anti-anti-hacking window popped open immediately afterwards, notifying Alyx of the presence of a tracer bug within the data. A couple quick clicks purged the bug, but she decided to take some extra time to run a full scan of the files to make sure there weren’t any other nasty surprises waiting for her.