Chapter Text
"You've gotta be kidding me."
"We repeat, the Q train is down temporarily and is expected to be back in one hour. We thank you for your patience."
Avery pulled his phone from his pocket and checked the time. 11:03 PM. Fantastic. Maybe it was on him for prioritising a new Shake Shack meal over his 8 AM lab tomorrow, but come on. What could they possibly be doing for an hour delay?
Roughly half of the crowd had already left, mumbling and groaning about the announcement. Avery was tempted to join them, but his precious money had already been spent on his entry. No way he was walking now.
Unless…
Avery glanced down the tracks. If the Q train was delayed, that should mean the tracks would be free of danger for the next hour…
After checking that no one was watching, he quickly dropped onto the tracks and hurried down the line before anyone could stop him, phone in hand to light (and maybe film) his way.
"This is a bad idea," a little voice in his head whined. Thankfully, an even louder voice cut it off, screaming, "SUBWAY SURFERS! SUBWAY SURFERS!!!"
Maybe the first voice had a point, he considered. After all, he hadn't explored a subway system since he was young and dumb, around two months ago, and that had only been abandoned stations.
Oh well. If the train hit him, at least he wouldn't have to deal with a three-hour lab with unfortunate amounts of group work. Though, that would also mean not meeting his new roommate. His university had warned him that a new transfer student would be moving in to replace his old roommate, but gave him no info about the guy except for his legal name. By the time Avery got home, he'd always be asleep, and when he got up to go to class, he had completely disappeared- even if it was a lab day. Avery never saw him in classes, at parties, at sporting events, in the city- anywhere! He always found a way to avoid him for almost two weeks straight, and Avery was starting to suspect-
"Thank you for your patience," the speaker echoed, barely in his hearing range. "The Q train has been returned to its proper functions. Please stand away from the tracks as the train approaches."
He looked down at the tracks beneath his feet, his heart drop-kicking his stomach as the metal started to vibrate violently. Had it been an hour already? Checking the time again, it hadn't even been ten minutes! What? What??? What the freak?!
Thinking quickly, Avery looked around for any service tunnels- anything to get him out of the way. Spotting a door, he rushed to open it, only for a lock to resist him. Stubbornly, he took a step back and charged forward, breaking the door down- and his shoulder along with it. Pain flared through his left arm, but he had the mind to get deeper into the hallway as the train's lights got brighter. The whole room shook with the intensity until the train passed, the wind rushing over him like a storm before disappearing in a flash.
"Ow," he groaned, using his good arm to pull himself up into a sitting position. A long tunnel sprawled in front of him, lit only by his phone flashlight. Dust particles stirred in the air, lit in a dim yellow just as everything else was. With a glance back, he knew deep down he couldn't keep up the railwalk now. Not with active danger. He sighed, then pushed himself to his feet and looked down the hallway. With little other choice given to him, he started down the path ahead, phone in hand still recording.
After another few minutes of walking (according to his recording), he eventually came to a crossroads. Looking at the signs and graffiti on the wall, he found himself focusing on the big sign in the middle: The Department of Metaphysical Sciences - Laboratory Yellow.
"Guys, I think we found a secret lab- well, no, that's pretty obvious. This left sign says it leads to… Terran Radioactive Specimen Containment? So… lab rats, I guess."
Under the left sign sat a crude drawing in black marker. It looked like an awkward sun; a circle with a bunch of lines jutting from the sides. Weird. Avery recorded the sign and the drawing, taking a minute to try to understand what the artist meant by drawing such an odd symbol- wait, it was obviously a virus! If there were mice in the lab, they probably escaped, and they were warning about the plague or something. Okay, definitely not going that way then. The other path had a sign reading "Meterological Studies and Heavy Containment," with a large X drawn under it, and Avery's face lit up with an idea.
"Okay, guys, you know what this means, right?" he asked the camera, pointing his flashlight down the right hallway. "Obviously this side hasn't been explored yet by whoever was here first! Maybe it has a way out of here; let's go check it out!"
Avery rounded the corner and strode confidently, his long legs heading perpetually forward whilst his head swivelled for exit signs. Broken glass from fallen doors sometimes blocked his way, but he hopped over them without a sweat. He was passing another room when a crash inside echoed, catching his attention.
"Hello?" he called, turning to the room and using his light to peek inside. There were glass terrariums on the tables inside; some fallen, some still upright. Again, he tried, "I'm kinda lost, not gonna lie. Help me out? I have a bag of sour Skittles in my dorm as a trade."
Something rustled in the room, and he stepped closer to look around. The terrariums still on the tables still had their labels displayed proudly, and he approached the closest one to film its contents.
"Specimen: Ketchup," he read from the label. "Prefers darkness and being left alone… oh, sorry, Ketchup. I think you'd get along with my roommate, if it means much."
The tank beside Ketchup housed Mustard, and Avery was starting to get an idea of the sort of people who worked here. Mustard's label claimed it liked apple slices and laser pointers, and a sticky note from "Dr. Bule" claimed it was one of the friendliest specimens and was prone to cuddling if anything resembling a hand was placed into the tank.
Out of curiosity, Avery lowered his hand in and trained his camera inside, hoping to see what sort of organism they'd been studying here- assuming it was still alive, that is. With how dilapidated the space was, it had surely been abandoned for a while. Anything that was able to stick around had to be resilient, a specimen worth keeping an eye on and learning more about. As a biologist, Avery couldn't just sit back and let this opportunity pass. This was going to be the discovery of a century-!
He yelped as something cold and slimy nuzzled his hand. He flinched away immediately, and the creature darted into a small shelter within the terrarium, away from him.
"Wh- what the frick was that?!" he gasped, his heart racing in his chest. He lowered his hand again, and the creature crawled back out, slowly and cautiously. It was a tiny, yellow, slime-like creature. Black eyes trained on Avery's hand, and it rolled steadily until it could nuzzle against his skin again. If he focused, he swore he could hear it purring like a cat. With a smile, he said, "You're not that scary, are you? Hi, Mustard. I'm Avery. It's nice to meet you… whatever you are."
Avery let Mustard crawl onto his hand, then scooped it up and placed it on the table before moving to the next tank. His dorm had a no-pets policy, and even if he could afford it, he doubted his new roommate would want the creature in their space. The next creature was named Mayo: aggressive and territorial, the only things it liked were agar plates with bacterial cultures grown on them and other gelatinous substances. Only to be handled by an "E. Richards."
Unfortunately, this was one of the tanks on its side.
"Well, this isn't good," Avery quipped. "Maybe we can find it and reunite it with the other condiments. Mayo? Are you around here anywhere?"
"I'm right here."
"Oh, good, can you-"
Avery froze and turned around slowly, facing where the voice had come from. Mayo was significantly larger than Mustard and suspiciously green for its namesake. Fortunately, Avery didn't have much time to ponder the inconsistency.
Unfortunately, that's because it's hard to ponder things while a huge slime monster is attacking you. And winning. The last thing Avery remembered was staring up at the ceiling as the world went dark.