[center][h3][color=00a99d]『𝔼𝕣𝕟𝕖𝕤𝕥』 [/color][/h3][/center]
[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/FJt85Te.png[/img][/center][center][img]http://i.imgur.com/3R5vYYi.png?2[/img][/center][hr][center][color=00a99d]𝕊𝕖𝕡𝕥. 𝟙𝟜, 𝟚𝟘𝟚𝟘   / /   𝕎𝕚𝕤𝕗𝕠𝕣𝕕, 𝕄𝕒𝕣𝕪𝕝𝕒𝕟𝕕   / /   𝕋𝕠𝕨𝕟   / /   ~𝟙𝟟𝟝𝟝[/color][/center][hr]
Shuddering breaths became more ragged with every pounding step he took.  Partially from exertion, partially from the panic rising in his chest. They couldn’t outrun this machine. They weren’t going to make it to safety. A knuckle-white grip was clenched around his rope. Ernie could survive a stomping. But the waning energy, the magic that flowed seamlessly through him and the rope said it all. He didn’t have much time left.

A girl’s scream overlapped the terrifying rhythm of booming footsteps, only to be proceeded by something that resembled the distant crashing he was trying to escape earlier. Another building destroyed. There was no way he could outrun another monster. He saw the bulky shadow of the beast’s hand reach for his own.

Before he could reflect too much on his impending demise, a mechanical roar forced his attention to the beast pursuing them. He saw too much in that backwards glance. A girl soaring without wings. A giant fist slamming into the collector. A crippled, brass body. A hatch opening directly above him.

Broken people burying him alive. A waterfall of red.

[quote][i]There was so much blood.[/i][/quote]
He tried to brace for impact. It didn't work. He was trapped. 

Physically, he was uninjured. His invulnerability kept him from getting any crushed bones in this cascade of bodies. He didn’t know how Christmas fared, though. He couldn’t see him through all the… through…

[i][color=00a99d]There’s so much blood.[/color][/i]

Ernie gasped out for air and immediately regretted it. The rancid, cloying scent flooded his mind, pulverising his mental barriers. A slick, warm fluid dripped from the open wound of someone above him and onto his face, blinding the Aberration. He couldn’t feel anything but fleshy weight crushing everything that was him. He couldn’t breathe anything that wasn’t death.

Filth. Mess. So much.

No. No no [i]No NO NO.[/i] The familiar panic, that same unnatural compulsion that had overwhelmed him in Cal’s dorm seized his mind.

It was the final straw. His vision went from red to black.

[quote][i]Everything was too much. Too hot. Too heavy. He--he needed to fix it! But so much. So much, everywhere. On him. It was everywhere. Everywhere, everything so messy. He needed to fix it, clean it, HIDE IT, before, oh god, before Liam--[/i][/quote]
[quote][color=00a99d][i]HE’S GOING TO KILL ME. DON’T LET--[/i][/color][/quote]
Despite the oppressive heat smothering his senses, Ernie trembled. There were no thoughts now, only a blank desperation. Only one instinct was propelling him, and it ordered him to separate himself from that mire of filth. 

Distance. Distance would fix it.

Blind, bloodied hands grasped out, searching for purchase, and he began crawling out from beneath the pile of broken bodies.