You're probably wondering, "how did he get here?" Well, I'll tell you; it all started with Dave's fucking salmon casserole.

It started around lunchtime yesterday. I'd been complaining to my cubicle neighbor - Karen - about the smell of Dave's reeking salmon casserole that his wife made him bring to work for the past few days and Karen had been in the middle of telling me to bring it up with our manager when the fire alarm went off.

We looked at each other and then around the office, we couldn't see any fire anywhere, but being on the fifteenth floor, we didn't want to take any chances. I picked up my phone and we walked out of cubicles. Perhaps it was just a drill, looking back, I wish it had been a drill. We walked out into the hallway with the elevators - like most office buildings you needed a pass to scan in to the actual work areas, confidentiality and the sort. I bee lined for the elevators, but the stream of people flowing from the office reminded me that in the case of a fire, you should always take the stairs.

I was about to go and follow them when Karen grabbed my arm, "We're taking the elevator"

I looked at her confused, "What do you mean Karen? We have to take the stairs."

She looked at all the people going down the stairs, then at me, then at the elevator call button. She pressed the button and met my gaze, "oops, guess I'll take the elevator. I'm not taking fifteen levels of stairs down to the main lobby for a drill. If it were real, we'd smell the smoke through the vents."

By now the flow of people had subsided and it was just the two of us on the floor. I looked at her, then to the door leading to the stairs, then to the light that dinged, saying the elevator had arrived. On impulse I went over to the elevator and got on, if the elevators were still functioning, then surely this was just a drill. Karen smiled smugly and came in after me.

She pressed the ground floor button and the elevator began its slow descent, "So the boss is giving me some pretty important reports to work on, something to do with the expenses in our genetics department, all very hush hush. I think I'm in line for a promotion, isn't that great?"

I looked at her and blinked. Of all the other accountants I'd wanted to be in an elevator with, why did it have to be her, "Yeah, that's just great Karen."

She smiled again, not sensing my sarcasm, "Yeah it is, you'd better start kissing my ass now Jim, if you ever want to get out of that entry level position."

My name's Mark. I've told her that multiple times, yet she insists on calling me Jim.

The elevator slowed and then came to a halt. I looked up to the floor display, surprised to see that the elevator hadn't stopped on the ground floor like I'd thought. The small display showed the number seven and I frowned, though I figured perhaps someone else had pressed the call button on that floor and we'd simply get more passengers. I shrugged and passively listened to Karen - who was in the middle of a long winded rant about how she was so glad that she would finally be the manager- and pulled out my phone. Due to being blinded by her own brilliance, she didn't notice that we hadn't stopped on the proper floor and stepped out into the hallway.

She turned back to me and noticed the horrified expression that was plastered across my face, confused, she asked, "What's wrong Jim? Can't fathom how amazing I am?"

She turned and snickered stopping only moments before a large mass of grey steel crashed into her, splattering her against the wall. My breath caught and for the first time I allowed myself to peer out of the elevator passed the dead man in a white lab coat that had horrified me before. The walls were caked in blood and viscera, half a skull was stuck to the wall, marinating in a gooey glob of congealed blood and brain matter. Bits of white fabric were poking up here and there between masses of limbs and organs that had been pulverized by an unknown force. I choked back the bile as I looked to where Karen had ended up.

What was left of Karen was pancaked on the wall, next to her was a large grey filing cabinet that was crumpled along the edges as if by some sort of vice-like mechanism. Her hair was splayed against the wall like a halo around her fragmented skull. Her Gucci handbag was still attached to her flattened arm though it was clearly stuck in the drywall. I choked back a scream filled with vomit as she began to peel off the wall, leaving her detached scalp behind. A thought crossed my mind, and in my shock, it took me a moment to realize what it implied.

What threw that filing cabinet?

I slowly turned, as if the longer I refrained from looking at it, the less likely chance it had of existing. Yet, as my eyes fell upon it, I knew it never should have existed. It stood nearly eight feet tall - it's head nearly scraped against the roof. There were bandages covering the entirety of its neck and head, seemingly obscuring its vision entirely. Though it was anthropomorphic in nature, the similarities between it and a human stopped there.

Its arms were thick with sinewy, skinless muscles that rippled with each minuscule movement the creature made. On each of its wrists were large shackles with chains dangling off of them. At the end of its right arm was a raptorial hand, each claw tipped with a large talon, at the end of its left was a huge metal spike that rested with its tip in the ground. Several large clear tubes hung off its wide back and dangled to just above the floor and a black liquid flowed through them. Its legs were the size of tree trunks, each one tightly bound with leather straps that strained against the large vascular muscles. It stood still, moving only when it took in a deep breath from behind the bandages.

A groan sounded from the other side of the floor, as if someone was pinned under something - and after seeing the huge filing cabinet it threw with such ease, I assumed that was the case. The creature moved in a flash, covering the distance between itself and where the noise came from in a matter of seconds. I heard the groan once more, followed by a series of sickening thuds as the creature brought its metal appendage down on the person over and over again. I turned to the floor buttons in the elevator, wondering why the damned thing wasn't moving and my heart dropped. There were no more lights, no more power, just a single message displayed over the screen.

EMERGENCY - PLEASE USE STAIRS

I felt all hope leave me as I looked from the screen to the creature that was still thudding away on the person's corpse, eviscerating whatever remained. I weighed my options and realized I had two; attempt to make it to the stairs, or die. I chose the former and began silently creeping along the wall, headed for the exit door at the end of the hall.

I was nearly there when my foot landed on top of something squishy and wet; throwing my weight out from under me. I hit the ground with a loud thwack, throwing my phone in a large arc behind me, back towards the elevators. It hit the ground with a loud smash and to my relief, the creature was soon standing over it, and not me. I slowly rose to my feet - wincing as my eyes fell upon the piece of scalp stuck to the ground - as it began pulverizing my phone, I opened the stairwell door and crept inside, letting it click shut behind me.

I began moving down the stairs, but stopped when I heard a roar coming from the lower down, there's more than one. I felt like crying, I felt like throwing up, yet I turned and walked back up the stairs, all the way up back to floor fifteen; where I could use my office phone to call for help.

You may be wondering; "why not stop on another floor and use someone else's phone?" well. The answer is simple, our phones in this office are password protected, any time you want to use it, you have to enter a four digit code into the receiver, then dial a nine followed by the number you wish to call.

Anyway, I finally got back up to my floor, and scanned my card on the access pad, gaining entry to the workspace. I walked quickly - yet quietly over to my desk and sat down in my chair, grabbed the phone and entered "9-911" I put the phone up to my ear, and... nothing. There was no static, no waiting tone, nothing. I hung up and tried again. Nothing. Unplugged and plugged it back in. Nothing. Disconnected and reconnected the CAT 3 cable from the back of the receiver. Nothing. I tried again and again, nothing ever changed.

I sat back and began to cry softly into my folded arms, feeling the futility of my situation. I stopped when I heard a loud crash come from the door where I'd entered from. I quickly pulled down my monitor and my keyboard down with me under my desk.

I've been typing this slowly for the past twelve hours in addition to browsing company files, stopping whenever I hear it walk by, it has been close several times so far, but I'm counting my blessings at this point. I just hope I make it out of here alive.

Some of you may know where I am by now, but I'm asking, don't come. Don't help. The files revealed what it is, and you can't stop it.

DOES SOMETHING SMELL FISHY?

- u/Ipatusaur

r/nosleep

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