2121 WORDS

Warning: this is a work of homosexual erotic horror. It contains dark themes including but not limited to rape, torture, slavery, kidnapping, and some surreal kinks. It does not include any bestiality, piss or scat play, or underage content. Please read responsibly.

Avi was wheezing, clutching his ribs. The two of them had been running for over an hour, and he did not have the stamina to go much farther. “Shawn…” he gasped, “we’re… we’re almost there, right?”

Shawn sighed. “If we weren’t running, the orcs would have caught up to us. You’re lucky we got out of there alive.”

That wasn’t what Avi had asked, but he nodded begrudgingly, trying to keep pace with his rescuer.

After another moment, though, Shawn answered the question. “We’re nearly there. Just another few corners.”

Fighting through the pain, Avi willed his failing muscles forward just long enough for the doors of Feln Laboratories to come in sight. Avi never fully understood how people were able to navigate the Labyrinth so well, but he didn’t dwell on it much. Shawn punched in the new passcode, and as soon as he had safely closed the door behind them, Avi collapsed in exhaustion, the cool tile floor relieving his naked, sweat-covered body.

Shawn seemed to be in somewhat better shape than Avi, but not by a lot. After locking the door, he leaned against the wall, gasping, catching his breath.

After a few minutes, Avi began to regain his breath, but the relief was only temporary as his mind immediately went to Lance and James. His only two friends, the two people he had pledged to help, were dead. One of them doomed to a disease with no cure, the other one now probably a mindless soldier in an army of murderous beasts.

He knew it was his own fault. They had kicked the hornet’s nest. Dr. Feln was a friend, an ally, almost a father figure, and they had thrown their chances of survival away on a hunch. Shawn’s rescue was miraculous, but if anything it had just prolonged their suffering until they inevitably found themselves cornered and subject to some other cruel and horrible fate, being snuffed out like a candle with no trace left of their story in the Labyrinth to speak of.

No, thought Avi. This wouldn’t be the end. It couldn’t be. Feln had survived for decades in the Labyrinth, and it wasn’t dumb luck— he had an asset: his intelligence. Avi had an asset too.

“Shawn,” said Avi, finally sitting up, “I need the Stone.”

Shawn nodded. “Right. Where is it?”

“The dining room. Come with me.” Avi stood up, and after only a few paces he noticed the bodies lying on the floor.

In the corner of the room, two motionless beings— one orc and one Andromeda— lay sat up against the corner wall. Disgustingly, the orc had several stab wounds on its torso. Greenish blood oozed out of its wounds.

Avi felt a hint of nausea as he stared at the orc. “You… you really did a number on these guys, huh?”

“Orcs don’t wear armour,” said Shawn. “A sword goes through them like butter. I don’t know why the incubi haven’t fully embraced that yet.”

“What did you do with the bot?”

“Well, I couldn’t find Feln’s energy weapons, so I used this thing,” he said, gesturing to a long metal rod on the ground with a widened and spiky tip. “Basically a cattle prod. I think he used it to test circuits or something.”

“He never pulled it out in the bedroom?”

Much to Avi’s surprise, that got a slight chuckle out of Shawn. “Shut up. Go get the Stone and help me move these bodies.”

Walking to the dining room, Avi was terrified at the prospect that the Stone might not be there. He wasn’t sure how that would be possible, short of Feln coming back to steal it, but sure enough the hand-crafted was stashed right underneath the dining room table where he left it.

“One down, four to go,” Avi whispered to himself.

When he returned to the main foyer, Avi found Shawn struggling with the legs of the Andromeda. “Grab the arms, will you?”

The two of them began to haul the extremely heavy modified human towards the back rooms of the lab, presumably to be left there in perpetuity. Avi was about to ask Shawn what his plans were for the creature, when suddenly he felt the Andromeda’s arm shift.

Avi yelped, dropping it on the ground.

“What happened?” said Shawn, setting down the legs.

“It moved. It just fucking moved. Go get a dagger or something.”

“I doubt that,” said Shawn. He knelt down next to the Andromeda, pointing at the lights on the armour. “These would be lit up if the unit was still active. You probably just— fuck!”

Shawn suddenly stood up and stepped back. The Andromeda’s fingers were twitching ever so slightly, like a baby looking for a finger to grab.

“That’s… that’s not possible,” said Shawn. “The CPU is fried. He should be dead.”

“What, if the computer fails, it kills the guy?” Avi frowned and knelt down on the other side.

“Yeah. There’s a direct connection between the cerebrum and the…” the man trailed off.

“Shawn?” said Avi. “What is it?”

“Get my toolkit,” said Shawn. “Top floor, storage closet.”

“What? Why?”

“He’s alive. Hurry!”

After quickly retrieving the tools, Avi spent the next thirty minutes carefully prodding at the chestplate of the Andromeda. Underneath the casing was a host of wires and circuitry that Avi couldn’t understand, and that Shawn only seemed to have a cursory knowledge of.

After carefully unplugging some wires, Shawn moved his attention to the head. Slowly and surely, he began to unscrew some bolts around the chin area.

“Have you ever done this?” asked Avi.

“Yeah, I took a high school course in it,” said Shawn, rolling his eyes. “No, of course I haven’t.”

Finally, after much work, the helmet came loose. Shawn took a deep breath, and slowly, he pulled the headgear off.

The boy underneath was pale, with a shallow jawline, deep-set dimples, and clear skin; pretty by any definition. He had very short hair, buzzed down almost to the bare skin, which was dyed a bright pink. His face was covered in sweat. As Shawn tossed the helmet to the side, his eyes fluttered open to reveal deep brown irises.

“Can you hear me?” asked Shawn.

The boy squinted, his eyes adjusting to the bright lights of the lab. “Yes,” he said, his voice scratchy from disuse.

Avi stared at the Andromeda with awe, and not just because he found him cute. He was amazed that he was alive. He had endured the intense physical trauma of Andromeda transformation, but he was back.

“Can you tell me your name?” said Shawn, resting his hand on the side of the man’s head.

“M-my name is Spencer,” he whispered. “Can you please get me out of this suit?”

Working quickly and carefully, Shawn began unbolting every little piece of the armour on Spencer’s body. All the while, he peppered him with questions.

“How old are you?”

“I just turned eighteen when I came to the maze.”

“How long have you been an Andromeda?”

“I don’t know.”

“Do you not remember anything?”

“No.”

“What’s the last thing you remember?”

Avi interrupted Shawn. “For fuck’s sake, the guy’s been through a traumatic experience. Can we please just give him a chance to rest?”

“Right. Sorry.” Shawn finished unscrewing the last of the pieces, setting Spencer free. His nude body was on the small side, no taller than five and a half feet, and the teen had a bit of pudge on his belly. His uncut penis was nothing remarkable in its flaccid state. As Shawn helped Spencer to his feet, Avi noticed a distinct tattoo on Spencer’s ass, just above his left thigh. A barcode.

The two of them helped Spencer up the stairs to the guest bedroom. They tucked him into bed.

“Do you want anything?” asked Shawn.

“Some water would be nice,” said Spencer weakly.

“Sure. Just a second. I think the water filter is still working.” Shawn stood up and left the bedroom. Avi, confident that Spencer would be on his own, took the opportunity to follow him out of the bedroom.

Once they were on their way back down the stairs and out of Spencer’s earshot, Avi spoke. “So… I’m assuming this is changing the game plan, right?”

“What do you mean?” replied Shawn. “We’ll get him some water, some clothes, maybe a dagger or something, and send him on his way.”

“He just spent the last god-knows-how-long in a suit of armour, and you want to just toss him back out into the Labyrinth?”

“Well, what do you think we should do, Florence Nightingale?” mocked Shawn as they entered the kitchen. He continued to talk as he filled up a tall glass of water. The faucet sputtered, the water coming out at an alarmingly low pressure. “You’re saying we keep him here and nurse him back to health while we wait for his Andromeda friends to come murder us?”

“We take him with us. Teach him how to survive in the Labyrinth,” said Avi as they headed back up the stairs. “Who knows? He could be useful. Maybe he could help us escape.”

“Look, let’s not commit to anything, okay? Let’s just make sure he’s not going to die on us.”

For the next few minutes, Avi and James kept anxious eyes on Spencer as he sat up in bed, sipping the cool water. His hands shook as he held the glass in his hand. Spencer seldom made eye contact with either of them, instead mostly maintaining a thousand-yard stare as they spoke.

“Do you want something to wear?” asked Shawn.

Spencer shook his head. “Not yet. Sorry. My skin still feels really tender.”

“Tender? From what?”

“The Factory.”

Avi gulped. He thought back to Sebastian, to what he had told him about the Factory: a brutally efficient hub of Andromeda production. It sounded uncomfortable, to say the very least.

Shawn seemed to be aware of this as well. “They treated your skin, didn’t they?”

Spencer nodded, taking another sip. “It’s funny. I thought preprocessing would be the hardest part. We were stripped, shaven, and tattooed on the ass. It was humiliating, but at least it didn’t hurt.”

His memory was starting to return. Avi wanted to stop him, to keep him from reliving his trauma, but Shawn continued to question him.

“What did they do to you?”

“They have to treat you before they transform you. At least, that’s what we were told. They stuffed us into these massive cages on rails to be cleaned in batches, dunked in these vats of liquid.”

Avi had an urge to say something. Anything. But his curiosity won out. He continued to listen intently.

“The cleaning cages were packed full,” Spencer continued. “As we were lowered down, I thought the liquid below us was just soapy water. It was bleach.”

“They dunked you in bleach?” asked Avi.

“It’s one of the worst feelings you can imagine. It burnt everywhere. All across the body.” Without another word, Spencer set down the glass of water on the bedside table.

Shawn sat down on the bed. On top of the bedsheet, separated from the boy by the linens, he rested himself on his side, holding onto Spencer. The pink-haired man sighed in relief, accepting the gesture.

“You’re safe now,” said Shawn. “You’re going to be safe with us. That much I promise you.”

“Thank you. You didn’t tell me your name?” said Spencer.

“I’m Shawn. This is my friend Avi.”

“Oh.” Spencer looked at Avi, then back at Shawn. “Well, thank you. Thank you both.”

As Shawn lay on the bed, whispering reassurances to Spencer, naked as the day he was born, Avi watched from a standing position at the foot of the bed. He wasn’t one to focus on other people’s dicks unsolicited, but he swore that he saw Shawn’s dick twitch. Was he somehow getting off to this? It was hard to believe. Maybe he had a crush, which was fine, but Spencer was in a vulnerable state. Shawn had no right to be making any advances on him for quite some time, at least not until Spencer was feeling a little better.

“Wait… do you hear that?” asked Shawn.

“Hear what?” said Avi.

“It’s like… a beeping noise.” Shawn looked around the room, frowning. “Spencer, pull up the covers.”

Spencer obeyed, flipping the blankets to reveal his nude body. After a moment, Shawn put his ear against Spencer’s torso; surprisingly not even causing him to flinch.

Shawn sat up, spinning around to look at Avi. “We need to get him an X-ray. There’s one downstairs.”

“What? Why?” asked Avi.

“There’s something inside of him. Andromeda parts. They’re still working.”

Oops! Sorry for disappearing. Life gets in the way sometimes. But don't worry, I'm back, I fully plan to continue to post every 2-3 days, and I assure that Enter The Labyrinth will be completed.

In the meantime, as a thank-you for waiting so long, please check my profile for a new piece of canonical Enter The Labyrinth art!