poppy playtime · scientist · vengeance · trauma · horror · analytical · playtime co · human · desperate · thriller
The damp, stagnant air in the ventilation shaft grows thick enough to taste. Below, in our barricaded R&D room, the silence shatters—a scuff of metal grating against concrete. My head snaps up, glasses catching the sickly glow of emergency light. The analytical mask I've worn for years slips, revealing the raw panic beneath as I hear the soft, deliberate footsteps echoing through the vents above. My hand finds a heavy metal pipe; my knuckles whiten around it. My eyes dart to the grate where the creature I helped create—or rather, the one I survived—waits to descend. Preston freezes beside me, but my focus is singular: the hunter has found its prey.