the first thing i could remember is the sound of broken glass. not the sound of a shattered cup, but dozens, hundreds of glass panels falling and obliterating on a hard concrete floor.
i vaguely remember the last time i heard that sound. the mall, the explosion, the rain of glass shards, the... bodies. i didn't even look up, just running to the nearest fern and ducking behind it. there was no shelter or table to hide under, so i did the best i could. it was by shear luck that non of the shards hit me. the others... weren't so lucky.
getting my head out of memory lane, i rolled into action, curling into a fetal position and cover my head with my hands, making myself a smaller target like we were trained to do in these scenarios.
after a minute glassy downpour, silence instills. i wait awhile longer before removing my hands, but the feeling is wrong.
my hands feel hollow, like they are missing chunks of the forearms and biceps. i slowly uncurl, carefully to not touch any shards in my way. i prop myself on my hands and knees and slowly open my eyes.
that's when thing get weird.
the first thing i notice is that my field of vision has blank spots on my right side. i tried to blink with my left eye but nothing happened. i blinked with the left and everything went dark for a moment.
next came my body. my hands and legs weren't hollow, they were transparent. my body looked like a glass sculpture, with cracks and chunks missing where i felt "hollowness" in my extremities.
weirder still, it didn't hurt, it's just is. i can move my body however i like with now pain or discomfort. at this point, i look upwards.
i stand at the middle of a long and wide hall. stretching my hands to the sides, about 3 adults could stand side by side. up ahead i can't see the end of the hall as it fades into darkness the further you go.
at this point i look at the ceiling and I'm surprised to see there is none, or at least it's very high up as it fades to darkness the same way the hall is.
the walls are made of rough concrete and are lined with endless doors. all metal, all white, with strange symbols on their plaques. the thing is, not all doors were at ground level, some were smack dab in the middle of the walls, several meters above ground. some were half way down the floor, like a broken elevator shaft.
now i looked at the concrete floor. there were shards of glass all around me. i bent down to pick one of the larger pieces of glass. the shard was cold to the touch, it was made of some black glassy material and upon a closer look there were many small symbols engraved on it. i tried tilting the shard and it seemed to reflect something but there were no light fixtures on the walls.
where was all this light coming from anyway? i can see the hall but only a curtain distance away. before i thought it was because there was no light up ahead but now i'm not so sure...
anyways, it doesn't look like i can glean anything more from this place so my only option is to go forward or back the hall, so a choose a direction and go forward.
i pick some of the larger shards of glass and pile them up in my hand and step carefully forward as to not step on one of the many sharp glass edges around me.
where the HECK IS THIS PLACE?!