I was hurrying home with my groceries in hand. It was a strange feeling to want to hurry home. I never had reason to rush before, but now I had someone waiting for me. Most of the groceries I was carrying were for them. All the meat was expensive, but it was worth it to keep them happy. My apartment wasn't in the best neighborhood, but it was spacious and the landlord didn't ask too many questions. I hurried up the stairs and fumbled with my keys before finally making it inside.
"I'm home," I announced as I shut the door behind me.
A figure lurched from around the corner to greet me. At first glance, you might mistake it for a human, but when you looked hard, you could see the seams holding her body together. What appeared as a young woman was actually a mass of flesh with a human face. Its body was an amalgamation of viscera folded onto itself to give its human guise. Upon seeing me, it started splitting apart. A gaping maw opened from the girl's chest and similarly so did the ones on her arms.
The creature was straight out of a horror movie and its sights were set on me. It approached me, walking unnaturally. As it got close, it bared the teeth from what appeared to be its head. They were sharp enough to easily tear me to shreds, but I didn't panic. She was just excited and getting hungry. Instead of running, I set down my bag of groceries and extended my hand.
"It's good to see you, Carrie," I said as I pet her head whilst her jaws closed shut again.
***
It was given the designation Subject C-10A, but it had a different name amongst the research crew. We had given it the nickname Carrie, because of the bulbous carrion form it was discovered in. When we first found Carrie, it was just a mass of meat and viscera, that resembled something like a tumor growing out of the sediment. It was buried deep in a cavern seemingly hibernating for who knows how long.
After a month of studying it and pumping nutrients into it, Carrie started reanimating. We kept it in a special tank for analysis. Carrie's DNA didn't fit into the genome of any known species. It was wholly unique. Carrie's shape began to hold more cohesive forms as we studied it. It could construct seemly any organic body part. Teeth, eyes, hair, bones, everything, it could be made from Carrie's body. Soon, it started to mimic the shapes of our team. Through the glass of its containment tank, Carrie would often look at us with some amalgamation of a human face. Its copies usually came with some horrible deformity, but with each attempt, she was getting better.
Carrie was smart, I could tell it was. It was learning to copy our behavior. It seemed to understand simple instructions. It would even imitate images of animals we would show it. It could even copy the human features of the staff. I felt like it was trying to understand us, to bond with us. The more intelligence Carrie demonstrated, the worse I felt about keeping her...about keeping it locked up.
***
I somehow managed to sneak Carrie away, but I basically started my life over. I had to keep looking over my shoulder as I knew they would be looking for Carrie and me. To help it blend in, I started to train Carrie to take the appearance of a woman. I had hoped in the end my efforts would all be worth it and that we could learn from each other.
Carrie returned to its human visage after I finished petting it. I moved my hand away from her...from its head and picked up my groceries again before heading into the kitchen.