The Meat Room

When I became aware of my surroundings, the first thing I noticed was the atrocious smell. It was all iron, meat and blood and a vague hint of burning to top it off. I stepped forward down the skinny corridor at once, the fleshy walls barely able to accommodate my moderate frame. I was barefoot and my first step forward halfway submerged my right foot in a pool of thick red mucus, the membrane of the floor like a gel that sunk in under my weight but held me firm underneath. I looked behind me and saw what appeared to be a door, colored onyx and etched with symbols that meant nothing to me. I saw no hinges, no handles, and no clear way to open it. I continued forward.

It was fairly dark, and I couldn’t see where the hallway led. The walls arched into a curved ceiling only a matter of a couple inches above my head, and it had the same fleshy, moist texture as the floor. I realized as I began to step forward that the mucus on my feet, cold and wet, rolled off and mixed back into the floor the same way rain falls off a raincoat. Expecting the bottoms of my pants legs to be soaked and stained, it was, even here, surreal to look down and realize they were dry and seemingly unphased by this substance that I was confident was like any standard liquid only a moment prior. I touched the wall and ceiling now, testing this, and it was always the same - fleshy and soft, but hard as I put my weight into it, only allowing me to make a small indention that filled itself back in when I pulled my hand away. Despite my mental state I wondered what was on the other side to support it all, if anything.

The only light came from the floor, a dim glow the size of a bowling ball that shone through the flesh and projected no more than two feet in diameter, equidistantly placed as far down as I could see. From where I stood, I counted 9 total, including the one directly below me, but it was only bright enough to see a few paces ahead and in back of you.

I kept track as I proceeded, and right around the 16th floor light, I finally saw an end to this hallway - what appeared to be yet another fleshy wall with no apparent door or opening. As I edged closer, I realized it was two flesh walls closed like curtains but held together firmly by the nature of the material.

My heart was pounding, but I placed my right hand on the very edge of the opening and began to slowly pull it open, following the same motion on my left. It felt as though it were a muscle being flexed, but as I separated the two walls, it began to relax, and I was able to fit my body through, just barely. I felt cold meat against my face and body, so I kept my eyes closed and pushed through, remembering the way it rolled off me, hoping I would come out the same way, that the smell was temporary, that this nightmare could end.

On the other side was what appeared to be some sort of dining room. The room was no more than 20 feet wide but it was long, with a dining table in the center, 12 chairs on either side. Some chairs were filled, some were empty, but I could only focus my attention on the figure at the head of the table, at the far end of the room.

As I inched forward, everyone at the table slowly turned to look at me. It was as though their heads were mechanical, pivoting on a very exact axis, and I realized their eyes were totally blank too.

The creature at the head of the table defied everything I knew, though humanoid in form, it had an elongated head of a snake, its body thickly scaled in masses around its head, chest, shoulders, and forearms as though to serve as some kind of natural armor, each scaled area fading almost seamlessly into seemingly very soft, pinkish off-white skin. In the light I could see that those areas of the skin clearly attracted and held moisture, and then I noticed how humid it was in the dining room, with the same damp meat smell from the hallway but mixed now with an odor more pungent and filthy, a thick musk underneath it all.

More importantly, what lied on the plates in front of them looked like uncooked steaks or hearts or anything, just bloody, fleshy meat in some form. The head of the table had the largest piece of them all and held in its hand a crystalline goblet filled with a thick blood-red mucus. It sipped and watched me still.

I started to recognize some of the faces at the table. Warren Buffet, Elon Musk, Charlie Munger, Kris Kardashian, and some others I could not immediately place, all sat with their heads turned to me, expressionless.

The leader snapped, and their heads spun impossibly fast to face it. Then the leader let out some series of growls and huffs and puffs before, all at once, the room erupted into noise and chaos.

“Munger’s got the hunger!” Charlie Munger screamed as he tore the meat apart and chewed long sinewy strips, blood squirting in every direction.

They were all doing this except for the leader, who sipped and used long sharp fingers as utensils, carefully slicing the meat and eating as carefully and calmly as one would at an expensive restaurant.

The table was a mess, and as the group finished up, the leader spoke again. They stood at once, their chairs falling over or being pushed anywhere, and they apparently did not notice or care, as the blank faces were back, and they trailed mechanically behind one another toward the tall wall behind the tablehead.

Centered in that wall was a black hole, and the mechanical elites walked right in, vanishing into nothing, and soon enough, they were all gone, leaving me still near the entrance and the tablehead still staring directly at me, taking bite after bite. I decided to walk forward, not knowing what other options I had. The being didn’t acknowledge me as I approached, instead looking down at its meal now, totally ignoring me.

I was too scared to speak, so I made my way to the exit, but just before stepping in, I decided to try.

“What is this? Why am I here?”

The tablehead snapped upright and let out some more noises I couldn’t make sense of, then went back to its meal. Bracing myself, trembling, sweating, my heart pounding out of control, I stepped into the black hole.