DIELINE.EX
“What’s that?” I remember Jim asking from the next cubicle over.
“I don’t know. Cool file name, though.”
“Dieline? Really?”
“Yeah. Like Eyeline, but, you know, cool.”
“Glad you think it’s cool. You’re so getting fired.”
I rolled my eyes. “No, I’m not. Do you know how many viruses this place gets in a day? Watch, I’ll just do a little cleanup annnnnnn-“ I dragged that ‘and’ out as I got to work typing away. I wasn’t lying, too. Being in corporate cyber security, you see viruses like that every day. What makes me good isn’t that I can stop them from coming but clean them out once they’re inside. All it takes is a little basic coding skill, working knowledge of the server in question, and presto! You’ve got yourself a virus-free computer. That pesky little string of code was no different; at first.
I typed in the last few strings of code and uploaded it into the server. “-and bang. All gone.”
“Uh-huh.” Jim nodded over the cubicle wall. “Then what’s that?”
My computer beeped, and I saw the same line of code pop up on the screen. DIELINE. EXE in big, bold letters.
“What?” I asked to no one before running the quarantine software again. The same thing happened with the code vanishing for a second and then reappearing on my window like nothing happened.
“So, what did you say about your job?” I could hear Jim’s smirk through the way he said that.
“Shut up.” I got back to work fiddling with strings of code. From what I could tell, there was nothing special about the virus. It was your classic worm that replicated itself over and over and over again until it overloaded the servers. Some smart ass with too much time on his hand probably snuck it in just to fuck with us. But no matter what I did, it just didn’t go away. I had gone through every trick in the book, even scrubbing through the code line individually, but nothing.
It was maddening. I slaved over that thing the whole day and got no closer to scrubbing it from the servers. Eventually, Jim had to shake me from my stupor.
“Dude, are you dead?” He asked out of the blue.
“Not yet.”
“Oh. Zombie then?”
“I’m just busy.”
“Dude, is it that same fucking virus?”
I sensed the mockery coming. “Look, I’ve tried everything, alright! But every time, the damn thing just doesn’t die. It’s replicating faster than I can clean it out.”
“Well, is it doing anything bad?”
“No. It’s just making more of itself.”
“Then don’t worry about it. Now come on. We’re not paid enough to stay overtime.”
I groaned. “I think I’ve sunk too much time to leave now, you know what I mean?”
“Fuck that, man. It’s Friday. Live a little.”
“Jim,” I said as sternly as I could.
“Alright, alright. Guess I can peruse around all by myself.”
“Peruse? You mean get drunk and pass out in the alley behind some dive bar.”
“And you’re gonna miss every second of it.”
Writing this all out, it’s just hitting me how odd it was Jim even worked there. Hell, I’m still trying to figure out how he got his job in the first place. Not that either of our positions were particularly difficult, but they demanded the kind of commitment that Jim lacked. You know, long hours, frequent overtime, coming in on weekends, typical corporate office space stuff. Even that night, the cubicles were stuffed with people staying glued to their screens as the clock ticked past five. There were even some dirty looks thrown Jim’s way as he strolled out, head held high. Not that I can blame them, though. I was right there with my co-workers, silently wishing he was dead.
But back to the virus. Even with all the hours I threw at it, nothing I did made the slightest dent. It kept spreading within the mainframe until every byte of data was infected. I’d never seen anything like it before. My patience dwindled away second by second until I’d bitten my nails down to their roots and almost punched a hole in my desk. I would have quit then and there if all my efforts didn’t finally unearth something.
I remember banging my head against the cubicle call when my computer made a little ding. I looked and saw an update that read, “Bugbyte analysis finished.” Bugbyte is something of a code analyzer specifically made for viruses. I started running it right after Jim left, and only now, six fucking hours later, did it finally have something for me. I quickly opened the file and found what is still the strangest string of code I’ve ever seen.
You didn’t need to be a computer wiz to see what was wrong. The virus wasn’t made of binary code but this strange series of symbols that didn’t even resemble numbers. It shouldn’t have been possible. All code, virus or not, is made of binary, ones and zeroes, not runes or whatever those things were. Yet there they were, scrawling across my screen. I can’t even say they were random glitches. Each was indeed a symbol, just not one I’d seen. Like a language, I didn’t know.
It was at that point I just gave up. Viruses I could deal with, but no whatever weirdness was happening with that one. So I decided to hand this mess off to my boss. I’d worked at it for well over nine hours by then; I think she’d cut me some slack for not fixing this. I got up from my desk and took a quick look around. Every single cubicle in sight was empty. Now that in itself wasn’t the strange part. What was odd was that all their computers had been left on. Even Jim’s joined the effort, painting the office in a ghostly light. Sometimes people leave their monitors on, don’t get me wrong, but not the whole office. It was creepy, to say the least, but not important.
I wound through the office space until arriving at the corner office and politely knocked on the door.
“Hey, Kim, you in-“ Stepping inside, I noticed that all the lights were off apart from that of her computer screen. It was also completely empty. Not a surprise. The boss is always the one that leaves first. But to leave her computer on was odd. I crept around her desk and saw a familiar code scrawling across her screen.
DIELINE. EXE
DIELINE. EXE
DIELINE. EXE
“Shit!” I frantically started typing away on her computer while anxiously glancing at the door. It was already bad enough that I got her computer infected. I didn’t want anyone walking in and seeing me using her setup. My fingers danced across the keys like mad, smashing into them until I swear I started to bruise, but it made no difference. The virus spread through her computer like wildfire, filling memory and files until it was the only code left. After that, things started to get a tad bizarre, as one would say.
I never stopped typing, even after the computer was completely infested. I’d never have stopped if I had my way. Instead, my ring finger snagged while typing out another line of code. I yanked hard at it, thinking my nail had gotten caught under the key, but it didn’t budge. When I looked down, I saw that the end of my fingertip was fused right to the key. The plastic texture crept up my finger from the point of contact. It wasn’t just that either. Wires even crept out from under the key and snaked up into me. I blinked and blinked and blinked again until I couldn’t deny what I was seeing.
Panic welled up inside me and gave me the strength to finally rip my finger free. Sorta. The key itself came loose, as did the wires, but they each remained fused to me. I swear I even felt them wiggle their way into my finger like a dozen tiny worms. With my other hand, I tried ripping the key off, and with all the adrenaline rushing through me, I had just enough strength to do it. The downside was that I had to rip off a chunk of my fingertip. It wasn’t that much of a wound, but it was more than enough to send me flying from that room like a bat from hell.
I fully intended to leave then and there. I’d pile into my car, go to a hospital, then home, and finally to bed, where I’d hopefully wake up from that dream. Instead, I heard a sound coming from the cubicles and stopped. It sounded like a muffled voice, and as panicked as I was, I couldn’t ignore that. I took to the maze again, racing from cubicle to cubicle until I found where the muttering had come from. Though, looking back, I really wish I hadn’t.
From the dark outline, I would have assumed it was a guy hunched over at his desk. Instead, I saw someone typing away whose head had been plunged straight through the monitor. Keep in mind, I worked at one of those cheapskate corporations that didn’t give us the latest equipment. That meant our monitors were bulky and box-like as if they’d been pulled from the 1980s. So when I say this guy’s head was stuck through the monitor, I mean it was buried completely in that box. Despite that, he kept typing away while the monitor sparked and caused his body to shudder from the shock.
The second I saw it, I lunged forward and tried pulling the guy from his computer. Key word here being tried. You ever tried uprooting a weed only to realize its roots were dug in deeper than you thought? Trying to free the guy’s head felt something like that. When I finally ripped him out, I got a pretty good idea why.
Streaming off of the guy’s head was a massive tangle of wires. They grew out from him like hairs and connected him to the interior of the monitor. His skin was shriveled and blackened as if it had been burned and a litany of wiring burrowed deep into it. It reminded me of those tangled messes you sometimes get with servers; only someone’s head was caught up in it. Long spirals of wild wires burst from his orifices, eyes, ears, and even mouth, which had been pried open to let the tangle spill forth. I couldn’t tell if they’d grow out or burrowed into him, but they’d buried themselves deep inside the poor bastard. I can’t even imagine what it must have been like on the inside. All those wires and strings digging into his brain or whatever, I hoped he wasn’t alive enough to feel it.
He didn’t stop typing, though. He simply repeated one simple phrase over and over again.
DIELINE.EXE
I stumbled away from the scene, not sure what to do. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw another monitor to the side whose screen was covered in a familiar line of code. I looked at another, and there it was again. Running across every screen, all I could find was that virus. It’s one thing to see something like that on a diagnostic report, but to see it crawling across every computer in the office was daunting. I never grasped the magnitude of the infection until that moment. It was everything in the building, every server, every string, every computer. And one of them was eating a man alive.
There are five hundred people who worked in my building. If they wandered in there not knowing about whatever was going on, who knows what would happen to them. And, truth be told, I felt a little responsible for it all. It was my job to keep the servers clean. Sure, this virus was a bit above my pay grade, to say the least, but it was still me that failed to clean it out. So whatever happened when the office opened the next morning was, in some way, on me. I couldn’t just stand around and do nothing.
Using the computers was out of the question. Even if they wouldn’t eat me, I’d already tried scrubbing the code from the inside. Getting it out of the servers was a non-starter. Now, I just had to prevent it from hurting anyone else. My first thought was to call someone, but who’d believe me? My next was to take a bat to every keyboard and monitor in the building. Obviously, that was a non-starter. Even if I could do it before office hours, the virus wasn’t in the monitors but the servers. So the plan was to take the ax down to the server room and just wreak havoc. There can’t be any code without the hardware, after all.
I tried not to look at the poor man stuck in the computer as I exited the office. Once outside, the fluorescent lights flickered on, and I found the ax hanging nearby. When I went for it, however, I spotted something out of the corner of my eye that made me freeze to the spot. At first glance, it looked like a person. Specifically one of the janitors. He had that same outfit as the others, but a second glance revealed something very wrong.
The tangled mess that sat on his head wasn’t hair. Strands of iron thread wove down from the bundle and connected to a toolbox sitting on the floor beside him. His movements were rigid and sporadic, each accompanied by the screech of rusty hinges. It looked like he was fighting against his own joint with every step. Still, he climbed up onto a step ladder until he stood in front of a security camera hanging in the corner. With one hand, he reached up, ripped the camera off its perch, and tossed it over his shoulder. Then, he lifted his other hand and placed something on the stump the camera had left. With the way he was positioned, his head blocked out what exactly it was, so I couldn’t yet get a good look at it. His hand, however, was shown in full display.
It looked robotic with all the mechanical parts stuck to it. As far as I know, it might have been. It didn’t look like one of those cool sci-fi robot hands, though. The parts were clearly pulled from other devices and crudely assembled together with wires twisting around them all. It looked like the whole thing would fall apart at any moment, and that was before I noticed its intention. Attached to each finger was a different tool. One looks like a drill head, another a bolt tightened, a scalpel, a pair of pliers. The janitor flexed the tools before went to work on whatever he’d replaced the camera with. I cringed as the sound of whirring drills and screeching iron barreled down the hall, but they weren’t what made me almost puke. Right along the high-pitched squeals of the tool were more fleshy ones that made me think of tearing meat and crunching bones. I swear I even saw some blood splatter against the wall.
I didn’t dare move through the whole thing. That man, cyborg, or whatever it was, hadn’t seen me yet, and I didn’t want to find out what would happen if it did. I also couldn’t peel my eyes away from his work in grim curiosity. Soon he pulled his hand back and walked back down the ladder, giving me a full view of what he’d done.
In place of the camera, there was a human head or what was left. Everything from the nose up had been cut away and replaced with what looked like a giant camera. Not a pretty one either. The thing was so bulky it looked like it would squash the remaining head flat. It certainly didn’t look easy to keep that thing upright. The mouth never stopped gritting its teeth, and all the muscles in the neck were constantly tensed. Wires sprouted from all over the head and burrowed into the walls, anchoring the head in place as the camera on top slowly began to swivel. However, it didn’t need to look far before finding something of interest.
The camera froze as it locked onto me and the mouth opened to let out a blood-curdling scream. My ears felt like they were exploding, and covering them did nothing to help. I stumbled around as if the whole place was shaking and came crashing into the wall beside the fire ax. The janitor turned step by step, revealing a mouth full of utility tools instead of teeth and two all too human eyes bulging from their sockets. It started lurching towards me step by step with that mangled hand reaching out to me. As terrifying as that sight was, I can’t be too mad. With that horrible sight right in front of me, I found the strength to work through the pain in my ears. Turns out, fear is an excellent motivator. I smashed an elbow through the glass and pulled from the other side the ax. Then, I sprinted full force away from whatever those things were and didn’t stop until I reached the elevator.
The wave of relief I felt when those doors closed almost made a believer out of me. I still can’t say I have any idea of what I saw, but I knew it wasn’t good. The virus wasn’t just in the office; that much was clean, but what was that guy doing? It had to be all those wires and fucked up machinery burrowing inside him. Were there more of those guys wandering around? Were they all like that? What would the server floor look like?
I wanted to turn back. Whatever was down there was far above my pay grade. But there couldn’t be that many people on the janitorial staff. And even if there were, our building was huge. Maybe I’d never even run into them. Besides, if I did run, things would only get worse. The staff would come in, and who knows how many would succumb to Dieline. I had to do this. Just cut up the servers, and maybe those people would go back to normal. Maybe.
The ride down was the longest I’d ever taken. All I could think about was what other twisted mechanical monsters might be waiting for me down there. I mean, if just a monitor could do all that, what would rows and rows of servers do? I didn’t have to wait to find out.
A pleasant ding signaled my arrival and the doors opened. Waiting outside was another wire-ridden monstrosity. This one’s head would have scraped the ceiling if it had a head at all. It’s hard to describe what exactly it was but bear with me. Every inch of bone and meat had been scooped out from the head to the spine. It was like a valley had been carved from shoulder to shoulder with the bottom dipping down to the naval. A server had been slid into the gap and connected to the sides by a forest of wires. Part of the server rose out of the valley, filling the space where the head would have been. The arms and legs were swollen, but not for the reason you’d think. Its skin was torn, and beneath, I saw wires laid down like strands of muscle. As they flexed, the skin strained and ripped in parts. All the while, that server blinked and whirred like any old machinery. The grotesque sight stunned me like a punch to the gut, and that beast took the opportunity to lunge at me.
There wasn’t anywhere to run, so I did the only thing I could think of. The creature snatched at me with big, meaty hands, and as it did, I swung the ax down right in front of me. I wasn’t even trying to hit anything. It was a frantic reaction, but one that didn’t go nowhere. By pure luck, I managed to slip the ax right between that thing’s hands and embedded it right in the server where the head would have been. The creature reared back as sparks burst from its wound. I tried to hang onto the ax, but it was impeded so deep in the server that it was pulled from my hands as the creature stumbled out of the elevator. It came crashing into a wall opposite the elevator, but wasn’t down quite yet. Not that it mattered.
There was enough space between the creature and the elevator for me to slip out. I couldn’t have been on the server floor, but I wouldn’t be getting there with the elevator. So I rushed out and booked it down the hallway before that thing could recover. I wasn’t sure what floor I was on, but it didn’t matter. Most of the layouts were the same from floor to floor, which meant I had a good idea where to go. Before long, I came across an old janitor’s closet, which I hid inside. And not a moment too soon, either.
The ground began to shake as I crouched against the door. Thunderous footsteps soon came barreling towards my hiding spot. My heart was already on the verge of exploding before I realized something terrible: those footsteps weren’t alone. I counted three or four sets, and they were all amassing outside the door. Together, it felt like an earthquake was tearing the whole place down. I could hear the hum of their serves right outside and feel their heat through the door. It felt like every tiny thing I did would give me away. Even hiding in the room, I would’ve sworn those things were staring right at me. They were gonna come inside; I just knew it. And after, they’d tear me apart and stuff me full of wires and cogs. I’d have bet my life on it.
I was bracing for nothing, however. One by one, the creatures slowly stomped away until the whirring of server fans faded into the background. I let out the longest breath and went totally limp. I stayed there, squatting in the dark for what felt like hours, sucking in sweet breaths of air. Not that I was allowed to enjoy my safety in peace, though. Every so often, another set of heavy footsteps would come marching towards me, and every time, I thought this would be the one to find me out. All it would take was one, and they made sure I knew that all night long.
“Nope,” I remember saying out loud. It wasn’t even motivated by anything. The word just slipped out, and I couldn’t argue with its logic. The whole floor was infested with those metal demons, and I didn’t even have an ax. This was officially above my paygrade, to say the least. I wasn’t too far from the stairwell. If I made it, I could go home and forget this ever happened. The only problem was the path would take me right past the server room. But it was either that, or I stay in the closet until one of those things found me.
I opened the door just a crack and peaked through. The hallway seemed normal enough. At the very least, there weren’t any of those fucked up head cameras around. The only problem was the cables covering the floor. There were just enough to be concerning. They weren’t computer wires but bulky extension cords running out of every room and joining into one steady stream flowing down the hall. I couldn’t help but be a little concerned with everything I’d seen, but they seemed normal enough. I crept from the closet one step at a time, keeping an ear out for those metal goliaths.
It wasn’t easy. Every so often, another monster would lumber past, and I’d have to dash inside another room. Sometimes they’d even tear the hinges off some door close by. I couldn’t find help but think they were catching onto me whenever that happened. Like they were following a trail, I didn’t know I was leaving. Maybe they were, I don’t know. It didn’t help them find me, either way. My nerves were in fucking tatters by the time I spotted the stairwell, and that wasn’t the end of my worries. I managed to hide in a bathroom down the hallway, but it was the last room between me and the exit. All except for one; the server room.
Cords strung across the hallway all disappeared through that doorway. I couldn’t see inside from where I hid, which was perfectly fine with me. I wasn’t planning on looking inside. The problem was what might be looking back. In my time hiding, I’d seen a handful of those guards march in and out of the room. Who knew what else was waiting in there? I was going to have to make a break for it sooner or later, though. So whatever was in that room, I prayed it was looking away.
I must’ve wasted an hour working myself up to it. The knot in my gut would tighten every time I took a step forward. After a while, I had to quit trying to ease myself out of the room and just go for it. The door was right there anyways. I lunged into the hallway and bolted for the stairwell with all my might. I hesitated more than once, especially seeing the server room drawing closer, but the steps echoing down behind me provided great motivation. I drew closer and closer, sweat pouring down me, before finally leaping past the doorway. Every fiber in my being braced for what I was sure would be an alarm but relaxed when I heard only the distant sound of footsteps.
What accomplishment I felt was short-lived. A loud thud rang out, and I spun around to see that something had fallen from the doorway. I had to cover my mouth to keep in my scream. It was a person or what was left of one. The body was naked, and the skin was essentially one massive blister. It was red, hairless, and shriveled with the bones sticking through it. The lips had been ripped back, forcing a contorted grin onto its face. Just above that, the eyes had been burned away. In their place were two vacant holes that I swear were somehow staring right at me. A great web of wires sprouted from its back and stretched into the room. Its right arm had been cut off and replaced with a buzz saw-looking device. It whirred to life for a few moments with the sound of grinding iron before dying. Too bad the body wasn’t the same.
I can’t imagine living like that. The body I saw there, however, knew all too well. Ragged, dry moans escaped its tattered throat, and it clawed at the ground, trying to escape the server room. Its human hand crumbled into a bloody pulp as it touched the ground, and its saw carved into the floor rather than finding a perch. Not that it would have helped, I’m sure. Slowly the wires were pulled taut, and the body was dragged back inside inch by inch.
It fought back fiercer as it was pulled, but its efforts only caused more of its body to splatter against the floor. It grasped at the door frame when it was within range, only for its fingers to peel off like wet dough. As horrible as it was, it was nothing compared to its last desperate attempt to survive.
I must’ve stumbled back, gasped, or made some other noise, but that thing turned its head right towards me. For a second, it stared at me with those twin black pits and then pried its mouth to say two simple words.
“Help…us.”