Page 59 of Don't Bite the Botanist
There. A red light blinked on a monitor. The only light in the room. Dim at first, and then brighter, his surroundings flashing between the pure darkness of a void and the eerie red glow that showed the walls dripping with blood.
His heart thumped in time with that flashing light.
Thump. Flash. Shadows.
Thump. Flash. Bloody room.
Thump. Flash. Something moving in those shadows.
Thump. Flash. Blood hitting the floor with a drip, drip, drip.
Why was there so much blood?
It oozed from the computers.
It leaked from the lab equipment.
And it trickled from the corner of his lips.
He tried to spit it out, but more filled his mouth the moment he did. Not overwhelming, not choking, just a steady drip of blood sliding down his chin and spilling onto his white lab coat, the crimson stain spreading across his chest.
This wasn’t happening. His lab shouldn’t be covered in blood. He rushed over to the mass spectrometer, trying desperately to find the source, but the blood came from inside the machine, leaking out of every aperture and orifice in the equipment.
“No,” he muttered. “This is wrong. This is all wrong.”
“Or is it so perfectly right?” a female voice hissed, the words floating over his shoulder and sliding into his ears like an unwelcome intrusion.
He whirled around, but there was no one there. Only the steady blink of bloody light and menacing shadows.
He glanced down at his wet hands. So much blood. It was everywhere. On everything. And no matter how hard he tried to wipe his hands clean, the blood wouldn’t leave. It stained his skin. His clothes.
His soul.
“Light,” he mumbled. “I need to find a light.”
“No light for you, little moonflower,” the voice replied in a taunting tone.
He spun around again.
Nobody there. Just a shadow.
He ran for the door, desperate to escape the bloody lab and the horrific red light.
He grabbed the handle and tugged. Jerked. Yanked. Slammed his foot on the door and pulled with all his might.
It wouldn’t budge. There wasn’t even a bolt or latch to unlock it. He was stuck inside.
Find a key,he thought, glancing around.
Nothing. No keys. Only blood and shadow.
Try again. Pull harder. Do whatever it takes.
He reached for the doorknob once more, but it was gone. No knob. No lock.
No door.
“No escape,” the voice came again, crawling into his brain.
