Pretty Poison

Fifty - Two

◈ Luca ◈

The air is cold on my face as I run. The gravel beneath me kicks up dust in my wake as I rush to the far end of the house to the garages. I swiftly type the code in the keypad, my heart beating out of its cage. Impatiently, I duck under the opening door and jump into the first vehicle I see.

The car roars to life the second I stick the key into the ignition, I rev the engine, and soar in reverse out of the garage, hastily twisting the car around and flying at high speeds to the open gates ahead.

The roads are slick from the rain, the traction on the tires losing grip as I turn onto the road rapidly. I press the pedal to the floor, not caring about the speed limit or any cars around me...though thankfully there are none.

Every passing tree and every passing bush blends together in one. Everything flashes by outside the window behind me, my focus on nothing but the way to the lab.

My father always told me about this place, he explained it to be like a morgue, a place where all men he killed would go and be disposed of. He told me of this place once, told me the way to get there, and nothing else. He said that it has one main purpose though, and that was to create something vile. A new drug, a new kind of addiction. A new kind of death.

The map is laid out in my mind, each turn and straight depicted as a solid line of deep crimson red. Within seconds, I pull into a vacant storehouse parking lot. The asphalt lays in shambles. Each new crack supports a new way of life for small bugs and weeds burrowed in the damp soil below. I whip around the building, hiding my car from sight and swiftly take the key from the ignition.

The door folds up as I instantly step out into the now sprinkling sky, opening the glovebox quickly to grab a concealed gun. The sky is dark, clouds covering it in a thick layer of foreboding grief. My heart continues to pound out of its cage as I sprint to the side door of the building, pulling it open with impeccable force.

My legs bounce as I skip steps down into the basement. I turn down a long corridor into darkness, my pace quickening in a way not humanly possible. I come to the end of the hall to a solid steel door sealed shut. With everything left of me, I push my shoulder into it and thrust it open, the gun loaded and in hand.

Finally, it opens, and I run inside. The sight I am met with immediately makes my stomach drop.

There, across the room from me, lay her limp body on a steel procedure table, metal restraints tightly clasped around her ankles, wrists, abdomen, and neck. Her hair falls off the sides of the table, clumps matted and stuck together. My eyes avert to her face.

Her eyes are closed shut, a breathing tube and mask around her mouth. My eyes move further down her body to her chest, which doesn't move, and at that moment, I lose my mind.

"Everybody stop what you are doing!" I bellow, and everyone instantly stops as gasps fill the room. Some put their hands up in surrender as I pointed the barrel of the gun towards them, not a single coherent thought running through my head.

"Somebody! Get security!" I hear someone shout, and I turn to my right to see someone pointing towards me, their voice shrieking. At that, I pull the trigger with no remorse, watching the body fall to the floor twitching ever-so-slightly as the life once inside leaves it effortlessly.

Another round of shrieks looms. "Nobody fucking move an inch!" I demand as I step into the room further, ready to pull the trigger again. Some people get to their knees, others stay exactly where they stand, absolutely petrified.

I stride closer to the table where she lays, lowering my gun as I lean over the table. I raise a hand to her forehead.

"Signore!" A nurse shouts, "Don't touch her! She will kill you!" I turn and stare daggers into the man's eyes, ignoring his warning. I turn around again to face her still body, forgetting about all the prying eyes around me.