Oh, thank god, thought Sunny. However, Sunny soon realized that perhaps the snack machine—the trap—would only be sprung if the woman touched it.
"Okay," Olivia's voice snapped Sunny out of his trance. "We have all that we need. Let's get back to the entrance. The gaunt woman, Sunny noticed, looked as if she'd just been abruptly awoken from a trance with no memory of how she'd gotten to the snack machine. They ventured back to the front of the hospital, the group led by Olivia. As they did, Sunny heard someone behind him coughing. He looked behind him for a second and saw it was Redhead, whose cough subsided quickly, allowing Redhead to regain his composure.
Back at the front of the hospital, Sunny tried to play cards with the redhead, to pass the time while they waited for Agent Rowe (god-knows-wherever Rowe may be), having made cards with paper scraps and black and red pens, respectively, the childish scribbles (especially the cards with spades) looking more like human reproductive systems.
I never was an artist, Sunny reflected, trying to distract himself from anything but the terror tickling icy tentacles up his back like a bead of cold water running down his spine.
"I don't think we've been properly introduced," said Sunny. "Call me Sunny. What's your name?"
The redhead man looked up, smiling and making Sunny a little uneasy. It was the kind of smile you expected a Medici prince to make when inviting the head of a rival family to a banquet and promising to definitely, totally, absolutely not murder said-rival by poisoning his drink.
"Gary," The man replied. "Nice to meet you, Sunny." Said the redhead, extending his hand to Sunny. Sunny was reluctant, perhaps thinking the man's hand would be covered in an adhesive that would hold him there as the man whose name was Gary would reveal himself to be a plantation monster, coiling his arm around Sunny's and using its tentacles to inject digestive enzymes into Sunny.
Sunny knew this was just his monkey brain talking, but even as he shook hands with Gary, he became weary that Gary would be hiding something—some dagger held behind him that, at first opportunity, he would plunge into Sunny's back.
"Tell me, Gary, what do you do for a living?"
"Well, I'm a truck driver." I knew it, thought Sunny, "I transport propane from one place to another. How about you?"
"Actually, I'm unemployed. Right now, I'm in the midst of job-hunting."
"Is that so? Well, if we get outta here, I might be able to hook you up with the right people."
They played, joked, and Sunny lost, paying only half-attention to the game.
After a while, Sunny ended their poker game, and tried to fall asleep.
YOU ARE READING
Sundew
Horror*Placeholder teSunny Swanson has had a rough go in life. A drifter and a heroin addict, he waits one night for a bus to skip town. However, after surviving an accidental overdose while waiting for his ride, he wakes up in a hospital bed. Sunny plots...
