𝕿𝖍𝖊 𝕼𝖚𝖊𝖊𝖓'𝖘 𝕷𝖎𝖔𝖓: 𝕾𝖚𝖗𝖗𝖊𝖓𝖉𝖊𝖗𝖊𝖉

The Wine Cellar

Bold = Translated German provided by the manga because I don't speak German

Italic = Finny's memories

Alarms were blaring. A constant, rhythmic call. It hurt their ears when it first began to ring. But they adapted quickly, just as they had been designed to. There were three of them. Their skin all milky white from never once having seen the sun, the only light in their lives being whatever the doctor provided them with from candles and lanterns. In fact, everything in their room was white. The floors, walls and ceiling were white. Their flimsy robes were white, and the fabric was cheaply produced and uncomfortable. Their toys were all white. The only speck of color came from their eyes, as the three had each been shaved completely bald. S-012 had teal eyes, the other two having eyes that were somehow an even lighter blue.

All three of them could hear the alarm. He could see the panic happening above them. Their only two windows looked into the laboratory above them. The windows were not made for the subjects to look into the lab, but for the doctors to look into the white chamber. So the view provided for the subject was dismal, but he could see the rapid movements of the doctors. Papers were flying around in the lab, and the men were running and rushing about. Something they did not do. S-012 watched them. Tracking them.

"What?" The girl subject asked when she noticed the way he was staring up.

"Up..." S-012 answered as the three sat upon the white floor, nothing to do, their white toys having grown boring long ago.

The other two subjects followed S-012's line of sight. They saw the chaos above. Those men in white lab coats, running around like rabbits. It was mesmerizing. Suddenly, their attention was snatched away from the window as the only door in and out of the white chamber was thrown open with a 'bang'. The metal cog that was turned to open the door was still spinning as the Doctor stood, panting in the doorway. He trembled as the toe of his shoe hung over the edge of the platform. The drop would not kill him. But it would be painful.

"Doc-" The girl began to speak before she was silenced by a loud noise.

It was a sound S-012 had never heard before. It was loud. His ears were ringing. And something warm was splashed on his ear and cheek. The girl's head was thrown backwards. An arc of glistening red sprung into the air. It showered down across the white. She hit the floor with a harsh 'thud'. Then that noise came again. This time, the other boy's head was thrown back. That same geyser of red spurted from his head as his body crumbled. More warmth was sprayed on S-012's body. More red on white.

"The fruits of my labor... Curses!" Wailed the Doctor as he held up his gun. A gun. S-012 knew what that was. And he knew what they were used for. And he understood that the doctor was cocking it. Aiming it right for his head.

"Doctor..." S-012 looked up at the man in the white lab coat on the platform. "Why?" But that question was never given an answer. There was a shot fired. But its target was never hit.

There was so much red on white. The boy and girl were gone. Red had leaked from their heads, forming a small puddle beneath them. Much more red came from the doctor. His body was twisted in ways no human could bend. His face was gone. There was nothing left of him but the sea of red spilling from him onto the white. The walls were red, red hand prints, foot prints, skin and claw marks scattered the wall, leading up to the platform and through the only door in or out of the chamber.

The laboratory was not as white as the chamber. But it was even more red. Red was splattered over everything. It dripped down tables, pooled on the floor and was smudged over the walls and ceiling. There were no more rushing rabbits. They were all gone. A bunny can't run without a good head. And a good head didn't have running rivers of red.