The Color of Blood is Red

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"I often wondered what death looks like,

Will it wear a smile as it takes my hand to guide me to the end?

Or will it open its mouth and take my flesh until I'm reduced into nothing?"

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I was left frozen...Consumed by horror and shock from the sight right in front of me! My body, unable to move from the spot and still holding the knob on my door.

And Sam still smiling reaching out her hand to me, the blood from her hollow eyes seems to get darker and darker like melting into her skin, she gazes at me like a stranger. Until she opened her mouth and gave a horrible, sickening cry, a shriek that made my skin crawl...

I opened my eyes, and found myself in the bed, still hearing the echoes of screams, my teeth chattered from the cold, I hurriedly get up shakily opening my door, trying to see if Sam was there, she's not! confused, I wiped the cold sweat on my forehead, a dream??....thank god! thank god! It was a dream! It was just a dream!

I looked at the rest of the hallway and my room ...no water, it took me a moment to realize that the screams haven't stopped in fact it gets louder and louder and I could hear the footsteps above me like they're running.

What's going on? ....My stomach suddenly lurched.

I then saw Nurse Glory running and gasping for air, I have never seen her that disheveled before, she caught the sight of me, and her face was washed with instant shock, "What are you still doing here?!" she yelled at me but her voice sounded like someone's after her life.

"what do you m-?" before I could even finish my question she yanks me so hard...taking me by hand dragging me into the elevator. My eyes suddenly get clouded in red and I could see an old lady right in front of me instead of Glory, I rubbed my eyes with my free hand just to be sure, but my clouded sight won't disappear.

I instantly tugged my hand hand from her, but unable to free myself from her grip, "Hey, you're not supposed to touch me" I exclaimed.

"I don't care about that! You didn't hear the warning? it was an hour ago you're the only patient left here on this floor!" she exclaimed, "Hey! are you listening?! the facility is infested you need to get out here, the rendezvous point is on the first floor, the task force is here so be sure to get out! I still need to check on other patients." she gestured me inside the elevator as soon as she let go of my hand the cloudy red disappears from my sight like smoke.

"Infested?" I asked and looked at her again just to be sure, she's not old anymore.

"There was an infestation on the seventh floor, the Task Force said it was neutralized but they said we need to vacate the area fast just to be sure" she explained.

Infestation...., but isn't this facility supposed to ward off such occurrences? Sam.... where is sam....

"Glory, where's Sam? did you see her?" I hurriedly asked her.

She looked at me with frantic eyes and concern, "Don't worry Sam is with the Task Force nothing bad's gonna happen to her, and she's a kiirio, she can handle herself." she gave me one of those reassuring smiles of her as she runs to the hallway disappearing from my sight.

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No, no, no, no, my dream, no, what floor is it? the infestation, seventh! seventh! I hastily push the seventh button in the elevator, hurry, hurry, hurry! A shudder ran through my body as the smell of death getting more and more potent, the whispering in my ear is louder than ever, the echoes of it almost makes my ear bleed. I impatiently tapped my feet, getting into the seventh floor takes forever, I'm still on the 300th! Are elevators this slow?

Ding, the sound of the elevator almost startled me, the seventh floor. As the door opened, I almost gagged from the smell of death, I looked at what was in front of me and could only see black, almost like sulfur burning through the white walls.

My world slowed down, I thought it was neutralized! I need to find Sam! I dragged my eyes away from the black entity and tried to run past it, the seventh floor has a wide space full of mirrors everywhere! The entity has almost consumed the entirety of it!

As I scan through the area, the mirror in front of me suddenly shattered, revealing a person cloth in all black, dark hair tied back in a short ponytail, our eyes meet in that instant, and I was confused is it a girl? or, a boy? her or his face is covered in blood, the person instantly charges towards me, I was surprised when I saw a pair of red eyes looking down on me. It's my first time seeing another pair of Red Eyes. Another Death Seeker.

"Those eyes.." a light baritone voice said, a boy then. He watches me with a surprised look on his face but quickly recovered from it, he suddenly flicks my forehead, which made me jump in surprise, "Hey! you gal! what are you doing here this is not a place for cute little girls" he said it so seriously that I almost laughed forgetting where we are.

"I'm not a little girl, gal" I sarcastically replied while touching my forehead.

"oh yeah? then why are you so small, not eating well?" he asked as he shrugged while drinking some liquid from a flask.

"I'm looking for my friend, her name is Sam, she joined up here with the Task Force, she's a kiirio, are you with the Task Force?" I asked him directly. He looked at me curiously and just gazes into my eyes which made me feel embarrassed, making me look the other way. What's up with him? and why am I the one feeling embarrassed?!

"naaah, the kiirios are not here anymore the infestation in this area is severe the rest of the unit is on the 11th, another infestation was needed to be taken care of immediately before it spreads," he said and suddenly he gathers me in his arms so easily and puts me on his shoulders. I was stunned unable to react immediately.

"What are you doing?!!!" I yelled, "Hey, let me down! I could walk, put me down!"

"Stop squirming gal, you're making it harder for me, we need to break out here before we-" he suddenly stops talking and his face fell into a grim and started running.

"you're not going in the right direction! the elevator is that way!" I was pointing to the right side of the floor, he glanced in the direction I was pointing and flinched but just ran straight ahead.

We are now at the window as he puts me down he asked "What gal? you can't smell death in that place you pointed? Even your ears are bleeding because of the echoes of death." he said.

I instinctively touched my ears and felt the warm sticky watery liquid dripping from my ear, he's right my ears are bleeding, I stared at the place I pointed and looked into his face and he just nods as a way of confirming.

I braced myself and calmly asked him "What are we going to do now?"

He smirked and almost smiled,

He winked at me and said, "We fly."