Prologue 724

Red. 

          Black. 

                      Red. 

                               Black. 

                                           The screeching sirens pulsed red through the darkness before abruptly dying again. The crimson light casts an eerie scarlet over everything in an empty hallway, with tile floors reflecting details. Decrepit chairs and deserted rooms sat in lifeless silence throughout the building.

      Suddenly, a white door swung open. A frail, petite girl with entirely buzzed hair rushed onto the tiles, her coarse feet leading her toward the flashing hallway. Her blue dress, stained with dark, wine colored blood, was being nervously tugged at by the fists at her side as her breathing became hyperventilating with a barely suppressed fear. 

        Suddenly, the door she walked out of moments ago, busted open with a loud boom and a metal scraping sound. Behind her, a silhouette of a four-legged creature gnawed at a body that was flung with the door. 

     She gasped and began running barefoot against the tiled floor, her heart hammering in her chest with fear-induced adrenaline as she wished her legs would take her as far away from the unknown creature. 

As she ran her hands desperately, a tattooed number, 724, lay bare on the skin of her wrist. 

     The creature lifted its head when it heard her running against the floor. Within a few strides, it caught up with her and whacked her with one swing of its big arms. She fell, landing on her back with a crackling thud. She kicked and inched away desperately. But soon it was on top of her with its arms above her shoulder, and it leaned in close. 

     The creature's face had a long, canine-like jaw and obsidian black eyes. It slowly opened its mouth, showing a multitude of terrifying teeth, and warm saliva trickled down onto her face. 

     Her hands remained frozen at her side, and she clutched at the floor as if a weapon would spontaneously appear in her hand, but it never did. She was shaking with fear, biting the inside of her mouth to keep from screaming; she tasted her own blood from biting down too hard. It tasted coppery, but at this moment, she couldn’t care.

      Her eyes began stinging with fear from the tears; the wet surface of tears reflected every detail of the creature, the eerie lights, and the dread racing inside her. She was unable to look away from the menacing creature that was in front of her, with the chance of either Life or Death. 

     The siren lights never stopped; they pulsed with crimson layering over the creature that the red lights could only partially see.

                   Red. 

                            Black. 

                                        Red. 

                                                 Black.