NIGHTSHIFT 43: M1 - M10 CORRIDOR

[stiffserpent.livejournal.com]

Ignoring the pain in his broken arm, Snake crept along the hallway. He had brought only the matches and hairspray with him, hooked into the band of his pants, needing no light. His feet made no sound. Even that vision of the corridor earlier hadn't phased him like his much-loved old Outer Heaven flashbacks usually did, as he was far too focused on his mission.

He had been checking the men's block rooms, one at a time. Most of them were vacated; some were not, and even the sounds of movement inside those ones were enough to reassure him that they were not the rooms that belonged to Big Boss.

Systematically, he started down the furthest corridor in the block to the south of his own, starting with room M10. The door was, of course, unlocked, and he cautiously pushed it open. Like many of the others, it seemed empty, but for less than a second he caught a trace of Big Boss's smell. It was enough to lure him into the room, even though no-one was visible. Had he imagined it?

[M10]

Comments

Re: M9

[sir-savien.livejournal.com]

He managed to not cover his ears to block out the recordings coming over the intercom but he couldn't as the volume grew, dissolving into screams, and all he could think of was one pleasant evening in spring when he had returned to the camp to find fires, the horses gone, Trip in his jester's motley and blood with his sword still in his hand, Shandi lying beside her fire and how when he'd brushed back her hair his hand had come away wet and red. He remembered noticing in the midst of the silent chaos that her potatoes had been done cooking. he'd taken them off the fire.

Flames burning blue, good metal rusted away, the closer he got...

Is this your parents' fire?

He curled in on himself, eyes tightly shut and hands pressed to his ears as if to block out the nightmare eyes and the voice that were only in his mind and his memories.

Someone's parents have been singing entirely the wrong sort of songs.

The flashlight fell from his lap with a thump and rolled under the bed. He didn't notice.

Is this your parents' fire?

Silently, he wept.