This was a brief little palette cleanser while I work on the next chapter of Reconstructed; I wanted to step back from the characters and just write something completely different, and also flex my thriller muscles. Hope you enjoy.

- Inky


"Sara!" It was a gasp of ragged breath. "Sara!" The girl was running, running, faster than she'd ever dreamt she could run, faster than anything. Just straight lines until she ran out of room and then she'd turn and keep running. She had to keep running, she had to, she had to-

She heard teeth chattering and chains.

She squealed and sprinted. She slammed into a wall. It didn't stop her. Another turn and she was running, but all of this seemed the same, the same, the same…

"Sara, Sara," she repeated, her voice was going. Her lungs ached like fire in her ribs. She'd lost track of her own heartbeat. How long had she been running?

There was a shadow in the corner ahead. She turned.

Where was the entrance? She'd had to have come here from somewhere. She just had to find it, and to find it she had to keep running and running and running and

And she tripped over her ankle

And the stone floor was coming towards her

And the chattering was still there and

Sara-

"Sara…" she murmured, dreamlike, as she was lifted into the Cenobite's arms. Chatterer listened to her mutter in her dazed half-consciousness, unaware of being caught. It was so sad it had to end, he hadn't had a good game of tag in so long.

As the Cenobite walked, his new student in his arms, he took just a moment to brush her hair from her face and peek into her mind. She had a song stuck in her head; it was so strange to him, how humans liked them so much, they always tried to cling to small things when they were scared, like organs to nerveless bone.

Still, he thought as he considered the lyrics, it was a nice song. Sara, Sara, there's a storm brewing in your eyes…


Did I mention I have had 'Sara" by Starship in my head all day?