Higanbana
Author's Note: For those who follow me on FFNet, you would probably notice that the chapters in this fanfic are much shorter than how I usually write them, but I'm trying out a new writing style. The pairings are undecided, but you can vote in the reviews if you want to. You're welcome to suggest heterosexual, homosexual, asexual, etc., pairings, though there's no guaranteed that I'll write them. Also, this fanfic is cross-posted on AO3 under the penname Dementra.
Chapter 1
She peers into the microscope, observing how this genetically modified bacteria react to another strain of bacteria. Hm… They seem to be-
"Stop! Don't add that!"
She looks up, just in time to see the contents in a beaker burst into flames, but before anyone could even think about putting it out, it spreads over to the flammable compounds the idiot intern had dropped when startled by the shout. And in an extremely bad chain reaction caused by bad luck and idiots who didn't properly secure other volatile compounds, a huge explosion occurs mere seconds later.
A scream tears from her throat as she is blasted backwards. Then, she sits there, dazed from the blow to the head, until her mind finally registers the heat searing into her body and the bright flames hurting her eyes. Danger. I need to leave. Now. She reaches up with a hand, using the lab table behind her to help her stand up, only to pause and gasp when the movement draws her attention to the pipe impaling her torso, just below her breasts.
Somehow, her mind dissociates itself from the horror, allowing her to almost curiously examine her situation instead of panicking. Liquid enters her trachea, making her cough out of reflex, spraying blood into her hand. Oh, it must've nicked my lungs. While she may not be a doctor, she knows that she shouldn't move and risk jarring the pipe, nor should she remove it right now since it's preventing her from quickly bleeding out. Then again, she thinks as she coughs out another glob of blood, this slow internal bleeding isn't pleasant either.
She tries getting up again, eventually succeeding despite the pain. Her body slouches as she makes her way to the exit as quickly as her body allows, with one hand wrapped around the pipe and the other one using the table as a crutch. On her way out, she observes the rest of the room through half-lidded eyes. The idiot intern and his supervisor, being the closest to the explosion, were likely dead. Another scientist is screaming as he frantically rolls on the ground, smacking his clothes and dressed in fire. She can also see a pair of legs peeking from behind a nearby table; they probably have been knocked unconscious. There should be another two working in this lab, but she can't see them from her spot.
The smoke gets heavier even as the water sprinkler tries to quench the flames, but a chemically-induced fire this big to difficult to extinguish; and it is only increasing as more flammable items gets within its reach. I'm going to die here, she acknowledges as the screams stop when the other scientist finally succumbs to the flames. With how slow she is moving and how far the outside exit is, either the thick smoke with suffocate her first or she will get very closely acquainted with the fire or her wounds will do her in. And she has no intention on being burnt alive unlike that poor sod.
Steeling herself, she leans against the wall and wraps both hands around the pipe. With a hoarse cry, she pulls it out and drops it on the ground. Her body immediately slacks from the pain and the increased blood loss. There, she pants, sliding down and leaving a trail of blood behind, now hopefully I'll die before the flames get to me.