Blood Red Flower

Poppy stared at the man with the cracked face... there was something not right about him... but he apparently wanted to help Daniella, so he sat close to her, watching him. The man mumbled something, shook his head, then looked around, first at the dog, then around the hall. He appeared to be getting ready to drop her, go away without helping her, hesitated, then swore. Slowly he rose, keeping her in his arms. He examined her wounded legs closely, running his hands over them, then started walking the way he'd come. Poppy followed him, and the man turned around to look at him, and seemed about to tell him to go away, then hesitated again and continued on, apparently deciding it wasn't worth the effort. Poppy would never have left anyway.

He walked far down the hall, down a few stairs to the left, and removed a large key from his pocket. He put it into the door and turned it, then opened it and stepped inside, Poppy close behind. They stepped into a white, nice-smelling room. There was another person on a table in the center, this one a female. The man turned around and used his key again, then brought Daniella over to a smaller, metal table in the corner, where he put her down. Poppy walked over and whimpered, unsure of quite what was going on.

The man searched a cabinet above, looking at varous bottles and syringes, but apparently not finding what he was looking for. He sighed, then went back near the door... then heard a voice from the other side of the door. Poppy knew that voice, it was the white-faced man... he sounded almost angry. The other man walked up to the door, said a few words of his own, got a reply, then unlocked the door once more. The man with the white face stepped in, and Poppy could almost feel the anger radiating from him in waves. Obviously, something was not going his way.

He managed to keep these feelings out of his voice though, sounding as it always did. He said a few words to the cracked-face man, then reached into a pocket and held out a glass tube of some liquid. The other man looked at him suspiciously, then slowly took the tube and walked back over to Daniella. They weren't going to hurt her, were they? The white-faced man turned around and went back out the door, shutting it behind him. Something had been bothering him... Poppy walked back over to the table with his master lying on it, still unconscious.

The man took a syringe and filled it with the stuff in the tube that was given to him, then stuck the needle in her arm. Poppy didn't really like this... but he remained still. He pushed the back of the syringe all the way down, then removed it from her arm and put it down on another table with instruments on it. He leaned down and examined the strip of cloth on her leg, once white, but now stained a deep red. He lifted it, looking underneath, then took a pair of scissors from the table, and in one swift motion cut it off.

He had to peel it away, the blood keeping it stuck to her skin, and looked closely at the place where the man in black had shot her. He walked to a sink and took a rag, wetting it, and went back to the cabinet he'd been looking in earlier, taking out a tube of something. He rubbed the rag over her wound, her leg jerking reactively. He looked at her face, but she hadn't awoken. He put the rag back to the wound, cleaning it as best he could, then took the tube he had, squeezing some gel onto his fingers, and bringing his hand back down to the wound.

This time she began to stir, moaning softly, her head rolling to one side. Whatever it was, it was obviously painful to her. But she didn't wake up, and the man with the cracked face finished, going to the cabinet one last time and taking a tin and a roll of tape out. He proceeded to take a number of large white cloth squares out of the tin and tape them all over the wound. Seemingly satisfied, he turned around, giving the dog another distrustful look, then headed for the door again. As he passed her, though, the other woman stirred, making a noise. The man sighed again, saying some words under his breath, then walked over to her. Poppy saw her eyes open.

She looked up and saw the man, and promptly turned her head the other way, closing her eyes. The man said a few words to her, but she didn't respond, keeping her face turned away from him. The man said something else, then resumed walking to the door. The blonde girl then opened her eyes, staring straight at Poppy, her eyes widening. There was a look of recognition for a moment, but then it was gone. She shook her head, looking around... and looked straight at Daniella. She gasped, and she called back to the man just as he was leaving.

He looked back at her, smiling, then said something and went out the door, the telltale "click" heard after he was outside. The blonde girl slowly, and with much difficulty, managed to roll off the table and stand up, giving Poppy a wary look. He stared back at her. She looked like a nice girl... he didn't mind if she saw Daniella. Sensing this, she walked shakily to the metal table, looking down at his master and shaking her head, as the other man had done. She put her hand on the side of Daniella's face, sitting down next to her and burying her head in her hands...

Poppy could tell that nobody here was in a very good mood.