“You’ve awakened what shouldn’t be disturbed and it's watching your every move.”
I slap the side of the machine hard, making it rattle on its metal base and suddenly there’s a loudclunk, a grimy slot at the bottom coughing out a small, red and gold card.
“Your fate is already set... and it’s breathing down your neck.”
The fortune teller declares without me even pressing any buttons.
I snatch the card between my fingers, reading across it and in gold, bold letters there’s a single word engraved:
RUN!
I stare at it, chest seizing up, and then I hear it.
The soft crunch of gravel under bare feet from behind.
I spin on my heel, dropping the card, and stiffen as soon as I catch his red, spiraling eyes some distance away, his towering silhouette standing ominously in the shadows.
I jerk the gun up, both hands trembling so violently I can barely keep it still, but I have it aimed right at him, right at the center of that broad, heaving chest.
Everything between us feels electric, thick with something hot and wild. He just stands there, soaked in the moonlight, like he’s savoring the fear pouring out of me.
He ain’t getting me this easily. He’s gonna have to work hard for his fucking food. I might not be able to outrun death, but I sure as fuck will toy with it, turning the chase into a game where I make the goddamn rules.
Without warning, I sprint to the right, shapes of amusements streaking past me, shadows clawing at the corners of my vision. I push harder until a rusted sign on a post appears ahead, nailed between two paths.
Right:Tunnel of Blood
Left:Steel Casket
I falter for half a second, glancing between the two, then over my shoulder. I spot him turning the corner like a demon rising from hell, his red, spiraling eyes locked onto me.
He walks calmly like he has all the time in the world and my lungs seize as I make the split-second decision, launching down the right path and disappear into the dark mouth of the Tunnel of Blood.
As I race down the tight, winding corridor, lights blast to life above me in a sudden jolt, flooding everything in a suffocating shade of red. I stagger as I slow my steps, trying to catch a breath.
The space around me pulses while black, jagged spikes jutting from the low ceiling like teeth. The walls have panes of fogged glass, red liquid gushing downward behind them. Thefloor beneath me is glass too, cracked in places and beneath it is red… liquid.
I step cautiously, legs trembling with the illusion that I might fall through. The deeper I get inside, the louder the sound of water gets.
The corridor twists one last time before spitting me out into a much wider space. A spiked barrier coils along the edge, barbed wire curling at the top.
Beyond it is a thick, crimson river flowing, slow and steady, disappearing into an open tunnel. Above the arch, flickering with dying bulbs, a warped sign buzzes:
Tunnel of Blood
It’s bizarrely mocking that tunnel of love crap from old movies, where couples kiss under pretty pink lights and fucking fairy music. This is it’s bastard cousin. A river that looks like it’s carrying guts. A horrifying place where love goes to rot.
Then a black boat drifts out from the other side of the tunnel, but I suddenly hear footsteps, and my head whips around. Wrath’s there, emerging from the corridor like a fucking ghost.
I sprint for the barrier, and as soon as I grab it, pain screams up my arms, barbs digging into my skin. But I don’t stop. I chuck the gun into the boat before launching myself over the wire and spikes.
He’s getting closer and faster now, like a damn animal tasting blood. As soon as his shadow stretches over me, his hand grazing my hair, I jump.
My body crashes into the boat and it rocks hard, but I stay crouching, chest heaving, while the current takes me, pulling me toward the tunnel.
I lift my head, swatting my hair away to see him standing behind the barrier, breathing hard, staring, his red eyes blazing. There’s no expression on his face. Just that bottomless, fucked-up hunger.
A cruel smirk spreads across my lips and just as I’m being swallowed whole by darkness, I flip him off in one last attempt to piss him off.
