Gasp!
Collin Phoenix’s eyes fluttered as pain rolled through him like a
tidal wave. Bright fluorescent lights glared down at him from the
ceiling above. Collin shielded his eyes with his hand as he blinked
several times, waiting for his eyes to adjust to the blaring light.
Once he could see without his eyes throbbing, Collin dropped his
hand and glanced around. He was lying down on something hard and
cold. He knew that at least. The second thing he knew was that the
room he was in was fucking freezing ass cold.
Collin turned his head to try and surmise where he was currently at
when he saw a small piece of yellow paper sticking out of the edge
of the next table over. He gasped again and jackknifed up from the
table, the sheet falling away as he looked around the room. That
stupid piece of paper was attached to a toe.
He was in the morgue!
Collin started to hyperventilate. He pressed his hand against his
chest and tried to breathe normally. He could feel his heartbeat
rapidly beating. He knew he wasn’t dead. He had a freaking
heartbeat!
Why was he in a morgue, though? What happened? Where was Riojos? Was
he here, too, under another one of these white sheets? And why was
everything fucking white? The walls, the floors, the ceiling, the
sheets? Everything was fucking white!
Now Collin knew why he was so damn cold. He just didn’t know why
he was there. And what baffled him even further was the fact that he
was laying on one of the exam tables. There were two other tables,
and people who were completely nude, not even a sheet to cover them,
occupied both. One had a bluish tint to his body. He had to be dead.
Collin gulped and began to shake as he looked down when he felt
something pinching at the circulation in his toe. Oh god. He
had a toe tag on as well. He wanted to scream, but he couldn’t seem
to find his voice.
He wasn’t dead!
Collin’s fingers trembled as he quickly pulled his foot up and
yanked the damn tag off and then threw his legs over the side of the
table, letting them dangle as he tried his hardest to remember how
he had gotten here. He remembered leaving the restaurant with Riojos,
but it kind of went fuzzy after that.
Riojos!
Collin jumped down off of the metal table, his knees nearly giving
out as he grabbed the edge of the table for stability. His fingers
curled around the cold metal as Collin waited out the
lightheadedness. How long had he been lying there?
As the dizziness subsided, Collin noticed one crucial thing. He was
naked. Feeling the panic setting in, he looked around, trying to
find something to cover his nudity so he could get the hell out of
there. The only thing at his disposal was the sheet that had been
covering him. Collin yanked it off of the floor and wrapped it
around his body like a toga.
He pushed the hair from his eyes, and then he walked toward the
door. He wasn’t sure why he was here, but there was no way he was
sticking around for his own damned autopsy. He was going to run hard
and run fast, right out the first exit he saw.
Collin heard voices coming from the hallway. His head snapped around
as he looked for a place to hide. No matter how he had gotten there,
he was very sure that anyone seeing him walking around would freak
out. Hell, he was freaking out.
As the voices drew near, Collin knew he had to find somewhere to
hide. He spotted a door across the room, so he ran to it, snatching
it open to find a utility closet. Collin quickly closed the door
behind him just as he heard the voices come into the room.
“Where’s the other cadaver?” someone asked, sounding totally
baffled. “I swear I pulled him out of the freezer just a minute
ago.”
“Then where the hell is he?” another nearly shouted.
Collin held his breath, praying they didn’t check the closet he was
hiding in. Somehow he didn’t think Hi, I’ve come back from the
dead so I’m just going to get going would suffice. Even to him
it sounded insane.
“Well, it didn’t just get up and walk away. We need to go see who
took it.”
Collin counted to ten before turning the doorknob and peeking out.
When he saw no one, he hurried back across the room and through
another doorway. It led to an outer hallway. He wasn’t sure which
way to go, so he chose left. He darted around a few corners and down
several hallways, praying he didn’t run into anyone. He saw the exit
sign hanging from the ceiling after two more turns.
Thank god.
Collin ran for it, slamming his hands into the push bar as he shot
out of the building and into a fucking cold ass night. He
immediately started shivering but got as far away from the morgue as
possible. Soon though, his toes began to freeze. If he didn’t get
warm soon, he was going to end up back in the morgue.
A blessing in disguise or just plain dumb luck, Collin spotted a
homeless shelter several blocks from the morgue. He hurried to the
door, numbness setting into his very bones. He reached out and
pulled the door open, quickly stepping inside.
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