I jolt, trying to turn my head, trying to fight it — but it's already too late.
The taste explodes on my tongue. Sweet, perfect, maddening. It mingles perfectly with the brush of his lips over mine, the taste of him.
My body betrays me instantly. I swallow with an involuntary moan before I can stop myself, before I can spit it back in his face. The deep ache of hunger lessens. Just slightly.
He sits back on his heels, waiting. For me to ask for more? For me to lose my ever-loving mind?
I wipe my mouth with the back of my hand, glaring at him. "You’re disgusting."
His smirk is lazy, victorious.
"And you are delicious, adorable," he murmurs, voice a dark whisper.
He stands slowly, throws the rest of the granola bar in my lap and leaves without looking back. There’s nothing but the taste of my own defeat on my tongue.
I’m almost asleep when I hear it — the clatter of tiny claws on concrete. That’s a fucking new sound. A new, terrifying sound.
My eyes snap open, and I bolt upright, clutching the thin blanket like it might actually protect me. My pulse kicks up, my skin prickling.
The hallway light spills into the cell, just enough to paint shadows on the walls. It’s never off, no matter the time of day or night, and right now I’m grateful for that.
I scan every corner. Nothing. But movement by the cell door catches my eye.
My heart stops, my soul teleporting out of my body.
A RAT!
A huge, filthy rat, bigger than any I’ve ever seen.
It stares at me, still as death, its tiny black eyes gleaming.
There’s foam at its mouth.
FOAM!
“Fuck.”
I scream, my throat tearing from the raw force of it.
The rat scurries forward.
I scramble to my feet, pulling the blanket tighter around me. My scream doesn’t stop — just warps into sobbing hysteria.
The thing keeps coming at me. Claws scraping. Tail dragging. Yellow teeth gleaming like tiny infected knives.
“Ghost!” I shriek, voice cracked and shrill. “Ghost, help!”
The rat scuttles forward another inch.
I back into the far wall and yank the mattress off the floor, swinging it like a shield between us. My arms tremble. My legs feel like jelly.
“GHOST!” I sob.
This can’t be how I die. Not like this. Not rabies. Not eaten alive in a fucking dungeon like some medieval nightmare.
When the rat inches forward again, foam gleaming, I start to hyperventilate.
That's when the cell door bursts open, slamming into the wall. There’s a blur of black and silver, and then steel flashes in the barely-there light.
