She Wore Red
Author : Natalie Metzger
The Company had come for her sooner than she had expected.
It had only been five hours since she had liberated the compound from the Company’s labs. It had been an inside job, planned out months in advance. She knew that they would find out eventually. She only hoped it would be long enough for her to get lost in the world; to disappear from their thousands of eyes and ears.
Always watching.
Always listening.
She was already on a boat when she saw the announcement on one of the ship’s passing news ticker board. There had been an explosion at her apartment building. It said authorities reported that a gas line had violently ruptured, destroying her building and a good chunk of the surrounding buildings in a massive fireball.
She knew that wasn’t an accident or even a strange coincidence. She had seen firsthand the results of anyone who upset the Company. Hell, she had even whipped up a microbial brew or two for use in dealing with enemies of the Company. That last thought made her skin crawl.
If she was lucky, the Company would think that she had been dealt with. That would give her at least a day before their forensic scientists discovered that none of her remains were in the rubble of her former apartment. They would find the charred remnants of the compound’s container though.
24 hours. That would be plenty of time.
She could already feel initial effects of the company serum she had injected into herself twelve hours ago.
As she looked out over the water, waiting for her transformation to begin, she smiled a small bitter smile. Her flesh and blood was the last of the Company’s prize compound. Soon she would disappear from the world completely.
She didn’t down look as her fingers started to fade.
Five minutes later a red dress drifted onto the dark blue surface of the ocean, floating for a moment before slipping into the obsidian depths.
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365tomorrows launched August 1st, 2005 with the lofty goal of providing a new story every day for a year. We’ve been on the wire ever since. Our stories are a mix of those lovingly hand crafted by a talented pool of staff writers, and select stories received by submission.
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