He pushes the stretcher down the dimly lit hallway, the smell of rust and mildew familiar and comforting. His footsteps echo off the metal flooring, but he smiles to himself, preferring the emptiness. An overhead light flickers. It has always flickered. He stops at a side doorway, looking up and down the deserted hallway, forever a creature of caution and habit. He slides the stolen identicard through the security lock and the door hisses open, a fetid stench of medical fluids and rotting flesh escaping from within. He pauses, closing his eyes, breathing the sweet perfume of death and decay in deeply. Continue reading →