Member-only story
In Love With a Mirage
In That Haze — No21 (Micro)
The escape hatch is open when I go to rescue Hallie.
I slide through and nearly catch my shirt on one of the mechanisms sticking out. Without meaning to, I swear — and then I look up to see a monster with tentacles. I take out my blaster gun and aim, firing without a second thought. The monster screams, green pus spewing from its lone protruding eyeball.
I run past it before its tentacles can reach me.
The next room is a simulation. I dance across lighted squares on the floor, trying not to set off a booby trap of some kind. I grimace as I step on one wrong, the color turning from pink to black, and I make a dive to the floor before lasers start filling the room.
Shit! I think. But then I manage to adjust as I dodge the lasers one by one. One catches my sleeve, and I hiss in pain as a burn hole sears through the fabric.
Then I run and run and run. The simulation feels like a labyrinth. Screens scroll past, showing different images that try to distract me without end. Women’s faces come up, sensual, their bodies teasing. But I don’t watch. I can’t get mesmerized by something that isn’t real.
I want the real deal. That’s what I’ve always wanted.
