Chapter 15 : The Colour of Blood
As he neared the end of the corridor, he could sense his trousers clinging to his leg. It was more than wet, it was blood-soaked. Over his shoulder he could see a trail of blood splatter, spreading out quickly on the wet carpet. Sato would be able to follow him.
His plan was to run round the balcony of the hamster wheel to the Red Quadrant and into Heaven’s Spa. He turned left onto the balcony just in time. Seconds later, the sound of machine gun fire pierced the air behind him, accompanied by the ricochet of bullets on walls and railings.
‘What the hell!’ shouted Krushkov, hearing the noise despite having reached the reception hall. ‘What’s going on Sato? Sato!’
As Zak pelted round the balcony, he closed his eyes again. As fast as he could, he found the settings for décor, selected Carpet and set the colour to red. He opened his eyes to find he was now running on a red carpet.
‘Wow!’ exclaimed Sato. ‘That was quick thinking!’
Zak ignored the warning signs coming from his body, and sprinted as if he wasn’t injured at all. This is going to do some damage, he thought. But it would be worse if Sato caught up.
The effort had been necessary. He just made it inside the Spa before Sato reached the hamster wheel.
He checked the CCTV. Sato stood at one end of the walkway, apparently stumped as to which direction to go.
Zak had bought some time. The Spa was made up of an intricate arrangement of rooms, mostly furnished with chairs and numerous tall plants, spread in a way that made it awkward to see the way through. It was a good place to escape, but not when bleeding heavily. He crept carefully through the rooms so as not to touch anything other than the floor.
‘Sato!’ shouted Krushkov.
Zak stopped to check the CCTV again. Krushkov was running back towards the cargo hold along the green corridor.
‘What’s going on?’ he shouted. ‘This ship’s on the blink again.’
‘A kid came into the cargo hold,’ shouted Sato. ‘I hit him, but he got away. I was going to follow the trail of blood but the floor turned red.’
