‘Cough. cough.’

Jeremy pushed open the red door. The red door screeched.

Inside was a large wooden table, with a Lenovo computer resting on top of ​it. A man in a white suit sat across the table, smiling as Jeremy entered the ​room.

‘Hi, Jeremy. What brings you here today?’

Jeremy nodded. He found himself devoid of energy, and ever so nauseous. ​He wanted to vomit all the time, and only managed to mutter a few words ​to the man.

The man took the stethoscope wrung around his neck and moved it all ​around Jeremy. In his drowsy state, Jeremy could barely make out the ​words “critical” and “emergency”.

Frantically searching throughout the wooden shelves, the man handed ​Jeremy a pack of medicine while forcing out a smile onto his panic-​stricken face.

The pills were red. Scarlet red. Vermillion red. Crimson red.

Blood red.

Jeremy woke up, his eyes opened wide.

He felt better. More energetic than before.

He decided that he wouldn't need his medicine anymore because he was ​completely fine now.

Right?

In fact, he stopped taking them one day ago and he was still feeling alright.

He flipped open his phone, and was immediately bombarded with ​notifications for ten missed calls. Who would call him ten consecutive ​times? Jeremy, intrigued, clicked the dial button.

“Hi?”

“Hey, this is Doctor Wong. Just to make sure, you’ve been taking your ​medicine, right? You’re supposed to take that for at least five days.”

“Uh…yes.” Jeremy laughed nervously.

“That’s great! Because if you don't, I think you’ll get really really sick again ​in like, 3, 2, 1…”

Jeremy felt a sudden shockwave sending him back, hitting him in the ​head. He picked up his phone…or was it his phone? His vision became ​blurry, as he fell to the floor, slowly losing consciousness.

Jeremy woke up. He had a severe headache, as if someone had bashed his ​head with a sledgehammer.

“Thonk!” The ground swivelled to the left, causing him to bang into the ​wall.

It was then that he realised he was in a car. He peered into the driver’s seat, ​and a familiar face.

“Doctor Wong! Why am I here?”

“No time to explain!” Doctor Wong held a stern face. “We have to run!”

Jeremy looked around. A long, straight highway with green, lush trees. ​Forest green. Emerald green. Olive green.

Blood red?

Jeremy shook. He stared at the back window of the car. A wave of red was ​chasing them, tainting the trees red.

He scrubbed his eyes. Is that what he’s supposed to see? A bolt of red. A ​streak of red. It looked like a shadow, but it was red.

The shadow came closer and closer to the car. Jeremy closed his eyes, ​praying that the car would go faster, the shadow would go away, like a bad ​dream. He felt the car running and running as fast as it could, until…

“Screech!” The car stopped.

“We’ve reached a dead end.” Doctor Wong said, remorsefully, pointing at ​the forest ahead.

Jeremy leapt out of the car. He started running into the woods. He knew ​this was his only chance to survive. He ran, and ran. His last chance to stay ​alive.

But all was too late. He felt a bullet strike him in the back, and his vision ​became blurry once again. He could only see shades of red. Scarlet red. ​Vermillion red. Crimson red.

Blood red.