Whiskey voice…........... Flash Fiction

Snakes, writhing around on the floor; seen only out of the corner of my eye. I know it's just lack of sleep. I haven't slept in what seems like weeks and the paranoia is setting in. If only the walls would stay in one place. And the refrigerator would stop singing karaoke. Or at least would stop singing Copacabana… and if my head would just stop the damn pounding…. if any one of those things would happen I know I could lie down and get some blessed shut eye.

"Where'd you get this one?" Arc asked Bixton12.

"He was in the cold and flu aisle of a place called 'Walgreens'--why do you ask?"

"I think we may have gone a bit overboard," he answered as he wiped a smudge from the observation glass with his tentacle, "he seems somewhat disoriented."

"It was probably the snakes, I know you like them, but well, the reaction can be unpredictable…."

"At least I didn't make them jump out of the peanut can this time, I do learn from my mistakes." Arc said, a wry smile twisting his beak a bit to the left.

Aw damn, here comes another sneezing jag. I hate the sneezing. Although if I could sneeze my fool head off maybe I could put it in another room and then get some sleep. Man, where did that thought come from? I must be delirious or something, maybe I should call an ambulance….

"Oh dear, he's thinking of calling for help. Well, I guess it's now or never, I thought we'd have at least another twenty four hours.." Arc said as he fiddled with a knob on the control panel.

A section of wall slid to the side and a humanoid of the female style dressed in what they had come to understand was standard care giving costume for this century stepped into the viewing room, startling the test subject. He backed away, but the "nurse" soothed him and got him situated on the couch telling him she was there to help and if he'd just let her take a throat culture she was sure he'd feel better in a short time.

Ok, now I'm sure I'm delirious. When Jessica Rabbit dressed as a porn star nurse makes a section of your wall slide away and comes in to hover over you with a smile, well, it's pretty apparent that Elvis has left the building and your mind has gone awandering with him…. Wait….What the hell is she doing with that hose? Aargh, argh….arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

"This is all you harvested?" Nizar said with a sneer, waving the small sealed vial under their beaks.

"Yes sir, you know that we've found that if we keep the subject after they've decided they need medical intervention the secretions go bad and are worthless to the true connoisseur."

"Well blast and balls, Arc, this is barely enough to even offer on the black market. You're going to have to do better next time."

His gaze traveled to the cowering Bixton12, pinning him to the wall with laser precision. Nizar turned on his talons and stalked out of the lab, leaving an incinerated Bixton12 in his wake. Nizar believed in raising the bar through fear and intimidation. Plus he hadn't had lunch yet and he was cranky. Arc would do better next time he was sure.

Nizar was starting to regret this whole business. He thought he might go back to peddling rhinoceros horn to the limp dicked bastards out there clamoring for phlegm. He didn't know how the idea of phlegm being sexy had caught on anyway. Must be something they'd seen on television….