Charlie saw the grid of hot beams racing towards him and his mind froze up.
Somewhere, in a completely different universe, a twenty-sided dice landed on a table and a dragon let out a disappointed chuckle.
Panic filled Charlie’s mind and, with his mind paralyzed by fear, instinct took over. Now running on autopilot, the wolf’s body turned tail and ran for the entrance.
He could see the others smashing against the glass wall that was locking him in. Cracks were developing. A glance behind him had his heart pounding terror. It would be a close thing. The grid was hot on his heels.
Charlie sped up, trying to put more distance between himself and the grid.
Geoffrey stepped forward and pounded the door with a series of hammering blows. A chunk the size of the bear’s fist broke free and shattered on the floor. Charlie smiled. He was going to make it!
Charlie’s glee turned to horror as he saw the hole in the door start mending itself.
He slammed into the door, pounding on it, then he turned to face the grid.
Just in time.
The lasers streaked through him, his entire body in exquisite, burning pain.
Then they passed through his cerebellum, and he died instantly.
The wolf’s head sagged and then slid neatly apart, the rest of his body following, collapsing into a neat pile of Charlie-cubes. His party screamed in horror behind him, but he could no longer hear them.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
With a pop, Charlie’s cleanly diced corpse crumbled onto Finn’s floor.
“Charlie!” Finn said severely, “I just had the floor waxed!”
Charlie didn’t say anything.
The dragon sighed, eyeing the pile of cubed meat on his floor, blood spreading in growing pool beneath the corpse. Man, he is losing A LOT, the dragon thought, and cocked an eye at the kobold slurping on his cock, wondering if he was somehow fudging the rolls.
“Mike, clean up on aisle 5!” Finn called.
Mike got out a push mop and dutifully squeegeed Charlie’s remains over to a corner. The sign above it read ‘Dead Charlie Storage’. Finn had guessed it would be the first of many.
Finn snorted, “You really were a cut-up, eh Charles? Well, I hope you do better next time. Otherwise, this is…”
THE END
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