A faulty light flickered and drew shadows on the walls while a man and a boy sat before a desk, staring at one another. The room carried a low buzzing noise, and dull thuds bashed against the walls from outside the room. They paid no mind to any of it.

“Who do you suppose would win in a fight between a vulture and a lion?” the man asked.

“Obviously the lion, you said earlier that vultures only feed upon the dead. They wouldn’t even try to attack the lion, right?”

“Yes, I did say that. But, let’s suppose that the lion was in some way already dead. Do you think the vulture could come out victorious?” The man placed his hand on his chin and with his other hand he turned through pages of a notebook.

“What do you even mean by that? Stop talking to me in metaphors. Of course the lion would win. Vultures aren’t that strong.”

The man stood up and walked towards the back of the room. He placed his hands on a desk littered with all kinds of tools. He rustled through them and grabbed two medical instruments.

“W-what are those for?” the boy asked.

“We’re going to find out who would be the victor of our hypothetical match. Now be a good boy and keep your eyes on that screen. We’ll know the results in a moment.”

*****

“What a shame. It looks like there were no winners after all.” The man wore a slight grin.

“What happened?” the boy asked.

“Nothing that I was expecting, well, it looks like the lion and the vulture had no reason to fight. As much as I pushed them, they just decided to leave each other alone.” The man bent forward and peered into the boy's eyes. “Although, there was an instant they appeared to be helping each other… We might have to take another look at that tomorrow.”

“What? I don’t remember watching any animals. The screen was blank the whole time! What are you talking about?”

“You’ll know soon enough.”

The boy screamed as he looked down, no longer recognizing his own body.