I've seen it in other images, but haven't figured out how to create a small pool of blood in C8 Pro.  I'm assuming it's probably a metaball object, but the carrara guide has pretty much nada on how to use them.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

I just free-hand a shape in the Spline modeler with a minimal extrusion and then bevel/curve the edges. Fast, controllable and easy. 

I made this in 9 minutes.

I scrolled out a shape in the spline modeler, created a cross section at the second control point and scrunched in the shape.

-Kix

Thanks to both of you!  I guess it's really a lot easier than I'd made it out to be.