Page 75 of Irreversible

Where is he?

I swallow back the acid in my throat, shifting my petrified gaze to the long needle glinting under the overhead lights. Sharp, merciless. It doesn’t look like my medication.

It looks like…

“Time to go,” she says, her voice cold. There’s nothing there—she can’t be human. “I suggest you cooperate.”

Cooperate.

All I’ve done is cooperate, and it’s gotten me nowhere. I’m still here. Trapped and helpless, a caged bird with broken wings.

“Stay away from me.” Tears well in my eyes, blurring her wretched face. “Where’s Roger?”

Isaac’s chain moves, dragging toward the wall. He’s listening, waiting. He knows there’s been a change of plans. A plot twist, dismantling our escape.

But he can’t help me right now.

I need to get out of here.

My pulse thrashes as my attention ping-pongs between the still-open door, the needle, and the nurse. I swallow again. It burns my throat, tastes like ashes. “Please,” I beg, eyeing the doorway. I can run. I’ll make a break for it, consequences be damned. “Don’t touch me.”

The woman sighs, almost boredly, and advances on me.

I recognize the needle. The moment it pricks my vein, I’ll be gone. Paralyzed. Dragged unconscious into that operating room with Doctor Frankenstein, then mutilated from the inside out.

It’s procedure day.

And I can’t help but worry it’ll be the last one. My time might be up.

She steps forward.

I dodge.

An annoyed glare gleams in her eyes as she reaches for me again. She misses. My eyes flick to the cracked door, and it’s then she realizes she left it open. Her attention is stolen for a beat. A glimmer of panic. I use it to my advantage and make my move.

Smaller and faster, I dip underneath her thick arm and run for my life.

“Hey!” she barks.

Stars twinkle behind my eyes. Self-preservation fuels me. Isaac pounds on the wall, the sounds muffled by the shrill beats of my heart. My feet skid across the floor, but I stay standing, keep running, and reach for the door handle, flinging it open wider.

But I don’t get far.

A scream tears through me when I crash into a massive body.

Roger.

He grabs me.

And it all happens so fast.

“Isaac!” I screech.

Two meaty hands fist my upper arms, bruising and unbreakable. I can’t move, can’t flee. I can only scream his name.

“Isaac!”

The needle finds my neck before I can take another breath.

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