Page 154 of Fractured Future
The bright strobes have intensified, blurring darkness into breathtakingly white nothingness. My vision cuts in and out, offering snapshots of Diego casually strolling towards me.
“What’s this?” He leers down at me. “I haven’t even touched you yet.”
As much as I want to yell, shout and rave back at him, not a single word can escape. Only guttural whimpering that seems to satisfy my opponent as I collapse in a locked-up heap, chin wet from leaking spittle.
Moving into a crouch, Diego watches me shudder and involuntarily convulse, imprisoned by my own malfunctioningbody. His confusion fails to rival his delight at watching me suffer.
“Gael really fucked you up, didn’t he?” Diego’s lips curl downwards. “This is a sorry sight.”
When the flashing white strobes give way to encroaching blackness, I know I’m in deep shit. All I can hope is that someone heard the gunshots. I’m not going to be conscious for much longer.
“You’re so weak, 768. Pathetic.”
Convulsions sweep through my extremities, straining muscles and tendons. Pain becomes an acute force, holding me in the cruelty of consciousness as a black out races closer. All I can do is gag on my own saliva.
I can’t feel Diego’s hands on my body when he straddles himself above me in a position of supreme power. Trapped in my own skin, I silently choke on my terror, infused in the moisture that fills my mouth.
“Does he know that his product is damaged?” Diego wonders aloud. “Perhaps he won’t mind if I deliver you in pieces instead. Maybe I’ll ruin that cunt of yours first.”
My vision dims and sputters. The darkness overwhelms me, receding in a hateful taunt for split-seconds until it rises once more. Every time the world comes back into focus, I see him.
Laughing. Relishing in my paralysis.
His twisted face inching ever closer.
When the next wave washes over me, I let the shadows swallow me whole. In the darkness comes relief in the form of defeat. I don’t have to see Diego here. I don’t have to think about what he’s doing.
Open your eyes, Ember!
Fight back!
The tear-stained face yelling at me is young. Bruised. Familiar. She’s shouting so loud, but I can’t figure out why. Who is she? How does she know my name?
Get up! Now!
Wait. It’s… Gracie. I know her voice. The sound of her pleading. I want to reach out and swipe her tears aside, but there’s nothing around me but an empty, black void.
Fight for me, Ember!
Fight!
Her wails hit like a direct defibrillation to the heart. The darkness shudders and splits wide open, filling with flashes of blinding light. Agony infects every nerve ending and skin cell.
When the light fades enough for me to blink through great, murky tides, I see dark sky. Emerging stars bursting forth through beautifully stormy clouds. A nearby building’s roof.
The haze parts enough to reveal someone looming over me. Face blurred. Hair swimming with each woozy wave that hits. Two soulful black pits emerge through the confusing obscurity.
My tongue feels like an oversized lump of dead skin in my mouth, refusing to move or carve out a single syllable. I can’t find my limbs through the steadily increasing pain that scurries through me with each sharp breath.
Then the black pits vanish. Eaten by blinking lids and fascinatingly curled lashes. Oh, they’re eyes. I’m staring into onyx orbs, sparkling with a midnight sheen.
“Easy. Don’t try to move.”
That voice.
“You’re okay. Just breathe now.”
The aristocratic drawl slicks over my still-shuddering body, burrows inside my cavities and finds a new home in the hollowed-out carcass of my skeleton.
