Asleep

4 Stay Awake

Nora~~

They forced us to change into dark gray uniforms. A parakeet-green stripe runs down the side of the pants and the long sleeves of the shirt. It's hard to believe—and it sends a stab of pain through my heart to even think it—that was the last time I will ever dress myself.

They have us lined up in the Hall, waiting to be assigned a bed. Two people ahead in line is Aaron. He doesn't fight the guards when they grab him and push him down onto what is supposed to be his forever bed, but it's nothing like ones he'd find in his home. This is an exam table. We are to be studied after all.

They're hooking him up as the guards take hold of me. I twist in their arms, locking my knees. A pathetic attempt but it's all I can manage. It's at this moment I wish I had done sports, taken self-defense classes. Fighting bad guys in a video game is nothing like fighting them in the real world. I always knew that.

I just didn't understand how different until now.

They force me onto my back onto the exam table beside Aaron's and strap me to the table. A woman in a lab coat swipes my arm with a cold wipe before another doctor inserts an IV into my arm.

My head feels light, and I'm cold and hot at the same time.

With every second that slips by, the fight leaves my body.

Someone tries to insert something in my ear, and I cringe away. Two hands grasp my hand, holding it in place, and the device is slipped into my ear. It feels the way I'd imagine a hearing aid would.

The room tilts, and I have to fight to keep my eyelids open. They're just so heavy . . .

Stay awake.

Do something.

Anything.

One hundred fifty plus one hundred seventy-five is three hundred twenty-five.

Stay awake.

Keep alert.

Seven times nine is sixty-three.

Stay awake.

Aaron's strained eyes meet mine. The pull of sleep is strong.

A tear falls over his cheek as his eyes start to close.

"Nora, I'm going to protect you in there. I don't know how. But I am."

I smile for his sake and mine. "Aaron . . ." I push past the sleep that the serum is trying to pull me down into. "I'll protect you no matter what. I promise."

With one last blink, his eyes shut, and he's asleep.

My tears finally fall.

A young man peers over me, drumming the metal base of his holoscreen tablet with his finger. "Doctor Cobbs, this one's having difficulties."

Cobbs walks over and looks absolutely jovial. His eyes glisten with a mirth that seems to feed off the horror happening around us. "Too jittery to sleep?"

"It's not quite my bedtime."

His smile stretches as he cocks his head to the side. "You are an interesting one, aren't you?"

"Would you like a biased or non-biased answer?"

"An answer means you're still awake. Increase her dosage," he says over his shoulder.