ACADEMY FOR THE DAMNED

Chapter Twenty One

Chapter Twenty One

Dillon watched helplessly as Macleod shot Panos and his people. The bodies fell to the ground unmoving and a blue liquid flowed from each of them. The teens around Dillon screamed. Emily burst into tears. Amina was frozen to the spot with her jaw open. Ike's eyes were wide, staring at the bodies in disbelief. Dillon span around to confront Macleod.

"You bastard!" he screamed. "You stinking, filthy murdering bastard!"

Darkness swallowed him up. Dillon emerged into the light and looked around him. He was in a surgery and the odours of chemicals associated with a surgery stung his nostrils. He raised his head and bright white lights danced around him. He lay back.

"Dillon Kincaide," said a voice close. It held a hint of a Dutch accent. "You have been in the wars."

Raising his head slightly he saw it was Dr Frank. Her face was expressionless. It was always expressionless.

"You'll need this," she said.

Frank helped him sit up and gave him a glass of water. He was thirsty and gulped it down. He noted that there was a tube attached to his arm and the tube connected with a transparent bag held by a metal stand.

"Saline solution. You needed salts, and you were dehydrated. Nothing broken just a lot of deep cuts and very nasty bruises. I patched you up. You'll live."

Dillon felt strong enough now to raise himself and he sat on the edge of the bed. He was naked and his body was swathed in bandages. Frank pulled the needle from his arm that had been attached to the solution

"Your clothes were torn and ragged and have been incinerated. We have new clothes for you but I insist you have a shower first, to wash away the dirt of the other place."

"How long have I been out?"

She glanced at her watch. "Precisely two hours and nineteen minutes. Your body was drained and it simply shut down. Being unconscious helped you heal, but you will need more rest and that's my prescription for you."

Dillon took his shower and the cubicle dried him with blasts of hot air all over his body. He dressed himself.

"I want you to go and get a good meal," said Dr Frank. "You been in a state of shock and you been way beyond the point of exhaustion. Take things easy for the next few days. And here."

She held out a small carboard packet.

"These are pain killers. Take three a day with food."

Dillon smacked the packet from her hand. It went flying across the room.

"I don't want your poison. How do I get out of here?"

Frank pointed to a door. Dillon limped across the room and the door slid open for him and he entered a lift and he was soon dropping rapidly to the main building. He judged he was in the tower. The lift stopped and the door slid open. Dillon stepped out.

He looked around him. He could smell the odours associated with the main building. They were bland, inoffensive smells. Everything in this place was engineered to be inoffensive, even its smell. He scanned the expensive wood panelled interior. Some teens were wandering about. They looked at him and stopped. They broke out into an applause.

Dillon's body ached and each movement brought more pain. While in the other world adrenaline had blocked the pain but there was no adrenaline now and he was aware of every bruise, scratch and cut on his body. Perhaps he should have taken the pain killers. His head was still muggy. He wanted to lie down and sleep.