The Ink Infection [Brief hold and Editing]

Chapter 7

I tried to open my eyes, but failed. Far away, I could hear the muffled beeps in the room. Where was I? Was I dead? My whole body felt numb and exhausted. I tried once again to open my eyes. Slowly, I could see whiteness, and the fan turned on on the ceiling. Above me, two people, masked with white clothes, had a plastic shield in front of their faces. They both had masks on, their hands holding a piece of equipment.

The sound of the beep filled my ear, and the sound started to increase.

"He's starting to come out of it," one of the people said, pointing his tweezers at me.

"Well,  put him out," replied the other man.

The one holding the tweezers pulled out a syringe and inserted it into my arm. The room blurred for a moment, and darkness engulfed me.

When I awoke, I was in a bed, white sheets covering me. Towards my right, there was a small table with a white vase filled with red roses on top. I pushed the sheets off of me and examined my thigh. It was all stitched up, and there was little evidence that I had a wound there. I gasped and lifted my shirt, finding my waist wrapped up in white bandages. I placed my hand on it; the pain was still there slightly, but I wasn't in too much pain.

I lowered my legs onto the ground and tried to stand up. My sight turned blurry, and my head started aching a lot. I sat down on the bed, and noticed a mirror right across from me. I looked at myself: a boy, dressed in a white gown, his head bandaged up, his brown hair protruding from the wrapped bandages. His eye was puffy, and he had a black eye.

That was me. A tired, beat-up boy. What else did I look like? A zombie who had just woken up. I sighed, and tried to make myself look better. I tried to make my hair look better, but I made it look worse by trying to move the bandage on my head, which brought a few painful stabs in my head. I quit, my hands dropping to my sides.

I looked at the window, showing me a lit up sky with the blue ocean spreading out into the unknown. The sky was free from the gray clouds that covered the city I had grown up in. The wind made me shiver. I noticed the window to the one in front of me was open.

I breathed the salty air, and managed to not gag on it. I looked around to keep down the squeamish feeling in my stomach. The room was long and tall, the columns on the walls stretching and reaching the arched ceiling. It was as if I were in a cathedral. 

A thought occurred to me as I lifted my left arm to see my wristwatch, but it wasn't there. I looked at the table next to me, and only saw the vase of roses, the stack of clothes, with my taser on top of the stack. My face went red as I realized they found my taser in my pants. Will I be penalized for carrying a weapon? My mind was preoccupied with the taser that I didn't hear anyone entering the room.

"Hey," a voice whispered behind me.

I jumped, and turned around and saw Jack. A grin hit my face.

"Hey! How are you doing?" I asked, pleased to see someone I knew.

Jack chuckled. "You almost died and you're asking me how I'm doing?" he asked, shaking his head.

"I did?" I asked, my grin wiped from my face. I almost died? How? What? Unbelievable.

"Yea, I overheard one of the doctors saying how your heartbeat almost stopped beating. I was waiting for you in front of the surgery room," he concluded, looking at me.

"Well..." I trailed off, not sure how to respond. "Well, I'm alive! I'm safe now," I said laughing.

Jack's face was still serious.

"Itzy wanted to finish you, if it weren't Odir who came in at the right moment," he said after a few moments.

"Was Itzy the one who controlled the other group?" I asked.