Legacy's Ghost

Episode 33: Fear is Powerful

When I wake up it's dark in my room and my bed is surrounded by a long white curtain. I've got an IV in my arm, and I've got several wires attached to me again. My head is screaming in pain, and I can barely keep my eyes open.

I try to lift my hand to my face, but I can't. Something's strapped to my wrists, keeping my hands to my sides.

Fear and panic shoot through me. My breathing accelerates, and I shake my arms and wrists, trying to break free. But the restraints won't budge. What is going on? I didn't do anything wrong. Why are they holding me down?

Tears sting at my eyes, and I yank harder and harder, until I'm grunting, wrenching my body from side to side, and the monitors attached to me beep at a frantic pace. Sweat covers my body like a film, and the ache in my head is nearly blinding. My heart feels like it's screaming inside me, clawing at my chest.

I grit my teeth together, trying not to bellow.

A buzzing sound fills my ears, increasing until it hits a deafening volume. I wrench and wriggle and pant and whimper and—

"Atan." Edmonds voice hits me like a wall of clouds, enveloping me completely. It stops me and the buzzing in my head, in our tracks.

I snap my head in his direction, my purple gaze meeting his calm, gray eyes.

"Why am I chained to my bed?" I demand.

Slowly, he sits in a metal chair next to my bed and puts a calming hand on top of my closest arm. He lets out a slow sigh and offers me a jerky smile. "They're afraid of you."

I snort and look away, feeling a tear slide down my cheek onto the pillow. "They're always afraid of me."

"Atan," he says again, his voice low and calm. He squeezes my forearm. "Look at me."

I press my eyes closed and shake my head. Another tear drops.

How many Swarm did I kill in that cavern? And they reward me by making me a prisoner? Is this how it's going to be all my life? No matter what I do? Who I help?

My nostrils flare and my chin trembles. I take a deep breath, trying to exhale the ache in my chest. Disappointment burns like hot coals in my heart. The colonists hate me. They always will. Nothing has changed despite my new position in the TAGs. Despite fighting the Swarm.

"Atan." Edmond says again, shaking my arm gently. "Look at me, son."

Grinding my teeth together, I turn and glare at the man I thought had been my protector. But he's not doing anything about me being chained to a bed. He's not calling the doctors and demanding I quit being treated like a prisoner. He's sitting next to me doing nothing.

When our eyes meet, Edmond's lips press thin. "I understand why you're upset. Do you understand why they're scared?"

"They're scared because I don't look like them. They think I'm a freak."

Edmond's face softens, and he leans closer, smoothing out the blanket bunched around my body. "No, son. It's not that."

He locks gazes with me, his mouth trembling. "They're scared because you single-handedly stopped a Swarm invasion. You killed hundreds of aliens with one touch. The LAs want to turn you into a weapon. The PPNs want to laud you as a God of Peace. The scientists want to dissect you and figure out what happened. The Ghost wants to take you and run away where nobody can find you."

Edmond chuckles under his breath and runs his free hand through hisgraying hair before dropping it into his charcoal robed lap. "For the firsttime in our colony's history, we cannot get the Trinity to agree on what to dowith you. The only thing they can agree on is that everyone wants a piece ofyou. So, more to keep the Ghost from disappearing with you than anything, thechains are to keep you from being taken."