Shifters (Feline english version)

Chapter 24

It was always at times when we aspired most to oblivion that it was refused to us. I couldn't have been unconscious for more than five minutes when the notorious John took me out of my little nap to heal my knee. The good news was that my loss of consciousness must have reinforced his belief that I was still under the influence of drugs. The "care" he gave me was hasty and minimal. He simply disinfected the wound and applied a compress to it, which he held with plaster.

Once he was gone, I finally dared to open my eyes and try to determine where I was. I was on the concrete floor of a small square room with no windows. Everything was uniformly grey, from the floor to the ceiling, without anything of any significance. No furniture or posters or anything else. I closed my eyelids with weariness. Just this little effort cost me what little energy I had left. Their sedative may not have had the desired effect, but it still drained me of my strength. Unless it's the little torture session, both physical and psychological.

Nevertheless, I hoped that they would soon come looking for me, because this position was becoming more and more unbearable and I didn't think I would be able to continue simulating sleep for very long. Especially since I was half-naked, reinforcing my feeling of vulnerability and my almost visceral desire to do something, rather than to remain there, helpless, at the mercy of others.

I tried not to think about all the horrors that might await me later and focused on Jude... now my only hope. I felt much less stupid now and I hoped with all my heart that he had played it safe and had not relied solely on Worth's equipment. If that was the case, I was really in trouble and totally alone. Given their organization and contacts in the police, I would never be found.

The problem was that we were so shocked by the inspector's revelation that we didn't talk about it again. So I didn't even know if he could find me because of the blood I had ingested and, if so, if it was automatic or if I had to do something on my end. Having no idea how to do it, I started thinking about him and remembering his smell and the feelings I had when I was around him. I felt a very faint smell of wind and undergrowth, but so faint that I almost thought I had imagined it, unless it came from my skin. We had spent a lot of time together and I hadn't taken a real shower for two days. Then I felt a burst of rage, followed by a crushing feeling of helplessness, which gradually turned into hope and finally into a feeling of comfort that calmed the frantic beats of my heart and gave me hope again. It could only be him! He hadn't abandoned us and he was on my trail.

After long minutes, I was finally picked up. Two other men I guessed by their gait, for they did not say a word. One of them simply threw me on his shoulder like a bag of potatoes, before dropping me heavily, a few minutes later, on the crappy floor of an old pickup truck.

- 'Blindfold her, you never know,' one of the two men said with an unknown voice that confirmed I didn't know him.

- 'What's the point of all these precautions anyway? She's completely stunned like the others, and it's not like they're supposed to get through this.'

He still blindfolded me, before he sat down with his colleague in the front and started the vehicle. I managed to fall asleep despite the extreme discomfort of my position. Unable to see or perceive anything, the best thing to do was to try to recover some strength in the meantime.

I woke up at the sudden stop of the van. I was grabbed again without any consideration and we entered a building. After a journey that seemed quite long, I heard a door opening and then I was dropped rather than put on the ground. I heard a kind of little metallic noise and my feet suddenly found themselves free, quickly followed by my hands. It took a great effort of will on my part to let my arms fall gently and loosely on either side of my body without screaming in pain. Then the gag was removed and the blindfold was removed and the man left the room.