Power Shift (Book 1)

Chapter 1: Abducted

This story is part of an exercise to get my daily writing word count up and to learn more about Wattpad. After each section of the story I'll give a few options for what might happen next and will write the next section based on the votes here and on Facebook. I know where the story starts, but not where it's headed. Any and all feedback is welcome! 

They grab me walking out of a grocery store. I've got my bags in my hands and am struggling to get my keys out of my pocket when everything goes dark.

I wake up naked, strapped down on my back onto a slick rubber mattress on top of a table. It must be a dream, I think, and struggle to wake up. I will myself to focus. Everything stays fuzzy, but I can feel the restraints on my wrists and ankles. They're soft, not metal, and they hold me tight. Above me I can see a few bright lights, like hospital lights, but nothing else in the darkness beyond them seems at home in a hospital. Thrashing around, I try to pull free but can't budge the restraints. Two faces appear over me looking surprised.

The first man, square jawed and tanned, says something to the other that I can't hear. The second man, slender and mousy with thick glasses, pauses for a moment before nodding. The tan man looks at something behind me and a hand comes into view holding a gas mask connected to a long hose. It presses down over my face.

When I wake up my head is pounding. A strap over my chest and legs hold me even more firmly in place on the table. I blink, trying to clear my eyes, and someone presses a cool cloth to my face. I hadn't realized how hot I am until I feel it.

The tan man's face comes back into view and I look him right in the eyes for a moment. I see anger, determination, and something else... exhaustion? I look down my own body as far as I can and see IV's and tubes coming out of both of my arms, leading up to bags on medical stands. The fluids are dark and murky, but not blood.

It's light out. Daytime. Sun comes in from some windows high above that I can't see. The lamps I saw before are pushed to the side, turned off. I try to speak but my tongue feels swollen and dry. The tan man looks down at me and I slip back into darkness as I try to ask him "Why..."

When I wake up next I have a tube in my throat. My skin is on fire like I'm covered in ants, all biting and chewing at me, crawling inside my skin. I try to scream and choke on the tube. Two people I haven't seen before appear. One pumps a syringe into one of my IV tubes and everything fades away again.

The next time I wake is agony. The pain must have dragged me through whatever drugs they had given me. I feel  as if my skin is going to tear itself open and I'm going to explode out of it like a grape under a shoe. It is happening, I can feel my skin peeling open, I'm sure of it!

I thrash in pain and am immediately surrounded by a bunch of people all trying to hold me down. Some sort of electrodes cover my body and they burn every place they touch me. Tan man is here, and the mousy guy. The mousy guy is screaming at the tan man, gesturing wildly to people around my bed. The tube is still in my throat or I would scream as well. Why is this happening to me? Who are these people?

I begin to panic. I'm going to die here and never know why, never know what I did wrong, or what they are doing to me!

The gas mask comes into view and I shake my head wildly. Not the darkness again. Not again! They couldn't get it tight over my mouth with the tube in the way, but I can hear the hiss of gas pouring out. I try not to breathe. The people around me are talking frantically but there is so much noise I can't make out what they are saying. Crashing, thumping, scraping, it is deafening. The mousy man leans over me and points a bright light into my eyes. I feel my strength leave me and I sag back to the sticky mattress as darkness creeps in again from the edges of my small world.