The first signs of dawn creep through the window, light shattering as it hits the silver puddle that surrounds me. Oh no. I bolt upright, tearing my body away from my blood, which has long since dried around my tattered clothes. A blazing shot of pain races from my side, bathing my vision in white as I collapse and shrink into myself again, attempting to stifle a shriek. I peek at my right side. The jagged wound is still open and liquid silver seeps out at a steady trickle. Then I see the crimson splatters that stain the floor. I didn’t save them. I stare at the stains a while longer, twisting around to look for more and eliciting stabs of pain, reminding me of the deep laceration in my side.
Trembling, I position my hands on top of each other, biting down and drawing silver blood as I press onto the wound, tears rolling down my face and colliding with the now-scintillating concrete. Please work. I feel the familiar sensation of cells knitting together, rapidly cloning themselves and mending, a wriggling feel under my skin. When I lift my hands, a bright pink line is all that remains of the wound. Awww she did lower the suppression levels. How thoughtful. She does care about me bleeding out and dying. I bring myself to a sitting position, wincing as I jostle the still-healing injury. I slowly drag myself to the door and press a silver-coated ear against it, listening intently for something, anything that would tell me where Alex and Alexa are. All I can hear is the occasional drip drip echoing in the hallway. Must’ve been injected while I was out.
I slouch against the door, looking towards the window. Sunlight shines into my eyes. I reach my left hand up to block the light from my face, a yellow band striping my palm. What the heck? Squinting my eyes, I spot a hummingbird squeeze its way through the bars of the window. I press myself further into the door, left hand dropping to rest on the door handle. As I get up off the ground, eyes tightly shut, my hand presses down. The door clicks and swings open, revealing a stretch of shadow stretching left and right, interrupted by a single light bulb every few feet. This has to be another hallucination. The bird flies towards the doorway, completely disappearing as soon as it crosses the threshold. My eyes widen. Or maybe I’m not. Let’s find out. The hallucinogens only take affect inside the cell. I tentatively step through the doorway, looking back at a suddenly windowless, lightless room. Stepping in, the window and sunlight illuminate the white cell. Out, they completely disappear. A smile creeps its way onto my face. Ducking into pitch black shadows in the hallway, I wait a few minutes, ears straining for tell-tale footfalls. No one ever comes. Stepping out into the light of the damp metal hallway, I look left and right, closing the door quietly behind me. The narrow hall stretches on both ways, other halls branching off from them. I start to turn towards the left hall, but something from the right flashes in the corner of my eye. A glass cage is just disappearing through an alley in the right hall, the wheels rattling against the metal paneled floor. Might as well start there. I sprint off into the right hallway, silent footfalls beating against the cold ground.
