X-Marks: Rising Shadows

Awake

Chilled air rushed into my raw lungs, and the faint hum of a machine whirled beside me.

I moved my tired muscles that ached as if I had been running for miles without rest, though they were resting on a plush cushion.

The tacky edges of my eyes took time to open and see the blur of gray shapes above me. The stark room was bare. Angular white blocks were broken apart by silver lines and rows of plain white bottles.

It all felt familiar, down to the single stark light overhead. It was almost like a home I had known before, though I could not remember why. My memories were all mixed like the colors of the room.

I turned to my side and noticed long tubes flowing from my body. This too, as uncomfortable as it was, felt familiar. It was much easier to see what was close to my body than far away. I pulled my wrist to my face to the see the most familiar site of all. A steel bracelet, blinking a steady blue strip of light.

I sat up and pulled the strange tubes and wires away from me as quickly I could. I ignored the pain that shot through my arms as the memories began to flood. This wasn't home, and this was nothing to become familiar with. Only anger kept me in my place now.

She let this happen. Evee did this. I was back at the center.

"Coordinator," a calm voice said from my bedside, "Patient three has woken up."

I rubbed at my tacky eyes. I could only see a flesh colored shape against the stark white. It rushed closer to me.

"What are your orders?" the voice said.

I reached my hands into the blindness and felt the crisp edge of a person's shirt.

"Please remain calm," the woman continued.

Her hands pressed into my shoulders and gently pulled me back onto the firm cushions of the bed.

"W-where am I?" I asked.

It was the obvious question to ask. Even with perfect vision, I wouldn't have had the slightest idea.

"Your health is being carefully monitored by our physicians. Please do not disturb the monitoring equipment until you are processed for release," the woman continued.

"Release?" I said and sat back up, "I don't even know where I am. I can't even see."

"Effects of sedation should clear from your system within an estimated ten hours."

"I just," I said, the grit in my voice unraveling, "I just want to know where the hell I am!"

The blurred figured turned away.

"Permission to disclose whereabouts."

A faint hum of another woman's voice came through as if it were from a speaker.

The figure approached me again, "Patient three, you have been allowed by the Vossler Union committee to receive refugee status."

"What? I don't even know, who this Union is -"

"It is the Union's goal to -"

I reached my hands out to the nearest blur of objects and gripped my hand around a smooth cylinder.

"I don't care, what it is!" I shouted, and threw what I had across the room, "You can't keep me here."

The figure was still for a long moment. Not stirred by anything I had done. It was as if she expected this would be my reaction. As if she did this often.

The faint hum of the speaker sounded again.

"We understand your frustration," the woman on the speaker said, "I think you will find comfort in knowing your travel companions have all recovered since you were last awake."

She was wrong. I felt no comfort in this, and quite the opposite.

I moved my leg to the far left and felt the pull of a chain that held it back. I wasn't going anywhere. Not anymore.

"It is unwise to attempt to leave your quarters," the blurry woman said.

"Just leave me alone," I said, and pulled at the chain to feel if there was a lock.

"I'm afraid, I am not allowed to do that," the woman said, "You will need to be closely monitored during your recovery."

I laid in silence for those long moments after. I watched the blurry woman's lanky body hover over me under the light. She waited there for many hours. Expected for me to do something again I was sure, but I felt nothing. Nothing more than searing anger that burned worse than any fluid that flowed in and out of the wires connected to my veins.

It took many more days for my anger to turn cold. I could give in, it made no difference. They would do what they wanted with me.

This place was just like home, what I was running from all along and now I had run out of ground.

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I promise to keep them coming!