Steel Ethereal

Ch. 34 Rescue

            

Luciana, eight days ago...

            I wake up in a cage like an animal. A heavy, thick blanket traps heat in and covers my view from the outside. I'm already drenched in sweat and breathe heavily.

            Soon, two burly men open the cage to retrieve me.

            My hands are bound and kept behind my back. The skin of my wrists have already been rubbed raw with the slightest movements. My boots have been removed and my bare feet are bound together. My jeans are caught in the tie and separate the rope form my bare skin.

            I'm taken to a warehouse of some sort. Cheap sheet metal consists of the walls and ceiling. The floor is dark, loose dirt. This place was made recently, and with haste. At least there is a bit of cool air brushing over me from air conditioning. My legs ache from being crammed in such a closed setting.

The smell around is rancid.

I'm dumped out of my cage from the back of a pickup truck and into the dirt. Humiliation and anger fill me. I can hear the screams and moans of other people. The sounds overlap. I couldn't tell how many people were in this facility, but by the cacophony of agony, it was numerous.

One of the men yank me up by my hair until I'm up on my feet. Then I'm hoisted over the man's shoulder. I struggle to try and get a good blow to his back, but I'm jostled every time I wind up with both arms. The other man chuckles at me.

I wonder how long I'd been knocked out. I remember slamming into the building and feel a dull thud at the side of my head. How long it had been. A day? A week? A year, it felt like.

My leg and arm throb dully. The shrapnel was removed at some point and loosely bandaged. It feels that with any small movement the bandage will fall off.

There is a cell of steel, much tougher than the sheet metal making the rest of the warehouse. I'm thrown in and the cell door is shut. A large halogen bulb is switched on above. Its light starts slowly, but I know it will be incredibly bright soon.

I lay there in the dirt, feeling thirsty, hungry, and afraid. But I wouldn't let the latter show yet. I had been in stickier situation. Some of them were worse...

My head felt horrid. There's a large welt I feel as I stretch both arms back to probe my scalp. I'd like to think some of my thick, tangled curls cushioned the blow.

I look through my body to search for power. If I could access plasma, I could burn through the ropes holding me. But no matter how hard I try, I can't use my natural electricity.

Then with a sickening push, I realize how they've kept me unconscious for so long. They've tranquilized me to keep me asleep. The tranquilizer must have had an augmentative suppressant in it to keep me docile.

The pain in my further ruins my focus. I'm in borderline agony as the tranquilizer wears off. The augmentative suppressant will remain, it sticks to the body like honey. I'd be left in pain and powerless.

Blood began soaking through the loosely wrapped bandage and soaked the tan of my pants.

I swallowed the pain and searched for a way out of my bounds. I was drugged, but there was a good chance my strength was still bound to me. I stretch my arms apart as best I can to rip the rope apart.

No dice. Now my wrists hurt and the skin feels even more raw.

This would not do.

Using my flexibility, I manage to move my bound legs over my bound arms. Now my arms are in front of me. I feel dirt in every crevice of my body as I spread the loose earth around. My bite my lip as the pain in my leg becomes blinding. I spread my arms as much as they'd let me and feel the fabric of the rope ripping. It's still not enough.