The Transcended: They call him Lucius

Part 3: Blood ~ Chapter 10

I'm alive, Zoey thought as consciousness returned to her. She blinked a few times to get her eye to focus. What happened? Where am I?

She tried to sit up, but she was bound to a bed.

What the...? She looked at her bonds and noticed all the equipment attached to her.

IV lines went into both hands, the left attached to a variety of bags while the right was apparently draining her. She stared at the machine in horror as it sucked the blood from her system.

Dialysis? Or have they turned me into a blood farm?

She swallowed as something in the back of her throat annoyed her and realised there was a tube inside her nose. Frightened, she looked down and wriggled a bit—her bonds didn't allow for much more, but it was enough for her to assess her situation underneath the blankets.

Seriously? A feeding tube, a diaper and a catheter? How long have I been out? What the hell are they doing to me?

She tugged at her restraints again and not a moment later the door opened.

"It's okay. Please, stay calm," Gwen said as she approached Zoey with her hands outstretched. "I'll explain everything if you give me the chance."

"Where—" Zoey's voice broke.

"Let me get you some water; your throat must feel like a desert."

Zoey watched Gwen fill a glass at the sink in the corner. She returned and pressed a button on the bed to raise the top half.

"Here, slowly," Gwen said as she guided the straw into Zoey's mouth. "Swallowing might be a tad unpleasant as we got a nasogastric tube down there—we had to in order to feed you."

Zoey let go of the straw and wetted her lips. "What happened?" she croaked. "Where am I? Why am I tied down like this?"

Gwen sighed and pulled up a chair. "To answer your last question first: when we allowed you to wake up the first time, you threw quite the fit. This is for your own protection—and ours."

"The first time?"

Gwen nodded. "This is the second time." She smiled. "So far, so good."

"How long—" her voice broke and Gwen shushed her.

"It's okay, let me do the talking for now and you can ask questions later."

Though anxious, Zoey nodded.

"Do you remember our trip to the spa? How you thought you saw Lucius when we went back home?"

Zoey paled and nodded. "Is he here?" she whispered as she looked behind Gwen.

Gwen placed her hand on Zoey's arm. "No, he's not. He wasn't even at the spa. Do you remember what happened back in your room? That Kyron showed you surveillance footage of Lucius at the airport?"

Zoey frowned as she tried to remember, but her last memory was of spotting Lucius on the sidewalk, next to a truck, staring at her. Slowly, she shook her head.

Gwen sighed. "Well, I guess it might be for the best you don't remember. You... You went a bit off the deep end. Trashed the bathroom, threatened yourself and us with a broken piece of mirror. You had cut yourself repeatedly already."

Zoey stared at Gwen, unable to grasp she would have done all that.

"You even had me bring you a human arm because somehow you had convinced yourself that we weren't feeding you properly and that you were going feral because of it. While, in reality, all your stress was making you go rabid and no amount of human tissue can stop that."