Enhancement

- - 17 - -

"Miss Renner? Are you awake yet?"

My eyelids flutter open, blinded by harsh lighting. I squeeze them shut and then ease them open again. As I furrow my eyebrows, an unfamiliar woman smiles at me. Her gray clothing has a signature plus-sign on it.

"Hospital?" I mumble.

She nods. "A lot of other Screeners are here as well."

"Screeners..." I repeat sluggishly, pain medicine dulling my concentration. Fire, smoke, and ash fill my thoughts vaguely. A young boy and my shaking gun. Stray bullet fired from my own fingers.

The bombs.

"Am I hurt?" I ask slowly.

"First degree and second-degree burns, a heat stroke," the nurse answers. "But not a problem. We have you fixed and healed."

"Okay." The feeling in my legs start to come back, the remnants of burning fire ready to eat at me again.

"Alright, I'm going to put you back under. You'll be out for another day."

I suddenly grab her arm as she makes a move towards my tubes, "But what-- about Stephen?"

The nurse chuckles. "He's been wanting to see you since you first arrived here."

"I-Is he--"

"Not at all. He's unharmed. Now get some rest, Miss Renner."

I struggle to keep my eyes open, repeating Stephen's name, the only person who can truly understand me anymore. My words taper off until I'm asleep.

-- -- -- -- --

"NO!" I wake up thrashing and afraid. I rip imaginary and real tubes off myself, my kicking discarding my sheets onto the ground. I continue to spazz out, panting hard until a nurse rushes in.

"The side effects," she declares to her fellow nurses. "Hallucinations, most likely."

"No, no, no, don't take me back there, don't take me back!" I scream as the staff tries to subdue. Two additional nurses sprint in, stretching emergency medical belts across me, identical to the ones connected to those cold metal tables. I scream even louder, my throat buzzing from my volume.

A male nurse delivers an injection to my arm. I try to fidget, but I can't. All I do is scream and scream and scream, trying in vain to rid myself of the torture chant repeating inside my head. Within seconds, I'm out cold again.

Welcome to the Enhancement Project. Welcome to the Enhancement Project. Welcome to the Enhancement Project.

-- -- -- -- --

My eyelids flutter open, blinded once again by the harsh lighting. I squeeze them shut a few times and then ease them open.

The same female nurse enters the room. "Miss Renner, are you awake?" I nod, rubbing my eyes.

"You've got a visitor."

My eyes shoot open, and I sit bolt upright. "Where is he?"

She chuckles, walking out of the room. I hear her faintly say something, and then a pair of feet run into the room. They stop a few feet from me, and Stephen, looking totally unrested with his crinkled clothing, exhales in relief.

My voice comes out more caring than I thought it would. "Oh, my God, Stephen, how long we're you here?"

"What?" he says, looking down at his own clothes. He straightens out his shirt. The wrinkles magnify.

He looks back up to me, a boyish smile on his face. "Better?"

I grimace playfully, shaking my head.