Where it all started: 5th Column Comics
Previous issue: HERE
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I like showers. They’re relaxing and cleansing. A firehose is not.
The cell door opens, and I’m hit with a blasting stream of cold water that pins me to the back wall of the cell. There is no thinking while you’re drowning standing up. All I can do is try to protect my face as the aquatic barrage knocks me about. I can only imagine this is what clothes feel like in the washing machine.
I’m set upon by several men in black, could be two, could be twenty. I’m hit and twisted; I don’t resist but it’s kinda hard just to go along with it. There are several piercing pains in my neck and elbows, and I’m thrown back onto the floor like a wet towel.
“Can I go home?”
“Sorry, Raven, but you are here for the foreseeable future.” It’s Dr. Bishop. I can’t really see her as my eyes go fuzzy, but I recognise her voice.
“I didn’t do anything.”
“You were floating in your cell, Raven. That’s not nothing. We taken some blood and you will feel a little groggy as we’ve given you a jab of sedatives and muscle relaxants. You’ll feel a little disconnected, possibly disorientated.”
“…call…dab…” I slur. It’s supposed to be can you call my dad, but my face feels tingly and balloonish.
“We’ll run your blood, you just rest. There’ll be another evaluation tomorrow.” The words sound like they’re coming from afar, like I’m at the bottom of a well. The world starts to blorble and swirl as if made of taffy, I feel nauseous. My eyes are heavier than everything and it slowly goes black….then its light!
Bright burning light scorches my eyes. I try to scream but a large thing is holding my mouth open. I try to move but I’m restrained. I cry because its all I can do.
I come to lying on the cold concrete floor of my cell. I am sore all over. My right wrist has a fresh bandage on it, my arms and neck ache. I wobble to my feet and feebly attack the door.
“Let me out! Please! I just want to go home! Please!” I slide down the metal door into a puddle at the base. I hug my knees. I just want to go home.
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“Good news is you’re not a Blight,” Dr Bishop says to me. I don’t even know what day it is any more. I have no concept of how long I’ve been in this concrete box. It’s firehose, bright lights, getting bashed, lying on the floor, new scar, repeat. “From preliminary genetic testing you are not one of those aberrations.”
“Thanks…can I go home now?”
She smiles, the way parents do when a child asks a dumb question. “No, you’re here until we’ve finished testing. How do you feel? Any further floating?”
“You’ve got cameras, you work it out! I’m not helping you.”
Dr Bishop sighs. “I do understand that this all seems a little…”
“Barbaric! Unconstitutional! Wrong!?”
“Unnecessary. But it’s for the greater good. Were you in Indigo City when the first wave hit? Actually, you may not recall as you would’ve been onl...”
My hands feel like they’re going to burst. My eyes begin to throb. I feel like I’m an accordion as waves of pain course through my body.
“…erstand, Raven?”
I look at her. “Something’s wrong.”
And I explode! It’s hot, white, furious and painful. I think I’m dead.
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