Part 3 Ch.19

A scream rips through my mouth when the medics lift me up and put me on the gurney. The pain intensifies for an agonizing second and then nothing. Through heavy eyes images blur by like snapshots. The lights above me as we go through the hall. The red and blue lights of the ambulance reflecting on the police building. Then nothing for a while. It's getting harder to force myself to open my eyes but for some reason I don't want to sleep. There's a pressure on my stomach. The serious face of the medic and- Nothing. 0~0~0 I wake up two times after the surgery. Both last no longer than a few seconds- long enough for me to realize where I am and then I go back to sleep. The third time, I register a steady beeping besides me. My limbs feel heavy and I try to move my hand but it just twitches. I open my eyes and see the first natural light in days. The sun is high, it stabs at my eyes. I close them again and swallow a groan when I take in the pain. It comes in waves, pulsing with my heart. I take deep breaths, counting them as I do, swallowing down the nausea. When I get to twenty, I look around slowly. There's a woman in a police uniform looking at me. She talks quietly and quickly to her communicator. Her wary eyes take me in and I ignore her. My hands are at an awkward angle due to the cuffs securing them to the hospital bed. There are bandages on my wrists, where the skin was scrapped raw y the handcuffs. Footsteps are approaching and I blink to keep myself awake. I feel the effects of whatever painkiller they gave me dull my mind. There's something I must do...what is it? It takes too long for me to remember and I build up my Mind Wall as Sheriff Newman walks in, escorted by two police officers. One of them is Carson. He meets my eyes and quickly looks away. His face reddens. "I'm glad you pulled through, Ms. Santos." Sheriff Newman says. "There's so much we still need to talk about. Leave us. I need to speak with her alone." She addresses her officers without taking my eyes off of me. They follow her orders and we're left alone. She studies me with sharp eyes and suddenly her consciousness crashes into my Mind Wall. It doesn't break through. Her mouth tightens in disappointment. "Just checking." The consciousness retreats. And I wonder if she's here to finish me off. "I need to know who the name of the officers who attacked you." Sheriff Newman says firmly. "If you don't know their names, give me their description. I can't have any of my officers defying orders." She waits and my gaze slips to the window next to me. "You've been unconscious for three days. Do you know what that means? The date for your death is set two days from now." I scoff. When I speak, my voice comes out so weak that she leans in a little to hear. "You should've let me die." At least then it would have been on my own terms. She steps back and crosses her arms. "You are an interesting person, Elenora. If you just gave us some information, you could have been saved. You still can." I ignore her and look back at the window. A life in a cell is not worth living. "Very well. Until you tell us the names of the officers who attacked you, you are going to have to deal with the fact that the officer stationed to guard you might also be the ones who tried to kill you." She waits for my response. When I don't say anything, she leaves. I close my eyes and slip into a dreamless sleep. Next time I wake up, it's completely dark outside. I breath carefully, trying to not shift the wound on my side. For the first time, I focus on it. I feel it on my left side, slightly below my rib-cage; whoever treated it, it wasn't a healer. They wouldn't have wasted their energy on someone like me. It must've been good old-fashioned surgery then. I glance the the hall outside, there's a figure of short man standing guard at the door. He shifts from foot to foot as he tries to get comfortable. Thanks to the morphine, I barely feel any pain. It slows my thinking but for now, it's a good trade-off. There's still the throbbing in my side and the cold that hasn't gone away since they injected the AIM metal under my skin, but they're manageable. A movement catches my attention and I look back at the police officer. Something's different. I frown. It takes me a while to realize it's shadow isn't the same one as before. It's taller now. Sheriff's words ring in my ear. Is it the Marksman? I squint my eyes but can't make out the details. When the shadow doesn't move again, my eyelids begin to shut on their own. "Elenora." Someone squeezes my shoulder. My eyes fly open and I see someone put their finger to their mouth. My eyes focus and I see it's Carson. Something glints in his hands, a knife. He's come here to finish me off. My heartbeat spike- I know because the machine besides me informs us. "Calm down. Listen to me." His eyes are dark and serious. He holds up a picture, it's of a room. I automatically begin to memorize it. "As soon as I let you go, you need to go here." I frown. Everything seems like it's happening in slow motion. "Wha-" He grips my hand. "There's no time. I'll be there as soon as I can." The metal handcuffs go flying open. And he starts approaching me with the knife. "No." I manage. "Get away from me." "Elenora-" He quickly looks behind him. "Get to that room, you hear me? We'll figure out what to do from there." He gently takes my head and lifts it. The movement shifts my wound and I bite my lip. Pain clears the clouds for a second but what I take in leaves me more confused than before. Why is he doing this? He makes a cut on the back of my neck and after a brief second, releases me. There's a bloody metal in the tip of his finger. I feel my power return but it's not the same. It feels weak-- barely even functional. "Why haven't you left-" His eyes widen. "You have to stand up to do it? Damn. Hold on." He puts an arm under my back and another under my legs and gently lifts me up. The movement brings tears to my eyes and I grit my teeth, as he stands me up. I waver for a second and he steadies me. I try to focus on whatever room Carson showed me and for a terrible second, nothing happens. Then a portal sputters into existence before me. "Go. I'll be there soon." I hear. I pull the portal towards me and I'm through. The effort of standing on my own is too much and I stumble, catching myself on a nightstand. I slowly sink to the carpet, trying to not break the stitches on my side. Is this real? He couldn't have actually have done that... Could he?