Something’s wrong. I feel it as soon I open my eyes. I can’t see anything; there’s only darkness. I feel cold and I’m shivering as a draft caresses my body with a chilling breeze. My limbs ache and I’m lying on something cold and hard and the smell — it’s overpowering and I can’t breathe.
Am I dreaming? I must be because this isn’t where I fell asleep, where am I?
Something touches my leg and I open my mouth to scream, but no sound comes out. I’m screaming and screaming, but I must be deaf. I can’t hear anything; all I can do is feel. My senses are shutting down one by one, and yet I hear the soft breathing of somebody nearby — someone’s here.
A prickle of fear quickly gains momentum until I feel so afraid, I almost pass out. I feel sick and retch, but nothing happens. I try to move but can’t. Am I paralysed or worse — dead?
The stench is overpowering me, it smells familiar but I can’t place it.
The pressure on my leg increases and I hear a soft, “She’s coming round.”
I try to put a face to the voice, but it all seems so distant. Then I hear a man’s voice, louder, more urgent. “We don’t have long.”
What’s happening, where am I?
Then I feel a liquid running down my leg that burns and I scream and this time my voice works, although it’s weaker than normal. A sharp voice hisses, “Shut up, we are just cleaning you up to prepare you for transit.”
Transit, what the hell is happening, who are these people?
I want to be sick; the smell is too intense and I retch. Then I feel a calm hand on my forehead and the man says, “She’s burning up, how much did you give her?”
“The usual dose; she’ll be fine.”
I feel her hands all over me now.
Scrubbing, kneading, burning and torturing.
They move to my stomach and I wince as the pain grips me and she says angrily, “She’s damaged; they may reject her.”
“No, they won’t care. She’ll look a lot worse by the time they’ve finished with her.”
I can’t move and I can’t talk. What the hell is happening?
I start to shiver, I am so cold, so sick and in so much pain it consumes my entire body. It’s too intense and I can’t breathe. What is that smell?
“It’s done, you can bring the truck around.” A woman says sharply.
I hear movement, loud noises and the scraping of a heavy object across a concrete floor. The cold is intense and the pain hurts from the inside out.
Then I hear a whisper, a soft sound in my ear as she says, “It’s time to go.”
Go where? What is she talking about?
Somebody is lifting me, but still I can’t move. Another grabs my head and pulls it back by my hair. I cry out in pain and then the light hits me, blinding me as something is torn from my eyes.
I can see again.
As my eyes focus and their faces swim into view, I stare at them in shock.
“You!”