Sabrina came out of the darkness and tried to focus. There were six, which resolved into three, shiny, beetle black heads hovering in the air, peering at her with slanted eyes. Their images pulsed.
She remembered vaguely pushing the safety off the gun when a group had burst into the bathroom. The crash as the door broke made her pull the trigger. Something sharp had been stuck into her hip. After that there was no memory.
Disembodied heads now bobbed and nodded in fast motion, buzzing words she couldn't understand. They were studying her like she was some select, exotic insect. Alien beings examining someone from outer space. She prayed it was a dream.
"Did you give her too much? Her pulse rate is up to 180!"
She could feel herself sliding helplessly toward unconsciousness. There was a major wrongness.
"Sabrina!"
"Don't let her sleep! We could lose her, you fucking idiot!"
Someone was shaking her, slapping her face. She frowned in mute protest. Then her head was violently forced to the side.
Sabrina struggled in her mind, but her body would not move.
She was totally paralyzed.
An incomprehensible jumble seemed to be blown in slow motion by mouths that puffed in and out, close to her and then receding away. She tried to scream and a small whimpering sound emerged.
"Pulse is steadying. Hold her head, goddammit. She could have a seizure—start convulsing. We'll have to wait and see if she stabilizes."
People were handling her! She was utterly terrified with her helplessness.
Then, in an instant, she knew she was going to throw up. Her stomach was heaving. She tasted the acrid liquid that comes unbidden from under the tongue to start the vomiting process. She had learned as a child that if you spit out that nasty liquid you can keep from puking out your guts, which she knew would happen if she swallowed.
Sabrina spit.
"Hashimoto will kill us if anything happens to her."
"Well, let’s go ahead with the procedure. She's in no condition to know."
Sabrina felt more pressure pushing her head to the side and thought, here it comes, my neck will snap. The tendons stretched so painfully she cried. Then there was a cool sensation and the pain dulled away.
Suddenly they were yanking on her ear. They were twisting off her ear. She smelled burning and blood.
"Got to get her moving. Come on. Help me."
Sabrina was pushed off of the place where she had been reclining. Her body collapsed. Someone caught her and started hauling her back and forth, from one side of the room to the other. It was dark and her feet dragged over carpeting. Someone was telling her to walk, but her legs did not accept commands any longer. At one point she did start to vomit and was held, bent over from the waist, so she wouldn't compromise her air passage. Then the endless dragging started again.
"Sabrina. You will remember this. It's very important. You had lunch with Mr. Hashimoto and he told you how nice it would be to live in Japan. All is wonderful in Japan and you will live there very happily with your sister, Eve. I want you to repeat what I just said."
The voice went on and on, endlessly, insistently, until Sabrina sluggishly repeated the words. She vowed she would never believe. She clenched her hands, the only part of her body she could move voluntarily, until her fingernails broke the skin of her palms.