The electricity caused me to flop like a fish out of water. It seemed to go on for ages. My heart skipped a beat, then another, then another. It felt like it was on the verge of giving out all together when it finally stopped. I lay there, unable to move as something large and heavy fell on me. The electricity resumed, but the current was much lower. My heart skipped another beat and my head was pounding.
It wasn’t the weight that kept me from moving. My muscles felt weak and worthless. They twitched and jerked, unwilling to respond to the commands my brain was giving them. Seconds ticked by, each one slow and painful. I counted them, trying to get my heart rhythm back to normal and my diaphragm to fully inflate with air. I refused to die by my own Taser with some asshole on top of me.
One hundred and sixteen seconds later, I managed to roll over. The guy on top of me rolled off and onto the floor. His hand made a hollow thudding noise. I stared at the roof of the building where we had been sipping our drinks quietly and watching the fairgoers pass. It was made of dark timbers that had grown darker with age and weather.
“Ace?” Gabriel came into view.
“Ugh,” I told him.
“Perhaps you should turn your Taser down,” he suggested.
“No,” I croaked out. I forced myself to sit up. The world spun. I closed my eyes, but it didn’t help.
“You’re bleeding. You probably have a concussion.” Xavier’s voice cut through my brain, sending painful stabbing barbs deep into the soft tissue that was obviously damaged. “Nasty scalp laceration. You need a hospital.”
“I need a minute,” I corrected.
“You’re bleeding, a lot,” Xavier said again.
“I have some to spare. It will clot in a minute or so.” I kept my eyes closed.
“No way should you be sitting up or talking after taking a jolt like that,” someone I didn’t recognize said. “Do you know this Taser is on full power?”
“She always keeps it on full power. Never know when you’ll need to fry a prairie dog or stop a pissed off psychopath,” Lucas’s voice answered for me. The world didn’t seem right. It wasn’t just my head. My heart was still doing an irregular dance in my chest.
“Pull out the Taser wires,” I said. Someone, probably Xavier, yanked them out. “They continue to give a little juice even after the trigger stops being pulled.”
“They aren’t supposed to,” Gabriel said.
“They were,” I took a deep breath and held it.
“If you are going to pass out, let us know, so we can catch you. You shouldn’t hit your head again,” Xavier said.
“I am not going to pass out,” I let the air out of my lungs. “My heart might explode and my brain might implode, but I will not pass out.”
“Feel better?” Gabriel’s voice was smiling. I smiled despite the condition I was in.
“I think so, only, did I get my ass kicked?” I asked, the smile spreading wider.
“No,” Gabriel said. “You took down two, I took down two. The rest just stood around unwilling to join in the melee.”
“Oh good, I would hate to think some asshole in overalls kicked my ass. The Tasering thing felt like I got my ass kicked though,” I opened my eyes again. The world was out of focus and still felt like it was spinning. I closed them again, obviously not ready for whatever came next.
“You sustained two and a half minutes of Tasering. It probably does feel like you got your ass kicked. And it was with your Taser.” Xavier said. “Any heart or lung problems?”
“Yes,” I told him. “My heart is a little fluttery and my diaphragm does not feel like it is fully inflating. Also, my head hurts and I have vertigo.”
“I can see your skull,” Xavier said.
“Is it fractured?” I asked.
“If it is, I can’t see that. There’s a lot of blood.” Xavier answered. “We really should get your scalp put back together and scan your skull.”
“Interesting,” I said.
“What’s interesting?” Gabriel asked.
“The lights on the back of my eyelids,” I answered. “Xavier can patch the head wound.”
“Uh, no,” Gabriel’s hands were suddenly on my shoulders. “You are getting a trip to the hospital and Xavier’s going with you.”
“I hate hospitals. I refuse to stay overnight.” I told him.
“We’ll see,” Gabriel’s voice was soft, hushed. I really wanted to look at him, but I was sure if I opened my eyes, I’d toss my cookies.
“Give me your hand,” I said. I felt Gabriel’s fingers close around my hand.
“You shouldn’t stand,” Xavier warned.
“You are not picking me up,” I told him. Using Gabriel and Lucas, I leveraged myself to my feet with my eyes closed. Standing was much worse than sitting. I let them guide me to a gurney. I was strapped down and taken to the hospital.
By the time they got around to examining my skull, I was so full of drugs, I didn’t care what they did to me. They could pluck out my eyeballs and attach them to my feet for all I cared. They’d given me migraine medication, vertigo medication, nausea medication, pain killers, and something with sodium and potassium in it to boost my electrolytes after being Tasered. I was high as a kite and felt terrible.
“Well, the hairline fracture on the skull will heal,” the doctor told Xavier. “She should really rest and take it easy. We’ll keep her overnight...”
“No, no, you will not. I will share a room with the doctor, but I will not be staying here.” I interrupted.
“Ace, be reasonable,” Xavier said.
“I am being reasonable. If I am going to die, I am going to die. Whether I do that here or somewhere not here is my choice. And I chose not here.” I opened my eyes. My vision was still blurry with spots in it. “Besides, I am supposed to sleep after getting a major concussion. When was the last time you had a good night’s rest in a hospital? Never. That’s when. Furthermore, I will be shoved into a room with someone who cannot leave their bed and will be vomiting into a bed pan or worse. They will want to chat and they will make noises, lots of noises. The nurses will make noises coming and going from the room. The doctors will make noises. I will be so stressed out from the constant activity that I will never relax. They will have to give me tons of sedatives and I still will not be able to sleep. Also, there is a very good chance that the person they shove me into a room with will be a serial killer, because that is the sort of luck I have. I am going home.”
“We’ll give you a private room,” the doctor told me.
“Can I keep my gun?” I asked.
“Yes,” Xavier answered for him.
“And a Taser?” I continued.
“Yes,” the doctor sounded exasperated.
“And a few knives?” I looked at them.
“Fine,” Xavier said.
“No, you may have one knife and Lucas,” Gabriel came around the curtain. “He’ll need a bed.” He said to the doctor in the room.
“Fine, one knife, a gun, a Taser and Lucas, I can live with that.” I answered.
“No, Ace, you may have one knife. Lucas will be armed though,” Gabriel told me.
“I liked Xavier’s deal better.” I huffed.
“Don’t care,” Gabriel turned to talk to the doctor. “I’m guessing she can’t return to work tomorrow?”
“No, I’d say not for a week or so,” the doctor answered.
“You’ll stay here tonight, we’ll get you home tomorrow. Nyleena and Malachi can babysit you for a few days.” Gabriel said.
“I’d rather be babysat by starving tigers.” I sighed.
“It’s either that or you stay here for the entire week,” Gabriel informed me.
“Malachi and Nyleena will be just fine as babysitters,” I gave in.
“At least you’re out of the heat,” Xavier said.
There was the proof that I had gotten my ass kicked. Basically, I had created the circumstances for it, after all, it was I that kept my Taser kicked up to 150,000 volts. However, I knew that both Malachi and I could handle 50,000 volts and keep going. We had tested it. The intermittent current lasting five seconds wasn’t enough to drop either of us. Malachi took more than I did, but not by much. Call me paranoid all you liked, if it didn’t drop me, it wasn’t going to drop a psychopathic serial killer either.
I was out of the stake out of the fair, but I was also stuck at home for a week. This was entirely my fault, I should never have let the Taser get into the hands of some yokel, but it didn’t make me very happy. All the wounds I’d ever had weren’t enough to keep me from working, until now. I’d always been patched up and sent back into the field. Now, I had a skull fracture and they weren’t going to risk losing me because of it. Some part of me said I should have found that comforting. Instead, I found it annoying.
My hospital room had a door. Lucas stationed a chair so that he could see out the small window. I wondered if we were in the psych ward and decided I really didn’t want the answer in case it was a yes.
We were approximately seventy miles from home. I would not be flying. They’d have someone drive me home. Flying and I don’t always agree, especially when I was seriously injured. Something about my ears never wanting to pressurize. Xavier would make me do all the silly things people did to get their ears to pop, but it never worked. My highest hope was that when we landed, the sensation that I was listening to the world through cotton would go away in a few hours.
“Well?” Lucas asked me.
“Well what?” I replied.
“Are you disappointed or glad to be going home?”
“I have a week of Malachi in my future. I think I would prefer to be set on fire. Maybe mom would want to come stay with me. That would be fine.”
“Call her before you leave,” Lucas closed his eyes and reclined. I stared at the tiled ceiling wondering if my head hurt more than normal because of the skull fracture or if it was the medications.