90 DEADLY DAYS (WEEKLY UPDATES RETURNING THIS DECEMBER)

Chapter 1

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Chapter 1

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When I open my eyes, pain torments my form. Sickly tenderness surrounds every curved bone in my ribs and when I roll, the skeletal structures seem to snap themselves under the pressure. I imagine a mighty cracking boom and tiny fragments of bone floating in the space between organs. In light of that awful possibility, I force myself to think of something good. That's the only way to get through things nowadays. Think good thoughts.

Relief floods. If I feel pain I'm still alive. That's the light in the dark. The relief quickly fades as the tender area tightens. I can only groan and take short pants to reduce the torture. It barely lessens the fear that with one wrong, ill-timed breath, I could snap a vital bodily structure, but I'll take what I can get.

Still panting, I carefully reach out into the darkness, expecting to feel the rubble, maybe even the bodies of Jewel and Adonis. I refuse to think Adonis may be sprawled in front of me, immobile as stone, the iron bars having taken his last breaths. To think when Jewel let go of my hand and smacked somewhere in sharp, glass-ridden rubble, that that was our last moment together. That would mean I lost everything I loved and lived for, in one night. I can't even come to terms with that. It's a nightmare too awful to dream.

Instead of either visions becoming reality, my fingers glide across a soft, flannel blanket. I jolt.

The bones at my side grate together, pinching a nerve, and I holler, immediately dropping back down. The sensation continues in rolling aftershocks. All I can do is scream until my voice cracks, frantically gripping fistfuls of my sheets.

Feet pound in my direction. Cold hands flip me onto my hollow belly. I scream as rib bones grind together and grab the hand that pokes my side. My angry, fearful fingers crush the foreigner's hand into a tight ball.

"Who are you? Where is my family?"

"Nurse, sedate her!"

"Someone help me! Where are they?!"

The nurse lifts the tip of my gown, exposing my back to the cool air. I think of home and the lake breeze in the summer. Of Kerry's smile. Of good things.

The nasty sting of a long needle brings lost heat back and my screams fade to pitiful whimpers. I'm subdued, trapped in a wounded body with no way to fight.

A kaleidoscope of color dances as I descend into drugged oblivion. I grip the hospital bed, knowing that oblivion might take me to the place where I'm a helpless, lost girl. The place where he would skulk. But I go anyway, just as weak and as defenseless as I was when it happened.

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The drugs dissipate enough that the low hum of a generator reaches my ears. This time when I open my eyes, salty sweat steams off my skin and I shake softly, like a lone, worried pup. But unlike last time, pain has lost its potency. I wriggle cautiously, finding that the violent ache  disappeared. I brush my side, feeling smooth, warm skin, even going so far as to gently press it. My breathing steadies and I move with ease.

How long have I been unconscious?

My eyes drink in white walls, the few figures moving from patient to patient, and neatly made beds lined on either side of the room. I shudder, thankful that my sight wasn't permanently ruined. The last thing I would have seen was the horror on Jewel's face and that awful light. What a way to go blind, beholding my hometown's first and last moment of horror.