Shadow Of The Past Trilogy ∞ THE DISPLACED

47 ∞ where is it

Note: This chapter contains a scene that might be a little disturbing. [PG-13]

Day Twelve ∞ Tuesday

THE DOZEN MEN EXITED THE ROOM just as quickly a few minutes later, and immediately the four men from earlier returned and got to work. A basin of water brought in. Equipment brought in. Selina recognized one piece as some sort of a generator on wheels. Her stiff legs were released from the highest rung of the chair and tugged painfully down into the cold water, then strapped again. Her arms were released next. Large porous sponges were submerged in the water and placed on the armrests, her arms tied palm down on them.

Then the bucket came in again, and although she knew what was in store, her body was already chilled and tense with alertness. The shock of the ice water hitting her in the face, her body, was worse than the first time, and the men swiftly exited as she gasped, barely able to contain the shivers.

Next, Apocalypse entered, striding over to the table. "How are you feeling?" he said in a conversational tone, calmly going through the motions with his case, glasses, jacket, sleeves.

Selina did not answer. She was still trying to bring her body under control, and he noticed that although he acted like he did not.

He came to her and calmly rolled up her sleeve. "I have something special in store for you," he said and loaded a syringe from one bottle. "But first, I'm giving you a double dose of Amphetamine this time."

She closed her eyes as the drug entered her bloodstream. Isolating and ejecting it took more effort this time because she still had not fully stilled the internal tremors. It was also more difficult to move with her hand being tied closer to the wrist and with the sponge in the way. She was only able to get her little and ring fingers off the edge to leak onto the floor. And now her arm was burning.

"Thirsty?"

Hydration? That was the least of her worries.

"You seem amused. Why?"

"I am not thirsty," she replied, lifting her eyes momentarily.

"Careful what you say. You have a human body and human bodies need water."

Of course. But she was being well supplied.

He brought his chair in front of her and sat down, bending close as if for an intimate conversation. He looked into her eyes, from one eye to the other, left to right and back again.

She kept staring through him, maintaining focus on the wall beyond him, a foot from the floor. She had just quietened her core, but the fire in her vein was not helping.

He sat back in his chair and studied her. "We have some interesting recordings of you," he said eventually. "I could see you drying yourself. Like self-induced fever... lit up like a furnace. How do you do that?" He paused, recognizing her difficulty. "Aren't you going to do that now?"

She drew a breath but did not answer.

"Let's see. You can make yourself a drying element. You can eject chemicals out of your body. You can hear and see beyond this room. You can read minds. What else can you do?" He cocked his head. "I guess we'll just have to find out, now won't we?"

She relaxed her shoulders and focused on him. She had disrupted the signals of pain from her arm, virtually disconnecting the exposed nerves. The pain, though there, was now just an annoying tingle. She could monitor it without being distracted.