Dominion of the Damned (Preview)

Chapter Three

Waking up wasn't easy. It felt like trying to float to the surface of a deep pool with a weighted jacket dragging her back down. Hannah first became aware that her mouth felt dry, and that her head hurt. She wanted to roll over and sink back down into blessed unconsciousness, but something held her in place. Gradually, thoughts began to form in her mind, and then memories. Of Noah.

They took Noah.

Hannah opened her eyes. She tried to sit up and realized she was tied down. Frantically, she looked around. She was strapped to a cot in a room full of cots, surrounded by gray walls. Fluorescent lights flickered overhead, casting a greenish pall over the room. An IV was attached to her right arm. She struggled against her restraints, but both of her arms were tied down.

"Take it easy," said a male voice, rich and resonant. A man in a white lab coat appeared at her bedside. He looked young, probably no more than thirty, with short, black hair and a darkly handsome face. He spoke with a slight accent that Hannah couldn't quite place. Russian, maybe, or Eastern European.

"Where's my baby?"

"He's safe. You both are. He was taken to our nursery for care."

"Where is this?" she asked. Her mouth and throat were so dry that she had trouble getting the words out, and she ended up coughing. The man left her bedside, returning a moment later with a plastic cup. He sat next to her and lifted her head to help her drink. The water tasted stale and unfiltered, but it was so soothing on her throat that she didn't care.

As she drank, he spoke. "You're in the infirmary of your state's prison. We've converted it into a survivor camp. You were brought here last night, and I've been giving you fluids and vitamins. The tranquilizer they shot you with tends to leave people dehydrated, and according to your blood workup, whatever food you've been surviving on all this time was lacking in nutritional value."

When she finished drinking, he pulled the cup away and wiped away the water that had dripped down her chin. She licked her lips. "My baby. Can I see him?"

He looked away and took a deep breath. "I'll see what I can do. Do you have a name?"

"Hannah," she said. "Hannah Jordan."

He retrieved a clipboard from a tray near the bed and wrote on it. "And your baby?"

"Noah. He's my brother. I'm all he has." She swallowed and tried to keep her voice steady. "He's all I have."

He returned the clipboard to its place on the tray. "My name is Doctor Konstantin. I'm going to undo your restraints, but I need you to hold still until I unhook you from all of this. Okay?"

She nodded. As he unfastened the straps, she scanned the room for something to use as a weapon, but she saw nothing. Even if she did, she had nowhere to go. She didn't even know where they were keeping Noah, or how to find her way out of this place. She needed to be smart, not reactionary. She needed to cooperate until she got her chance.

The doctor finished unhooking her from the IV and the monitor, and helped her sit up. "How do you feel?"

"A little groggy."

He nodded. "That's normal." He got up and went to a cabinet. After rummaging through it, he returned with a little paper cup. He held it out to her. It contained two little orange pills. She looked at them skeptically. "Ibuprofen," he explained. "For your headache."

When she refused them, he shrugged. "Suit yourself. But I can't think of a good reason to revive you and unstrap you if I was just going to drug you again." He popped the pills in his own mouth and went to get some water to wash them down, leaving the tray on her bed. While his back was turned, she grabbed the tray and slid it under her shirt. It wasn't very sturdy, but it would still hurt like hell if she used it to whack somebody upside the head.