I allow my eyes to flutter back closed, the room too bright after the shadows of the Unknown.
What did she mean by ‘the real Unknown’? I take a shuddering breath, sending pain throughout my chest. If I can breath, I’m still alive, right?
My head feels like it’s had a hundred shards of glass stuck into it and then filled with cotton. Each thought seems to take ten times longer to reach me. I feel as though I’m floating through the air.
I force my eyelids open, squinting in the brightness. The face looms back into my vision.
A boy with dark hair and pale, pale skin peers worriedly at me.
He says, “How are you feeling?”
I want to laugh at his statement. I feel like I’ve been thrown into a wall. My mouth won’t open, my throat screaming at me in protests. I simply blink at him.
The boy doesn’t seem worried by my silence. He moves away from my bed. I slowly, torturously turn my head to the side, following him with my eyes. He walks to the side of the room. Cords and wires are plugged into the wall. Dials, buttons, and flashing holograms are scattered over a part of the wall. He fiddles with various attachments.
Where do all the cords and wire go? What do all the buttons and dials control?
My eyes trace the spiraled tubes across the floor, towards me. They snake up the bed…into my arm.
A hoarse, scratchy scream escapes me. What are the tubes for? What are they doing to me? What’s being pumped into my body?
It takes all my strength to lift my hand up. I sluggishly begin tugging at the tubes, trying to get out of my body.
The boy reappears in my vision. He yells, “No. No. Stop. They’re helping you.”
Does the boy really expect me to believe his lies? I have no idea where I am or how I got here. Why should I trust him? The boy sprints back to the other side of the room, pressing more dials and buttons.
I weave my fingers between the numerous cords, trying to pull them out, but I’m still too weak. A numbing cold begins to spread over me.
Is the numbness from the tubes?
My eyelids fall shut. I try to pry them back open, but they are glued stuck. I slip back into the darkness of unconsciousness.
˚˚°˚˚
I’m halfway between awareness and unconsciousness. Soft voices float into my thoughts, but I can’t make out certain words. I need to wake up. I need to free myself.
I force my eyelids open, the light shining in my eyes. I blink several times. The aching pain has disappeared, replaced with a strong floating sensation.
The voices become clearer. I pick up their words, “…hope she doesn’t turn out like Jenna.”
“Wouldn’t that be horrible?”
Who’s Jenna? What happened to her? Are they talking about me when they say they hope I don’t turn out like her? Am I turning out like her?
My thoughts land back to the tubes running into my arm. I try to lift my hand to release myself, but I’m stopped by something holding my arm down. I crane my neck to see what’s stopping me. There’s a tight black cord typing my arms and legs tightly to the cot I’m lying on.
My head is the only thing that I can move freely. Panic crawls into my throat. I don’t know what these people want.
Are these the same people the Lucy and Leah were taking me to? I can remember nothing after the people carrying me had dropped me.
YOU ARE READING
274 (Complex Series, #4)
Science Fiction-fourth book in the Complex series- Claire, known to most people only by her Complex number as 274, has always obeyed the Official's rules. You have to, unless you want to be sent away to the Unknown. Until, she meets Marie and everything changes. ...
