The slow beep of machines interrupted my sleep and woke me to a tearing headache. The kind that makes your head feel as if it's been torn in two. I saw nobody and felt horribly alone. Not that it mattered. I should be used to being alone by now. I couldn't expect anyone to waste their time on me when the city was under attack, could I?
It hurt so much that I just wanted to rip my head off and be done with it. The only problem being that I couldn't move. Literally couldn't move. My limbs felt as if they had been made of lead.
I wanted to go back to sleep, but I couldn't. It hurt too much. Hurt too much. Being unable to move, I could only cry, however crying made the headache intensify.
A nurse bustled in and found me. She couldn't get a response from me other than my silent crying and blinking pleadingly at her. Being unsure, she consulted a doctor who asked twenty questions before they found a way to talk to me. With pain killers, I managed to fall into an uneasy sleep.
"We found her. That informer was right."
There was an argument and fighting outside my room. It was so close and yet so far. A real scuffle with grunts and screams. Probably flying fists and hard kicks.
"You can't take her. She's a patient."
"We know she's a patient but she's needed. We need her special ability."
"She's injured and sick. What can she help with while she's unconscious?"
"We just need her body. She doesn't need to be awake for that. As long as she stays alive, we can use her."
There were further words that I missed.
"What? No! No way!"
"Get out of the way or don't blame us for hurting you people."
"You can't take her. She's a patient! She's not well! You can't simply take people and abuse them! She's not conscious! There's no consent. It's illegal. A mandatory reporting!"
"Look. We don't want to hurt you people either. There are reports that sleeping with her can awaken abilities or enhance them. Her hidden files were found by one of our leaders while he was searching for a way to improve all our abilities. In times of war, we can't be so squeamish. She should be happy to be useful despite the condition she's in. If our men are a little stronger, it'll give them an edge against our enemy. During times of war, legality goes out the window. We need her. We're losing ground out there, dammit! Do you want the enemy to overtake the city? Is that what you want? Huh?"
"Of course not, but it's all rumour that she'd be able to help. Don't you know someone has had it in for her for a long time now? They're purposely trying to make her life miserable. Your leader's probably been tricked. She's sick, injured and already been abused so many times before. You can see it in her records. You can't do this to her. She's barely holding on as it is."
"It's because of people like you that we're losing on our own homeground. We have to toughen up and be as ruthless as they are. Get out of the way. I'm out of time and patience."
"You can't do this! I'm going to report you!"
More cries of pain and sounds of people being pushed aside or struck. Then my bed was moving and the dissenting voices faded. I was moved from the bed to a trolley bed that fit in an ambulance. I closed my eyes.
I felt people climb onto the bed and use me. At first I had tried to fight them, but with each new person, I gradually stopped. I had run out of energy to resist. All my energy was channeled toward keeping me alive, so that they wouldn't kill me. They seemed disgusted with my limp body at first but then soon agreed that it was better than expected.
I didn't understand it all. I was drifting. Distant to what was happening to my own body. Numb. Separated from it all. As long as they gave me painkillers to numb the pain, I didn't care what they might do to me. I even gave up on trying to survive.
What was the worst that could happen? Die? Ha. I was used to it now. I could laugh in the face of death. In fact, I wanted death to take me, but it was stubborn. Stubbornly eluding me.
Light. Dark. Light again.
Days passed. Intravenous drips provided me nutrients and fluids. I was still there. Not bothering to count the number of men lining up at the door to take turns.
When would death take me?
The door burst open and men were swept aside to be beaten black and blue by furious batons. Naked men fought and then wailed when they were struck where it hurt. Served them right. Uptight bigots who thought they were better than anyone else. Narcissists with inflated egos and eighth grader syndrome who thought they were the only ones who could save the world. Naive little greenhorn chickens who had never seen the outside world.
Roars of anger whooshed into the room like plumes of fire. The men who had been using me were all beaten up. I was picked up and carried away to be cleaned up and hidden once more. People lamented over me. I felt drops of water, hands stroking my head and hair and cheek. I blinked blankly at nothing.
"Bastards!" said the voice belonging to angry summer plums. "When the war is over, I'm going to teach them a lesson. If they survive the war, I'm impounding all their asses in prison. Have the records they made been destroyed?"
"Yes, ma'am," said her assistant.
"I'm so mad," summer plums - no, Director Susan Worth said, combing her hair back with her fingers. "I'm so frustrated. Did we verify what was found in that gambling den?"
"Yes, ma'am." What was the assistant's name again? En? Ena… Ena Leavenworth. That was right. "The tribe has been put into lockup and are being interrogated. Shigure has also been investigating. It seems they had been exchanging information with someone high up in our organisation. Both sides have been exchanging favours, using Kim's situation as both a past time and a bargaining chip."
Ena swallowed and took a few deep breaths.
"The tribe seem to really hate her and blame her for everything that has gone wrong. The mole in our organisation has surreptitiously done his best to encourage the bullying and make things difficult for her."
Director Worth clenched her fists and rested her forehead against mine for a few seconds muttering prayers to help her get her emotions back under control.
"So God help me," Director Worth wipe a tear that had dripped from her nose onto my face. I blinked.
"Shigure said something about removing the tribe's blessing and requesting judgement from on high," Ena continued. "He was furious after he heard what happened to Kim. He has found multiple counts of criminal activities within the tribes, notwithstanding the fact that they have colluded with the enemy in an attempt to sell Kim and her family as commodities to be experimented upon, as well as various other people they considered enemies of their tribe to the enemy overseas. The people who went with him said that he almost killed some of the elders on the spot when he discovered what atrocities being performed in some of the back caves. Shigure said that this tribe will end with this generation and won't be making a comeback. They'd been eating babies!"
"It's his right as a tribal Judge to make the sentence," Director Worth said in a tight voice. "He'll have made sure to have collected sufficient evidence before pronouncing the sentence. I'm just glad we got Kim back. I'm not sure what happened to the safe place she was meant to be in before. Something must have happened. Do we have a new safe place to hide her?"
"Working on it."
"Keep working on it then." There was a short silence, then, "Is it true that the team who just used her had their abilities enhanced?"
"Yes, ma'am," said Assistant Ena in a low voice. "It'll be hard to keep this under wraps. Two of them awoke new abilities. The others said their abilities improved at least three to ten percent."
Director Worth groaned.
"Try and prioritise finding her a safe place as soon as possible. If the enemy find out about her, she'll be targeted. Hell, anyone crazy and greedy enough is going to target her from now on. It's going to be tough keeping her safe and hidden. Damn that Wing Blues and whoever else is behind him."
I squeezed the hand holding mine gently in thanks, feeling my lips curl up. My eyes flickered and managed to focus for a moment.
"Kim? Kim, are you awake?"
Director Worth clutched my hand and stroked my cheek.
It seemed there were still some good people in the world.
Did that person who had been injured in the car survive? I wanted to know. I hoped that I had rescued them in time. Who'd have thought that I could awaken a strength type ability just by digging deep. Perhaps this type of stimulation was what I had needed in the beginning. Maybe then I wouldn't have been scraping barrels with Sarden for so many years.
It had been one thing after another lately. Would the onslaught ever end?
I couldn't stay with her. I drifted off again.