Chapter 5, part 2
-----------------------------------
Isaac suddenly jolted awake, gasping for air and trying to see through the darkness surrounding him. As his pupils began to dilate and focus in on his environment, he slowly came to the awareness that he was not on Aegis7 anymore. He was trapped in the confines of small, vapid room, with only the pale moonlight pouring in through a tiny, nondescript barred window off to his right to serve as a light source. Most of the room was invisible due to the impenetrable darkness, but the small portion he could see appeared drab and devoid of any character. A few sparse furnishings accompanied by several humming machines dotted the area around him.
Still disoriented, Isaac tried hard to recognize where he was, but was unable to do so. With his hands he felt the soft, padded mattress of a bed beneath him, and concluded he must have still been in the hospital. He imagined it was some specialized ward due to the small size of the room and isolation from any other patients. Taking a deep breath, he tried to lay back, but the uncomfortable sensation of sweat soaked sheets he felt on his backside drove him back up. Gradually as the haze broke and his external senses began to return to him, he became increasingly aware of a pain that was first felt in his wrists, then detected inch by inch up the length of his arms, into his chest, and down his entire body into his legs, as if ice were being pumped into his veins. As the pain became more obtrusive, his concern for his whereabouts drifted to what was happening to him. He was impelled to look down at the source of the pain - his wrists - and was barely able to see the slender shafts of what appeared to be intravenous needles embedded into them, attached to long, translucent tubes. Isaac followed them with his eyes until he found their sources, protruding from several machines surrounding his bed on all sides.
Isaac frowned in confusion. What the hell was going on? Were these needles taking things out, or putting things in? Were his dreams a result of this madness? Revolted at the possibilities, Isaac began to attempt removing them, but as he started to pull the first one out, it throbbed with an intense pain that prevented him from removing it any further. Frustrated, he let it go and yanked the sheets off of him, now noticing that his entire body was riddled with various needles and extensions, each and every one leading from his skin to one of the random, unrecognizable machines around him. The pain by this point had risen to his head, and a quick examination of his temples revealed it was also pierced several times with similar devices. Overwhelmed by the situation and unable to move, Isaac just huffed and collapsed back into the bed.
Just then a burst of fluorescent light became visible towards his left as a pair of double swing doors he had not noticed before flung open, giving him a brief glimpse of a lit hallway beyond that seemed as drab and nondescript as the room he was in. A dark figure strode in whose features were quickly lost as the doors closed behind and once again left the room covered in darkness and pale moonlight. He could hear the soft scuffle of leather soled shoes on the floor getting louder as they approached his bed. A small, overhead medical lamp flickered on nearby, the light instantly disclosing the figure to be a small young female nurse, neatly dressed and displaying a friendly demeanor.
"Are you alright, Mr. Clarke? I heard you shouting from the other room."
Isaac didn't recognize her; she seemed friendly enough, but the blank insincerity of her smile felt unsettling to him. He looked away towards the window, trying to wipe his forehead with his tethered hands.
"I'm... okay. I just, I had a bad dream, I think."
The nurse tilted her head with apparent concern, but she jumped right into a response that seemed oddly scripted.
"Oh, you poor thing. Would you like to talk about it? Do you remember what is was about? It really would help you feel better if you discussed it."
Isaac hesitated. He wasn't sure if he had truly forgotten what it was, or if he just didn't wish to describe it for her.
"No... I can't remember anything."
"Well, is there anything I can do for you?"
Isaac looked back at her, then held up his wrists with a somewhat confrontational look in his eyes. As he looked at her, the faded, hazy memory of Nicole's warning flooded back into his mind with ferocity.
"Well, can you tell me what these are all about? What's going on?"
The nurse fell silent, blinked a few times, then forced another smile.
"It's okay, Mr. Clarke. You're safe, right here in the CEC Medical Care ward. You're just being given some time to recoup from your experience."
She tried to avoid the explanation of what the needles were for; but prompted several times by Isaac, she eventually responded hesitantly, nonchalantly reaching over towards one of the machines to make some adjustments to the dials.
"Well... Mr. Clarke, you were quite shaken from your ordeal. You were severely dehydrated and malnourished when you were found, so we're... just making sure that you get all the nutrition you need while recuperating."
Isaac became confused, agitated by her evasive response.
"Recuperating? From what? Haven't I been here for a couple of weeks already? How could I still be suffering from dehydration? What are you doing to me?"
The nurse stuttered, as if not quite sure what to say. Suddenly her communications RIG bleeped as an incoming message was received. As she turned away from Isaac to glance down at her wrist, a secretive look of relief briefly touched her features and she tried to feign surprise.
"Oh! I'm sorry Isaac, I've got to go. Look, just relax, get some sleep. I'll have the Doctor talk to you in the morning, he'll answer all of your questions. Until then, just try to get some rest."
Before he could respond, she immediately flipped off the lamp and trotted out of the room quickly, not once looking back in his direction, and made her way out the double doors. They fluttered back and forth on their pivots for a few seconds then eventually came to stillness, once again leaving Isaac lost in the near dark. Frustrated but suddenly becoming too exhausted to think, he just fell back onto the pillow, listening to the quiet humming of the working machines all around him, taunting him with their mechanical whispers.
But in the back of his mind, all he could hear was the distant sound of endless chanting.
|