I realized that I was pinching myself. Over and over again, I’d been pinching myself, and I couldn’t even feel it.
Shock.
I was in shock…
The man turned to face me, cocking his head to the side in consideration.
“Milo…”
It came out in two syllables, slow and drawn out.
My-loh.
For some reason, that was when the world seemed to speed back up, and I finally started to scream.
Ilost time.
I was pretty sure I was still screaming, but suddenly there was a warm, solid body pressed up against my back and a hand clasped firmly over my mouth.
“Shhhh. Shhh. You’re okay. You’re alright.Please, calm down…”
I thrashed violently in the man’s hold, but he just tightened his grip on me further.
Tears burned and spilled down my cheeks as I screamed and screamed into the strange man’s hand, continuing to fight him as hard as I possibly could.
I elbowed him in the gut, and he grunted behind his mask before hissing another threat into my ear.
“I don’t want to hurt you, Milo, but I will if you make me. I’m sure you’ve learned by now that I do not make empty threats. You can either calm down, or I will force you to calm down.”
“Screw YOU!”I shouted into his hand, but all that came out was amuffled‘Svvuuu oooo!’
His mask let out a robotic sighing sound, and he slid his hand up my face, covering both my mouth and nose so I could no longer breathe.
He then wrapped his free hand around my throat as I thrashed and fought even harder in an attempt to dislodge his hand so I could breathe.
Ohmygodohmygodohmygod—He was going to kill me!
“Shhh, Milo, just… relax. I’m not going to hurt you,” he hummed in my ear, as if he could read my mind. Black dots started spreading across my vision as the stranger continued to cut off oxygen to my brain. “You’re just going to take a quick nap, alright? Then we can talk once you wake up.”
Tears were flowing freely down my cheeks, but all the strength was leaving my body the longer I was forced to go without taking a breath.
Soon, all the fight bled out of me, and my vision began to succumb to darkness.
As I faded in and out of consciousness in this strange man’s arms, I felt aprickin the side of my neck, and my body flooded with a warm, floaty feeling.
What was happening to me?
“Alright, NOVA, he’s out. I don’t have much time before he wakes up. I’m going to load you into the Synapse servers. Think you can get through TECHA’s new firewalls through here?”
A bright, feminine AI voice sounded from somewhere above me, and I struggled to open my eyes, but my body was so heavy that I couldn’t move.
“Of course I can. Is that a joke?” the AI scoffed.
The faintly robotic sound of my assailant’s chuckle rolled softly over me, and I shivered as the darkness pulled me deeper into my subconscious.
“Alright. Report back with anything you might need hardwired once he’s inside. I need to figure out how to get him home without anyone noticing he’s… a little out of it,” the man mused. He sounded slightly distraught, which my drugged mind found strange.
The AI responded, but I couldn’t make out what it was saying anymore. The drugs in my system were too strong, and my last coherent thought before I fully succumbed to the darkness was—If I died, who would take care of my mother?
