“Well done, fellas,” Corvo noted. “See you stateside.”
White Ravens
Gage
It was dark. Not the simple night comfort that came when Gage closed his eyes, it was heavy and thick like tar.
Steel bars rattled, the thunder-clap of a cell door slamming shut vibrated in his chest.
He tried to lift his hands to rub at the irritation behind his eyelids and realized they were pinned down. Wrists clasped, knees braced, ankles shackled. He bucked, and somebody laughed near his ear, a cynical cackle with breath that smelled like rubbing alcohol.
“Hold him.”
Latex-gloved hands pressed into his shoulders. He tried to kick, but the straps bit into his thighs.
“Stop! Guards!” he yelled, wanting to yank off what was stuck to his face.
Gauze? Tape? Whatever it was, it clung to his face like wet leather. He shook his head, but there was no dislodging it.
“It’ll all be over soon,” a voice sang, cunning and sweet. “Easy now. Easy.”
“Let me go!” he shouted…or he thought he did.
His mouth moved, but no sound came out. Something was shoved against his tongue. A bite block.
Two fingers dug into the lines of his eye sockets, causing heat to flare behind the lids he couldn’t open. It stung, burned. Like acid, not fire. Like lemon juice poured inside them.
No, no, no, please. No more. He tried to wrench free, but his muscles betrayed him.
Another voice, deep and bored. “He’s spiking again. Push five milligrams.”
A cold river rushed into his veins, up his arm, and exploded in his chest. The world slowed, voices became muffled, and the echoes of the prison yard faded away.
Panic pounded like a hammer behind his ribs. He tried to yell for help, but it came out as a sorry whimper.
“Quiet,” the bored man ordered again.
“Shhh,” the sweet one crooned.
A knee bore down on his midsection, restraining him as if the cinched straps weren’t doing a good enough job.
He arched his back off the table like a taut bowstring.
“Stop,” someone snapped. “Quiet.”
He couldn’t draw enough breath to beg. He swallowed and choked, then tried again.
Something slapped his face.
“Wake up.”
A voice cut through the bindings and fire, a voice he couldn’t stand.
“Shut the fuck up, Gage.”
The straps released him, and he jolted back to reality. The mask fell from his eyes, but the burning behind them didn’t stop. It never stopped.
The impatient hands on his shoulders shook him harder.
