Page 137 of Eight of Swords, Part Two

‘He can’t work out,’ Troy dismisses impatiently.

‘Blood infection, then.’

‘What can we do?’

‘Draw a bath, fill it with as much ice as you can get. We need to get the fever down or it’ll boil his brain. If we can get him to stay still, I can put him on a drip for fluids and antibiotics.’

Troy barks orders at his men.

He never lets go of Riley’s hand, holds it tight while Riley hears the crash of ice cubes thrown into the tub.

‘What caused it?’

‘I can’t tell.’

‘Could it be from the feeding tube?’

‘How long have you been using it?’

‘Two years.’

‘I told you one month max, remedial.’

‘Did it cause this, yes or no?’

‘I don’t know what this is,’ the doctor says roughly, ‘but after two years of force-feeding, I’m surprised he’s still alive. Help me lift him.’

Riley’s mind swims in and out of his body like a pretty fish in a pond. He’d love to actually see them one day. Only knows what they look like from books. Riley wants to dip his fingers into a cool, calm pond and touch the water lilies and watch the fish and not be dying.

The shock of the cold water makes him scream again, but this time he has air enough to give everything inside him a voice. The sound that tears out is colossal, too vast for a human throat, loud enough to hurt his own ears and leave the night ringing with it.

‘Fucking hell!’ the doctor yells with serious alarm. He staggers back, hands over his ears, while Troy endures it, wincing. He keeps Riley partially submerged but can’t stop him thrashing.

The water goes everywhere.

The pain doesn’t ease at all.

If anything, it’s getting worse.

‘Calm down, Riley. You gotta calm down,’ Troy tells him loudly, but Riley can’t, he just can’t. Jagged shards of electric agony pool low in his stomach, concentrated there, gathering like a storm of razors. It’s so bad Riley half expects to see his own abdomen split open, but it’s just a blotchy mess of pale pink and ugly red. ‘Breathe slow, it’s gonna be OK.’ When Riley can’t do that, Troy looks at the doctor. ‘Can you sedate him?’

‘He might burn through it. His metabolic rate has to be off the—’

‘Give him something stronger, then!’

‘No,’ the doctor snaps back. ‘You can’t medicate whatever this is. He’s melting the ice, Troy! The water is getting warmer for having him in it! This isn’t natural. This… this isn’t human.’

‘Fuck you, then. I’ll help him myself.’

‘Whatever’s happening to him, you can’t—’

‘GET OUT!’ Troy roars. ‘Fuckin’ useless. I’ve got you, boy. I’m here.’

Riley sobs. It’s only getting worse. How can it get worse?

It always does.

He should know by now.