This song was cool and creepy and outer worldly. It worked fantastically for the first scene in the book where my main character Scarlett is having… let’s just say it’s quite a strange experience!

Chapter One

Awake…Maybe

Consciousness came in short excruciating bursts. White lights, penetrating noises, voices filtering in through fuzzy layers of gray matter. And then there was darkness, quiet. Nothing hurt in the dark. Scarlett fought it, strived toward the pain once again. Pain was life. And the other…no. She wasn’t ready for that yet.

Not yet.

But it hurts…

Not yet.

“Relax…” The voice was deep, soothing, treacherous.

No. I’m not ready to die. Scarlett struggled to move.

“Scarlett. You’re safe. Sleep.”

Her eyes were closed already. She didn’t trust the voice, but she listened. It was so much easier to let quiet take over.

“Good girl,” he said. “You’ll be fine soon.”

She nodded weakly. At least in her mind she did. The darkness seeped in, soft and heavy but sleep remained elusive. Vaguely, Scarlett became aware of voices muttering, feet shuffling.

“She’s down again. We can complete the procedure.”

Procedure?

Panicked, Scarlett tried to tear herself out of the heavy, drugged sleep, but something sharp sliced into her head at the base of her skull. She would have screamed if she could. It hurt too badly for her to even be scared. For a long time, Scarlett knew nothing else but excruciating white hot pain. When she thought she wouldn’t be able to handle anymore, when it seemed like she must be dying because nothing else could hurt so horribly bad, the pain ebbed, slowly drained away until finally she could breathe again.

“It’s completely connected now. Move quickly. Retrieve the package and get it to safety. We don’t know yet how long the chip will be active.”

Chip? Panic flooded through her groggy body.

“And be careful,” a second voice added. “Until we figure out who was behind the crash, we don’t leave anything to chance.”

Another shot of pain stabbed her in the arm, and then it was gone and the darkness pulled at her once again. Scarlett opened her eyes. She had to fight it.

She was in a room, the lights overhead were nearly blinding. A blond man leaned over her, hand on her arm, face partially obscured by the lights behind his head. Another man with dark hair hovered at the corner of her bed. Scarlett could barely see him with the lights shining bright in her eyes. Only a vague shape looming, impressions of colors. Scarlett tried to pull away from the blond man. She had to find out where she was. She had to escape.

“What are you doing to me?” she forced out. Her voice felt sore and scratchy, sounded even worse. She had to sit up, even if the room was spinning. Scarlett squeezed her eyes closed for another moment and gathered the strength to move.

I have to get up. They’re going to kill me…

She couldn’t let that happen.

The blond guy reached up and brushed her forehead, his touch oddly gentle. “York, she’s still awake. We need another tranquilizer.”

The dark haired one, York, loomed over her with a needle, long and menacing, clutched in his hand.

“N—” Scarlett tried to speak. But he stuck the second needle in her arm, and with a quick bite of pain, she was out.

* * * *

The next time Scarlett woke, her head ached dully, but she’d been placed in a run of the mill hospital room as far as she could tell. Everything was institutional off-white — the walls, the bed, the scratched metal doorframe, and even the curtain between her and the hallway. Daytime talk shows played on a television mounted in the corner, too quiet to hear but too loud to be soothing. Nothing felt right. She couldn’t remember why she was there. And then she did remember.

The accident. It was raining. I slid off that turn and then woke up with the men in the surgery room… Wait. Elijah!

Scarlett yanked the clip off of her finger and ripped at the tape that held an IV needle in the back of her hand. She winced at the short sharp pain when the needle moved under her skin. Monitors at her side started beeping, loud and fast, until a nurse scurried into the room with a clipboard, flustered and breathing hard.

“Stop!” the nurse cried out. “What are you doing?” She reached for Scarlett, but Scarlett twisted out of her grasp.

“I’m trying to get out of here. I need to get out of here.” Scarlett scrambled unsteadily for the side of her bed. She had to get to Elijah before they did something to him too. She didn’t want the men to get to her friend. She sat up and nearly vomited when a wave of dizziness washed over her.

The nurse reached out and tried to push her back down. “You were in an accident. Do you remember? What you need to do is stay still.”

Scarlett kept trying to pull on the tape. It hurt, but that thing had to go. “Get me out of here! Where’s my friend Elijah? Is he dead?”

“Can I get some help in four fifty-nine?” the nurse called. A second nurse, larger and unfortunately muscular and male, ran into the room and helped the first hold Scarlett against the bed. She wasn’t getting away from him.

“You have to calm down,” he told her. “Everything is fine.” Scarlett didn’t trust the nurses. She didn’t trust anyone.

It isn’t fine. What if they have him? Unless Elijah was dead, they had to have him. Scarlett’s heart raced. They talked about a chip. She remembered the slicing pain in the base of her skull. What if they’re putting one in Elijah too?

“Where’s my friend?” she repeated.

“Your friend is fine as well.”

“Why won’t you people tell me anything?” Scarlett didn’t expect answers. She needed to run – no, she had to get Elijah and then run. She checked their hands for a needle to put her to sleep again. Somebody had to have it. “Are you going to tranquilize me? Where’s York?”

The first nurse gave a panicked look to the second. “Andre, please go get Doctor Schull.”

As soon as he left the room, she turned to Scarlett. Scarlett kept trying to get away but it was hard. She was weaker than she’d originally thought.

What’s happening to me?

“We didn’t tranquilize you, Scarlett.” The nurse’s voice was soft and placating. Scarlett didn’t buy it. She tried to sit up again. “Honey, you need to stay still. You have a concussion. Nobody is going to hurt you here. You were in a car crash last night. Don’t you remember? You hit your head pretty hard, but you’re going to be okay. I promise. Your dad’s going to be happy to see you awake.”

That stopped Scarlett. “D-dad?”

“Yes,” the nurse, Lynn according to her name tag, said with an encouraging nod. “He’s been in here all night. So has your friend—Elijah, right? They just went down to get some breakfast. I can send someone down to tell them you’ve woken.”

Scarlett squeezed her eyes shut and thought of the surgery room, those bright lights and the man with blond hair. She couldn’t remember his face. It had been backlit too much by the lights to see.

“Is Doctor Schull the one who operated on me last night?”

“Sweetheart, nobody operated on you last night. We’ve just been keeping an eye on you.” The nurse backed away warily, clearly trying to remain smiling. She laughed weakly. “Operations and tranquilizers. You must have had one heck of a dream when you were under.”

But it wasn’t a dream. The lights had been so real, and that digging pain at the base of her skull was real too. It still hurt, pulsing painfully with every beat of her heart. Scarlett turned to look at the wall, rubbing at her neck. There wasn’t a cut, her skin was smooth. But the pain was real, and it hadn’t stopped.

“I’ll just wait here for my father to come back up, if you don’t mind.”

She hoped the nurse would leave her alone.

Nothing made any sense. York, the man with blond hair, the drugs. It had all happened. Scarlett knew she wasn’t making it up. The memories were too clear. If nothing else, the dull throb in her neck told her she wasn’t crazy. She just needed to be alone to sort it all out. Thankfully, the nurse did leave eventually, and Scarlett concentrated until she was too tired to keep her eyes open any longer.

Scarlett dozed, but it wasn’t a comfortable sleep. She had unsettling dreams of running, sliding, desperately chasing something that she couldn’t catch. She tossed and turned on the pillow, unable to find the right spot. The dream felt weird, too, like… more than a dream maybe. She was aware of her body lying still, sore and aching, but she felt her legs moving at the same time — faster than they’d ever moved before.

Gunshots rang out in her head, and Scarlett crashed into reality. Her eyes flew open in time to see her dad and her best friend Elijah jumping up to crowd at her bedside.

“You okay, Scar?” Elijah’s face was scraped up a bit, but other than that he looked fine — big concerned green eyes, floppy gold mop of curls, and that smile that was constantly threatening to peek out of the corner of his mouth. He wasn’t smiling at the moment, though. He looked scared, paler than even his usual fair complexion.

Her dad reached out to cup her chin. “We were trying to let you sleep. You had a rough night, honey.”

“Dad, something’s happened to me. I don’t understand.”

“It was just a car accident. You have a minor concussion but the doctor says you’ll be just fine.” Her dad’s mask of comfort covered obvious concern. He knew something was wrong. Her dad was right, something was wrong.

She examined Elijah, looking for signs that someone had gotten to him. Did he look like he was in pain? Was there more than concern for her shadowing his eyes? Elijah raised his eyebrows at her.

Better stop. He’ll think I’m nuts too.

Scarlett squeezed her eyes shut once more, breathed slowly and then let them open. They’d never let her out of the hospital if they thought she was crazy.

Act rational. Easier said than done. Why do they all keep saying I’m fine? I’m not fine, and it’s not because of the car accident. Screw the freaking car accident.

She breathed slow and deep. Calm. They won’t tell you anything if you don’t calm down.

She turned to her father. “You’re probably right. A concussion. Did the doctor say when I’ll be able to go home?”

“Soon,” her dad answered. “They just want to run a few tests.”

* * * *

That’s all for now!

:)Mara