Journey - REVISED EDITION

Consequences

It's dark. The weight of the water pressing down on his lungs is suffocating. It feels like he's drowning. Panic flutters in his stomach. Darkness creeps at the edge of his vision, as his lungs burn for air. The cloth feels scratchy against his face, and the restraints on his wrists bite into his flesh.

There's movement, and then the water is pouring down on him and he's suffocating, he can't breath, it hurts so much, please, someone help him, he can't do this anymore.And it never stops.

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The first thing that Alex noticed when he woke was the sharp smell of antiseptic. That, and the pain that throbbed just out of sight. A killer headache pounded in time with the heart monitor that beeped in the background. There was an oxygen mask resting on his face.But the walls weren't white-washed, which meant he was probably still in one of the medical rooms at Brecon Beacons.

His brain was clouded and it was difficult to form completely and coherent thoughts. Pain-killers.

He could hear the shouts of training soldiers, and the rain hitting the roof. He turned his head slowly, and the door opened. Fox stepped in, a soft smile on his face.

"How are you feeling?" He asked quietly, coming to sit down in the chair by Alex's bed.

Alex blinked sluggishly, and rolled his eyes. It was took too much energy to try and move.

"I'll take that as an excellent-never-better, then?" Fox chuckled, before looking down at his folded hands. "K-Unit isn't very happy with us, you know."

Alex raised an eyebrow.

"They want to know what you're doing back here, and why out of all the terrorists organizations in the whole bloody world you could have ticked off, you chose SCORPIA."

Alex closed his eyes at the word SCORPIA. A sharp stab of pain went through him, and he struggled to hide how much pain he was actually in. It didn't work.

"About the pain meds. MI6 doesn't want you to get addicted, so they're not letting you have the good stuff. I'm sorry. I tried talking to Mrs. Jones but she wouldn't listen." He paused, avoiding Alex's eyes. "The assassins have been eliminated. Those that didn't get shot in the initial fray, killed themselves later. Guess they didn't want to risk be caught and tortured. Alex... what did you do to SCORPIA, to make them send twenty men after you?"

Alex raised an exhausted hand to his face, gently removing his mask. Fox made no move to stop him. "It was a warning, Fox. If they wanted to kill me, they could have." He wheezed and coughed, the soldier quickly put the mask back on Alex's face.

"A warning for what, though?" Fox asked. He searched Alex face, looking for answers, and the boy prayed he didn't find anything. "I don't know how you do it." He said softly. "How can you stay so calm, obey their every word, when all they've ever done was wreck your life?"

Alex didn't answer. He shut his eyes and looked away, tiredness seeping into his bones.