Lifeboat

19. Intuition

Constant beeping brought me around. I was still in the medical chamber, the blinking lights blue and yellow in colour. The more I concentrated on the beeps, the more a pattern formed to the sound. It had a certain comfort to it, which helped to hold the claustrophobia of the tight space at bay.

I lifted my hand and stifled a gasp, thin, red wires had been pushed under my skin, connecting my veins to the screen. It hurt to move, the wires bruised my flesh.

Just before I passed out, either from fatigue or drugs, I didn't know which, I heard Dante's rich voice on the other side of the panel. His muffled words came across as strained and upset, but I could make them out all the same. They sent a shudder up my spine.

"She's been pregnant twice?"

*****

I was lying down. My eyes wouldn't open. My mouth drier than a week in the desert. I flexed my hands, the index fingers slid over a smooth, cold surface, I was still on the gurney. Sensation gradually returned to the rest of my body and I could feel the weight and constraint of a cover over me from the chest down. Coaxing my eyelids to raise, and my neck to do the same, I took a peek at the situation I was in.

A thick, cotton blanket had been wrapped around me, securely tucked underneath my body, mummy-fashion. My feet stuck up at the end of the swaddling, I wiggled my toes and was answered with a nauseating scrape of toenails on material.

Why am I trussed up like this?

From behind me I heard the flat footsteps of someone coming towards me. Like a naughty schoolgirl caught in the act, I laid my head back and closed my eyes. I had no idea why.

The person moved around the gurney to stand beside me on the left. The heat radiated from their body, a lingering scent of roasted synthetic meat clung to their clothes. It's some mealtime or other, but I had no way of knowing which.

What is it that's stopping me from wanting to look at this person? Why don't I feel safe?

A fierce ray of light shone in my face, my eyelids became transparent, the red glow burnt my eyes. I fought the urge to let them fly open and forced them to stay shut.

The person let out a long, sigh, the vocal expression gave away their sex and irritation. She pushed my head to one side, her hand warm and damp. She'd washed them recently, the lemony perfume still noticeable.

Who is she? Why is she here and why do I feel so wary of her?

Surely, Dante would never let anything bad happen to me. Would he?

The woman moved away from my vicinity and I used the opportunity to flick open my right eye, as my head now faced to the right and this state of alert was less likely to be noticed.

A wall of black granite greeted me, small flecks of shiny quartz reflected a light source above me. This was not the room I had come into before.

I swallowed down and clamped my eyes shut, willing the acidic rush of panic to keep back from my throat. My heaving chest must have been noticeable.

Get it under control. Quick, before she sees you.

That's why I felt so ill-at-ease, I must have seen or sensed the change in my surroundings without even realising it.

She's coming back. Relax.

The scratching sound of a pen, scribbling on paper, followed by clicks and taps of fingers on a device. Another deep sigh, and a tick of the tongue. She must have been analysing me for some reason. Had things gone wrong in the medical chamber? No, if that were the case then Dante would be here, or the medic at least.

Where the hell am I? She's coming in closer. Don't move.

I concentrated on my breathing, stifling the rapid beat of my pulse, which threatened to expose me.

She's breathing in my ear. Oh my god, she's going to know. What's she going to do when she realises I'm awake?

The woman pulled back and I took a chance on a quick swallow to clear the bile that had collected in my throat. Then I heard the tap-tap of something made of glass.

I know that sound.

Now my heart was racing, adrenaline pumped its way up my body and pounded at my temples. I had recognised the click of fingernails on a syringe.

Couldn't it be something to help me? Couldn't this be a hospital of sorts? Don't be ridiculous. Are you going to lie there and let this woman stick you with goodness knows what? Do something!

I had to do the only thing I could do - scream. I screwed up my fear into a bitter ball of anger and clenched my nails into the palm of my hands until they pierced the skin. Opening my eyes, I caught the woman with the needle a hair's breadth away from my arm. I took a huge breath and sucked up courage along with the air. Screaming at the top of my lungs, my eyes scrunched shut. When I opened them, I saw the back of the woman running away, the syringe had fallen to the floor with a light clink. A door slammed somewhere behind me.

I did it! Now what?

I wrestled my body around, muscle strength had come back to me now. I wiggled enough to loosen the blanket wrapped around my shoulders, and I pulled my arms free.

I had to work quickly to get out of here before she returned.

Hoisting myself up into a sitting position, I shuffled out of the blanket, my knees were stiff but they bent as I asked them. I was wearing a red hospital gown, the rough material crinkled with my movements.

After releasing my feet, I searched around the room. The door the woman had used was slightly to my left, the endless stretch of black granite wall covered the entire room.

Hang on, wait.

On the far wall in front of me, there was a metal bar. It could have been a handle.

From outside the door on the left, the dull echo of voices urged me into action. I swung my legs and put my feet down on the cold, smooth floor. It sent a shock wave of shivers up my calves. A rush of blood to my head threatened to top me over and back onto the trolley, but I brought myself to balance by grabbing and pushing off from the gurney. I hurtled headfirst down the room towards the handle.

When I got to it, I grasped at it with both hands and yanked it down. The seamless wall yawned open, revealing a dark room. I entered and slammed the door shut behind me. Waves of blood boomed in my eardrums as I fiddled around the area of the handle and found what I had hoped there might be. I slid the thick bolt shut and pushed the end down flat against the door.

That should hold them.

I leant my forehead on the sleek wall, the touch of cool granite so welcome on my sweating skin. It took me a minute to get my breath back.

Once I believed myself to be in no immediate danger, I searched my fingers around the wall until I found a warmer patch of a plastic switch panel. I pressed the light on and turned around. 

This might not be a good place to be.