No Pain: Book 1

Chapter 43: Star

          I can't see, there's a thick film over my eyes. I try to blink my eyes clean but it's slow in coming.

"You're awake." That voice. I know it's familiar but my mind is slow. I can't feel any aches, I can't feel any pain but I can feel the drug weighing me down.

"Not quite." I test my body, flexing every muscle starting from my toes, my calves, my hips, breathing in as deeply as I can while I listen for a crack. I test my neck and peel my eyes open once more.

Adler's face is just above me. The film over my eyes isn't gone yet but it's thinner.

"What'd you give me?" I ask.

"Special concoction just for you." He smiles.

"That's why I'm not paralyzed." I pull on my arms, I can feel metal around my wrists.

"You'll hurt yourself if you don't stop pulling on your hands." He says walking around me.

"Funny." I quip trying to angle my hand as discreetly as possible for when I need to break my thumb to get out.

"I have been looking forward to meeting you for quite some time." He stands at my feet.

"I'm pretty sure this is kidnapping, but whatever you want to call it." I rotate my ankles to test how tight the cuffs are.

"Your defect is kind of famous amongst the Idios." Adler's features focus a bit more, I can make out a smile, some light stubble along his chin, lighter than his hair but much much lighter than Najee's.

"No pain in high demand there?" Glancing around the room I can see the medical supplies around me, some kind of lab or torture chamber.

"Why do you fight beside them?" He asks, "all they do is hold you back."

"Control is nice." I snark at him "not that you'd understand the desire to have it."

"Star, don't pretend with me." He rolls his eyes. "You know I'm not an ordinary Idio."

"I have noticed." I roll my shoulders feigning nonchalance. "It must be hard to have control of an army that doesn't want to listen to their own rules let alone someone else's."

"Star, we might both be leaders" he tsks "but I don't want to control my team."

"Who says I control my team?" I snap at him.

"Don't be upset, what else could you know?" He pulls a table over to us. I can't see what's on it but it's not hard to imagine. "All they did was try to control you."

"They helped me." I growl. I'm not usually this easy to get to. It must be something in the drug he gave me, it's making me edgy.

"They ruined you." He snaps at me. "The red taking over, not responsible for your own actions, they took that from you."

"They helped me get a hold on it." My voice is scratchy. I can hear the sluggishness in my own voice.

"You can fool them but I know you like it," Adler smiles, "when the red takes over, you don't have to think, you don't have to make decisions. You just do. It's instinct." He gives a breathy kind of laugh, like he's fantasizing about it. Everyone always thinks they want my defect.

"It's weakness." My eyes are working again but I can still feel the extra weight lingering in my blood.

"We have different definitions of weakness then." He lifts a needle and examines it.

"Is it time for another nap?" I taunt. He smiles and looks at me.

"Not exactly." He's got gloves on. I can feel my skin reacting to the latex as he runs his thumb into the crook of my arm.