Superior

Chapter 43

The picture of Delaney on the side was drawn by my awesome artistic friend MlleNightingale, who can draw... quite unlike me xD.

Chapter Forty-Three

Delaney

I don't know how long I was unconscious. It could have been a minute, an hour; it could have been a hundred years. As I slipped in and out of hazy awareness, my mind was locked in a struggle between the darkness behind my eyes and the harsh lights of reality. Wherever my consciousness lay, there was no measure of time.

It was an excruciating, exhausting effort, trying not to drown in the thick abyss. The only relieving thing about it was that in there, I felt none of the pain that Dr. Leary's serum had inflicted. The fire had cooled to a low blaze, and in my near-delirious state, I could hardly feel it. I could hardly feel anything.

Dimly, through the syrupy blackness, I heard voices shouting my name, calling me in desperate cries that reached my ears as breathy whispers. I wanted to respond, to follow the sound back into cognizance, but I couldn't find my mouth to form the words. But the voices kept yelling, and I kept striving, swimming toward the faint yelling even as my head threatened to implode.

I woke up gasping.

"Delaney!" The voices were louder now—much louder, to the point where they reverberated painfully against my eardrums. I winced at deafening sound, tensing until my ears popped and my hearing returned to normal.

"Delaney, are you okay?" That was Trai's voice, sounding strained and anxious.

It took me a moment to put together a response as I blinked away the room's bright lighting.

"Fine," I murmured eventually, squinting. "I'm fine."

"What the hell did he do to you?" Abby asked in a harsh whisper, looking at me sideways as I finished catching my breath.

"I have no idea," I replied, shuddering. Sweat poured down my face and dripped onto my sweater, but there was a chill under my skin. "Where did he go?"

"He said something about a breach," Trai supplied, "then went all crazy on us, saying that we lied to him and that we'd be punished for it later."

Abby shook her head in disgust. "Let's hope he never comes back."

I leaned back against the headrest of my seat, sighing. There wasn't much else I could do; I could hardly move. The extra restraints that Leary had installed were still in place, holding back any movement. I could feel stinging cuts on my arms and legs from where the metal had sliced my flesh.

"Are you sure you're all right, Delaney?" Trai questioned quietly, watching me with an expression of concern.

I thought about it. I had definitely felt better than I did at that moment. My body was still shivering from the aftershocks of the injection, and I had a monstrous headache. Not only that, but my stomach churned with nausea, probably prompted by the sight of the blood seeping from beneath the restraints on my wrists.

So, no, I wasn't all right at all.

But I also wasn't on fire anymore. My internal temperature had cooled significantly—though my jeans and t-shirt suddenly seemed suffocating—leaving me with the sweaty relief of a fever breaking. Plus, Leary was gone, it appeared that the Pro-Inferiors had made it in, and someone was going to retrieve us soon.

"I'm alive," was all I said. Trai didn't look convinced, but he nodded.

"Thankfully. God, the way you were screaming, I thought you were a goner."