"No…" Ezra groaned under his breath. He tried to inhale, but his chest felt heavy, as if a large weight were crushing it. He let out a strangled gasp as he struggled to breathe, trying desperately to suck in as much air as he could. Unfortunately, each time his chest expanded a stabbing pain ripped through his torso causing his muscles to constrict. Despite his best efforts, all he could manage was a raspy sounding wheeze. His eyes snapped open as something sharp pierced his skin and a cold sensation raced up his arm. The momentary lapse into consciousness allowed him to vaguely make out his surroundings, though everything was still very much a blur. Voices were all around him, inaudible as if he were underwater. Was he underwater? He couldn't tell, but the pressure in his lungs indicated that it was a very real possibility. The icy liquid coursing through his blood stream…was it just hypothermia setting in?
Ezra's vision slowly began to come into focus as bright, fluorescent lights streaked by overhead. So he wasn't drowning in water, at least that much he could surmise. No, the coppery taste in his mouth told a different story. Before he had a chance to consider that, a strange apparatus came down over his face. He reached up with his arm in a feeble attempt to push the offending object away before something, or someone, firmly grasped his wrist and forced it back down to his side. It didn't take much to subdue the young boy. His limbs were already weak from the lack of oxygen and his entire body exhausted from the effort it took to sustain the little amount of breathing that he was able to do.
A slight surge of panic rose up through his chest at the idea of being restrained, but this thought was quickly replaced by a strange, almost sweet smelling odor permeating his nostrils. Darkness began to creep along the edge of his vision almost immediately after that. As the world slipped out of focus once again, he was barely cognizant of the fact that the fight he thought he had lost was only just beginning.
Author's Note: So this is my very first SWR fic. It's more of a prologue of sorts, since I haven't decided which direction I want to go with it yet. Still debating on whether I want to make it a real world AU or stick to the sci-fi genre. Let me know your thoughts.