My Head fucking kills.
I slowly emerge from the void, the enveloping darkness I recognize to be the veil of cryo-stasis. I've undergone this process countless times before in my military career, in wars against both insurrectionists and The Covenant, and over time I became accustomed to it, but…
Oh my god, my head is on fire…
But this time something has gone very, very wrong. As my head clears, I'm overwhelmed by blinding pain. Searing, mind-numbing pain in my head, unlike anything I've ever felt before.
Mind-numbing pain becomes my frontal and only focus. The only thing I feel, much less think, is skull-cracking pain.
But it's starting to let up…
From the merciless state of agony I emerge from my red mist. Up until now, I haven't had any sense of self-awareness, but now…
Fuck, I can't breathe. Oh fuck…
I can remember that as part of the cryogenic – preservation process, they fill your lungs and pipes with an anti-freeze gel that protects the lung cells from freezing. This process requires the subject to regurgitate the gel in order to breathe again, and I haven't yet…
Oh god, I can't see.
Before, I was being blinded by the pain, but after only a brief period of sight I start to black out again.
Back into the void I go, eyes wide open but still unseeing. With the rest of my senses paralyzed, I feel my legs begin to give out from under me.
All I can do is think.
So I do.
What the hell was that about? Why did it feel like my head was being drilled open? That's never happened before, and I can usually take pain, as a veteran, my body has been broken in more ways than I'd care to count. Hell, I've taken bullets before, but it was never that bad.
It takes what feels like an eternity for me to hit the ground. In the split-second it takes for the floor to dig into my knees, I notice a few things:
I can still think, so I don't have brain damage.
This floor is grated; I can feel that at least.
I must have fallen over the edge of my cryo-tube, 'cause that hurt.
As I fall onto the floor on my hands and knees, my mouth forcefully jars open. I can't see, but I know what's coming next.
Wave after wave of foul-tasting gel comes up my windpipe. Just as I think I'm about to black out, I convulse for the last time, leaving my free to gasp all the air I want.
As I return from my oxygen – deprived state, so does my vision. As a soldier, my first and strongest impulse is to survey my surroundings.
I'm in a rectangular room, with just me, the pod, and a door on the far side. The ceiling, walls, and floor are all silver-grey, except for the dark metal grating. Upon further inspection, I see that there's a black sphere embedded in one of the walls, and a black box on the floor next to the pod I dropped out of. I guess the black sphere is a camera, used by an A.I to monitor my progress, but I have no idea what's in the box.
Then I remember I'm naked.
Well, I have a clue as to what might be in the box.
But right now, I'm not concerned with that. My body is in shock from whatever the hell that was. My arms and legs feel weak, like they did in my early days of basic training, and that was a long time ago. I feel as if I've done so much in such little time, like I just ran a marathon. I'm exhausted. I can't even get up.
So I think.
What the hell was all that about? I thought I was having a stroke or something. I thought I was going to die. Even more confusing, since I'm sure I've become accustomed to cryo-stasis and it's after – affects, is that my head is buzzing again.
I can feel an episode coming on, like a mild headache at first. A low, throbbing headache growing in my head, quickly followed by my vision beginning to darken. I used to get blackouts before, just from age I guess, but this is ridiculous.
As the pain finally peaks, I feel it begin to settle, just as quickly as it came.
Maybe I am having a stroke…
I need to find help.
If you're reading this, then I'm sorry. I know there isn't much to this story right now, but I am still writing. I've tried writing before and never actually finished anything, but this time will be different, I promise. I know it's cliche and narcissistic to write a story from first person present-tense, but I'm hoping to pull this off. I may have started too early, but I'm going to see this through, and I'm going to do this right. This story is my baby, and I'm going to see this through.