Days turned into weeks as I recuperated, my body growing stronger every day. The nightmares hadn't stopped, and I hadn't gotten my memory back, but the Guys helped me as much as they could. Pretty soon, I could walk all over the house without a problem.
One morning Hannibal walked into the dining room where I was eating breakfast and sat next to me.
"Face," said Hannibal, "I'm going to get to the point: I think you're ready for the dynoamacillin."
I stopped eating and looked up at Hannibal. "How soon?"
Hannibal shrugged. "I can do it today if you'd like."
I nodded my head. "Sure. Ok."
"How about after breakfast?" Hannibal asked.
"Ok," I said, a little hesitantly.
"Good. I'll get the stuff together," he said. "Finish up and meet me in the basement."
I nodded my head and finished my cereal. I didn't like the thought of going through more pain, but I'd get my memory back, and that'd be worth it.
I put my bowl in the sink and washed my hands, then headed downstairs into the basement.
The basement didn't look friendly to begin with. It felt like one of those dungeons you see in an old horror movie, even though there weren't chains on the walls or beds with restraints.
I take that back. As I walked around the corner, I saw Murdock and B.A. standing next to a bed with restraints. Then again, it was a modern bed with restraints, not one of those old metal things. And It wasn't like an ordinary bed, it looked more like a dentist chair shaped like a gingerbread man in a skirt. In other words, it was the kind of chair they used for lethal injection.
I walked over to the bed and an uneasiness filled my gut.
"Hey, guys," I said to Murdock and B.A. as I fingered one of the straps. "Where's Hannibal?"
"Right here," said Hannibal as he came down the stairs, a box in his hand. "Go ahead and get in the chair."
I nodded my head and pulled myself up onto the chair. B.A. and Murdock strapped me in and my nervousness grew.
"Wiggle around," said Murdock. "I wanna make sure those are tight enough."
I tried to wiggle a bit, but it was extremely hard to. Murdock nodded his head in satisfaction and said, "Ok, Colonel, he's secure."
Hannibal pulled the syringe out of the case and filled it with liquid from a vial. "Face, this is going to hurt a lot. I mean a lot. Probably worse than anything you've felt before. Try not to bite your tongue or do any other damage to your body." He set the vial to the side and stepped closer to me. "This is going to be hard, but I need you to stay still as much as you can."
"Ok," I said nervously. "But... about the pain... couldn't you take the edge off it with painkiller or something?"
Hannibal shook his head. "No. We tried that, but the patent didn't regain his memory." He brought the needle next to my shoulder. "You ready?"
I sucked in a breath. "As ready as I'll ever be."
As soon as the tip of the needle touched my skin, I knew it was going to hurt a lot more than I thought it would.
I writhed in pain and screamed in agony. The pain was like fire that seemed to burn up my insides and squeeze my heart. Finally, B.A. mercifully hit my head, and I fell unconscious.
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