I woke up to a terrible headache. "Probably a hangover," I thought to myself. But I don't exactly feel as if this was a hangover because I wasn't even home. The walls of this place where jagged; as if hewn out of rock. It was cold, dark, and damp and smelled incredibly awful. I looked around and whenever I did, every bone in my body creaked along with the movement. I looked down at my body but a tube coming from my nose was in the way. I was debating whether or not to pull it out, but I eventually had to because I couldn't breathe whatsoever.

Slowly, I took it out and boy, did that feel awful. I mean something slithering out of your throat other than food and water is the worst feeling you will ever get in your life. A groan escaped my lips as I pulled the tube out. Finally, it was out and all I had to do was rip the tape off my nose which was, thankfully, a lot less painful than taking that tube out. I moved my head to the side and seen a glass of water on the table. I was really thirsty for some reason, so I attempted grabbing it, but it resulted in knocking it over onto the ground with a loud clang. I kept trying to reach for something on the table. I had to really stretch to get one of the items but something tugged at my chest.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," a man said from across the room. He was shaving his chin using a little mirror. He had old clothes that looked as if he hadn't washed them for days. I drew my attentions to what he was talking about and looked over to the other table. There sat a car battery with wires attached to something. I grabbed the wires frantically and ran my hand along it to see where it lead and I had a feeling I already knew where. My guess was correct when it lead straight to my chest. The rest of the wires were hidden under thick bandages all over me. I was really scared at this point and didn't care about the pain. I wanted to know why those wires where leading right into me so I started ripping the bandages off, grunting at the pain. I kept ripping and ripping until I found out what was under the bandages. I couldn't even believe my eyes. A metal circle was implanted inside me. It was really rusty and looked like I could get an infection at any minute. The skin around it already looked as if it were already infected. It looked liked the skin was burned and it felt like it was. I noticed myself struggling to breathe. I just had to slow down and just think and that was a horrible idea. When I did that, all the memories flooded my mind, from going unconscious in the desert to the cloth being over my mouth. My breathing was starting to become labored. I was captured by terrorists in who knows where.

"I'm going to die here probably. No, don't think like that. Rhodey will come save you," I thought to myself. I still couldn't regulate my breathing and I felt like I could pass out at any given moment. That would be good though. This might all just be a horrible dream. I closed my eyes for a moment. When I opened them next, the man was hovering over me. I about jumped off the cot I was on. One reason was he scared me being right over me all of a sudden and because I was scared he was going to hurt me. Just like before.

"You're finally awake," he stated while walking away to get something off the table. It better not be what I don't want it to be. But all he grabbed was a cup which was a relief.

"You've been unconscious for 3 days. We were starting to get worried you would never wake up," I just looked at him bewildered, not knowing what to think.

"Can't you speak?" he asked me.

"You're the man who put this in me weren't you?" I asked coldly.

"You remember all of that? Just to let you know, I don't have any medication here so I couldn't do anything to help you. But you put up a good fight, trying to not let me do anything to you. But I had to do what I had to do. Want anything to eat?" he asked inviting me over to his fire with a pot over it.

"Might as well," I muttered under my breath. I went over with my car battery and sat down on a stool by a fire. We sat there in silence with only the sound of the fire crackling. I picked up a mirror that was on the floor and put it by chest so I could get a better view of it. So this is something I'm going to have to live with. Rust inside my chest; sounds like fun. Not.

"What did you do to me?" I asked expressionless.

"What did I do? I saved your life. I removed as much shrapnel as I could, but there was a lot left and it's headed into your atrial septum," he explained. Now, I don't know too much about medical terms, but I knew enough to know what he was talking about. It was going straight into my heart which will probably kill me.

"Want to see? I have a souvenir. Take a look," he took a small glass bottle out of his shirt pocket and jingled it then threw it over to me. I held it up to the light. Inside were small pieces of triangular shrapnel that were inside me. What a great souvenir. While I was looking at it, he continued speaking.

"I've seen many wounds like this in my village. We call them the walking dead because it takes about a week for the barbs to reach the vital organs," Still, what would be the point of this thing in my chest if I'm going to die in a week anyways?

"What's this?" I said pointing to the metal thing in my chest.

"That is an electromagnet, hooked up to a car battery, and it's keeping the shrapnel from entering your heart," Oh well joy, like a car battery will last forever. This feels like a death sentence more than the shrapnel.

"You know, we met at a technical conference in Bern once."

"I don't remember," I told him.

"No, you wouldn't. If I had been that drunk, I wouldn't have been able to stand, much less give a lecture on integrated circuits," he replied.

"Where are we?" All of a sudden there was pounding and screaming on the other side of the heavy metal door. Well, this is going to be exciting.