Days Without Sun
Chapter Sixteen: Injected
Misaki slowly returned to consciousness. At first he couldn't recall where he was or how he'd gotten there. Misaki struggled to clear the fog that seemed to be enveloping his mind.
As he opened his eyes everything was initially blurry and all he could make out was the bright light overhead. He tried to turn his head away from the glare, but the pain in his neck immediately put a halt to that motion.
While the discomfort arrested his movements, however, it also sharpened his awareness. As his eyes finally focused, Misaki realized he was lying in a hospital bed in a curtained enclosure. He was clean, wearing a light gown, and tucked between crisp sheets. While he didn't try to move his head again, Misaki's eyes glanced to the side and he noticed an I.V. bag that was obviously connected to him somewhere.
The youth was aware his mouth was terribly dry. His throat ached unmercifully, as did his lower legs, and his torso itched madly.
What happened? Misaki wondered.
Was I in an accident?
The image of his big rabbit flashed in his mind and instantly Misaki began glancing around anxiously. Where is Usagi-san? Is he hurt too? Why else wouldn't he be here with me?
Despite how much his head ached and how infinitely sore his body felt, Misaki struggled to rise only to find to his dismay that beneath the draped sheet, his arms and legs were restrained. He was anchored to the bed, his wrists and ankles encased in stiff leather cuffs lined with fleece.
When the reality of his situation finally hit him, Misaki panicked.
What in the hell is going on here?
He tried to call for help but nothing emerged from his throat but a significant amount pain. Still between his rasping and the sounds of his struggles as the buckles on the cuffs clanked against the hospital bed's metal railings, someone must have heard him. Misaki heard the sound of a body moving beyond the curtain and the soft tap of footsteps drawing nearer.
As the curtain opened, from his reclining position, Misaki saw the reassuring appearance of a doctor's smock.
"Ah I've seen you've rejoined us, Takahashi. That was quite a scare you gave me. You've been out for a few days you know."
At the sound of this voice, Misaki's heart stopped and then began again with a jolt, pounding furiously.
Suddenly the memories of his last moments of consciousness and everything preceding that, flooded back into Misaki's mind. He was overwhelmed, drowning in the tsunami of terror and despair that suddenly engulfed him. While unconscious, Misaki had been catheterized. This alone saved him from soaking his bed, as at the sight of Korovin standing over him, his bladder immediately emptied itself.
"There, there," Korovin crooned as Misaki began weeping in earnest. "I told you, Takahashi, there is no such thing as escape here."
These words only made Misaki's thin chest hitch harder. Despite the pain he turned his head away, closing his eyes as he tried to escape from the vision of his captor.
"You didn't think that I was going to let you leave me, Taka-chan? Did you?" Korovin set a clammy hand on the youth's pain-fevered forehead. "Not now that I am ready to share my new invention." The sadist chuckled as he said this. "You see, now that I feel resolved with this particular project, you and my other toys are going to become the gifts that keep on giving." Korovin smiled, sounding exceedingly pleased.
Misaki's body stilled at these words. There was no way to describe the horror and abject defeat he felt in this moment.
Young man's sudden collapse pleased Korovin. He understood that he had at last completely broken Misaki.
"Ah Takahashi, you should actually consider yourself quite lucky. You are going to be the pioneer of a brave new world." Korovin took a vial and a new syringe from his pocket. The Doc drew some fluid from the vial and after wiping down the back of one of Misaki's thin arms with a swab of alcohol, skillfully injected him.
"There, now that wasn't so bad now was it?" Korovin falsely soothed.
Misaki felt his body immediately grow hot following the prick of the needle. Korovin had injected him with so many different substances that had tortured him so brutally at this point, all he could hope for was that this shot would quickly finish for him what he hadn't been allowed to finish himself.
Misaki felt a second swab and stick following this. "This is for your pain, Takahashi. It will make you a bit more comfortable." Korovin explained patiently. "Though as naughty as you were with that last act you pulled, I wonder at times why I continue to be so generous with you."
Korovin stood there a minute, watching the drug take effect and the tension slip from Misaki's hunched shoulders.
Misaki inadvertently sighed as all the pain that plagued him suddenly began to fade, the narcotic given to him dulling its sharp edges.
Korovin stepped around Misaki. The youth heard the sound of the curtains surrounding him being drawn back.
Despite the way Misaki winced away from under his touch, Korovin reached out and almost gently rubbed the top of Misaki's dark fuzzy head. "You're really actually quite fortunate I reached the resolution with my project when I did, Takahashi. Otherwise I would have saved you just so I could kill you myself for that foolish stunt."
The ice in Korovin's voice forced Misaki's heavy eyelids open. Against his will he found himself looking at the man. Seeing the mild expression on the Doc's face sent an involuntary shiver coursing down his spine.
"But instead, now I intend to take very good care of you and the rest of my toys… for some time at least." Korovin stepped to the side as he said this and Misaki could see the room he was in was long and narrow and lined on both walls with beds. He soon realized that each bed contained a young man similarly restrained. A number of them were also muzzled.
"As you have all been injected with the same thing, I thought it would be easier to monitor responses if I had you all together. Since my last test run, this is the first time I've tried this on a group." The Doc offered. Then he added his tone clearly warning, "Tempting though it may be, being in such close proximity to your comrades, the no talk rule extends to this space as well." Korovin regarded Misaki seriously a moment and then laughed. "But as I recall, you haven't really been in a talkative mood lately and I imagine you throat is probably still terribly bruised."
The man leaned down slightly and suddenly clasped Misaki's jaw in a hard grip. "While you're enjoying this little respite, however, know that I will be making some modifications to your old room to ensure when I return you to it, you will never have the opportunity to try take from me again what is mine...Your life, Takahashi. Understand?" Korovin hissed.
Misaki's drug sleepy eyes filled with tears once again and he nodded almost imperceptibly. "Good boy!" Korovin barked, causing a number of the other boys in the room to start.
Satisfied, Korovin released Misaki's jaw and moved down to the other end of the room to check on one of his other subjects.
Misaki lay there not moving. Besides the overwhelming despair and exhaustion he felt, the drugs that Korovin had given him were now also almost in full force. Misaki's eyes flickered away from the Doc's departing back to the teen lying in the bed next to him. The youth was a pale blonde, his skin almost translucent, though it glowed pink now in some places, as the new substance Korovin had introduced into his system was already making him fevered.
Feeling Misaki's eyes on him, the blond opened his eyes and regarded Misaki mournfully. Misaki couldn't help but gasp at the cool jade color and the elliptical pupils of the feline gaze staring back at him. Despite this shock however, Misaki continued to stare at the other youth.
The two boys gazes locked in a desperate, silent exchange, until at last, Misaki's drug heavy lids could no longer stay open and he drifted from his current nightmare into one less tangible.
And with this, the epidemic starts… Alcuzey, safe travels! And you and Ashley Tangerine get your wish for another chapter. Thank you for reading and reviewing!