Eric
Candor Justice Complex
Uploading of classified materials. Authorization: Leaders Only with Level Five Clearance- Jack Kang, Max Cornell, Andrew Prior, Eric Coulter
Accused: Name as registered with Dauntless: Kat Prior; Previous legal name: Mary Katherine Prior
Faction of the Accused: Currently in transition from Abnegation to Dauntless
Administered Truth Serum via IV under direct supervision of the Chief Justice Jack Kang from Candor; Senior Leader Max Cornell, Second in Command Eric Coulter, and Leader Raze Warner
Candor Representative for the accused: Jane Connor
Appointed Representative for secondary accused, Albert West: Wesley Smith
Additional witnesses:
Dauntless: Four Eaton and Chase Oldham
Jack Kang: Kat Prior, you are being administered truth serum so that your role in the incident that occurred today at approximately zero eight seventeen hours. I caution you not to fight the serum as it could further exacerbate your injuries and cause considerable pain. Do you understand what I have said?
Kat Prior: Yes, I do.
Jack Kang: State your full name, please.
Kat Prior: Kat is the name that I have chosen for Dauntless but my birth name is Mary Katherine Prior.
Jack Kang: Your faction of birth?
Kat Prior: Abnegation.
Jack Kang: You are currently in training to become a member of Dauntless, correct?
Kat Prior: Yes, I am.
Jack Kang: Thank you. Now we will move on to the incident at Dauntless in the dorm room.
Jack Kang: You were found engaged in a struggle with Albert West. Is this correct?
Kat Prior: Yes, that is correct.
Jack Kang: Did you initiate the altercation?
Kat Prior: No. I did not.
Jack Kang: There is reason for us to believe that Albert was the one that had previously attacked you as well as your sister. Did he give any indications before today that he was capable of that or that he could have been involved?
Kat Prior: I had no reason to think, before today, that Al would have ever been involved in any kind of act of aggression, much less towards my sister for two primary reasons. For one, he was always very reluctant and vocal about his distaste and distress in regards to being violent at all. The second reason and more importantly to me was that he seemed to look up to or care for my sister a great deal.
Jack Kang: You had never had any previous altercations with him or witnessed him being aggressive?
Kat Prior: No. The first time I saw Al behaving that way was today during the attack.
Jack Kang: The two of you were in the dorm alone at a time when you were supposed to be attending training. Witnesses say that you left to go to the bathroom. How is that you ended up there instead?
Kat Prior: I did leave intending to only go to the restroom. I was feeling unsettled from the previous night and wanted to wash my face or run water on my wrists to try and help. I went to the bathroom where I was directed…but it didn't work. I knew I was at the start of a panic attack and I wanted to stop it before it could really begin. So, I decided to go to the dorm to try and gather myself then go back and join the others. I didn't want my sister or friends to see me like that or to have the others watching me if I had one.
Wesley Smith: Do you often have these panic attacks?
Kat Prior: I can't recall having any before coming to Dauntless. If I did, they must not have been bad enough for me to remember. That changed when I came to Dauntless.
Jane Connor: I would like the record to show that Kat Prior's medical record during her time in Dauntless has been submitted. There is a clear indication that the panic attacks are believed to be a result of a new serum that has been affecting all of this year's initiates.
Jack Kang: Duly noted and we will be adding that to the official record. Moving on then. Kat, can you explain why there was a knife on your person at the time of the altercation Mr. West?
Kat Prior: A few weeks ago there was an attack that happened in the dorm and I was one of the people that was a target. It left me feeling exposed and vulnerable to have had that happen to me while I was asleep. Around the time my sister was attacked, I found a knife that was left unattended. Initially, I meant to turn it over. But I realized that with it in my pocket I didn't feel as vulnerable as I had been feeling and I didn't want to let that go if I could help it. I felt better in an almost instinctual way, knowing that if anything were to happen again I could defend myself. We've all been training to be prepared to act and that's what I was trying to do.
Jack Kang: An accusation has been made that you were actually given the knife by a member. Is this true?
Kat Prior: Absolutely not. No one gave me the knife or had any knowledge of my having it. No one besides myself knew that I had the knife and I wanted it to stay that way. It wasn't only having the weapon that made me feel safer and more prepared, but the fact that no one would expect me to have something like that to help protect myself. And that was the only reason for me keeping it in the first place, the feeling of safety and protection it gave me..
Jack Kang: You say that the purpose was to help protect yourself, so why did you not draw your own when you were attacked? If Mr. West had one and was willing to use it, would it not have aided in your defense.
Kat Prior: I was taken by surprise when he attacked me. It wasn't something I would have expected from Al at all, much less having a knife. It also didn't help that when he came at me, I had my back turned to him. Again, I was caught off guard so I didn't even think to bring out my knife. All my focus was on trying to keep his weapon away from me, so at that point trying to bring mine out wouldn't have helped me.
Jack Kang: So your intentions towards Albert West during the fight were just to defend yourself, or did you mean to seriously harm or to even outright kill him?
Kat Prior: No, I had no intention of killing him. When he attacked I was only thinking about stopping him. I didn't have much time to wonder what made him snap but I can admit now that it did cross my mind that was what was happening. That he finally snapped.
Wesley Smith: You say finally snapped as if you expected him to.
Kat Prior: I wondered if he would, but I wasn't sure. His actions in the dorm were totally out of character for him but there had been signs of strain over the last weeks. Those were mainly just mood swings or emotional outbursts. All of us have been affected by the new fear serum but others like Al seem to have been hit the worst. So, I figured something had made him finally snap, but whatever the reason I knew I needed to get help somehow. That if he was doing all this in some kind of mental breakdown, then leadership needed to know.
Jack Kang: You said he admitted to you that he was behind both attacks. When during your altercation did this admission come and did he give any reason for the previous attacks?
Kat Prior: It was just after he attacked me, though I'm unsure of how long…maybe a few minutes or so. What I do remember is it was just after I realized he had a knife because I told him that he was going past the point of no return when I saw it. That's when he said it was too late, he was already there. He alluded to being under orders of some kind for the first attack in the dorm but he didn't say who gave him the orders or why. Al also implied that I was somehow to blame for him not being able to be with my sister and for…in his words…ruining his life.
Jack Kang: At this time, I ask if either of the representatives has any questions for the accused.
Wesley Smith: You've stated that you didn't expect Albert West to attack you but it wasn't made clear if he was already in the room when you entered. Did you not see him there?
Kat Prior: I did, he was kneeling on the floor, slumped over his bed and appeared to be crying.
Wesley Smith: You mentioned him suffering under the serums, did his state not concern you? Should you not have tried to speak to him and ask him what was wrong or at the very least go and get him help before it could develop into that fight?
Kat Prior: Finding Al crying wasn't a new thing, sir. Even before the fear sims and introduction of the serum, Al was known to cry himself to sleep through the night. I just got used to it and learned to tune it out I guess. I know it sounds cold, but I learned that pointing it out or trying to talk to him about it didn't have great results either. My sister tried to help him at first, only for him to end up snapping at her and anyone else he thought was pitying him.
Wesley Smith: So how did he go from being distraught on his bed…to attacking you?
Kat Prior: I'm not sure how to answer that sir.
Wesley Smith: With the truth.
Jane Connor: Objection, harassment of the accused.
Jack Kang: Rephrase the question Mr. Smith.
Wesley Smith: In between the moment of you entering the room and the attack, were there any other words spoken by Albert or any indication that he had…snapped as you said. Was there any indication that he was about to do something?
Kat Prior: Neither of us said anything to each other, but as I passed him I did see a black bag at the end of the bed. It looked like he had been tossing things in there before he stopped.
Wesley Smith: So it looked like he was getting ready to leave?
Kat Prior: It's possible, but he is ranked at the bottom. And we all know that anyone still at the bottom is going to be cut. I had no way of knowing that if he was or wasn't trying to leave before that time, not until he ranted about losing his chance to leave as he stabbed me for the second time.
Wesley Smith: If he was set to leave, why did he instead choose to stay and attack you?
Kat Prior: I can't answer that question.
Wesley Smith: And why is that Miss. Prior?
Kat Prior: Because I don't know what he was thinking. I'm not Al. So even if I tried to guess, that's all it would be. I can only tell you what I know or think for myself. It would only be me telling you what I would have done if the positions were reversed.
Wesley Smith: Fair enough then, Miss. Prior. What would you have done?
Kat Prior: According to Al, I was the reason for his as well as other people's pain and he viewed me as an enemy. So I'd do what I was trained to do, Mr. Smith. What Dauntless has taught me to do in those situations. Given a chance to either run away or take down my enemy, I am always going to go with taking them out…even if I know I'll go down with them.
Jack Kang: We are done with questioning. Thank you for your Candor.
Questioning concluded. Investigation pending and under purview of the faction the subject belongs to, or in this case is currently seeking membership into. Candor has concluded that the subject was defending themselves and as such there was no criminal intent.
Dauntless will take the matter further as per their own factional laws.
During our conference call with her, I watched the ice blue eyes of Jeanine Matthews through the monitor as she absorbed the documents we sent over to her and made sure to keep my face clear of any emotion. I knew the lines on that page by heart. I watched those words come out of Kat's mouth, even if it was from as far across the room as Max could get me without resorting to putting me in the hall.
For every single word on that page I had a corresponding memory burned into my brain.
The serum seemed to have some effect on her, enough for her to have the slightly disconnected tone anyone under it has when speaking. They aren't emotionless really, more like the emotions are slightly repressed in order to allow the truth to be clear without the mess they create.
By all accounts, her testimony was brilliant. It certainly accomplished much more than just proving her innocence in either of the attacks. It also put a really big nail in the coffin of her suspected divergence.
A fact that I could tell, and I am sure that Max sees as well, is unsettling Jeanine Matthews a gear deal.
It's too early to feel smug but I could already see her frustration and anger growing behind that icy exterior she likes to maintain.
Max and I knew that there would be no keeping what happened from Jeannine after making the decision to take Kat and Al to Erudite medical. It couldn't be helped, but Max had taken every step to make sure that no one besides those appointed to investigate would have access to either of them while they were in Erudite.
That was something else we both knew would piss Jeanine off to no end if she showed up and was turned away.
Fortunately for us, that didn't happen. By some miracle she hadn't gotten wind of things until this morning when an alert was sent out to all the factions leadership regarding the investigation into Marcus Eaton.
We had the bastard and it was time to take our moves against him public.
But the cost…
I lean back in my chair, my jaw clenched trying not to think about the cost and the resulting emotions I was experiencing. I can't allow my personal feelings to distract me, not at such a crucial moment to achieve the ultimate goal of keeping her safe. Instead I focused on this conference call and Jeanine as she runs over the testimony again from Kat as well as Albert West.
The little shit had spilled everything in his testimony. Jack Kang had barely needed to ask many questions before it just all came spilling out.
Marcus set Al up to follow Tris and Kat wherever they were going to go. He started sobbing when he said he never expected them to pick Dauntless. Then he switched to ranting that it was all Kat's fault. Marcus warned him how wicked she was and that it was possible she would corrupt her older sister into straying from the path of the righteous.
It reminded me so much of what Kat told me about her experiences with Marcus. How he used his factions religion and twisted it to set himself up as some kind of prophet. She had told me how Marcus said that any sins committed in the name of God could be absolved but only if they were directed by his hand and afterwards cleansed by his hand.
I didn't understand what she meant at first but then she pointed to her scars and said that Four and she weren't the only ones who carried those marks. The difference was that the others who carried them welcomed his beatings, because to them they didn't think of it as being beaten…it was being absolved of their sins.
Al seemed to have some of the same beliefs, maybe not as extreme, but close enough that he believed everything Marcus told him to do was doing the work of God. But…he's a Candor…not Abnegation…so the question came up of how he came to have these beliefs.
It was then revealed that his parents are friends of Eaton. They apparently were both from Amity and somehow fell under Marcus' spell. He converted them to his beliefs, using their aptitudes and encouraging them to take their kindness to Candor to help guide them back, using the young former Candor's exact words 'to the only truth that matters'.
I already knew Marcus Eaton is a danger to Kat specifically, but I think that really brought home to all of us just how dangerous he was turning out to be in more ways than we could have imagined.
It also had me wondering if he had that kind of influence in other factions.
Max clears his throat and brings me back to the present. Jeannine is drinking from a glass of water, finished with going over the testimony for now.
"As you can see, given the normal indicators for divergence have failed to present themselves, as well as this new development; it is safe to say that we can move forward and remove the candidate from the list." Max's tone was unemotional and just matter of fact but he didn't stop there. "Of course we can and will continue to be vigilant for the remainder of training. There are still the fear landscapes as well as the final test, and given the intensity of those if there is any divergence it will present itself then as it has before."
Jeanine sets a glass of water down and looks over to Max before letting her eyes fall to me pointedly. "I will expect to be kept up to date on all matters regarding those in question from here on."
I didn't even bother given any signs of agreement, having already decided to let Max handle this next little bit. It was this that had me itching with anticipation. All this time there has been this hold that Jeanine has had on Dauntless, on me, something dangling over our heads that has us making deals with the devil that she is. I don't know what Max's deal was or what his drive could be. What I do know is that after our meeting with Jack and Andrew, before the one we are having now, it felt like everything had changed.
I could almost see years worth of troubles, frustration and burden, if not lifting from the older man's shoulders then at least looking like there was an end in sight after the final verdict.
Marcus Eaton was being removed from his position as leader and then would stand trial for his numerous crimes.
Jeannine would be pleased by that development. I knew that for a fact. I also knew for a fact that with Marcus gone there was now a strong possibility that everything Erudite used to keep its hold on Dauntless and the city could begin to change. But that would come down to who is elected to the Head Councilman position to take his place.
She will also be pleased with how much evidence we've been able to gather to use against the soon to be former Abnegation leader. Though, personally, I would have liked a bit more to use against him.
I hate to admit it, but I had hoped Chase would be right and that fucking Four might actually prove to be useful for once. But so far he hadn't come forward with anything that could help. Which is why I was contemplating bringing his name up to investigate next and see how culpable his cowardice made him in his fathers crimes.
I frown as I think back to Four and his reaction to Al's confessions. The room he is being held in is different and is one that is reserved for patients that require very little contact but need to be able to be communicated with. So there is a big observation area with a speaker that works from both sides. Chase and Zach were with Four and I while Raze and Max were with the others in the room.
I know I wouldn't have been able to keep it together without the presence of Chase, and I faintly remember Zach lowly talking to Four as well. From the few times I bothered to look his way I saw he was just affected by what he was hearing as I was. Then he seemed to disappear.
He wasn't even at the judgment meeting we had with Jack directly after both Kat and Al's questioning.
I was so wrapped up in my thoughts I missed the beginning of Max informing Jeanine of the new developments. By the time he is done I can tell my guesses are correct. She is pleased but I also see in those eyes she's already calculating.
"I'm assuming that the emergency council meeting with the demand for the presence of all faction leaders or representatives is to inform us of Marcus' immediate removal?" Jeanine asks, knowing full well that is the case. That it is the protocol, even if it has never had to be used before.
"Yes. There will also be the call for the immediate election of a new leader." Max agreed without looking at her.
Did he guess how she would react to the possibility of Andrew being elected? Would his knowing or at least suspecting her obsession with the Prior's change how he might vote, for fear of rocking the boat with her?
"I see." Is her simple reply with her lips thinned.
The loud sounding of my phone alerting me to code 240 possibly 217 pierces the strained quiet. The codes are both indicators of an assault but the second one notes that there might have been an intent to kill. The only time we use codes is if it would be a high profile or priority incident. Where details cannot be given over message but would need to be given in person.
Once again I am leaving a meeting, to the obvious and vocal displeasure of Jeanine, but this time I head to Control to meet Chase and the others.
He beat me by seconds and is already barking out orders as soon as we reach the secured area. Zeke is in there furiously working on the monitors.
"Report." Chase snaps out formally before I can get to it.
Zeke's head pops up and he turns to look at us as we continue marching towards him. For a second he looks like he is looking for someone else too before he focuses back on us and begins his report. But it strikes me once again that I'm not seeing Four who should be the one here giving the report.
Then the report Zeke is giving Chase and I registers.
"Last night there was an attack last night in Abnegation. The preliminary reports are that it was done by the factionless inside the home." He gets out in a strained tone and I can see worry in his eyes.
For a moment, time stands still as I think that Kat's worries about Eaton going after her parents was right. All I can focus on his that I've failed her and how this is new is going to destroy her.
"Details. Now." Chase barks out and is already moving on his own to the monitors and computers.
"Marcus Eaton never turned up at the hub this morning when summoned. All attempts to reach him by calls or messages. One of the factions elders was dispatched to his home to check on him and if possible bring him to the hub.
"Eaton?" I choked out in equal measures relief and disbelief. "Marcus Eaton was the one attacked?"
Zeke nods before looking up at me, but when I do I see his eyes slide past me to look somewhere over my shoulder. I turn my head slightly to see the familiar figure of Four standing in the doorway.
His fists are clenched but otherwise he's showing no emotion over what I know he just heard.
My eyes remain narrowly locked on him as I ask my second question since entering the room. "And it's believed the factionless are the ones who attacked Eaton?"
"Yes. Shortly after Marcus was rushed to the hospital one of our first responders to the scene said a person came forward that said there were a group of factionless men who had been hanging around and harassing some of the younger Abnegation women when they were returning from their services. Marcus had words with them and they left but they apparently yelled they would be back."
Having never taken my eyes off him, I saw when Four cuts eyes at me glaring before he looks away and his jaw clenches only to have his eyes widen in slight surprise…relieved even…at his friend's words. His expressions flashed so quickly anyone who hadn't been looking for something wouldn't have seen it.
"Let's put together our response teams but whoever we pick needs to be made to understand this goes under the classified heading since it involves Marcus Eaton." I say to Chase who nods in agreement and pulls out his tablet to go over everyone we have available. "I suggest Zeke here, gets Rob and brings him in so we can brief him. Then I want the two of them to go to the MedCenter to get more information. We can decide how many guards to post there for him as well as the two initiates that were taken there."
Chase and I put our heads together to go over who we need to bring in while Zeke becomes our go between, getting our people radioed in then directing them to Max and Raze to be briefed to the classification levels.
All the while my mind turns with thoughts. Going over Four's disappearance then reappearance and the timing of this attack. The part of me that believes the coward would never be capable of something like this is telling me to carry on with my original plan; to toss him to the wolves, so to speak, and be done with it.
Then there's the other part of me that knows how Kat would feel about that, or anything happening to him.
It's a battle I wage the entire time I'm working with Chase until I finally come to a decision. I glance around the room to see Four working at the monitors, having started his usual routine since no one had told him to do otherwise.
Chase hesitates for a second and throws me a questioning glance. My response is a little smirk before I clear my throat, getting the attention of the entire room.
I see Four's shoulders tense slightly before he too turns to look my way.
"Four, I know you just got back from the Factionless sector looking for the last initiates we cut, but I'm going to need you to go back. Take Wes and Cecil with you and see if you can find the group of factionless from the previous day. Before you do that though, run whatever vid footage we have from that day until Marcus was found and see if there is anything there. Oh, and make sure you three get the same briefing as the others. We need to do this by the book."
He's quiet for a few seconds, looking at me with narrowed eyes. If I know Four he's trying to figure out why I could have possibly just supplied him with an alibi and given him free access to the vid footage.
I honestly don't give a shit what he's thinking or why he finally decides to give me a terse nod because I'm already turning to walk away. I've done as much as I'm willing to do for, not for him, but for Kat. The rest will be on him.
My phone goes off with messages coming in from Max, Raze, and even Jeanine. I ignore the one from her and deal with the others as well as sending a few more out for the needed transport requisitions requests. Chase walks beside me, similarly occupied.
It isn't until we're ten minutes out of the compound that Chase speaks up from the driver seat. "It was Four, wasn't it?"
My head was buried in my phone, sifting through all the information and all the intel that is being fed to me via messages. Four did the surveillance portion of my orders, but as expected with the crappy cameras in that sector there isn't shit that gives any idea of the factionless from the previous day or anything that might have happened that night.
I hesitate to answer at first, making it seem like I'm still absorbed in whatever I was reading. When I do, I look at him and scoff. "As if he would ever have the balls to pull something like that off." I pause and smirk. "The more likely story, the one I know we are going to confirm when all is said and done," I say meaningfully, "...is that it was factionless."
Chase glances at me and a ghost of a smile lifts the corners of his mouth. He knows what I am doing but he isn't going to say it. Not only because he knows I'd kick his ass if he implies I'm doing anything nice for Four…but because he doesn't need to.
We know why I'm doing it, and that's all that matters.
Kat
The sounds of monitors beeping, the murmuring of voices and shuffling of feet as people move outside of my recovery room are my only company right now. The room is finally cleared out. Well mostly cleared, there are two nurses that are assigned to me, one is supposed to remain in the room at all times. So they've rotated out whenever one needs to go do something outside of the room. In addition there are two Dauntless guards stationed outside of the door.
I'm not sure how long ago the group that was questioning me left…but I know it has to have been at least an hour or more. I'm supposed to be resting. That's hard to do when I can't get comfortable because I'm in so much pain. It doesn't help that it feels like every fifteen minutes one of the two nurses assigned to me is poking and prodding at me. The absolute worst was the pitying looks they're giving me. It was making me so upset I just pretended to be asleep.
I know I look bad but I also know that how I look is much worse than I really am, or at least how bad I could have been until I finally pulled my head out of my ass there at the end before Eric and Raze showed up.
I was stupid for holding back and allowing Al to get as far as he did. I got to the dorm and I saw he was going to try to run for it. When I realized that the desire for him to get away was overcoming the immense hatred in his eyes when he looked at me, I knew I had to do something.
So I baited him with a smirk and made a show of bending down by my footlocker, completely turning my back to him and leaving myself ripe for attack. Al is a coward at heart and wouldn't try and attack someone that could put up a fair fight, as shown by how all the previous ones were carried out. I gambled that leaving myself open like that would be too hard for him to resist and it would keep him from running.
He took the bait and then some. He not only attacked me, but just a few verbal taunts from me as I fended him off had him spilling information I don't think he even realized he was giving me. Which is right about when I lost control of things a bit, after I realized why he really attacked me and more importantly what he wanted with my sister.
After he got another few hits on me I lashed back out but much harder than I had been before. I think it scared or worried him enough because that's when the knife came out. That's when I knew I was in trouble.
Going on the offensive wasn't part of my plan. Even if instinct was mostly driving me to go after the person who hurt my sister, I was thinking clearly enough to realize I had to be smart about things. Not only was getting Albert caught important but also minimizing how much trouble I was going to be in for leaving the landscape room and going off on my own. The key to that was to make it look like this latest attack was all on Al. And that meant I had to keep fighting defensively.
Introducing a knife didn't make that strategy impossible for me, not after all the training Eric and I have done for this exact scenario, but it did make it more difficult. Because in that training the goal was always to disarm the person as quickly as possible then turn their weapon on them to put them down for good.
I couldn't do that though. What I could do was use everything I'd been taught to keep him unbalanced while trying to minimize the damage I had to take in the process. I was the better fighter, but Al was still much bigger and stronger than me. I got cocky and forgot that fact because he hadn't ever tried to use those things to his advantage. I miscalculated and figured his loathing for violence would outweigh his apparent hatred of me and everything I supposedly took from him.
That's how I ended up getting stabbed in my side.
I huff in annoyance at myself but it turns into a moan of pain as the motion causes pain to radiate in my side. This alerts the nurse, whose head snaps up and realizes I've been faking being asleep.
She stands up and walks over to the bed with narrowed eyes then she turns quickly and goes back to the desk to call the other nurse back in. They have a hushed conversation that I can't hear too well, but I do pick up bits and pieces of it. I recognize Eric's name being said and something about pain medications.
I grit my teeth and clench my fists to hold myself back from cursing them out. Since I woke up from surgery the nurses have all made known their opinions on Eric's order to not give either Al or myself pain medications. One was even brave enough to say something along the lines of it being only logical considering he is ' one of Jeanine's boys '.
Oh, that had me almost launching myself off the bed in fury.
The person I am most angry at regarding what has the nurses all bent out of shape, is myself. I saw Eric's eyes looking at me through the glass window to listen in as I was laying in this bed when they came to question me. He was livid, yes, but I could see the pain in his eyes too as he looked over all the still bandaged wounds and bruises on my face. But despite all that, he still respected my feelings even though I knew doing so hurt him.
I'm not sure what trouble I'm going to be in because of everything that happened. The biggest thing they seemed to be worried about was the knife I had, how I got it and why I didn't use it. I managed to be truthful enough about my reasons for having it and why I didn't use it. The only thing I had to lie about was how I got it. I told them I pocketed one I found laying around the Dauntless-born training room and that I meant to give it back but didn't. I was truthful when I told them why, that just knowing that I had it made me feel better, so I just kept it even though I hadn't had any intentions of using it.
They were all stoic when they left, not giving any indication about what they thought or if they believed me. None of them stuck around, not even Chase. Even the guards outside aren't anyone I know more than just in passing. So it's just me alone with my thoughts and worries.
I'm so deep in my own mind that I don't notice the nurses approaching or when they start doing their normal checks of my vitals. What does catch my attention is a tugging on my arm, or rather the IV attached to it.
I look down at it at first, confused, then look up at the nurse when I see her removing one liquid filled syringe and swiftly replacing it with another.
"These will only take a few minutes to fully take effect and then that should help with the pain. There's also something to help you sleep too." She informs me with a kind smile and pats my arm when she's finished.
I'm still stunned for a second before my mind catches up, especially when the rushing feel of the dreaded pain medication starts to course through my body. "But I'm not supposed to have those." I insist as my head starts to feel too heavy to keep lifted from the pillow.
"That was only for the questioning. We were under strict orders to not give you any medications until that was done but after it was completed we were told to go ahead and give them to you as we deem necessary."
I started to protest but couldn't muster up the strength, instead I grumbled out a thank you. I wished I could rip the IV out but I knew it was too late to stop what was done. I promised myself that once I woke up I would be making sure they knew I didn't want them, even if I was allowed to have them now.
As my eyes become droopy and my body both feels heavy and relaxed; the panic that was building starts to fade and I have a hazy thought that they probably gave me some kind of calming serum or anxiety medicine too. Because the panic fades until just peace invades me. I'm out whether I want it or not and can only hope the god awful dreams from the past few weeks don't visit me in an Erudite run facility of all places.
Luck or something seems to be with me because for once in…I can't remember how long…I don't dream at all. Or if I do I don't remember.