Now, though, it was as if it’d happened all over again.
Any healing that’d been done to it while I was lying on the cool concrete, was abruptly halted by my rough treatment.
I screamed as white hot lighting shot up my spine, and vomit surged up my throat.
I emptied the contents of my stomach onto the man at my side, coating him from chest to shoes and everywhere in between.
I was dropped once again, and I took the moment to open my eyes and look around, pushing the pain brutally away with sheer force of will.
Force of will that I’d borrowed from Nikolai in a desperate move to not only save myself, but the others in the room with me who also didn’t have a choice.
Easy, Nikolai’s ripple through my mind said, making me calm slightly. I’ve got you.
I took everything in through a pain filled haze.
The room, or should I say cabin, we were in, was a one-bedroom open styled floor plan. One side of the large room was the kitchen, where we were currently located. The other side housed a bed and wardrobe, as well as a bathroom behind a curtain.
The single window that led to the outside showed nothing special.
An old curtain hung partially over the old glass. Trees were beyond the glass, lining the entire view.
Then I continued to survey, even when I was picked up once again.
This time by a different set of men, not including the man I’d puked on.
My eyes finally went to the lone door, and I was glad to see that it had glass, allowing me to see out.
And as they moved me closer to the front door where the hospital bed lay, I got a good look outside the window.
Excitement coursed through my veins as I saw the water tower.
To most it wouldn’t be that significant.
However, this one had a huge ‘Dallas’ painted on the side in red, white, and blue lettering.
It’d been special to the city having been donated by an old war vet that’d left all his money that he’d been able to save in his lifetime to the area of Dallas where he’d grown up.
He’d requested that the money that he’d donated be put to good use on something that would benefit the entire community.
And since they had needed the water tower, they’d bought it.
Then had declared it, ‘Teddy Reed’s water tower.’
Got it, Nikolai said. I need to talk to Keifer and the boys. But I’ll be back.
Then, just as suddenly, I was once again alone in my head and able to concentrate on my immediate surroundings again.
I’d deliberately ignored the table at my side, but now I finally gave in to my sick curiosity and looked down at the instruments on the smooth surface.
“I wasn’t going to torture you, since you’re my sister after all,” my brother said. “But you’ve pissed me off today by not following directions. So now you’ll do what I tell you to do, and like it. Do you understand, sis?”
I wanted to slap him, but the special part of me that hadn’t known I’d existed, i.e. control, stayed with me long enough for me to take whatever medication that he’d just given me.
I wasn’t picky about what they’d given me.
Nikolai and I had had a long discussion on what would happen to my body now that I had special healing capabilities.
Anything, such as Motrin or Tylenol would likely affect me for only a short period of time.
Nikolai’s sister was working on a way to lengthen the effectiveness of the drugs, because when someone got hurt and needed to be sedated, whomever was having the procedure done on them, repeatedly got knocked out by physical means because they couldn’t make them stay still any other way.
“Are you even fucking listening to anything I am saying?” my brother snarled, pulling my hair back so hard that a fistful of hair was in his hand as he shook his fist in my face to show me.
I shouldn’t have done what I did.
I should’ve stayed calm.
I should’ve let Nikolai do what he needed to do.
But I didn’t.
I reared back with my legs, then sent both straight into his chest.
It hit his breast bone with a crack, and I very clearly made out the sound of ribs breaking.
I was thankful for my boots that I’d worn.
I’d intended to go for a small walk around the lake, and due to the rain we’d had the previous night, I’d prepared for the possibility of mud.
I’d worn them out of deference to my mate, who continually said I needed to be more careful about the mud. That a good pair of boots would likely save me from a snake bite if it ever came down to it.
I’d worn them, even though they were incredibly uncomfortable.
They proved to come in handy now, though.