No answer.
“God damn it.”
I stood again, cradling my aching arm.
“Tell me where you’re taking me. Or I’m going to keep ramming up against that door.”
It wasn’t a great plan. But it was all I had.
There was still no answer.
Fine. Have it your way.
I turned, despite the screaming of my shoulder, getting ready to launch myself at the door once more, when the van suddenly screeched to a stop, sending me flying to the floor in a heap. Before I could right myself, the doors were yanked open. Instinctively, I crab-crawled backwards, cornering myself against the front wall of the vehicle. A man, dressed all in black, jumped into the van and grabbed me, wrestling me beneath him as I screamed, spat, and kicked.
I’m not going to die in the back of this fucking van. Not today.
I managed to get my knee up, ramming it between the man’s legs as hard as I could. He gave a choked-sounding grunt, and I took advantage of the moment of surprise, wriggling out from under him and scrabbling for the open doors. I was so close. So close to being able to jump right out those doors -
- when a hand closed around my ankle, yanking me back. My arms slid out from under me as I was pulled, my chin colliding painfully with the metal floor, rattling my teeth.
“No, no, no,” I said, over and over again. It was like that was the only word left in my brain.
A second man appeared at the back of the van, jumping inside.
“Jesus, Hanson, can’t even keep a 25-year-old grad student under control?”
“Shut the fuck up and just give her the damn shot,” the man holding me growled as I fought to pull my wrists from his iron grip.
Shot? Did one of them have a gun?
The thought renewed my strength and I fought as hard as I could, with everything I had left, my teeth sinking into the first man’s forearm.
“Fucking hell, hurry up, man! I’m gonna get tetanus or some shit from this.”
“You’re fine. All of them have clean medicals. Anyway, I got it. Here we go. Nighty night, Princess.”
There was a prick of pain in my neck, then a creeping, liquid burning, spreading under my skin.
And then, there was only darkness.
CHAPTER TWO Cece
“Y’all think she’s OK?”
“How the hell should I know? I don’t even know if we’re OK.”
“You know what I mean. She’s the only one who hasn’t woken up yet. She looks like she got banged up real good.”
“Hold up! I feel like I just saw her eyelids move.”
“Bullshit.”
“I swear! Dude, look! She’s totally waking up.”
Strange voices swirled around me, their words coming tantalizingly close to being understood in my foggy brain. I was tired. So tired. Everything felt heavy. Even my tongue. And especially my eyelids. There was pain, too. In my arm and my shoulder and my face.
I’m just going to sleep a little more...
“Oh, no you don’t.”
I was being shaken, now. And the words were coming in more clearly.
“This is no time for nappin’, hun. Wake up.”
Is that you, Grammy?
I forced my eyelids open, my eyes tracking left and right as I tried to focus in on the face in front of me. It wasn’t Grammy. Of course not. Idiot.
The face above me was young, maybe even a year or two younger than me, with high cheekbones and almost invisible blond brows, one of which was pierced, set over deep blue eyes. A stud in her nostril glimmered, and she had another piercing in her nose, a ring that hung down low, between her nostrils. In my confusion, I couldn’t remember the name of that kind of piercing. All I could conjure up was the image of a bull. I looked closer at her, trying to get my eyes to focus better. Though her features were lovely, delicate, even, her shaved head gave her a take-no-shit appearance, and her stormy expression could rival the anger of any bull on the planet.
“Why isn’t she answering? Maybe she hit her head.”
Huh? Had someone been asking me a question?
“Give her a minute and let her catch her breath. Dang.”
The piercings girl’s face got closer.
“Whaaat’s youuur naaaaaame?” She said slowly, dragging the syllables out. I heard someone scoff behind her.
My name? That was something I could remember.
“Celia. Cece.” My voice cracked. Damn, my mouth was dry.
“Here, give her this.”
A hand came into view, passing Piercings Girl a metal bottle which she opened and pressed to my lips.
Um. Should I really be drinking this?
I had no idea where the hell I was, or how I’d gotten there. But I was so, so thirsty.
Screw it.
I took a sip, relieved to find it seemed to be just plain old water. I took another sip before inhaling some and starting to choke, each cough sending shooting pain through my head.
“Quick, get her sittin’ up.”
Piercings Girl passed the bottle to someone else, then reached around my back, helping to pull me upright. It took a minute for the coughing and the pounding in my head to subside, and when it did, I finally raised my eyes and looked around.
I, we, were in a strange-looking room. The walls were grey, as were the floors, shining like brushed metal. I was sitting on the bottom of what seemed to be a bunk bed. There was another set of bunks directly across from where I sat, and I noticed another girl sitting there, staring at me. Her pale face had a bruise blooming along one side, and when she saw me looking, she shifted her glossy black hair to try to hide it.
“I’m Katerina. Kat for short,” the girl with the piercings, who was sitting next to me, said. She had the water bottle back and held it out to me again, and I drank, being careful not to confuse my stomach and my lungs this time. “That’s Melanie.” She pointed at the dark-haired girl across from me, who nodded stiffly.
“And I’m Theresa,” said a voice from beside me. I looked to the side, then up, to meet the gaze of another girl around my age standing next to me, leaning one elbow against the metal frame of the top bunk. Her straw-coloured hair was cut bluntly at her shoulders, and her brown eyes were looking at me kindly. Her yellow sundress looked strangely out of place in the metallic grey of the room. When I looked closer, I noticed one of the straps was ripped and hanging down by her side. As if someone had torn it. As if she’d been in a struggle.
“Here,” she said, sitting down on the mattress beside me and reaching for the water bottle.
Wordlessly, I handed it to her, and she poured a little of the liquid into her hand before moving her cupped palm up to my chin. I sucked in a breath and jerked back at the stinging sensation. She dabbed lightly at my skin, then frowned.
“Well, that didn’t do a whole heck of a lot, hun. Sorry. Nasty gash you got there.” It was only then I noticed the Southern drawl that shaped her voice. She must be American. An international student?
But wait. This definitely didn’t seem to be the University of Toronto. At least, no building I had ever seen.