Deserter: New Life-Chapter Three-Insanity Threatens

Sam twitched and flicked open a weary eyelid. Sun beat on his face and he groaned and rolled his head away from it. He was brought short when he found his face only an inch away from another. Rain’s dark lashes laid against her cheeks like tiny black fans and her riotous curls fell over his chest and around her face. Sam had one arm around her waist and a handful of her hair in his fist. He flexed his fingers and pulled away from Rain, rolling off the bed to his feet.

He’d stayed with her all night and he’d wakened once to find her gone. It had scared the crap out of Sam, and he’d run from the room to find Rain standing outside where Ven’s ship had been, staring blankly at the stars. Her bare feet were covered in dust and when Sam had laid a hand on her shoulder and said her name, she’d screamed and jumped away from him, her eyes wild.

Rain has screamed again when she saw him and grabbed her head between her hands, dropping to her knees. He still didn’t know what had happened to her, but she’d allowed him to pick her up and carry her back inside. She hadn’t woken up again and now she was there, still sleeping.

Sam found himself just studying her silently. The color had come back to her skin, and the dark golden tones looked normal again. She had high cheek bones and full lips. The strange cut of her pants revealed a tattoo on her right hip and he leaned over to see what it was. It was a black raindrop with an emerald green dragon curled up inside it, staring out with one green eye, its face in profile. He could just make out the end of another tattoo that was spread across the back of her waist. The black lines were curved and delicate, but bold and he admired her bared skin a little more before he felt her eyes on him.

Rain had been watching Sam watch her and wondered what he found so intriguing.

“How you feeling?” Sam questioned, sitting back down on the edge of the bed.

Rain pushed up right. Her back was still sore, but she knew now she was going to live - and hated herself for it. Sam had saved her, damn him. He should have left her; saved Brand and Ven, but not her. She looked away from him and pushed her hair from her face. She used the cloth covered rubber band around her wrist to tie her hair back into a messy bun and shoved a few more loose tendrils back behind her ears.

Sam noticed the look of self hate on her face and grabbed her chin in his hand, forcing her to look at him. “How are you feeling?” he repeated, really wanting to ask why she hated herself so much, but knowing the question might make her run or withdraw so far inside herself he’d never get her to talk. She’d seemed so strong before, so lethal. Now she looked lost, defeated.

“I’m fine,” she stated flatly, grabbing his wrist with iron fingers and pulling away from him. She wasn’t stronger than him, but she was stronger than he’d expected and there were red marks on his wrist from her grip.

“You must be hungry. Let’s get you something to eat,” Sam finally said, rubbing his wrist where’d she’d grabbed it and standing to his feet.

Rain looked away again and curled into the bed. “It doesn’t matter. I wonder if he’s feeding them.”

Sam didn’t ask who she was talking about. He knew. Instead he reached over the bed, grabbed her upper arms and forced her off the bed to her feet.

Feelings of frustration and caring flooded Rain’s mind and she grabbed her temples at the emotional onslaught, crying out slightly.

“What is it? What’s wrong?” Sam demanded, still holding her arms, keeping her from falling when her legs gave out.

“I don’t know!” she cried truthfully. Suddenly she was being bombarded by emotions, like she had last night. Thoughts and feeling from everyone in the building were flooding her mind and she couldn’t shut off the noise. It felt like her sanity was being torn apart from the inside. Rain screamed again and clutched wildly at her temples.

Sam was in a panic. He didn’t understand what was wrong with Rain, why she was acting this way. Her face was twisted in agony and she kept crying out, her hands clutching madly at her head as if to stop whatever pain was causing her reaction. “Rain! You have to tell me what’s wrong! Rain, listen to me!” Sam shook Rain hard, trying to gain her attention and get her to talk to him.

Rain heard Sam’s voice and felt the voices in her head calm slightly. She grasped at the thread of sound that was Sam’s words and clawed towards them mentally, using that thread to reclaim her sanity. “My head,” she managed barely through tightly gritted teeth. “Empathic... the voices won’t -” she paused for breath, still clenching her eyes shut and clutching her head. “Voices,” she continued, “they won’t quiet.”

Comprehension dawned on Sam and he lifted her against his chest and ran from the room, Rain’s whimpers and cries of pain driving him faster and faster. He finally got to an isolation chamber and shifted her weight so he wouldn’t have to put her down while he slid his pass key through the lock. The door light clicked and turned green and Sam shoved the card back in his pocket and kicked the door open with the bottom of his boot. It swung open on silent hinges and Sam carried Rain through three more rooms before finally getting to the last one. It had sound proof walls and flexasteel reinforcements.

The moment they entered the room and the door was shut Rain calmed down, going limp against him and the tension flooded from her body.

Scientists that had done studies on people with any type of ESP had found that the combination of bullet proof glass, steel, and the same composites that were used for space travel vessels was capable of drowning out telepathic frequencies. All hospitals had rooms like this for head cases, just in case said patient really was telepathic. It was obvious that Rain was either very tuned in to peoples emotions, or crazy. He prayed for the former.

Ten minutes passed before Rain opened her eyes and looked at Sam. “I don’t know what’s wrong. It’s never been this bad before.”

“What’s never been this bad before?” he questioned, hoping she’d answer.

“The voices. Before I could always tune them out, block it. Most people block their emotions already, so that helps. Others project their thoughts and feelings like radios, and that hurts, but I can avoid them, or just throw up a thicker block and it drowns it out.” She paused to breathe. Her head was still throbbing even though there was only one voice left, and it was Sam’s. It was like the wall he’d been throwing up before was gone, like her mind had crushed all walls without her bidding it to do so. Rain lifted her eyes to his fully. “I don’t know what happened. It’s like a floodgate has been opened and I can’t close it again. I don’t know how to control it.”

Now Sam was worried. If Rain couldn’t turn off the noise in her head, she’d could go crazy. And she couldn’t live in this room the rest of her life. They’d have to figure out a way to build her resistance back up, and find out what did this to her. “Are the voices louder now than before?”

Rain nodded. “Yes, and I’m hearing more. It’s like my range is farther now. How do I turn it off, Sam? I’ll go mad if I can’t get them to stop.”

Sam could see the fear in Rain’s eyes. No matter how tough she might be, losing her mind still scared the crap out of her. “Don’t worry, Rain, we’ll think of something.”

***

Back to Menu