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I groaned.
I screamed.
The pain only got worse. Tearing me inside out. Eating me. A thousand teeth were eating me. Chewing their way through my searing veins and gnawing at my frost-frozen bones.
I bowed in bed with a sudden jolt of misery, only to fall backward and gasp for breath.
I was drowning.
Drowning on air.
Choking on oxygen while my heart forgot how to pump.
“Fucking hell, what’s wrong with him?” a man snapped in Turkish. My brain was confused hearing my mother tongue.
“I thought you said he’d wake up after a few hours and be no worse for wear,” the same man snarled. “He’s getting worse. He’s turning grey, for fuck’s sake. His breathing is slowing.”
“Perhaps he’s allergic—”
“Are you trying to blame your incompetence on my son?”
“No, efendim. Of course not.”
“You got the dosage wrong.” A loud crash as if someone had thrown something. “Get my doctor up here. Right now. He’s dying!”
“Yes. Of course. Right away, efendim.” A door banged, leaving silence interrupted by the heavy breathing of someone beside me.
His hand wrapped around mine. His head landed on my shoulder. He sucked in a wet breath that sounded suspiciously like a sob. “Please, Aslan. Hold on. It wasn’t supposed to be like this. If I wanted you to die, I would’ve used a bullet, not a tranquilliser. Hold on. It will be okay. I promise. Just hold on for me. You’re finally home. You can’t leave me again.”
The pain pushed me deep.
I faded.
Time skipped.
I woke to different hands touching my burning body, the pain somehow even worse. I was no longer being eaten alive; I’d been eaten. Every organ was exposed. My skin was flayed. My blood pooled all over the floor.
Please.
Fuck, please....make it stop!
“He’s suffering a reaction to xylazine. See how his skin is turning black around the puncture wound? It’s necrosis. His tissue is dying.”
“Stop it then!” a man roared. “Do something.”
“It’s not easy to fix. How long did you say he’s been like this?”
“Ten hours.”
“Ten—?” The man cursed. “You should’ve called me immediately, efendim.”
“He was tranquilised. He was resting fine. The sedative worked perfectly until he started rousing.”
“But now it’s killing him.”
“I command you to keep him alive!”
A long pause before the doctor said, “I will remove some of the damaged tissue. I cannot promise it will stop the spread. It depends how much damage has already been done. He will need antibiotics internally and externally. When was his last tetanus injection?”
“How the fuck am I supposed to know? He was stolen from me when he was eight months old!”
A flurry of movement followed by a prick in my arm. “There. I’ve given him tetanus so that’s one less thing to worry about. I’ve also administered tolazoline. It’s not approved for use in humans but acts as a reversal agent to xylazine poisoning in ruminants. Hopefully it helps.... For now, please leave the room and let me work.”
“I’m not going anywhere.”
“Fine. Then shut up and stay out of my way.”
A roar that sounded like a bear. “I will tolerate you speaking to me like that if you succeed in stabilising my son, Çetin. But if you do not...you and I are having words.”
“Yes, efendim. I apologise. I’m only concerned. I despise the use of xylazine and have seen far too many deaths. Y-You don’t deal in this substance, do you, Kara?”
Another pause.
“I would never sell drugs that kill. If I’d been aware the dart was this dangerous, I would’ve found another way to subdue him. Do you honestly think I would put my own flesh and blood through this?”
“No. I believe this was an honest mistake.”
“Then fix it...please.”
“I’ll do my best, efendim.”
The darkness opened wide.
The fire turned black.
It swallowed me whole.
* * * * *
My eyes opened.
Light stabbed me right in the skull.
I winced and closed my eyes again, hissing as I slowly sank back into my body and stopped floating in some place I couldn’t remember. My ribs and hip ached from the car accident, and the stitches in my shoulder caught on the sheets behind me. All the bruises from the men beating me up that night did their best to make me suffer, but those pains were nothing to the aftershocks of flames that’d scorched my entire body.
A shuffle of clothes before someone rested their hand on my shoulder and leaned over me. A mask was removed from my mouth and nose, taking away the faint breeze of air.
I froze as my eyes locked on Cem Kara.
I tried to speak, but my throat was too dry.
I went to push him away, yet only succeeded in raising my hands a little. Hands that were slightly grey while my left one was stabbed with an IV. My lion and siren tattoo glinted in the sunlight beaming through the open windows. The ink was overly perfect, freshly done with crisp, sharp lines.
