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| Line 47: |
Line 47: |
| / of- Later. This will just take a few minutes. / | | / of- Later. This will just take a few minutes. / |
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| / Short walk through the/ | | / Short walk through the/ pinus |
| / Labyrinth. Click-clack of bootsteps in the corridors./
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| / Into lab 7. Wait. Tongue depressors, swabsticks, /
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| / monitors. Wait. Happy birthday to me, happy birthday to—Footsteps in the hall/
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| / Middle-aged, female; stride length and time suggest height approx. 1.7m./
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| / Halsey/
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| / Door swings open. It's her. Coffee stains on labcoat. She gives me the queenly smile. Calls me/
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| / by name not number. Why not? She took my name away./
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| / She owns it now, can use it if she likes. Tactical option reflex: unarmed;/
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| / swabstick through the eye; monitor wire/
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| / garrote. Linger there. /
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| / She tells me to get in the chair. I don't kill her. /
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| /She straps me down. /
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| / Fluorescent lights. Smell of formaldehyde. Still/
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| / feel the new implants, itchy little bumps along my spine./
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| / Eggs waiting /
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| / to hatch. Gross. Try not to think about it./
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| / More footsteps. Door opens and nurse comes in, steel tray rattling with/
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| / needles and scalpels and little evil scissors with hooked blades. /
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| / Halsey picks up a needle. Tests the plunger. Something yellow sprays out. Venom colored. /
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| / Don't worry, she says. The queenly smile. This will hardly hurt a bit./
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| ==The Flea== | | ==The Flea== |
