Chapter 39: The Wake Up
Pain was the first thing I knew.
It was not a sharp pain. It was a heavy and suffocating weight that pressed down on my chest like a slab of granite. My veins felt like they were filled with broken glass and acid.
I gasped. The air caught in my throat and turned into a cough that rattled my ribcage.
I opened my eyes.
It was dark. I was lying on cold stone. The air smelled of bat guano, dry earth, and old blood.
"You're awake," a gravelly voice said from the shadows.
I tried to sit up. My body screamed in protest. My muscles seized and my nerves misfired. I collapsed back onto the hard ground with a groan.
"Don't move," the voice said. "The poison is still working its way out of your marrow."
A match struck. The flare of light blinded me for a second before
