A.N. Angst level still at elevated...

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CHAPTER 9

Inara awoke in a cell very similar to the one Prio had had her in and it stirred torturous memories of the man she had killed back on Osiris. As soon as she realized she was laying on a mite-covered foam mattress, Inara shot out of the bed shaking with revulsion. She could feel the grime and decay all over her skin and hair, like crawling ants. As she tried to slough off the filth, her dislocated shoulder screamed painful warnings to her brain, threatening her consciousness.

“Is this all you have, Jantis!” she screamed. “You can’t bury me forever!”

Ignoring the protests in her shoulder, she ripped off her cloak and threw it against the door. The momentum of the move, combined with pain and dizziness from her injury sent her reeling into the back wall and she slumped on the floor. Her cloak was unsatisfyingly soft for such violence and fell short of the opposite wall, clunking and rattling on the floor. Her first aid kit!

Inara ripped through the fabric, trying to find the pocket where the little box was hidden. The box had burst open, its contents filling the folds of the robe. Microbicides, instant cold packs, antibiotics… most of the painkillers, the gauze, and the tape had been used up. After swallowing the last pain pill, she pulled out one of the instant cold packs, popped the seal, and held it to her injured shoulder.

Time passed. Inara had no idea how much time, but by the time she came to herself again, the pack on her shoulder was lukewarm. What had come over her? The anger, the fire, it wasn’t her. She could only remember bits and pieces of the afternoon, after Jantis had left her with the doctor. The burn on her fingers from the peroxide, the jolt in her wrist from when she knocked out those guards. The weight of Jantis crushing her rib cage. The loud, echoing pop in her shoulder.

And now she was here. Buried. No windows, no posh bed, no food.

Her stomach growled at the thought. Would they still br