Chapter 1: Preface

VOLUME ONE: STITCH

She woke to the sound of heavy boot steps marching down the hall and the familiar pang in her hip bones wrought from too many nights on a rigid metal cot. The back of her throat ached from the icy air ravaging her lungs; she could almost see her breath as she let out a weary sigh, resigned to another day in this hell.

What time was it? It was always difficult to tell from within her dim windowless cell. She listened as the footsteps approached, attuned to the jangle of the keys in the guard's pocket and the soft clap of the rifle against his back. Then she heard something she hadn't noticed before - a second set of footsteps, softer than the guard's, following slightly behind.

She shot up with a quick gasp, adrenaline surging through her body and firmly shaking off the last wisps of her semi-peaceful slumber. The footsteps paused outside her door as she registered the soft whooshing of a lab coat and the gentle tapping of fingertips against a tablet. She was certain now that they had finally come to fulfill their grisly promise.

She'd known this was a risk when she accepted her mission. Now she cursed the misguided hero complex and sorry luck that had landed her here. She had failed, and now she was going to reap her recompense.

As the heavy automatic locks on her cell door released with a tumultuous clang, she turned to face her captors, steeling her resolve for whatever unspeakable nightmare awaited her.

She was only glad that he wasn't close enough to hear her screams.