The first thing I notice is my bound wrists, impossible to move from my sides. Actually, my entire body seems to be trapped on a gurney, my boots squeaking against the bars to keep me in. They brought me back to the hospital, the aseptic smell of rubbing alcohol and forgotten urine stains hard to mistake for anywhere else. Still, my eyes won’t open. They refuse to cooperate.

“Where did you put the rubber block for her mouth?” asks Nurse Ruth, her voice tight with stress. She moves fast, creating wind hitting my face and hair with every movement. Can’t even flinch from it. “We need to treat her now!”

My heart beats faster, the monitor close to my head peaks higher with each beep, but it’s like no one cares whether I’m conscious or not to receive the electric shocks into my brain. Because that’s what the block is for, to prevent my teeth from biting my tongue off. I have to get out of here. I have to find a way off this operating table. My fingers trace the leather straps around my arm, but they’re too tight; their embrace won’t let me move out of them. Someone forces the block against my teeth. It tastes foul, like old dentures.

“What are you waiting for, Ruth?” Oh, here she is, the master of this asylum, the one everyone fears: Docteur Lise, towering over everybody like a scarecrow. Her soft smiles never fooled me. And that accent that everyone finds charming grates on my nerves every time she opens her mouth. “I thought you wanted to be done with her before the night shift comes in.”

“We’ve encountered many roadblocks, Doctor.” Nurse Ruth always sounds different when that one is around. Less aggressive, but not quite close to polite. “Give me two minutes and she’ll be prepped for you to begin treatment.”

Not if I have my say in this. Docteur Lise leaves, taking her Chanel No. 5 intoxication with her, which might be the only time to make my move. If I have one, which I’m not sure. Twitching my wrists into their sockets hurts, but it’s better than letting them fry me brain dead.

“She’s awake.” The quiet whisper is not too far from me, obviously. Another nurse, the one they keep on the treatments floor. She stares at me. I feel her eyes detailing my face. “She can hear us, and she moves, too.”

“Then make sure she doesn’t,” snaps back Nurse Ruth, obviously losing her patience with the other nurse. “Where’s the drip bag? I told you to plug her in two minutes ago. Do I have to do everything myself? Move out of my way, idiot.”

Rough hands tap at the vein on my arm, and the pinprick is about to go in, its needle scratching at my skin. I’m about to scream when the beeping of my heart stops and the unknown nearby machines quiet down.

“What is this now?” Nurse Ruth sounds about to have a heart attack. She shuffles her huge torso close to my head, and whiffs of sweat and coffee breath brush my hair. “Could you check with the guards, please? Might be the ice storm messing with Hydro outside. Ask them to plug the generator right away for a quick emergency, all righty?”

“What is going on here?” Docteur Lise asks, her voice so impatient that her accent comes out in blocks. She moves around me, but it’s not quite enough to push out the drugs they gave me earlier. My eyes remain closed, unwillingly. “What have you—”

An explosion hits the room. A bright light booms, turning my eyelids burning red. Lightning electrifies the air into a ball of light and zaps everyone with a shock. Someone gasps, another one yelps, but everyone in the room thumps in one heap on the floor. Then, nothing but silence.