Off Limits
The only light came from the synchronized glare of four twenty-four-inch matte-black diagnostic monitors, casting a pale, geometric grid of white and amber luminosity across my hands.
My right side was a localized zone of white-hot agony. Every time the diesel engine of the van idled too roughly against the cracked asphalt of the alleyway behind the industrial textile mill, a sharp, sickening spike of pain shot through my lower rib cage, a brutal reminder of the physical confrontation with Jeremy at Level Zero twelve hours earlier. The medical binder around my torso was wrapped so tightly it restricted my lung expansion to less than sixty percent of its normal volume, forcing my breathing in