The light in the elevator fluttered and then went completely dark. The electricity was off and the generator did not kick in. There was little air and it was uncomfortably warm. The portable ventilator was the only sound to be heard, and it seemed to mock the very existence of life.

Annie turned the breathing machine off.

The last exhalation wound down slowly.

Not a sound could be heard in the still darkness except for the breathing of Annie. She struggled to remove the small Electropack attached to the spinal cord protruding out of the large body seated in the wheelchair, the body the doctors called their patient.

It wasn’t easy to remove the fused Electropack but with enough pressure and twisting, Annie was able to pry it away from its base and sever the connections to the spinal nerves. The sound of the Electropack ripping away from its foundation was like the sound of cartilage twisting and popping.

The smell of blood was present.

Annie trembled and broke out in a sweat, her stomach retched, and the taste of acid was present in the back of her throat. She backed away from the wheelchair in the pitch of blackness and slumped to the floor.

to be continued…