Download first five chapters - John Trevillian

THE A-MEN | 21see that she’s seething with fury. Every sinew of her body knotted inhatred, yet she finds within herself some shred of restraint. Some wayto turn the other cheek.I try to talk. To articulate the pain and utter terror I feel, but thewords are not there. Just hazy clouds that might be words if only Icould see through their iridescent fog. Inside I can make out what Ibelieve to be letters. But alphabets and syllables and past imperativesare beyond me. Can I even remember what my voice sounds like?Its speed? The music of its intonation? No, I cannot. Robbed ofcommunication, I try to concentrate on non-verbal skills, but I don’tremember the rules. I can’t recall how to interact. And it occurs tome then that I was not asleep before, but unconscious. Dead to theworld. And now I have risen as a newly born infant in the body ofa man. Reincarnated in this god-awful place.A thousand questions scream at me to be answered, but I amunable to even curse. It’s maddening. And the madness only fuels myinfuriation.I struggle, ripping at the restraints. They gnaw at my skin, butotherwise hold fast. Hold me fast.The woman shakes her head a little as I writhe, but apart fromthis, does nothing. Nothing except drying the water from her legsand arms. The tears from her eyes. And once she is done, she tendsher pain.Now that she has moved, I can see that the gash is just a fleshwound. All around it is the dark flower of a bruise. By the skin’swithered paleness, my guess is that it’s from an impact. Skin’s brokenagainst some force. Like the pounding of a hard object. She may haveto get her ribs checked out, but it’s nothing serious. And she knowsthis. Just the way she swabs it tells me so.My eyes flutter as I watch her. Trying to get a grip on the simplethings. Everything else can go hang ten. For now I let my anger burnout. Grunt and look despairingly at the straps. Try to punch her intounderstanding what I want. She gets it immediately.“Uh-uh, Jack.” She uses the name like a scalpel. “Don’t go asking