Prologue

I can’t breathe. 

The thought shudders through my mind with horrifying certainty. Can’t breathe, can’t move, can’t think, not safe. Have to get away. Away from what? A voice not entirely my own asks. A good question, not unreasonable. I cast around for the answer. Can’t breathe, can’t move, can’t think, not safe. Then a sound, a shout, rips through the air around me. What it says I can’t make out, it's there and gone again too fast for my mind to grasp. Shouting, danger, not safe, have to get away. I feel my limbs start to move. Uncurling from the surface supporting them. The lack of pain suggesting I haven’t been in that position long. One step, off balance, stumbling. Another. Hands. Not mine, someone else’s. Fear flashing through me in a sharp wave. Hands holding me, keeping me there. Danger, not safe, not safe, not safe. A siren going off inside my head. I try to rip myself away. Can’t get away, can’t move, can’t breathe, not safe. Hands on my arms, pulling, tugging. Round my chest, squeezing. Can’t breathe, can’t breathe, can’t breathe. Something sharp hits my shoulder, pain radiating from the site. Then nothing. The dark swallows me whole.