Gone (Gone 1)

“I can hold him,” a voice said. Caine. “Back away on three. One…two…”

Drake flailed madly, unbound, shrieking, thrashing, hurting himself but unable to stop. The pain…he had never felt anything like it, never imagined anything could be like it.

A force pressed down on him like a thousand hands holding him with firm pressure.

“You have the saw?” Diana’s voice asked. Not smug now, not smug at all, but raw and horrified.

Drake struggled against the invisible force, but Caine had him pinned down with his telekinetic power. Drake could only scream and curse, and could barely move his facial muscles enough for that.

“I am not doing this,” Panda said, weeping. “I’m not sawing off his arm, man.”

The words sent a shock of terror to join the pain. His arm? They were…

“He’ll kill me if I do it,” Panda said.

“I’m not doing it,” various voices chimed in. “No way.”

“I’ll do it,” Diana said, disgusted. “You’re all such big tough guys. Give me the saw.”

“No, no, no!” Drake screeched.

“It’s the only way to stop the pain,” Caine said, almost showing some emotion, some pity. “The arm is done for, Drake-man.”

“The girl…the freak…,” Drake gasped. “She could fix it.”

“She’s not here,” Caine said bitterly. “She’s gone with Sam and the rest of them.”

“Don’t cut off my arm,” Drake cried. “Let me die. Just let me die. Shoot me.”

“Sorry,” Caine said. “But I still need you, Drake. Even one-handed.”

There was the sound of someone bursting into the room. “All I could find was Tylenol and Advil,” Computer Jack said.

“Let’s get this over with,” Diana snapped.

Impatient to maim him. Looking forward to it.

“You do this, he’s going to kill you,” Panda warned.

“Oh, Drake’s already decided he wants to do that,” Diana said. “Tighten the tourniquet.”

“He’s going to bleed to death,” Jack warned. “There must be big arteries in his arm.”

“He’s right,” Caine said. “We need a way to seal the stump.”

“It’s already cauterized,” Diana said. “I just need to cut below the burn.”

“Yeah, okay,” Caine agreed.

“I can’t reach him through your force field,” Diana said. “Can you pull it back to keep his left side paralyzed, and maybe Panda and some of these other supposedly tough guys can grab on to his stump.”

“Let me get a towel, at least. I don’t want to touch that,” Panda said with revulsion.

“Nobody cuts my arm,” Drake rasped. “I’ll kill anyone who touches me.”

“Let him up, Caine,” Diana snapped.

The elephant was off Drake’s chest, he could move again. But now Diana’s face was inches from his, her dark hair hanging down on his tear-streaked face.