To the Sound of a Storm Prologue
By Matt Lawson

She couldn't move...

Strapped to the operating table, there was no way to escape. She would have been too weak to do anything anyway. She wanted to cry, but there were no more tears left to shed.

In front of her, two men. Both were in white coats, looking at her without any form of emotion in their faces. One of them was typing something into the computer on her right. He was oriental-looking, though she couldn't tell whether he was either Chinese or Japanese, with a scar around the bottom of his neck. The other was white, yet just as menacing, messing around with various needlesand syringes. She knew what each one was for, she had been subject to them for God knows how long.

She heard some incoherent mumbling from the oriental, and watched as he stood up and turned towards the door. As he left, she felt a sting in her leg as a needle embedded itself inside, and a cold liquid, sedatives most likely, was pumped into her system. The other scientist also turned to leave, but paused, turned round, and walked back to her. He put his hands on her shoulders, they felt cold and clammy.

The scientist then said something. She couldn't hear what he said, but the voice echoed in her mind. Whether it was the result of of the sedatives, or the result of the long years of torture she had endured, she did not know. She felt his breath as he leaned towards her, then suddenly she felt something wet slowly brush itself against her face. As the man's own face came back into view, she spat out what little saliva she had.

She suddenly felt a burst of pain as the man, enraged, grabbed a scalpel from the nearby table and slashed her face. She suddenly felt her panties being pulled down, and something force itself inside her.

As she felt something move painfully inside, a hand clutching her chest, she tried to think. There was a word for what was happening to her. It was a horrible, terrible word. It felt painful, whatever it was.

What was that word?

Then she remembered.

Rape.

She was being raped.

She tried to scream, but she couldn't. So she soflt ymoaned in pain as the man continued, thrusting himself in and out of her. She felt something gush inside, then the pain stopped.

She watched as the man laughed, then prepared to start again.

Suddenly, he turned round, and was immediately grabbed by a huge man.

A giant, clothed in blood-red.

All she could do was watch as the giant held the scientist in mid-air, his hand over the other's face, then push his middle and fourth finger hard into his eye sockets. The scream and the squeltching noise continued to echo in her mind, it wouldn't stop.

He threw the lifeless, eye-less body to the floor and turned to face her.

Fear racked her body as the giant took several steps towards her, grinning, his crystal-like eyes staring at her.

The skull emblem on his cap began to blaze.

She screamed.

It surged forward, its skeletal jaws open in a burst of fire.

Then, there was darkness.

She bolted upright in her bed, gasping for air. Her breathing was heavy, and rapid. Then it slowly returned to normal. Cammy looked at her surroundings. There were no metallic wals, no bits of machinery, no surgical instruments or operating tables. All there was was her bed, furniture, a TV at the far end, a stereo, and a PC that hummed quietly nearby as it performed its regular virus scan, the monitor switched off. It was just the bedroom of her apartment.

She sighed. She had had the dream again.

She put her hand to her head, then immediately drew it back when she felt how much sweat she had poured during that night. She reached over and grabbed her towel that she always kept on her bed-side table, then wiped off the sweat. She put her hand under her pillow, and pulled out the Duo pistol hidden underneath it. It was still fully loaded.

At least she didn't have to kill anyone, thank God. Cammy noticed Jess, her cat, on her feet, staring at her from the other side of her bed. She reached her hand outards, and the cat walked towards her.

"At least you don't suffer what we humans can," she said quietly. Jess just purred softly as she was picked up and held in Cammy's arms.

Cammy looked at the bedside clock. 4:56 a.m.. Dawn was just about to break. In four hours she was going to be travelling to the MI6 building for the first time.

Not that it mattered to her what time it was. She had slept enough.

A flash of white light. She walked to the window and pulled the curtains back, her night gown flowing along the floor. The rain poured down over London town outside. Flashes of lightning occasionally accompanied the rain. The dark blue sky began to brighten slowly as the sun began to rise. She smiled.

What a nice, typical English summer evening. The rain must be lovely and warm.

Jess purred in her arms, as she sat down next to the window and watched the dawn breaking to the sound of the storm.