Sara Flowers opened her eyes. She squinted against the bright light shining down on her thin face. She raised a hand to block it, noticing the tag on her wrist.

She squinted at it. When had she checked into the hospital? What had happened to her. Was there a truck involved?

She didn’t seem that badly hurt. She took a moment to feel her body. She couldn’t feel any pain. Had she been so badly hurt that she couldn’t feel anything at all. She used one hand to pinch the other. She could feel that. She reached down to her toes. She could feel the touch through the sheet.

What had happened? She didn’t like the gap in her memory.

“So you’re awake,” said someone from the other side of the room. She spotted a white coat withdrawing. “I will let the agents know so they can do their spiel.”

She wondered about that. What was she in for? What kind of agents tried to talk to you in your hospital room? Could she have them booted if she didn’t feel like talking? Did she want to?

She needed to know how she had wound up in a bed in an obvious hospital room, and how she could get out of there without too much hassle. The rest would have to take care of itself.

“How do you do, Miss Flowers?,” said a man in a gray suit, dark ascot, and graying dark beard. “I’m Bob Bright. This is my opposite number, Mister Kosch. We’re here to talk to you about your future.”

“Or your lack of one depending on your decision,” said Mister Kosch in a gritty

Batman voice. His dark suit made his complexion seem even darker than it was. Dark hair swept back into horns on either side of his head.

“What do you mean?,” said Sara. She felt her hand curl into a fist. Could she get out of bed and escape from these two before they could do anything. She didn’t think so.

“We are at war, Miss Flowers,” said Bright. “Mister Kosch and I are recruiters for the sides fighting and we think that you could be the next valuable fighter for either one of our sides.”

“We wish for you to join the winning side,” said Mister Kosch. “My side.”

“Malarkey,” said Bright. “You’re losing. When we recruit Miss Flowers, her obvious talent will help us speed up the process of pushing you back into the Sea of Chaos where you belong.”

“I think someone should call the doctor,” said Sara. “I don’t know what you two are talking about, and I don’t think I care.”

“We want you to fight for us,” said Bright. “Putting things back in order will help fix it where people can be reincarnated like they should be.”

“We want you to fight for us,” said Kosch. “You will have your own domain to run as you see fit, slaves as long as you can gather them, and the heads of your enemies in front of your tower of power.”

Sara looked around. She spotted the call button built into the side of her bed. She pushed it with a thumb, and held it down.

“Hello?,” said the voice she had heard glad that she was awake.

“I have two idiots in my room,” said Sara. “I need them kicked out.”

“Don’t be rash, Miss Flowers,” said Bright. He held up a hand. “Once we leave, you will be hunted by Kosch’s forces. You will be put in chains for the rest of eternity.”

“He’s right about that, Slim,” said Kosch. “The boys haven’t been let loose in a long time. They would love to have fun with you.”

Anger welled up in Sara. She glared at the two recruiters. Their masks slipped for a second to show what was underneath. Fear replaced the anger.

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“What are you?,” said Sara. She couldn’t help cringing away from her visitors.

“We’re recruiters for the forces of light and darkness,” said Bright. “And we want you to pick a side.”

“Is there a problem?,” said the voice Sara had called. It belonged to a white lab coat, gloves and a stethoscope tucked in a pocket. There was nothing else there.

“Are you a doctor?,” asked Sara. “I need to know what’s wrong with me, and what’s going on.”

“I’m Doctor Doubtless,” said the coat. “You died. We have everything put back in place to repair the trauma of your death so you should be ready to go at any time.”

“Wait,” said Sara. “I died? I don’t feel dead.”

“You wouldn’t,” said Doubtless. He rubbed his hand gloves together. “When

someone gets hurt bad enough to die, we put them back together and send them on their way. So you can fight for Bright, or Kosch, or go to the Tower and try to get your life back, or try for another.”

“Wait,” said Sara. She glared at the recruiters. “I don’t have to fight? I can just go somewhere and live again.”

“I wouldn’t say that,” said the doctor. “Kosch’s people enslave any soul that doesn’t freely join them, and you will be traveling through their holdings to get to the Tower. Bright’s people won’t hinder you, but they won’t help you either. You might be able to get help at the other hospitals, and places of neutrality if you can find them.”

“No one has made it to the Tower in a long time, Miss Flowers,” said Bright. “You would be throwing away your future.”

“On the other hand, if you won’t fight for us willingly, you’ll fight for us when we take you,” said Kosch. “Either way, my side wins.”

“There is a time limit,” said Doubtless. “The recruiters are going to need your answer in five minutes. After that, you will be on your own with whatever side you pick, or running for your life as a free agent.”

“I need some clothes,” said Sara. “And I need a map to this Tower.”

“Are you sure that’s your final answer, Miss Flowers?,” asked Bright. “Once I leave, you will be on your own.”

“It doesn’t matter if you join now, or after we hunt you down,” said Kosch. “It’ll be easier for you if you join now of your own will.”

Sara pushed back the sheets and stood on her feet. She held on to the bed. New blood rushed around inside her body fast enough to push her to fainting. She held on until the numbing cloud cleared.

“I’m not joining either side,” said Sara. “I’m going home to my life, to my kids, my cats, and what I want to do. I think the two of you should get out of my way.”

“How are you going to fight, Miss Flowers?,” asked Bright. “You won’t make it out of the hospital. The local lord will make sure of that.”

“We’ll see about that,” said Sara. “I need some clothes.”

“There are some in the closet,” said Doubtless. He opened the door to reveal a rack of clothes that seemed to be infinite but restricted at the same time. “The hospital won’t mind if you take something so you can start your new existence.”

“Thanks,” said Sara. “How do I get to the Tower?”

“You can’t miss it,” said the coat. A hand glove raised the shades for the windows. Light flowed into the room. In the distance, a needle touched the sky. “It’s at the center of everything here, and reaches into the living world, but it’s a long way from where we stand at the moment.”

“Cars, trains, planes?,” asked Sara. She began laying clothes on the bed.

“If you can find them,” said Doubtless. “Are you sure you want to do this?”

Sara glanced at the recruiters. Neither looked trustworthy to her. She gathered up the clothes and boots she had picked out to wear.

“I think I will be fine,” said Sara. She went to the marked door of the bathroom. “How do I do the thing with the closet?”

“You find a door, and think about a closet,” said Doubtless. “Why?”

“I might need a change of clothes down the line,” said Sara. She stepped into the bathroom to change from the hospital gown to her new outfit.

Raised voices told her that the recruiters were not pleased that the doctor had given her more information than they wanted her to have. She was fine with that. It just cemented the fact they weren’t trustworthy.

And she knew the closet trick worked anywhere she could find a door. She wondered how many places that could be in the brief landscape she saw.

She wondered if the trick worked for weapons. She hadn’t seen any in the closet when she was looking for clothes. Maybe she should think about an arsenal, or armory.

Maybe she could get a car if she thought about a motor pool.

She needed to get a weapon. She doubted Kosch’s people were going to wait the whole five minutes before they tried to corner her. If he couldn’t be trusted, why would anyone on his side be trusted?

And she didn’t want to be chained down when she had a chance to get out of this weird situation and get back on her feet.

She took a moment to think about being dead and rebuilt. She went to the bathroom mirror and raised her shirt so she could look at her side near her kidneys as much as she could see over her shoulder. The scars from when she had been attacked by a Corgi were gone. She had always lied and said it was from a bigger dog because of the embarrassment. Now they were gone.

The problem was she had a new scar near her temple that looked like something left over from a beating. She knew that was the fatal wound when she saw it. It cried to her. She closed her eyes to shut off potential problematic memories so she could concentrate on what she had to do next.

And what she had to do was get a gun to help her get to the Tower in the distance.