Jackson's consciousness returned like surfacing from deep water, awareness flooding back in disorienting waves that left him gasping internally though his body refused to respond, and his first coherent thought was terror at the absolute silence and darkness surrounding him until his right eye finally opened and the hospital room materialized in painful, fluorescent detail.

His left eye remained stubbornly closed, the eyelid too heavy and unresponsive to his mental commands, but his right eye ...