Cipher Code {complete}

Chapter Fifty Two: Secrets Of The State.

Nothing Corey did could alleviate the pounding ache that tormented him. Though his eyes were screwed shut, his face pressed deep into the pillow beneath his head, the migraine didn't stop. The pain drilled through his skull and stabbed into his brain, sending pulses of fire flowing through his body. Despite all his willpower, the minister could not find it in him to hold on any longer. He felt himself drifting, riding the waves of agony until he felt nothing else but his disintegration.

Dawn, where are you?

Already, he was covered in sweat. It stung his eyes and his fresh wounds, adding to his torment, but Corey couldn't scream. He didn't dare to. He was ashamed, scared of what she would thing when she saw him.

Corey could see her eyes widen in realization, in hurt, as she finally understood that he had been lying to her. That under her nose he had been poisoning himself, stopping himself from getting better.

He had seen that look before and it had almost killed him.

"Sorry, Corey." He heard Rhea Lee say from behind him. "I have to put your chip back, I can't let this go on."

Corey raised his head and forced himself to look at her, despite his pain.

"I'm fine," he protested weakly but was unable to fight back when the doctor captured his wrist.

"You're barely alive," she hissed, the portable chipping device already in her hand, "this time it's going into your bone."

Corey was forced to face the permanence of her decision as she stared down at him with a serious glare. "I was close, so close. . . If I had just a little more time," he told her wearily then calmed down, his gaze suddenly serene. "How much time do I have left?"

Save the capital.

"Sorry Corey, it's not long." Rhea Lee frowned, her eyes evading his. "Five months at most. A year or two, if you're lucky and this works."

Corey said nothing. The tug of his powers on his life force had always been draining, it had been that way since he was a child. That was one of the reasons why he could never give Dawn the love she wanted, she didn't know that it would kill her.

A soft smile passed his lips as he thought of how she vowed to cure him, not knowing that she was all he needed. But he could never take her, not without taking her life anyway. That's why he had Rhea Lee remove his chip. He didn't want to die, but at the same time he did.

Whether the chip made his condition better or not had always evaded him. It suppressed his powers and made him dull. It kept him under control until the strength of his abilities got too much for his body and he had to resort to the stronger cocktail his father had fed him as a child to stop him from accidentally killing people whenever he had nightmares. The pain was endless but the chip stopped him from feeling it.

The flare-up of his powers happened every three months, and each time his body would be wracked with agony until he poisoned himself with that horrid cocktail. It kept him in a state of barely living that would last for the next three months. He never felt like eating or sleeping or talking, but the chip forced him to be active, giving him supplements through his bloodstream and sending reminders to keep him moving.

Corey had gone through the cycle too many times to quit now, his system was used to it.

Save the capital.

If he took the chip now then he'd live for two years at most but all his power would have dissipated by then, along with his life. If he didn't take the chip then he'll only have a few months, but his powers would be stronger than ever and the pain would fade.