Helga, who had remained silent until now, glanced at Aron. Her eyes softened for a mont, a brief flicker of sympathy, but her posture remained firm. She was guarding Es, protecting her from whatever might co next, but even she couldn’t stop the pain that had already taken hold.
"We need to get her out of this," kai muttered, his voice raw with emotion. He reached for the straps, but Helga’s hand shot out, stopping him mid-movent.
Kai’s voice rose with barely-contained fury as he turned to Helga. "Are you crazy? Do you want to kill her?" His words cut through the heavy silence, but Helga didn’t flinch. She remained still, gripping her ears as if trying to drown out the noise, her eyes focused ahead as if she was wrestling with so internal struggle. Her posture was rigid, locked in tension, but she made no move to defend herself against Kai’s accusation.
A few agonizing monts passed before she finally spoke, her voice low and strained, as though the weight of her words pained her. "If we release her, she’ll suffer for much longer." There was a finality to her tone that made everyone pause. She wasn’t talking out of fear—this was sothing she believed with her whole being.
Kai’s frustration faltered as confusion clouded his expression. He looked at Helga, trying to make sense of what she was saying, but her explanation wasn’t enough. He turned toward Es instinctively, his eyes narrowing as they landed on her trembling hands. That’s when he noticed the deep, angry nail marks scarring both of her hands. His breath caught in his throat when he saw the wound on her forehead—a gash like she’d slamd into sothing hard, maybe the ground. Blood had dried around it, leaving dark, ominous streaks across her pale skin.
Kai had seen enough in his career as a lawyer to think he’d grown used to the horrors of psychological trauma, but this? This was sothing entirely different. His pulse quickened as a deep unease settled over him. Es’s condition wasn’t just physical; whatever was happening to her was pushing her to the brink of sothing terrifying, sothing beyond the normal bounds of trauma.
His shock was mirrored in the silence that fell over the room until Ryan, who had remained silent all this ti, finally moved. He walked quietly to Es’s side, his steps slow and deliberate, as though the weight of the scene demanded nothing less. He knelt down beside her, his face drawn with worry, and gently took hold of her wrist, feeling for her pulse.
The seconds stretched painfully as he monitored her breathing, the tension in the room thickening with every breath Es struggled to take. Kai watched Ryan’s face, searching for so kind of reassurance, but none ca. Instead, Ryan’s expression darkened, his brows furrowing deeply as he glanced up at the others.
"She’s not okay," Ryan muttered, his voice grim, almost shaking with the weight of what he was about to say. "Her breathing is becoming irregular."
A cold shiver ran through Kai’s spine. The urgency in Ryan’s voice snapped the room out of its brief silence. Everyone’s focus shifted back to Es, her body still thrashing against the bindings that kept her restrained. Her breaths were shallow, uneven, as if her body was struggling to hold onto consciousness, each gasp more labored than the last.
The room was a whirlwind of chaos. People moved in every direction, voices raised in panic, but amidst the noise, Helga and Aaron stood unusually calm. Their eyes were fixed on Es, concern deep in their expressions, but not the frantic kind everyone else seed to carry. They’d been here before—seen the worst of this. Worry lined their faces, but there was no fear. They were bracing for what ca next, a quiet understanding that this was going to get much harder before it got better.
Jay, however, was a different story. He had been pacing, his worry written all over his face, but seeing Es in this condition snapped him back to reality. He rushed to her side, his heart pounding in his chest. Without a second thought, he fumbled through his kit, his hands shaking as he pulled out a syringe. The sa antidote he’d given Aaron—surely, it would help. It had to.
With a deep breath, Jay injected Es, expecting to see her calm down. But instead, her reaction was imdiate and terrifying. Es’s body tensed, her back arching off the bed as she scread, a raw, pained sound that filled the room and sent chills down his spine. She thrashed violently against the restraints, her hands and feet pulling at the bindings, her cries growing louder with each second.
Jay froze, his heart dropping into his stomach. This wasn’t supposed to happen.
Her skin was flushed red, her muscles tightening as though she were fighting sothing unseen, her body pushing against itself. The more she struggled, the more panicked Jay beca. He looked down at the antidote in his hands, the syringe now useless in his grip. What had gone wrong?
Ryan, who had been standing nearby, watching in horrified silence, stepped forward. His face had drained of color, but his expression was steady, resigned. He and Jay exchanged a brief look, and in that mont, they both understood the sa dreadful truth.
The poison had gone too deep.
Jay swallowed hard, his hands still hovering over Es’s trembling body. The antidote wasn’t enough. Whatever was inside her—it was far worse than they had realized. It had taken hold of her completely, leaving no room for a cure to take effect.
Es’s breathing beca more erratic, her chest heaving as though she couldn’t get enough air, her face twisted in agony. Jay’s heart raced as he looked to Ryan for guidance, but there was nothing more they could do. His mind raced, searching for answers, but there weren’t any. Not anymore.
"It’s in her system, Jay," Ryan said quietly, stepping closer. "We can’t stop it now. It’s gone too far."
Jay clenched his fists, the frustration boiling inside him. Every instinct told him to do sothing, anything—but the antidote had done the opposite of what he’d hoped. Instead of saving her, it seed to be killing her faster.
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