Lemuria: The City of Mysts

Chapter 49: Burning Cold

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Chapter 49: Burning Cold

The world slowed. Sounds became muted. Cheska's eyes were trained on the flat line displayed on the heart monitor. The man across her pumped on Fred's chest, desperately trying to revive him. The scientist beside her shouted orders at the guards at the exit. The door slammed behind her as the men went to obey his commands.

Still, no pulse.

No.

She looked at his gaunt face. Cheska clutched at his legs as if it would keep his soul tied to the living.

No.

Her eyes returned to the screen.

Heart rate: 0 bpm.

No. She shook her head.

Darkness edged her vision. Cold started on her fingers and toes and crept upwards.

They did this!

The man who had given orders whipped towards her. Alarm and horror shadowed his expression. He stalked to her, screaming though no sound came out of his lips. The scientist waved his arms wide at the men who were dropping like flies around them.

Cheska couldn't find it in herself to care. They deserve this.

The stranger grabbed her forearms and shook her; shouting, still.

Her gaze fell on the unmoving body in the pod.

Voices cried out in her head. It was familiar and tugged at her consciousness. But she was too far to recognise or hear them.

The body. Who was it again? Her gaze travelled up to the pale face and blonde hair. She would never see those silver eyes again. Something stirred deep inside her. A sharp ache pierced her chest making her gasp. Her surroundings blurred, twisted and whirled as burning pain consumed her inside and out.

He's alive! A voice boomed in her mind, penetrating through the haze. Cheska knew that voice. She trusted it. Fred – is – alive, it said again.

The pain receded and sensations returned to her. Cheska was soaked in sweat; her clothes stuck to her inside the biohazard suit. She searched for the owner of the voice.

Many lay on the floor unconscious except for the man who held her arms in a vice-like grip. His shallow breathing indicated he hadn't been entirely immune to her destructive ability. The panic in his eyes melted to relief. "Doc – is – alive – Ches", he said between each breath.

Only one person called her in the short name she despised. Cheska never thought there'd come a day when she'd be glad to hear it. "Uncle?" she dared ask.

"The one – and only." Gerry wore a different face. His trademark smirk, however, confirmed his identity. "You almost killed us all", he said lightly, his grin didn't reach his eyes.

Gerry may have been under her father's payroll since her adoption; kept secrets about his real job as a spy; but the uncle Cheska knew for the past decade had always been there when she needed help. It was due to this reason that she allowed herself to hope.

Her gaze slid to Fred and the monitor which still showed no sign of a heartbeat. She frowned.

"I injected a drug to slow down his heart – to fake his death before we left his cell. For it to take effect, I had to corrupt the stasis pod's system." Gerry paused and dropped his gaze at the doctor. He met her eyes with a serious expression. "There's an unprecedented development, Cheska. They infected him with a new strain V-X2103. It doesn't have a vaccine. The scientists down in the basement haven't found what caused V-X2102 to evolve. The new virus is deadlier. He only has three to four days to live."