Marked

Chapter Thirty-Seven

It was a rhythmic weight on her chest that brought her back into consciousness. 

Her eyelids fluttered open and the person finally removed the weight—their hands—from her chest. 

"Oh, thank God."

Blinking the black spots from her vision, the face of a man came into view. He hovered over her, his dark skin and white lab coat contrasting against each other.

"Can you hear me? Rachel?" Dr. Everest asked. His expert fingers probed the artery at her throat.

Rachel struggled to focus on him through the images sifting across her vision. Aircraft meeting aircraft in blinding, fiery destruction. Humans of all skin colors, with flags of dozens of different countries pinned to their uniforms, all descending from their jets. 

Poachers fighting mechanically. People scattering in the streets. Bullets and blood. Bullets and blood everywhere.

"What...?"

"I found you like this. You weren't breathing." Dr. Everest explained. 

"I..."

"Your heart had stopped beating. What happened here?"

"Hector..." She slurred. "Go to Hector."

"Are you going to be okay?" Nodding her head, she braced herself against the floor and lifted her weight onto her wobbly elbows. 

She managed to climb onto her knees, then clambered onto her feet to take in her surroundings. 

Nicolas was lying limp beside her, eyes the only moving part of him. They dashed madly back and forth. His mouth moved but made no sound.

Breathing heavily, she braced herself against the counter, her fingers stroking across the digital panels. Her body weighed a thousand pounds and none of her extremities responded to her commands.

"Corina." She croaked. 

A hum in her brain told her the machine had heard. "Corina...show me...the shield."

"Yes, right away, Ms. Wilson."

The screen in front of her changed from a fight scene to the outskirts of the ocean. There was nothing left of the shield. It was gone and beyond it were several ships now empty of their aircraft.

A Japanese flag, an English flash, a French flag, a South African flag and so many others billowed in the wind. 

Rachel shook the images from her head. 

"How do I turn it off?"

Dr. Everest had reached Hector now and she tried to focus on that. The room was spinning but she could see the outline of the doctor kneeling beside Hector.

"Tell me he's alive." She groaned. 

Her head was aching. She felt something warm on her upper lip. Touching her hand to her nose, her fingers came back bloodied. 

It was all too overwhelming. The flash of images through her mind, the hum of Corina inside her, the sounds of bullets coming from the screens. 

She was about to faint. 

She gripped the counter and swallowed down mouthfuls of oxygen.

How could Nicolas live like this?

He was calm, Rachel thought. Black dots began to reach for the edges of her vision.

You have to calm down. 

She had to show the outsiders they surrendered. Otherwise more lives would be lost.