Astral Odyssey: Dying Ember

World 5.28: Eva

Bang Bang Bang!

Drey's wide smile stayed on his face as the light in his crazed eyes slowly faded away. His body fell onto the floor like a marionette whose strings got cut.

Austin put his gun down, fired the green flare right up above them, then crawled towards Eva very slowly, leaving a trail of blood behind him.

Austin had only momentarily passed out due to the pain yet was awoken by a different pain. It was like everything that touched his skin caused him pain. When he saw Eva fighting with Drey, he patiently waited for the right moment so that he could get Drey for sure, which he did successfully.

Upon reaching Eva's side, he took out the antidote that was in his ring and tried to put it in her mouth. However, Eva kept her mouth shut, and shook her head ever so slightly. He knew that she would rather he eat it than her. He looked at her sadly then put it into his mouth. Eva only relaxed after she saw him swallow.

With much difficulty, he spoke, "I'm... Sorry... I failed... To protect... You..."

What a fool, I'm the one who's supposed to protect you. Eva's thought unfortunately remained unheard.

Tears rolled down Austin's face as he propped himself up with his elbow, cupped her cheek with  his other hand and leaned in to kiss her on the lips. 

Eva's eyes slowly closed as she was prepared to accept death. 

His tongue pried apart her lips and mouth with a little difficulty. 

At this moment, her eyes flew open and her breath hitched in her throat. She had felt something else in her mouth.

The antidote!

After placing it between her back teeth, he quickly retrieved his tongue and instantly pushed her jaw upwards, forcing her to bite on it. 

He smiled while tears continued to stream down his face while she stared at him in utter shock.

"I'm sorry... I can't... Be the one... To give you... The family you... Wanted in this life... I pray that... You'll get the family you dreamed of... With someone else."

Tears welled up in her eyes that were still filled with shock. 

He stroked her cheek one last time before he finally passed out again.

Panic and sorrow filled her. As much as she wanted to free him of his suffering and pain of being left behind, she knew that she could not afford to let him die if he was not meant to.

At the same time that Austin passed out, the guards arrived at the scene along with Edwin and the doctor. While the guards inspected Drey's dead body, Edwin and the doctor ran towards the couple on the ground.

Eva made a strangled sound that drew the doctor's and Edwin's attention. Her panicked and concerned gaze which she then turned onto Austin successfully conveyed her message to them that they had to hurry. So they did.

After placing Austin and Eva on the floor of a bandwagon, the driver whipped the horses to go as fast as possible. The doctor got to work and did whatever he could do for Edwin at the moment, before moving on to Eva.

On the way back, Eva realised that the antidote turned out to be a flop in the end. It did help to mitigate the symptoms but only somewhat.

Now that it was within a slightly more tolerable range, she gestured for something to write on, which the doctor quickly provided. With BaoBao's help in breaking down then components of the poisons in her body, she came up with ones that would counter the effect. One of which required another poison to fight it. The poison they suffered from the trap was different from the one she guessed had been coated on the bullets.