Chapter 3 3

"Get him on the table! Now!"

General Stone's voice was a roar of panic. He had carried Julian into the surgical tent himself, his uniform stained with the dark, toxic blood of the man who had just saved his life.

Dr. Aris, the chief surgeon, took one look at the wound and went pale.

"Clear the room!" Aris shouted at the orderlies. "Get the suction!"

Imogen crashed through the tent flaps. She was covered in dust, her face streaked with tears. A guard tried to stop her, but she fought him off with the ferocity of a wild animal.

"Julian!"

"Hold her back!" Stone ordered, but his voice lacked its usual steel. He was staring at the monitor.

Julian was convulsing. His body arched off the table, his teeth clenched so hard they threatened to crack. The heart rate monitor was screaming-a frantic, staccato rhythm that was too fast to sustain.

Dr. Aris was examining the wound. "It's Viper-X," he whispered. "Look at the necrosis. It's spreading instantly."

"Antidote," Stone barked. "Give him the antidote."

Aris looked up, his eyes hopeless. "The supply depot was hit, General. The refrigeration unit is gone. We have nothing."

The silence that followed was louder than the explosions outside.

"Call the capital," Stone said. "Get a medevac."

"He has minutes, General," Aris said, his voice trembling. "Not hours. Minutes. The neurotoxin will paralyze his diaphragm and he will suffocate."

Imogen fell to her knees. The world was ending. Right here, in this dirty tent, under the flickering halogen lights.

Minutes.

Then, a memory flashed in her mind. A small, cold glass vial.

Isolde.

Before they left, Isolde had pressed a small, chilled kit into Imogen's hand. "It's a new broad-spectrum antivenom from the Powers labs," she had said, her eyes intense, almost scary. "Experimental. But if anyone gets hurt... really hurt... use the blue vial. Don't ask questions. Just use it." At the time, Imogen had thought her sister was being paranoid. Now, it felt like prophecy.

Imogen scrambled for her med-kit, which was still strapped to her waist. Her fingers were slippery with sweat and blood. She ripped the zipper open.

There it was. A small, unmarked blue ampoule.

She grabbed a syringe.

"What are you doing?" Dr. Aris yelled as Imogen rushed the table.

"Get away from him!" Imogen shoved the doctor aside. She didn't care about protocol. She didn't care about sterility.

"Imogen, stop!" Stone stepped forward.

"Trust me!" Imogen screamed, turning to face the General. She held the syringe up like a weapon. "Isolde gave this to me. She said it would save him."

Stone froze. Isolde. The woman who had predicted the Levine scandal. The woman who seemed to know things before they happened.

Stone looked at Julian's face. His lips were turning blue. He was dying.

"Let her do it," Stone said.

"General, that's insanity!" Aris protested. "We don't know what's in that!"

"Do it!" Stone roared.

Imogen didn't hesitate. She jammed the needle into Julian's thigh, right through the fabric of his pants, and depressed the plunger.

For ten seconds, nothing happened.

The monitor continued its frantic beeping. Julian's chest heaved in shallow, useless gasps.

Then, he went rigid.

His eyes flew open. They were completely dilated, black pools of terror. He let out a strangled cry, his back arching so violently that his bones popped.

"He's going into cardiac arrest!" Aris yelled, reaching for the paddles.

"No, wait," Imogen whispered. She grabbed Julian's hand. It was ice cold. "Stay with me. Please, Julian. Stay with me."

She squeezed his hand so hard her knuckles turned white.

Suddenly, Julian gasped. It was a massive, sucking intake of air, like a drowning man breaking the surface.

The monitor went silent for a second, then beeped.

Beep.

Beep.

Slower. Stronger.

The black lines spreading from the wound on his side stopped. They didn't recede, but they stopped moving toward his heart.

Dr. Aris stared at the readouts. "Impossible," he muttered. "His vitals... they're stabilizing. The toxin is being neutralized."

Stone slumped against the metal table, the gun slipping from his fingers. He wiped a hand over his face, smearing soot and sweat.

Imogen dropped her forehead onto Julian's chest. She could hear his heart beating. It was erratic, it was weak, but it was there.

"He's alive," she sobbed. "He's alive."

Outside, the gunfire began to fade. The reinforcements had arrived.

Stone straightened up. He looked at the empty blue vial on the tray. He looked at Imogen.

"What was in that, Lady Imogen?" he asked quietly.

Imogen looked at the vial. She had no idea. But she knew one thing.

"A miracle," she said. "My sister gave us a miracle."