Chapter 5

The hospital was in chaos. People were pushing one another and screaming in panic. They all tried to escape the indiscriminate attack.

A patient was blinded by rage and was wildly swinging a knife, slashing at anyone within reach.

Dawn and Blaine walked against the crowd and frantically searched for someone.

"Erin..."

"Maya..."

"Where are you?"

They pushed through the throng but couldn't evade the deranged assailant in time.

Dawn's arm was slashed, but she ignored the pain and only wanted to find Maya as soon as possible.

Dawn and Blaine managed to break through the crowd and rushed to the scene of the incident.

Erin was sitting on the floor. Her legs were weak, and her elbow was scraped. She collapsed there in fear.

Maya lay nearby, with blood trickling down her chest.

She was already pale from blood loss. Her frail body grew colder.

Without thinking, Blaine lifted Erin in his arms and dashed towards the emergency room.

Dawn's arm was rendered useless by pain. She urgently called out to Blaine. "Blaine, Maya is more seriously injured. Help her first."

Blaine glanced back. Dawn's face was pale, and Maya was convulsing in Maya's arms. He hesitated.

But Erin's faint whimper diverted his attention. "Blaine, it hurts."

He coldly replied, "I'll come back for Maya later. Erin needs immediate treatment."

He was only focused on Erin and oblivious to Dawn's injury.

Dawn cradled Maya and helplessly watched blood continue to trickle from her chest.

She desperately tried to stop the bleeding with her hands. But she could only watch as the blood stained her fingers and soaked her dress.

She called out loudly for a doctor, but no one responded. She struggled against the pain and attempted to lift Maya onto her back. But she collapsed under the weight.

Dawn pounded the floor in frustration and hated herself for not being strong enough.

As time ticked by, Blaine returned with a nurse. Dawn felt a glimmer of hope.

But her hope was quickly gone.

"I remember Maya also has Rh-negative blood. Erin needs it."

Upon hearing this, Dawn was furious. She screamed at the nurse desperately. "Are you crazy? Can't you see how much pain Maya is in? And how can you let her give blood to another one?"

She was roughly pulled aside, and Blaine coldly warned her. "Stay out of the way."

Dawn clung to Blaine's pant leg and pleaded in a low voice, "Blaine, you can't do this to Maya. Maya is very important to me. You know that."

Blaine turned his gaze away and took his leg back. "Maya won't die after giving a little blood. Erin's life is important, too."

Dawn struggled to her feet and stubbornly argued. "Erin has just scratched. She won't die without Maya's blood.

Blaine only waved to the nurse to let her draw Maya's blood as soon as possible.

Dawn watched as Maya was wheeled into the operating room, and she was heartbroken. "Blaine, you have no heart!"

She was pulled away coldly and had to watch through the window as blood slowly drained from Maya's frail, emaciated arm.

Dawn clung to the doorframe and cried until her voice was hoarse and her limbs went numb. She eventually fainted from exhaustion.

In her dreams, she drifted back to the past.

Blaine was eighteen back then. He stood by the seaside, and his eyes glistened as he followed her and helped her and Maya collect seafood.

When he was nineteen, he ate Maya's cooking with a smile. He said that it tasted like home.

When he was twenty-three, he got engaged to Dawn, helped her care for Maya, and made his promise at her bedside. "I'll love Dawn forever."

At twenty-eight, Blaine took Maya away from Dawn and let Maya give blood to his new girlfriend.

Dawn touched Maya's cold hand and jolted awake in fear.

She saw Blaine carefully tending to Erin's wounds.

But Dawn was left unattended, and her arm was numb from blood loss.

Dawn managed a pained smile. She pushed herself up and leaned against the wall to check on Maya.

Maya had been frail. She now looked ghostly pale, and her pupils were unfocused. She was barely holding on to life.

She ultimately didn't survive that very night.