Chapter 42
TESSA’S POV
My stomach chummed and I felt my heart caught in my throat.
“We need to get to the Elder’s quarters, I rasped, adrenaline surging through me despite the utter exhaustion threatening to pull me under. Gabe, his face pale but resolute, mirrored my urgency.
We sprinted through the sterile corridors of the med bay and ran to the Elder’s quarters leaving Adrian behind. before he could say anything, the usually calming white walls blurring into a dizzying tunnel. Each passing second felt like a an eternity, the silence broken only by the frantic pounding of our hearts. Finally, we skidded to a halt before the Elder’s quarters, the door hanging ajar.
A horrifying picture greeted us. Three Elders lay sprawled on the floor, their faces contorted in pain, bodies wracked with tremors. The unmistakable metallic scent of blood, hung heavy in the air and I felt bile in my throats
“Oh my goodness, they’re deteriorating fast!” Gabe choked, his voice thick with horror as we stared at them. All other occupants of the room had been evacuated and quarantined elsewhere.
Without a moment’s hesitation, he sprang into action. Scooping up the nearest Elder, a frail woman with wispy white hair who was having a tremor, he hoisted her easily onto his shoulder. “Tessa, help me get the others!” he barked, his voice tight with urgency.
Together, we worked with a desperate efficiency born of fear and desperation, carefully lifting and maneuvering the unconscious Elders. Adrian, who had followed us at a distance, materialized beside us, his face etched with a mixture of concern and helplessness.
“Tessa, what’s going on?” he demanded, his voice barely above a whisper and his eyes wide with fear.
“The Elders,” I gasped, my breath coming in ragged bursts as I hoisted the last elder on Gabe’s shoulder while I held onto one with my werewolf strength. “They’re infected.”
Understanding dawned on Adrian’s face, swiftly followed by a flicker of fear in his dull eyes. “But… how? Heather?”
This was no time for explanations. “We need to get them to the med bay now!” I barked, urgency lacing my
voice.
“Wait!” Adrian said, his eyes wide with fear and confusion.
I whipped round to look at him, frustration gnawing on my nerves.
“Look, Alpha Adrian. This isn’t the time for explanations, kindly lock yourselves in and quarantine. It will be best for all of us if you did that, it will be of no use if you also contracted the plague. Please! Get back and instead make sure everyone is contained in safe places. The other elders should be kept in separate places in case of when they start to show symptoms. Now, please leave us to our job” I said sternly.
“Tessa! Hurry!” I heard Gabe say from the door way.
I nodded curtly to Adrian and sprinted out to meet Gabe. We moved like possessed people constantly using our werewolf strength to propel us forward faster, the weight of the Elders a constant reminder of the gravity of the situation. Reaching the med bay doors, I used my feet to kick them open, barking out orders even before we were fully inside.
“Eva! Gia! Zed! We need all hands on deck! We have infected patients! They’re dying!” I yelled out, rushing to the emergency ward that was prepared.
14
59%B
Chapter 42
My voice echoed through the sterile room, jolting the remaining medical personnel from any semblance of calm Eva, her usually vibrant blue eyes went wide with shock as she quickly sprang into action. Gia was evidently scared and worried but she simply nodded, her lips pursed in a grim line. Zed paled visibly, but his hands didn’t flinch as he grabbed the nearest gurney and rushed into the ward where we lay the elders on separate beds.
Three more figures, faces unfamiliar but hands steady, materialized beside us new recruits hastily drafted from the medics that usually assisted Will after word of the outbreak became impossible to contain.
The med bay, once a haven of peace and calm, was now a chaotic blur of activity. With practiced efficiency, we worked as a single unit, setting up equipment, drawing blood, and administering the cure while trying to rid them of the tremors they were having.
–
As Gia handed me a vial after I had stabilized a male elder, I saw her eyes boring into mine, she was silent but I knew the question she wanted to ask would they survive it?. I offered her a reassuring smile despite the turmoil within but this did nothing to calm her down. Gabe and Zed were working on another Elder while two of the new medics and Eva tried to stabilize the third elder.
But the Elders‘ condition deteriorated rapidly. Their bodies were racked with violent tremors, their skin burning to the touch. We were fighting a losing battle, the cure wasn’t showing any signs of doing anything in their body.
As I administered the cure to the last elder, I stepped back and I could feel my heart pounding as I looked at their condition then back at Gabe who was also staring at me
“What do we do?” I asked scared.
Gabe eyes dimmed slightly and he frowned at me.
“Get it together, Tessa. We’ve done the only thing we can do… Trust the process, it’s our only hope. Don’t fret, they’ll be fine” He said in a hard tone to me.
I hurriedly nodded but panje gnawed at the edges of my sanity. I couldn’t afford to loose them too, I just couldn’t. I wouldn’t be able to live with the loss again.
“Gia, get
to the cabinet and get me the Achillia millefolliom! I hope you remember what that is” I yelled to Gia as I checked the pulse of the female elder,
Gia started sprinting out of the emergency ward.
“YARROW!!” She confirmed as she rushed out.
She rushed back with a vial of the flower extract in it. I looked at Gabe and he shrugged.
“You’re the medic here. Do as your instincts say” He said softly, it was enough for me.
Forcing down the rising tide of fear and panic. I approached the first Elder, a wizened old man with a kind smile etched onto his face in sleep. He looked vulnerable, peaceful, utterly unaware of the fight raging around him.
“Forgive me.” I whispered, holding the vial to his chapped lips. His throat was parched, making it difficult to administer the serum. Finally, with a gentle nudge, he swallowed the bitter liquid.
His body convulsed almost immediately after he swallowed it, his face contorting in pain. A choked scream ripped from his throat, a sound that echoed through the med bay, twisting the knife of fear deeper in my gut. Please don’t let this go bad!
The next few hours blurred into a relentless struggle. We repeated the same agonizing process with the remaining Elders, each reaction just like the first – violent tremors, screams of agony, then a mercifully deep sleep or should I say unconsciousness,
Chapter 42
By the time the last Elder had fallen unconscious, exhaustion was over everyone in the ward.
My muscles ached, my head throbbed with pain, and my vision swam with fatigue. The others weren’t much better. Gabe, his face drawn and pale, slumped against the wall, his chest heaving with exertion and fear. Eva, her usually vibrant blue eyes were dull with exhaustion,she leaned on a nearby counter, her hands shaking slightly. Gia simply stared at the empty vial in her hand, her face a mask of repressed anxiety. Zed and the new recruits sat on the floor, their faces white as a sheet, but a determined glint in their eyes.
The silence in the med bay was thick, broken only by the constant shuffle of our feet, a cough from outside the ward and the ragged gasps of the Elders. A fragile calm had settled, but the weight of what we had just witnessed hung heavy in the air. They were stable now but it wasn’t time to celebrate yet, they were just three elders now but I knew that it was possible to still have infected elders and people in the pack.
Finally, after what felt like an eternity but was just actually a few minutes, I allowed myself to relax a bit. I told the others to leave the ward to rest their tired nerves leaving only Gabe and I. My gaze drifted towards the Elders, their breathing was slow and steady, Uncertain if the serum had paid off, I tentatively reached out and placed a hand on the forehead of the first Elder. He felt cool, thankfully, no longer burning with fever. He didn’t seem to be in danger of any kind.
A sliver of hope flickered within me. Perhaps the gamble had paid off. Perhaps the serum had indeed worked and they would get better.
“Do you think it worked, Tessa?” Gabe’s voice, rough with exhaustion, pulled me from my thoughts. He pushed himself off the wall to look closely at the unconscious elders.
I shook my head, unable to voice the fear still clinging to me. I didn’t want to be a pessimist. “We won’t know for sure for a while. We need to monitor them closely for at least the next twenty–four hours. They’re stable for now and we need to make sure that they stay that way”
Gabe nodded gravely, his jaw clenched tight. “We did everything we could. You did a great job, Tessa. You’re even better than me now” he joked trying to lift the heavy tension in the air. It was a futile effort but I appreciated and forced a light smile.
Exhaustion finally claimed me, dragging me under its wave. I slumped onto a chair close to the wall, my head. falling back against the wall. My eyelids drooped, the harsh light of the med bay blurring as my eyelids threatened to droop close in exhaustion. Sleep, the most precious thing right now, threatened to pull me under.
“Tessa, we need to talk about Heather, Gabe’s voice, softer this time, cut through the haze of exhaustion that was
over me.
My eyes flickered open, a jolt of adrenaline jolting me awake. Heather. We had completely forgotten about her in the chaos. The person who had caused this. It wasn’t her fault though, fear had driven her to do it.
“Right. Heather,” I mumbled, pushing myself upright.
“We can’t afford having another incident like that again” Gabe said to me.
I groaned.
“You’re right, we can’t do anything to her, we can’t tie her down, the only thing we can do will be to talk to her and assure her” I said nodding to myself.
My body screamed in protest, every muscle complaining. Ignoring the ache, I forced myself to my feet and left
the ward.
Heather was still in her ward, untouched by the chaos that had unfolded outside. Guilt gnawed at me. In the face of the Elders‘ near–death experience, I had neglected how she must have felt.
10:40 Sat, 20 Apr
Chapter 42
Walking into her ward, I found her curled up on the bed, her face buried in her knees. The sight filled me with a pang of sympathy for her. Despite everything, she was just a scared child facing circumstances she couldn’t
control.
“Heather?” I called out softly but my voice came out raspy
She flinched at the sound, slowly lifting her head to reveal tear–streaked cheeks and red–rimmed eyes.
“Tessa, she whispered, her voice barely a croak. “Are they… are they going to be alright?”
I hesitated. “Of course, sweetie. Don’t worry” I assured her.
Then, something unexpected happened. Heather reached out a trembling hand towards me.
“Tessa, there’s… there’s something you need to know,” she confessed, her voice barely above a whisper. tonight…”
“About
Intrigued, I pulled a chair closer to her bed and sat down. “What is it, Heather? You can tell me anything.”
Heather took a deep breath, her eyes filled with an unspoken terror. Tonight,” she whispered, “it’s a full moon.”
“What about it?” I asked confused.
She looked down.
“I loose control, mum would tie me down, that’s why I wanted to go home. I will only hurt people” She bawled
OUL
My heart skipped a beat. A pup could loose control on a full moon? They aren’t supposed to start having violent transformations at such a young age then why her?
