Chapter 37 - The Antidote Protocol
I broke the surface coughing brackish harbor water, kicking violently to keep Evelyn aloft. A few yards away, Sarah emerged, supporting a coughing, shivering Lily.
We were under the rotting timber pilings of Pier 42, hidden in the shadows beneath the industrial docks. Above us, the distant wail of police sirens and emergency vehicles echoed across the foggy night, but down here in the black sludge of the low tide, we were invisible.
I dragged Evelyn onto a floating wooden maintenance raft tied to the pilings. Sarah collapsed beside me, pulling Lily out of the freezing water and wrapping her in her own soaked woolen coat.
"She’s not breathing right," I said frantically, ripping off Evelyn’s damaged mask. The child's breathing was shallow, a terrifying rattle rattling in her tiny chest. The monitor had been destroyed by the water. "Sarah, where is the kit?"
Sarah fumbled with the insulated case strapped to her thigh. Miracle of miracles, the waterproof seals had held. She snapped open the latches, pulling out one of the three amber ampoules and an auto-injector.
"Her veins are constricted from the cold," Sarah whispered, her hands shaking so violently she could barely fit the vial into the injector chamber. "I can't find a line. Julian, hold her leg still!"
I pinned Evelyn’s trembling knee against the rough planks of the raft. "Do it! Now!"
Sarah jammed the auto-injector directly into Evelyn’s outer thigh. The pneumatic cylinder hissed, driving the amber serum deep into the muscle tissue.
For ten agonizing seconds, nothing happened. The child lay completely limp, the faint harbor light reflecting in her half-open, unseeing eyes. Lily crawled forward on her knees, pressing her wet forehead against her sister’s cheek.
"Wake up," Lily whispered, her small voice cutting through the lapping of the waves. "Please wake up. I want to play with you."
A sudden, sharp gasp tore from Evelyn’s throat. Her back arched off the wooden planks, and she drew in a massive, ragged lungful of air, her eyes snapping wide open. She looked directly at Lily, her tiny fingers curling and catching Lily’s soaked sleeve.
"Lily...?" the child whispered faintly, her color slowly returning as the antidote surged through her system.
Sarah collapsed backward against the pilings, burying her face in her hands and sobbing uncontrollably. But our relief lasted only seconds.
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From the road above the pier, the harsh crunch of tires on gravel broke the silence. Heavy vehicle doors slammed shut.
***
