Page 6 of Scorched By Fate

Kaiya spoke before Rachel could, appearing at my side, strung tight with tension. “We need samples. Data, patient histories,” she said, voice clipped but precise. “Maybe they were exposed to something … specific. Or maybe this is a known disease. I was trying to compare what I know about?—”

“Kaiya,” I interrupted, fixing her with my no-nonsense look, the one for when things were going sideways and we were out of time for theories. “Focus. What’s workable now?”

To her credit, she didn’t flinch, though her fingers twitched, betraying the battle to hold back the flood of ideas in her head. “Rachel’s doing triage, trying to stabilize vitals. I tried a microdose of Earth antibiotics, just to rule out?—”

“Good,” I cut her off again, not unkindly. Focus was Kaiya’s lifeline and reeling her back when she got lost in her own thoughts was part of the deal. “Stick to what’s working. Rachel?—”

I turned to her as she packed another vial into her med kit, sharp eyes already scanning the room like she could fix it with sheer will. “Did Mysha give us any hints?”

Rachel’s lips tightened. “No. She's unconscious now, same as the others. Her symptoms are getting worse.” Her gaze flicked to the makeshift triage area, the cot where Mysha lay still, face pinched even in sleep.

It took effort to keep panic out of my voice. “Do we need contamination protocols? Any signs it’s jumping species?”

Rachel paused, weighing her answer. “Nothing yet. We’re exposed, obviously, but we seem … unaffected. So far.”

“Not exactly comforting,” I muttered, already pulling gloves from the kit and snapping them on. My hands moved on autopilot, finding the pulse at the neck of the nearest healer.

Weak, thready. Fuck.

I glanced around again, the harsh light bouncing off hollow cheeks and ragged breaths. The air felt thicker, pressing on my lungs like the forge, but this was worse. The forge was simple heat. This was … hell.

“Alright,” I barked, pulling my voice sharp, the tone they responded to because it sounded like I had a plan. I didn’t. Not yet. But I’d fake it until I did. “Rachel, keep triage going. Airway stabilization first, and?—”

“God damn it.” Rachel's voice was dry, almost flat. I followed her gaze across the room to a younger healer clawing at thewall, movements twitchy and frantic, like he was trying to rip something invisible out of his own body. Then, like his strings were cut, he crumpled, face-first on the floor.

“Shit,” I hissed, already moving, but Rachel’s hand shot out, hard on my shoulder. “Bad idea,” she said, firm.

“No choice,” I snapped. “We have to contain this.”

“You touch him, we risk exposure.”

That stopped me. For about a second.

“We’re already fucking exposed,” I said, fierce, crossing my arms despite the growing weight in my chest. “Not touching him doesn’t magically make us safe, Rachel,” I continued, voice dropping harder, colder than I usually let it get. “We control what we can, or we watch everyone in this room die.”

FOUR

SELENE

One Week Later

It smelled like sickness. Like death.

My boots scuffed against the stone floor as I darted from one makeshift quarantine area to the next, eyes scanning for any signs of change in the afflicted healers.

Drakarn who had once stood tall and composed now sagged against stone benches, their scaled bodies limp and marked with angry, festering sores. Most barely moved. Some didn’t move at all. The only sound they made was a wheeze, too weak to cough or cry out.

A creeping ache settled low in my gut at the sight, but I pushed it down. I'd been learning Drakarn healing ways for weeks, and now …

Focus.

The murmurs and steady rhythm of the healing caverns were gone. Instead, rushed footsteps, clipped voices, and the scraping of trays across stone replaced normalcy. My throat tightened from the acrid sting in the air, something chemical andwrongthat we couldn’t identify. The healers were dropping like stones, and nothing seemed to be stopping it.

"Kaiya, double-check the gear for all the humans. Vega, I need this entire section cordoned off—no one without protection gets near it. Rachel, go through the patient notes again. We must’ve missed something."

I wasn't a doctor, and I'd never felt it more than now. But as a combat medic, I understood triage.

And some of the Drakarn definitely wouldn't make it.

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