Page 39 of Devoured
Isaac stood slowly, his eyes locked on Marion’s unconscious form. “This isn’t over,”he told Tobias, who was using the wall to pull himself upright.
Tobias spat blood and grinned through red teeth. “Looking forward to round two, nurse boy. Maybe next time I’ll show you what we did to your girlfriend. Give you a play-by-play.”
Isaac lunged again, but Sela stepped in, surprisingly strong for someone so thin. She physically pushed us all toward the door, herding us like unruly children.
“Out. Now. Before I call security!”
In the hallway, after Sela slammed the door in our faces, Isaac leaned against the wall like his legs might give out. His whole body trembled—maybe from adrenaline, maybe from grief. Blood still dripped from his lip, and his left eye was starting to swell.
“She took my place,”I said quietly, needing him to understand. “Varnar was supposed to see me last night. Marion went instead. She volunteered—knowing what would happen.”
Isaac looked at me with haunted eyes, and I saw years of accumulated horror in his gaze. All the patients he’d tried to protect and failed. All the damage he’d witnessed while staying professional, staying employed, staying useful.
“She was always too brave for this place,”he said hollowly. “Too willing to take someone else’s pain.”
We stood there in the hallway, united by our love for someone who’d sacrificed herself for a near stranger.
“What do we do now?”I asked.
Isaac wore his glasses again, careful not to press on the black eye. When he looked at me, something had changed in him. The gentle nurse was still there, but underneath, there was steel.
“Now?”he said. “Now we get careful. And we find a way to get her out of here.”
Chapter 13
I couldn’t get Marion’s broken face out of my head. The image kept replaying—blood, bruises, the way she’d struggled to breathe. I needed somewhere quiet to think, somewhere to process what I’d just witnessed.
The rec room was mostly empty. I found the corner chair with the broken spring and curled into it. My hands wouldn’t stop shaking. She’d taken that beating for me.
An orderly appeared in the doorway. The same one who’d let Marion out of solitary that morning, who’d gone to fetch Sela when Tobias was harassing her. He scanned the room until he found me.
“Zahra Quinn?”
“Mitchell,”I corrected automatically. “Zahra Mitchell.”
His face stayed blank. “Dr. Varnar wants to see you.”
My whole body went cold. This had to be a mistake. I’d just seen what he did to Marion last night. She’d taken my appointment. She had suffered for me.
“Now?”My voice came out cracked.
“Now.”He nodded with a serious look. Maybe even he knew what was going to happen. “I’m sorry. Doctor’s orders.”
I stood on unsteady legs, scanning the hallway as we walked, looking for Isaac. Maybe he’d see me. Maybe he’d stop this somehow. But the corridors were empty, save for a few patients shuffling past. There was no sign of him anywhere.
Anxiety coiled tighter with each step. Part of me wanted to run, to fight, to scream. But the bigger part—the exhausted part—knew it wouldn’t matter. They’d drag me there anyway.
We stopped at his door. The orderly knocked once, then backed away fast.
“Come in.”
The office looked exactly like it had before. Clean. Organized. Everything in its place. The curtains drawn shut tight against the morning sun. The desk polished to a shine that hurt to look at. Like nothing had happened here. Like Marion hadn’t bled on this floor just hours ago.
Varnar sat behind his desk, hands folded, watching me with that calm expression he wore like a second skin. I didn’t sit at the edge of the chair this time. I threw myself into it, legs spread, arms crossed. Staring him down like I had something to prove.
“Good morning, Zahra.”His voice was soft, professional. “How was your night?”
“You already know.”
