The facility halls echoed with heavy footfalls. Cody, Leila, and Valeria rushed after the panicked alarm. The red lights above flickered wildly as if something unseen had triggered the emergency.
"Something's wrong with Eva's room!" a nurse shouted, sprinting ahead with two security guards.
The group burst into the medical ward where Eva had been staying for weeks—safe, locked away, disconnected from the world. A place she thought Death couldn't reach.
But Death always finds a way.
Inside, Eva was convulsing on the bed, her oxygen mask hissing violently. The tube was ripped, flailing, spewing gas in unpredictable bursts. Her lips were turning blue. Her wide eyes searched the room, finding Leila. She tried to scream—but no sound came.
"Help her!" Leila screamed.
Cody dove forward and tried to reconnect the tube, but the valve had twisted shut on its own—jammed beyond strength. A nurse grabbed a portable tank, but as she ran forward, the lights above exploded.
A loose screw dropped from the ceiling.
Valeria's eyes darted upward.
"Wait—!" she cried out.
The ceiling groaned.
Isabel stood frozen under the crumbling beam. Her eyes locked with Valeria's. "No," she whispered.
A second later, a massive chunk of the ceiling collapsed from above. Steel supports and concrete tiles slammed down with monstrous weight.
CRUNCH.
A blood-slicked scream choked the room. Isabel's body vanished beneath the rubble.
"No! Isabel!!" Cody shouted.
Leila turned back to Eva—too late.
Eva's body had gone still. Her lips had stopped trembling. The final breath escaped in a quiet wheeze as her pulse flatlined. The monitor gave off its long, empty beep.
Death had taken two.
Silence spread like infection.
Only the flickering lights remained… blinking above the ruins.
The End of Chapter 31