She shifts on the table, her head turning restlessly.
"Doctor?" Plague's voice carries an edge of concern now.
Dr. Rami moves to Cosima's side, checking readings with quick, efficient movements. "I don't understand. Her vitals are?—"
The screen flickers.
Cosima screams.
The sound tears through the room, raw and agonized andwrong. Her back arches off the table, body convulsing as if she's being fucking electrocuted. Blood trickles from her nose in a thin crimson stream.
I stare in utter shock.
"What's wrong?" Nikolai roars. "What's happening?"
The doctors don't answer. Can't answer. They're frantically checking readings, adjusting settings, but nothing makes sense because this shouldn't be happening, a scan shouldn't?—
"Shut it off!" Geo snarls, already moving toward the machine. "Fucking stop it! Rip the cables out of the fucking wall if you have to!"
"I can't!" The doctor's voice rises with panic. "I can't control it—the system's locked—we would need power tools to get into the panel?—"
More blood. From Cosima's ears now, and her eyes, crimson tears streaming down her flushed cheeks. Blood soaks through the thin silk of her robe between her thighs.
She's hemorrhaging.
She's fuckinghemorrhaging.
I'm moving before conscious thought kicks in, reaching her side and grabbing her limp hand. "It's going to be alright," I tell her, though my voice shakes. "Goddess, I've got you?—"
Her eyes open.
Violet swimming in red, unfocused and terrified.
Her fingers clutch mine with desperate strength, claws digging into my skin hard enough to draw blood.
"His teeth," she croaks, her voice barely human. "Devouring me. I feel?—"
She screams again, the sound tearing from her throat like something being ripped apart from the inside.
Hallucinations.
It has to be hallucinations from whatever the machine's doing to her brain. I look to the doctors frantically for help, but they're as lost as we are.
Geo doesn't waste time asking questions.
He grabs the reinforced metal panel containing the thick cables that connect the machine to the wall and starts tearing. His muscles strain, tendons standing out like steel cords as he rips the box out of the wall. Sparks explode from the exposed wiring and the machine shuts down with a mechanical whine.
Cosima collapses back onto the table.
But her vitals keep crashing.
She's… she's fuckingdying.
"Do something!" I scream at the doctors, but they're frozen. Useless.
Cosima's grip on my hand tightens, her nails drawing more blood. Her eyes find mine, glazed with agony but desperately seeking something. Comfort, relief,anything?—
Instinct takes over.
