Hidden (Book 3 of the Immune Series)

Too Late

Sakir

Athena waits until the barrier has lifted almost two feet and then slides out on her back. As soon as she straightens back up, she scrambles across the room to Mya. I watch from beside the keyboard, weighed down from the reality of the situation crashing around me.

Athena slips in the sea of blood on the white tile. It's a mixture of Mya's, Jay's, and Isaac's. It coats all three of us now, a constant reminder of the price paid. Three lives. No, four lives. It seems unfair not to count Finn.

I watch as Athena presses bloody fingers to Mya's throat and then leans down to place an ear against her chest.

"Sakir, help me," she says, lifting up the girl's shirt to reveal the bullet wound beneath. "Maybe I can remove the bullet. Maybe I can- I could- help me, please."

I shake my head and let my chin fall to my chest.

There's nothing she can do, and we both know it.

"Please, Sakir. She can't die."

I walk over and lower myself onto the floor beside Athena. Placing one hand on each of her shoulders, I turn her to face me.

"She's already dead, Athena," I whisper, gripping her.

"No," she says, shaking her head. "I can do something. That's my job!"

"You can't bring someone back from the dead."

"She's not dead!"

"Yes, she is!" I scream, shaking her. "She's dead, and there's nothing you can do about it! Let her go like she asked!"

Athena stares at me for a long minute, statuesque. Her bottom lip trembles, and I lessen my grip on her. Tears well up in her eyes, and with a groan, she leans forward into me and wraps her arms around my neck.

I can't bring myself to hug her back, though, even as she begins to sob. My arms fall limp at my side, and I stare down at Mya's lifeless body.

This can't be happening.

I'm a fool. An absolute, useless fool.

Suddenly, a phone rings nearby. I push Athena away from me and look towards the computer screen attached to the wall. White letters flash across the black screen, replacing the red circles.

Incoming video call...

The screen doesn't tell me who is calling.

I glance back at Isaac who has put Jay back down and turns towards us on his knees.

"Should we answer it?" I ask, but my voice resembles a whisper in the middle of a tornado. My throat burns from all the crying; my eyes swell. Isaac looks much worse than I do with his long hair half out of his bun and his beard caked in blood from multiple sources. Blood stains the front of his shirt.

I realize then that I'm still shirtless. Small handprints marr the skin of my chest, dark red against the caramel colored surface. Mya's.

"What else do we have to lose?" Isaac answers in a dry voice. There's no enthusiasm or life left, just loss and emptiness. I know how he feels, because there's a growing hole in my chest.

"I'll answer it," Athena says, pushing up off the floor and walking towards the screen. "I'm not hurt or covered in blood."

She is covered in blood, but only from the waist down. I hold back that little fact as she types with expert fingers.

Seconds later, the screens erupts in a flash of green and white, and two faces appear in the center.

"President Austin?" Athena asks, cocking her head to one side in confusion.