Chapter 13 - The Second Heartbeat
“No pulse!” Olivia shouted.
Dr. Carter began chest compressions immediately.
Laura screamed Ethan’s name while Daniel held her back. Michael stood frozen, staring at his son with the horror of a man watching the same nightmare happen twice.
“Charge the defibrillator!”
The machine powered up.
“Clear!”
Ethan’s small body lifted from the table.
Nothing.
Dr. Carter increased the charge.
“Again!”
The second shock struck.
The monitor remained flat.
Buddy whined beside the table, pressing his nose against Ethan’s hand.
Daniel felt the jar of coins inside his coat pocket. The soft clinking sound seemed impossibly loud in the room.
Dr. Carter prepared a third attempt.
Then Buddy barked.
Once.
Twice.
The monitor flickered.
A tiny rhythm appeared.
Not steady.
Not normal.
But present.
“We have activity,” Olivia said.
Dr. Carter listened with her stethoscope.
Her expression shifted from relief to confusion.
“What is it?” Daniel asked.
She moved the stethoscope lower.
Then back toward Ethan’s chest.
“There are two rhythms.”
Michael closed his eyes.
Bell began laughing again.
Laura turned on him.
“What did you do to my son?”
Bell answered calmly.
“Nothing that wasn’t authorized years ago.”
Marcus pulled him upright.
“Explain.”
Michael spoke first.
“The foundation studied children with unusual cellular regeneration.”
Dr. Carter looked at him.
“That’s impossible.”
“No,” Michael said. “It was rare.”
He explained that the original compound had revealed a strange biological response in a handful of patients. Their bodies produced new tissue faster than normal when placed under extreme stress.
The foundation believed the marker could be used to develop treatments worth billions.
“But the children didn’t survive the testing,” Michael continued.
Laura looked at Ethan.
“And he has this marker?”
Michael nodded.
“I discovered it when he was three.”
Daniel’s voice hardened.
“So you hid him.”
“I tried.”
Bell interrupted.
“You failed.”
Michael turned toward him.
Bell continued.
“The treatment didn’t only make Ethan appear sick. It forced the marker to activate.”
Dr. Carter checked the monitor again.
“This second rhythm isn’t another heart.”
Michael approached carefully.
“It may be new vascular tissue forming near the damaged area.”
“His body is trying to repair itself?”
“Yes.”
For the first time, hope entered Laura’s face.
But Michael shook his head.
“The process is unstable.”
The lights above them flickered.
A loud mechanical sound rolled through the underground clinic.
Marcus looked toward the corridor.
“What now?”
Bell’s smile disappeared.
“That isn’t the lockdown system.”
A deep vibration shook the floor.
Dust fell from the ceiling.
Then an old train horn sounded from inside the sealed tunnel.
Daniel stared toward the darkness.
“The station is abandoned.”
Michael picked up his gun.
“Not to them.”
Headlights appeared beyond the clinic entrance.
May you like
A black maintenance train moved slowly toward the platform.
And standing inside the first carriage were more than a dozen armed men.
