"You swallowed it?"
Myers voice cracked through the bucket, half disbelief, half fury.
"Do you even know what you just did!? That wasn't candy, you suicidal brat! I said don't say a damn word, not swallow the damn thing! That was unstable! It's an incomplete core that I rushed just so we wouldn't get caught! I don't even know its full effects, and I created the damn thing!"
Seventeen flinched from the yelling but didn't back down. The doctor's words hit harder than they should have. It was loud and furious, but underneath that fury was fear.
"You shoved it in my mouth," Seventeen muttered defensively.
"Yes, but you weren't supposed to eat it! Who eats rocks from strangers?!" Myers shouted, throwing his arms up and turning away.
"I didn't mean to swallow it," Seventeen said, his voice louder now, irritation creeping in. "I had no choice! The collector patted my back and it forced me to swallow! You think I wanted to eat a rock? You didn't even explain anything to me! You just shoved it in my mouth and expected me to know what it was! How was I supposed to know it could kill me?!"
Seventeen's face was growing hotter. His breath came sharp, his throat raw from speaking. He stopped, realizing how loud his voice had gotten. It sounded strange. It was rough, hollow, alien, like it belonged to someone else. He hadn't talked this much since waking up.
But he kept going, his words spilling out in frustration. "Maybe don't feed someone rocks next time!"
His breathing turned shallow. His skin burned. Sweat poured down his neck, cooling fast against the damp air. His heart, which had just calmed after the collector left, started thumping violently again. His chest tightened, each breath shorter than the last. His ears began to ring, louder and louder, until he couldn't even hear himself breathing.
Myers turned, ready to yell again, but stopped mid-step. That's when he saw it.
Seventeen's skin was red and slick, his body trembling as heat rippled off him. Red splotches crawled across his chest and shoulders.
Myers tone fell to a whisper. "Boy… your skin-"
Seventeen tried to breathe, but the sound came out broken and strained. His body started trembling harder. His eyes rolled up slowly, pupils dilating and unfocusing as his entire body began to shake. The symptoms only got worse as his eyes started to roll higher, his body trembling harder with each second.
"Boy, are you okay?" Myers asked in panic. "Lay down! Now!"
But Seventeen didn't respond. His breathing hitched and grew erratic. His voice strained, coming out in ragged gasps that only grew louder. His whole body began to convulse. Myers jumped forward, forcing him down onto the medical bed. He reached under and yanked out the straps, locking both of Seventeen's legs in place before managing to only pin one arm down.
The boy's remaining arm swung wildly, nearly hitting him. Myers cursed under his breath, climbed onto the bed, and threw himself on top of the flailing arm, using his full weight to keep it down.
Seventeen's body convulsed harder, his voice breaking into guttural screams.
Myers started panicking, not knowing what was happening. "No, no, no, stay with me! Don't do this!"
Seventeen's strained voice grew louder. The trembling in his body worsened until he was full-on spasming. His back arched against the bed, and his chest aimed at the sky as his muscles seized uncontrollably.
Then his screams somehow grew louder.
Screams of agony and pure torture tore through the air, as if his very body was disintegrating from the inside.
No, this couldn't be called screaming anymore. It was as if the voices of the damned themselves were trying to claw their way out through his throat.
His skin was covered in red as it burned hotter. Massive veins bulged beneath the surface, throbbing as if they were about to burst. His body writhed and strained against the restraints, the leather groaning, the metal creaking under the pressure.
Myers shouted over the noise, "Stay with me, boy! Don't you dare die on me!"
A small glow slowly shone through the gaunt and scarred body of Seventeen. The faint light traced along his ribs and chest, slithering toward his heart before beginning to dim.
Seeing this, Myers breathing slowed slightly. "Okay… it's okay.... he's stabilizing…"
But the light kept dimming. And as it did, the thrashing only grew worse.
Seventeen's eyes rolled back completely, showing only white. His throat pulsed with thick, bulging veins as if they might burst at any second.
The light flickered one last time near his heart, then vanished completely.
Seventeen's body dropped back onto the bed with a heavy thud.
"Boy!" Myers shouted, but there was no answer.
His mind went blank for a second, then panic surged. He sprinted to his shelves, grabbing the handles and ripping them off their hinges. Bottles clattered to the ground as he snatched as many as he could carry, moving fast but with the practiced hands of a man who knew desperation well.
He began mixing the liquids with precision and speed, pouring and combining ingredients into a large flask. Sparks flickered faintly between his palms as the fluid hissed and steamed, shrinking down until only a small portion remained which glowed with a faint green hue.
He ran back to Seventeen's side, undid one of the restraints, and pulled the boy upright. Seventeen's body was still hot to the touch, skin blotched and trembling. Myers tried to hold him delicately, afraid of doing more harm. His arm wrapped around Seventeen's thin frame as he lifted the flask to his lips.
"Come on… drink… please…"
He slowly poured the liquid into Seventeen's mouth. Then he placed his gloved hand against the boy's throat. A faint blue pulse pushed into Seventeen's skin, helping dissolve the thick solution and keeping him from choking. The fluid slid down his throat and into his stomach.
Nothing happened.
Myers didn't move. His gloved fingers tightened around the flask until it cracked. His breath quickened, the sound echoing in the bucket's hollow interior. The boy's body lay still, skin still flushed red, chest unmoving.
"Come on… come on, damn it…" Myers whispered.
Still nothing.
He felt the weight of it creeping into his bones.
The same weight he had felt once before. The same silence.
Then Seventeen's chest twitched.
A single, shallow breath. Then another.
Color slowly faded from his skin, the red slightly leaving his body slowly getting cooler.
Myers exhaled sharply, slumping forward in exhaustion as his whole body began to shake.
Myers let out a massive stuttering breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding.
The bucket tilted back, faint light flickering inside it as he stared up at the ceiling.
He gently laid Seventeen's body back down and began removing the remaining restraints. The boy's ankles were marked by deep purple welts where the straps had bitten into his skin. He turned his head to the other wrist. It was the same. Myers paused, then sighed softly.
He slipped off his coat and draped it over Seventeen's body, covering him up to the chest.
He slowly stumbled back until his back struck the cold wall and his head hit it with a hollow clang. The sound echoed once, then faded into silence. His legs gave out beneath him, and he slid down, trembling. The bucket dipped low, its dull glow flickering as his gloved hands fell uselessly to his sides. The weight of guilt pressed heavier than the metal around his head.
"Please," he muttered, his voice breaking through the metal, thick with fear, guilt, and desperation.
"Please... not again."
The room was quiet except for Seventeen's slow, shallow breaths. Myers sat there, trembling, his chest rising and falling as if he had just escaped drowning. The faint light from the runes flickered across the walls, dim and unsteady.
He didn't move.
He didn't speak.
He just sat there, the sound of Seventeen's breathing the only thing keeping him from shattering completely.