#Chapter 73: Donation

DEREK "You are?" the doctor asked, his voice tight with disbelief. I nodded. "Yes. I’m ABX." Everything after that happened fast—too fast to make sense of. The doctor turned, snapping orders like gunfire. A nurse materialized from around the corner. Another tech arrived with a rolling cart and waved me down a hallway, their pace clipped, voices tight with urgency. I didn’t look back. Couldn’t. Behind me, Elena was still frozen in place, staring like the floor had disappeared beneath her. Like I’d just ripped open a door she wasn’t ready to walk through. But this wasn’t about her. Or me. Or whatever sat between us like rubble. It was about the boy bleeding out in the next room. They led me into a side lab—too bright, too clean, too quiet. The scent of antiseptic hit me like a wall. Cabinets lined the room in neat rows, stocked with medical supplies. A monitor blinked green in the corner. I couldn’t focus on any of it. The nurse—small, no-nonsense, already gloved—g