Chapter 24: Violent Aftermath

“WHAT’S WRONG?!” Jane’s voice cracked through the infirmary tent, raw with panic.

“I don’t a fucking clue!” Jabri barked, pointing at Jagger’s face. “One second he was stable, the next he’s having a fucking seizure!”

The entire tent seemed to shudder with the force of his words.

Jagger wasn’t just trembling.

His entire body convulsed in violent, erratic waves, muscles seizing beneath his skin, breath tearing in ragged bursts. Sweat dripped down his temples in quick, trembling lines. His eyes were squeezed shut, his teeth grinding so hard the sound clicked faintly over the hum of the generator outside.

The canvas walls flickered with shadows from torchlight, erratic, jumping shapes that made the cramped space feel even smaller. The air was thick with heat, the smell of antiseptic mixing with human fear.

The tent flap whipped open a second time.

Doctor Tori stumbled in, biting into an apple like she was ready to curse the apocalypse itself. She had blood on her lab coat, old, brown crusts and fresh crimson. Something black and viscous, probably monster ichor, streaked her sleeve. Her blonde hair was pulled back, though loose strands were glued to her forehead with sweat. She smelled faintly of mint gum and surgical alcohol.

“Can I not have one peaceful fucking break to eat?” she muttered as she walked, taking another aggressive bite.

“Doc! Something’s wrong with him!” Porpo yelled, as if presenting a crime scene to a judge.

Doctor Tori dragged her gaze toward Jagger without stopping her chew. She took one more slow bite before speaking, her eyes narrowing.

“Wrong how? He looks like he’s breathing to me.”

“He had some kind of seizure,” Jabri insisted, stepping closer, voice tight with real fear. “I heard his bones cracking like something was snapping them back in place.”

That got her attention.

The apple paused halfway to her mouth. She set it onto a metal tray with a soft clink. Her entire demeanor shifted in a breath, her posture straightened, eyes sharpened, and for the first time since entering, she looked fully awake.

She approached Jagger with clinical precision, fingers pressing gently onto the bandaged skin of his chest. Her brows furrowed.

“He is… fully healed…” she whispered, almost disbelieving her own conclusion.

Jagger’s eyes fluttered open, consciousness returning in shaky fragments. He sucked in air like a man surfacing from drowning. With trembling fingers, he reached for the blanket around his waist.

He hesitated, then pulled it aside.

The bandages covering his torso were tight, clean, and thick.

Slowly, carefully, he began unwrapping them.

Layer after layer peeled back.

Jane held her breath.

Porpo clutched her shirt.

Lynis swallowed hard behind them.

The last strip fell away.

Jabri muttered, “Holy shit…”

There was nothing.

No bruises. No swelling. No stitches. No gashes. No bone-deep wounds.

Just unmarred flesh, smooth, pale, almost new-looking. Only faint pinkness remained where the worst injuries had once been, fading even as they watched.

The tent fell into complete silence.

Doctor Tori exhaled slowly, her voice steady but tinged with disbelief. “Kid, do you have a regeneration skill?”

Jagger blinked, still dazed. “No… I don’t think so.”

“That wasn’t a question meant for you. I’m thinking out loud,” she muttered, eyes sharp as scalpels as she circled him. “When you got here, your ribs were cracked, one punctured your lung, concussion, multiple lacerations, internal bleeding… you should’ve been on life support, not sitting upright.”

She leaned down, meeting his gaze head-on. Her perfume, faint vanilla beneath layers of steel and blood, surrounded him.

“What’s the last thing you remember? Before all this?”

Jagger swallowed, throat sore. “A message. A red screen. It told me ’severe bodily trauma detected’ and ’regeneration initiating.’ Then it felt like I was being… ripped apart and stitched together all at once.”

Tori flicked his forehead.

“Ow! Why?!”

“You have a skill,” she said with absolute certainty. “And a rare one at that.”

Jabri rubbed his temples. “Well, shit.”

Tori clapped her hands once. “Everyone out. I need to check him properly.”

The authority in her tone left no room for debate.

“Out,” Jabri repeated, pointing at the flap.

Jane hesitated, heat blooming in her cheeks. “I think he should put some clothes on before you…” she coughed, voice cracking, “you know, check him over properly.”

Porpo groaned like her soul was escaping. “Oh for fuck’s sake, Jane.”

Jabri released a booming laugh, hand slapping Lynis’s shoulder so hard the guy winced. Even some patients on nearby cots cracked tired smiles.

Jane wished the world would implode.

Lynis, desperate for Porpo’s forgiveness and a redemption arc, hurriedly dumped the clothes onto the nearest cot. “Alright, alright… break it up. Doc’s orders. Move your asses.”

Jane allowed herself to be herded toward the exit, walking stiffly like a person reliving their worst humiliation.

Porpo shot Lynis a stare that was 70% annoyance, 30% reluctant gratitude. “You’re not completely useless, I guess.”

Lynis puffed his chest slightly.

When the trio vanished through the tent flap, the space grew quieter, heavier, more clinical.

Doctor Tori turned back to Jagger with a smile that was far too cheerful to be comforting.

“Alright, kid,” she said, snapping on latex gloves with a crisp pop. “Let’s see what makes you tick.”

Jagger stared at her, horrified.

The tent flap fell closed.

He whispered a prayer to whatever gods had survived the apocalypse. “Help me, God…”

And Doctor Tori’s shadow fell over him.

—

In the top right corner of his vision the counter kept counting down the seconds.

“One day and 12 hours left on the countdown.” Sato said, leaning over the 40th story apartment balcony railing a lit cigarette in his mouth.

He watched a group of wolve like monsters the size of small sedan running after three survivors below, he could see how exhausted the survivors were by the way they ran, one survivor stumbled, the other two turned back, “Big mistake.” He said flatly.

And he was right they were too late and the three were caught and torn apart as they screamed and cried out for help.

He blew out a puff of smoke, a small frown formed on his lips. He turned to his right, and saw a woman, a middle-aged woman with blonde hair tied in a bun. Her blue eyes looking out to the city with a blank stare, a frown plastered on her face. She had nothing but a sheet wrapped around her, Sato sighed.

“What do you think will happen the moment the counter hits zero?” She grabbed the cigarette from his lips and took a drag, looking up into the sky, the portal still looming like a dark storm cloud. Monsters of all kinds still came out in waves, and there were no signs that it will ever stop.

Sato lets out a deep sigh, looking up as well. Seeing a group of goblins fall out, “Who knows, maybe nothing, maybe all these fuckers stop coming or the worst-case scenario, we all die.” He turns around his back to the balcony and leans on the railing, his back making contact with the cold metal, he looks at the woman and brushed a loose strand of hair from her face, his hand rested on her cheek, his thumb caressing her smooth skin.

“But I’m sure that no matter what happens, I’ll make sure to protect you.”

“How noble,” she rolled her eyes, she flicks the cigarette and watches as the ashes falls to the ground.

The sun was a few hours from setting, life or death awaits.

–

[1 day, 12 hours, 32 minute, 02 seconds]

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