Joy worked like a machine gun—first cleaning the bite mark with antiseptic. And now, she had a better, cleaner look at the wound. It looked angry and inflamed, but it was the spreading veins that worried her most.
"This might hurt," she warned, fully focused, as she poured more liquid on the wound.
Keneric, however, didn't feel a thing. His eyes were glassy, still looking up.
Joy reached for the bandages next, wrapping them tightly around the bite mark to prevent any future infection. She tore part of her dress and made a makeshift tourniquet using a metal handle she found lying nearby. She tied it a few inches above the green veins. She treated it like a snakebite—trying to stop the green from spreading.
Whether this would work or not, or if her diagnosis was even correct, she had no idea. But she had to try something.
"You're pretty good at this," Keneric mumbled. "Good thing one of us knows what they're doing."
Joy replied softly, "Basic medical training. All medical students have to go through it."
"Lucky me. I've got a free nurse," he said with a weak smile.
Joy pinched his arm. "Student doctor."
"Okay, okay. But what kind of doctor plays around with their patients?" Keneric chuckled.
"A good and caring one," she huffed, standing up.
"You need to rest," she added. "You have a fever now, which is a good thing. The body's trying to fight whatever toxin is inside you."
She gave him some general medicine from the medical bag and walked out of the room.
Keneric closed his eyes, trying to sleep. It was past midnight. Both of them had done too much work. The difference was—Ken could sleep. Joy couldn't.
Hours passed. From time to time, she returned, carrying a small container of water in the dark. She had soaked another cloth from her dress and placed it on Keneric's forehead. She kept at it for a long time, but it was all in vain. The green kept spreading, and his fever never went down.
Around 3 a.m., according to her phone—which barely had any charge left—Joy got up again to fetch more water. But as always, she checked on Keneric first.
The green had spread up to his neck.
She grew more and more worried. She tried not to think about the two corpses she had found earlier, but in a room like this, alone, her mind continued to torture her.
She touched his head.
The fever was gone. In fact, it was colder than normal.
Joy blinked. She was surprised—happy for a second.
Then she touched his shoulder.
"Ken?" she whispered. She called him again. Then again.
He didn't respond.
In her sleep-deprived state, it took a moment to realize how unresponsive he truly was. Horror surged through her.
She checked his neck for a pulse. Nothing.
She tried his wrist. Still nothing.
She opened his eyes. They were greenish.
When she held his face, it grew colder with every second.
Joy started shaking him, left and right.
"Ken?! Ken!! Ken!!!"
Panic overtook her. She immediately started CPR, having no other idea. She worked frantically, desperately—but the words on her lips began to die.
"Ken…?" she whispered again, the sound broken and hollow.
Then she collapsed beside his lifeless body and wept—without restraint.
She had cried a lot in the last twenty-four hours, but this… this time, it all came pouring out. Every tear, every muffled scream.
She thought she had more time.
But she'd seen the corpses of two others and was trying to fool herself.
She had believed the green veins would take one or two days to spread completely. But just like before—this new world crushed her every expectation.
Guilt began to claw at her.
She started wondering—what could she have done differently?
Amputation? Maybe. But she had no way to stop the bleeding. Or the heart to perform it.
What if it had triggered a more severe infection?
How long could she have kept him alive in this swamp land, where monsters lurked at every step?
In truth, she had done everything she could.
Maybe if she was a doctor. Maybe…
The spiral took her for the next few hours.
By the time her tears finally dried, she looked half-dead inside.
Slowly, she got up. She took another cloth and gently placed it over Keneric's face. She was afraid her mind would shatter if she saw his face again.
She wandered through the locker room like a ghost, collecting all the leftover supplies—water, medicine—shoving them into the medical bag. Then she slowly made her way toward the door.
She gave one last look in Keneric's direction… but couldn't bring herself to see him again.
Just as she reached for the door, her legs gave out.
She stumbled, crashing sideways into the narrow wall. Her head struck the corner.
She lost consciousness instantly.
The room turned silent as stone.
The door stood slightly open.
Inside, one corpse lay still—his body covered in green veins.
And beside him, a girl who had fallen.