Chapter 5 · I know enough

"I know enough."

The doors blew inward.

Silas moved in front of her. A bolt struck his shoulder and glanced off his armor. He fired once. The attacker dropped outside the ward.

Mira didn't wait. She ducked under Silas's arm and entered the room.

"Mira!" Nora Finch shouted from across the ward. "Get out!"

"You opened the doors."

"I opened one. The rest were forced."

"How many?"

"All of them."

Children crowded the beds and floor mats. Some held their throats. Some rocked and hummed. Dark lines showed beneath their skin.

Silas entered behind Mira and locked the door. "We have four minutes before the lower corridor is overrun."

Mira spun on him. "Then give me four minutes."

"You get one patient."

"I get the worst one."

Nora pointed toward the center bed. "The little girl. She stopped responding."

A child lay curled beneath a blanket, her lips pressed shut. Her eyes were open, fixed on Mira.

Mira crossed the room. "What's her name?"

"Tess," Nora said. "She was singing ten minutes ago. Then the sound just stopped."

Silas came up behind Mira. "Don't touch her."

"That's not your decision."

"It is when I am the only thing between you and a bullet."

Mira looked over her shoulder. He had raised the pistol again, this time pointing it at her.

The room went silent except for the other children humming.

"Put it down," she said.

"Step away from the bed."

"She's dying."

"You don't know what is inside her."

"Neither do you."

"I know it killed everyone who tried to cut it out."

Mira held his gaze. "You knew that and still brought me here."

"I brought you here because you are the only surgeon who survived contact."

"There it is. You don't want a cure. You want a weapon."

His finger tightened near the trigger. "Step away."

Tess's small hand moved beneath the blanket.

Mira saw the tremor. Saw the dark mark run from the child's wrist toward her elbow.

"She's not singing because the infection is trapped," Mira said. "If it reaches her chest, she won't get another breath."

"You have no proof."

"I have eyes."

"Mira, back away," Nora whispered.

"No."

Silas stepped closer. "That is an order."

"And I signed the addendum. I can ignore a medical order if I believe the patient can be saved."

"You signed a clause. You did not sign permission to die."

"Move the gun."

"I won't."

"Then shoot me after I cut her."

His eyes flashed. "You think I won't?"

"I think you need me too much."

"Don't test that."

Mira reached for the surgical blade at her belt.

Silas's pistol tracked the movement. "Mira."

"Say my name again and maybe I'll listen."

"Put the blade down."

"No."

"You break this command, and I will lock you in the vault myself."

"If you do, these kids die."

"If you cut her, they may all die."

Mira's fingers closed around the handle.

Tess's eyes moved from the blade to Silas's gun. Her lips parted.

A faint note slipped out.

Every child in the ward answered.

The sound punched through Mira's skull. Silas flinched. His free hand went to his covered forearm.

Mira saw the black lines pushing beneath his sleeve.

He caught her looking.

"Don't," he warned.

"You're getting worse."

"Cut the child or watch her die. Choose now."

"You just told me not to."

"I changed my mind."

"You can't keep doing that."

"You want to save her? Then do it."

His gun stayed on her chest.

Mira bent over Tess.

Silas took one step closer. His knee brushed the edge of the bed. His body heat pressed against her side while the pistol remained aimed at her heart.

"One wrong move," he said, voice low, "and I stop you."

"One wrong move from you," Mira said, "and I stop trusting you for good."

Something hard moved behind his eyes.

"You never trusted me."

"I was considering it."

The words landed harder than she meant them to.

Silas's breath caught. His gaze dropped to her blood-stained thumb, then returned to her face.

Mira cut the child's sleeve.

"Mira!" Nora shouted.

"Hold her arm."

Nora grabbed Tess's wrist. The child screamed without making a sound.

Silas raised the pistol higher. "What are you doing?"

"Finding the source."

"You said it was trapped."

"It is."

"Then why is it moving?"

Mira pressed the blade into the darkened skin.

Tess's song snapped off.

The black lines gathered beneath the cut, sliding together like ink pulled by a magnet.

Silas's voice turned deadly. "Mira, stop."

"Hold the light steady."

"Stop now."

"You want the truth? Watch."

She made the smallest opening she could.

A thin black thread slipped from the blood.

It trembled on the blade.

Nora made a strangled sound. "That isn't blood."

"No," Mira said. "It isn't."

The thread curled toward her fingers.

Silas stepped in, one hand closing around Mira's waist to pull her back. His gun stayed in his other hand. His chest hit her shoulder. His breath burned against her ear.

"Drop the blade," he said.

Mira couldn't move.

The thread had wrapped around the metal. It was alive. It tugged once, testing her grip.

"Silas," she whispered.

"I said drop it."

"If I let go, it goes back into her."

"Then cut it."

"With what? Your gun?"

His fingers tightened at her waist. "Mira, listen to me."

The thread pulled harder.

Her wrist snapped forward. The blade nearly tore free.

Silas dragged her against him, locking her arm between them. The contract mark on her wrist flared hot enough to blur her vision.

"Don't fight the pull," he said. "Let it show you where it wants to go."

Mira stared at the black thread.

"You knew," she said.

Silas's silence answered first.

Then Tess opened her eyes wider and whispered, "It knows him."

Silas went perfectly still.

The thread twisted away from the child.

It stretched across the blade, over Mira's bloodied fingers, reaching toward the black mark hidden beneath Silas's sleeve.

He shoved Mira behind him. "Everyone back."

"No," Mira said. "What is it?"

"Back away from me."

"You said it knows you."

"Mira."

The thread snapped toward her hand--