A week passed after Keisha received Iyaz’s ruthless punishment, the event ended with no definite answer to why he aimed to kidnap Keisha but her brother Jaden also. The results of his tormenting turned her comatosed and bedridden. She wasn’t close to being dead at least, although her injuries were a lot for a regular human to handle — from her blackened face, down to her ultimately bruised body. After several tests, it was then confirmed that she broke two of her ribs and fractured her left arm. 

In a plain white room with that familiar scent of a hospital where Keisha was lying unconscious, there was Zhackary who currently sat nearby waiting for something to happen. Eyes of his affixed to Keisha’s that were shut close were apparently swollen for all the crying and pleading for her to come back as soon as possible.

“I didn’t have the courage to save you sooner… If only I had accepted your request before the time I signed up for NJG’s camp, maybe you'd have been with us without all this mess.”

Wanting to hold her hand, he withdrew. After all, there’s nothing between them and never will they ever be. Whether he now wished to be with her side, it’s impossible since their relationship’s been a blur even since they all got separated. Separated in a sense that they need to go their own ways; study somewhere else, find a job, and for personal matters. Now that fate made them meet once again, he was unsure if Keisha still had the same feelings for him. In fact, when Keisha was at the verge of her captivation towards him, he gave her unclear hints and turned her down in the end. And this broke her as she was indeed into him, thinking that she was never enough and suitable for the likes of him.

“You know… I was scared that I wouldn’t ever get to meet you anymore. When I heard that your ex was chasing you down, I felt my heart drop… because I knew how traumatized you were and no one ever came to you to help you forget it.”

Regrets. 

Regrets were the cause of his speechlessness whenever someone discloses their past. He thought that if he had the courage to tell her the truth sooner, she wouldn’t have been forced to change herself and live in the reflection of others. Because the way she looked at him that time she was in Zhackary’s arms, there’s no more hint of relief nor comfort around him; he did feel this because he knew how she used to look at him. Her eyes would glisten in delight whenever she’d tell something cool about herself amidst the confidence that she was really proud of who she really was.

“I haven't heard anything from you since then. Like, suddenly you just disappeared as if you never existed. I tried contacting you but none of your social media accounts were active. I only heard from Rhianna that you moved somewhere far and stopped going to school. And… you never told me that you reunited with Jeffery once. He told me that you got thinner and paler. I was worried, you know… and jealous. You never spoke to me about your deteriorating health and how your life turned upside down right after our last goodbye.”

“I’m sorry”, he muttered countless times, his hands covering his face as he cried silently. All that’s in his mind was blaming himself for all his shortcomings as Keisha’s friend. If only he didn’t make her feel alone and helped her through tough times, she wouldn’t be in this situation.

Something caught his eye that stopped his muttering, Keisha’s been bleeding through her nose. In exaggeration, it’s like a flood coming out of her and it seemed to be a serious problem. This alarmed Zhackary — sprinting through the halls to call the others.

“Hey, whaddup bud. How’s Keisha doing?” A tall man in a white lab coat greeted, whilst quickly noticed the lad’s panicked face. “Is something wrong?”

“Shino, call Rhianna now! Keisha’s bleeding badly.” 

The man, Shino, nodded his head and sprinted somewhere. Spent no more minutes wasted, he came back with a woman in thick-framed glasses, wearing the same lab coat. Rhianna, an exquisite medical practitioner, known for her vast intelligence in science, came along with the others to Keisha’s ward.

"What's happening sir?" The girl in specs asked while she checked the poor lady's vitals.

"Her internal wounds must've been disturbed again, she is bleeding badly from her nose and ears", being pale as death out of dread, Zhack then proceeded to put pressure on Keisha's nose bridge so the bleeding would stop.

"This is dangerous sir. We've done everything we can to prevent the internal wounds from opening up. But without the proper equipment, we can't proceed to a surgery", Rhianna then tried to inject anticoagulants to prevent the blood from clotting and reduce further injuries. "I'm afraid that this won't do much sir… her heart rate is still increasing to a dangerous level."

"Rhianna we can't lose her!" Shino butted in, heart pounding and with cold sweat. "We should inform the higher ups about this because we are incapable of such surgery. This is already getting out of hand. If this goes on, we might lose her." 

Rhianna did not respond to her companion’s plea, instead she scrambled through her briefcase to get a vial of something both Shino and Zhackary were unfamiliar with. This doesn’t go unnoticed by the lads who were trying to browse through their contacts and call for help.

“What is that?” Shino questioned, whose face ticked in irritation out of Rhianna’s useless deeds. 

Once again, she never answered, then walked her way towards the lassie bathing in her own blood. Filling the syringe a reddish liquid coming from the nameless vial, expressions of hers were as hollow as the undead. 

“Tell me, what the hell is that?” Shino uttered once more in a more sullen tone, trying to stop her. “Why aren’t you answering me?”

“Hey, Rhi. We aren’t playing any games here. What are you seriously up to?” Zhackary added though in a less assertive expression. 

“No need to call anyone. I’m doing this for Keisha. This’ll stop the bleeding and cure her.”

“H-Hey! What do you mea-” Shino was cut when Rhianna forced herself free from his grasp then quickly injected the what-seemed-to-be cure on the unconscious lass. 

The room’s ongoing tension was enveloped by silence — Keisha’s obvious injuries slowly faded: from her beaten up face to her broken bones and to her purplish bruises. And even her constant bleeding not a longer while stopped that made each of them surprised; surprised in a sense that the events were too unrealistic to be happening in a short span of time. 

“Her injuries are gone. How could that possibly happen? Rhianna, what did you do?!” Zhackary exclaimed at the sight of the lassie that’s now sleeping in peace. Even though Keisha was alright now, he couldn’t stop thinking about the vial that Rhianna used on her. It was nameless after all, and it might be dangerous or lethal.

“Ah, well…” She began gathering the words she wanted to say, her composure steady. “I never knew my antidote would work on Keisha’s body. I’ve been using this for years as a quick cure for internal bleeding and aneurysm. Although the situation’s 50/50 a while ago, I had to do it in order to save her. I need to know if it still works.”

“So you’re saying that the vial you used on Keisha has a half percentage of certainty? And what if that cure of yours didn’t work, huh? She would’ve died!” Furiously, Shino threw a facepalm in disappointment because it was indeed selfish of Rhianna to prioritize her own agendas instead of aiding their friend who’s currently fighting for her own life. “This isn’t about you Rhi. This isn’t about getting your limelight.”

“I know what I’m doing, Shino! I FUCKING SAVED HER LIFE.” Rhianna yelled back and suddenly smiled like a madman; her inner hysteria began to rain down. Her actions frightened the two, thinking that she must’ve done something terrible. “If there’s something to save Keisha, it’s me! ME AND ONLY ME!”

"You could've killed her!" Shino slapped her with concern and fear in his eyes. There was a brief moment of silence between the two. And afterwards, they all took a breather to cool off a bit as it wont help to resolve the current issue. Again, he spoke, in a manner of expressing his frustrations towards his best friend. “What you’re doing right now is preposterous and stupid. You always think as if you’re the victim when you’re clearly not. We never thought of your inventions as acts of foolishness.”

“So I’m the bad guy now?” Rhianna smirked in a face of sarcasm. Let out a malevolent laughter, although her tears were peeking through her eyes. 

“We didn’t mean it that way, Rhi. It’s just-” Zhackary tried to calm her down but failed to do so. 

The desperate woman gave him a glare and spoke in a hoarse voice, “Fine then. Call the fucking doctors and do whatever the fuck you want with Keisha.” Then she left the room with her obsidian briefcase, slamming her way out.

The atmosphere went darker as time passed, the wall clock adjacent to the ward’s window ticked loudly to fill in with the muted surroundings. The two lads who were left in a daze, trying to find the words to unveil about their current situation.

“The… NJG headquarters sent Miss Kwaresma and she’s on the way here. They already knew what happened to Keisha a week ago, and hopefully they’d do something about it.” Zhackary broke the silence then sat down on a wooden stool near Keisha’s bed. He sighed in desolation as he didn’t know what to do with Rhianna going back to her uncontrollable state again.

“Did I say too much?” A short question said by Shino, his fingers fiddling with the buttons on his coat.

“Not really… She needs to snap out and self-reflect. All these times we feel like we’re hurting her feelings when clearly, we aren’t intending to hurt her.” Zhackary replied as he got himself a clean towel to wipe off the blood staining Keisha’s face from the event ago. Gently, he lifted her head as he cleaned up the bloody mess. 

“I slapped her though.” His friend added, whose guilt gradually got larger. “It scares me whenever she begins to act like that. I never treated her as a threat, but Keisha almost died. I can’t afford to lose a friend and she’ll be the reason why. If anything bad happens to Keisha, god knows how she’ll react to it.”

sigh

A few hours passed when a light knock came in as Zhackary and Shino were preparing for their light snacks: instant noodles that were provided by the government as relief goods. Though what Zhackary cooked wasn’t plain at all — in fact he made use of the crops from their garden and added chinese cabbage with onion leeks in it. Shino was the one who stood up on his seat and made his way to open the door. Outside was a petite girl in her mid 30’s, dressed in a white blazer and pencil cut skirt, with a stethoscope hanging on her neck, carrying what seems to be a briefcase of her medical tools.

“Good evening, I am nurse Kwaresma that NJG sent to check up on Miss Vista. Can I see her?” asked the woman as she made her way to Keisha’s clinic bed. “Can you help me take her for a  CT scan? I heard you have complete facilities here.”

“Right this way miss”, Shino assisted the nurse to take Keisha towards the CT room. Surprisingly, Zhackary did not act like he would come with them, “Aren't you coming with us?” 

“There is something I have to discuss to the whole of Cipher”, Zhackary said looking agitated. “We need to prepare for an attack.”

And as they head outside the ward along with Keisha peacefully having a slumber on her hospital bed, the boys talk. The nurse noticed the potential private conversation between them, so she signalled to give them some space to converse. 

“You can just tell me the directions to the CT room, I’ll leave with Miss Vista and meet you two afterwards. You might need to talk about serious matters. I’ll report to Mister Nix about my findings as well.”

“Thank you Miss Kwaresma. We’ll head there as soon as possible.” Zhackary nodded in a most polite manner. “I’ll have Jeffery to escort you there, he’s on his way now.”

The nurse gave her warm smiles to the lads as she watched them head inside the room again.

“What do you mean prepare an attack?” Shino asked in confusion. 

“There is no doubt that Iyaz already determined who took Keisha from their facility. Since she was taken by Utopia first, there is no doubt that it will wage a war against Cipher.” Zhackary explained as he thought of the possibility of an ambush happening soon.

“Are you serious? The Philippines is already under a war state and now they’re gonna start another here?”

“Knowing Iyaz, he is the type of person who gets what he wants. Even if we talk about it with Nix, Iyaz will attack no matter what the consequences, telling them that they have all the rights to keep Keisha in. He put that mark on her with a purpose.” Zhackary then walked out, calling a person named Rocky, “Are the battle gears ready?” … “Contact Rhianna to prepare the bioweapons as well. We shouldn't waste any minute. We’ll have a summit in a day or two.”