Chapter 1001

Ethan’s POV:

The moment Jeremy and I stepped into the abandoned shack, the overpowering odor of blood slammed into me. It was so pungent that my stomach lurched.

I lowered my gaze and saw a dark crimson pool beneath my feet. Blood had soaked into my shoes and spread over the floor, turning my stomach cold.

Jeremy came in behind me, his flashlight moving slowly across the room.

The entire place was drenched in blood. Several silver knives were strewn across the floor, their blades coated with blood that had begun to dry.

Melisa was sprawled motionless in the corner, her complexion drained of all color. Her right hand had been hacked off at the wrist, leaving behind torn flesh and fragments of exposed bone. Her eyes remained open, the pupils enlarged and lifeless. Her lips hung slightly apart, as though she had fought to say something before death silenced her.

Even Jeremy, who had witnessed more gruesome scenes than most people could stomach, turned his head and retched.

I couldn’t move. My thoughts had gone completely numb, leaving only one horrifying certainty behind. Melisa was dead.

Then I remembered what she had told me before. Her survival had been connected to Lianne’s. She had claimed that a rare enzyme within her body was essential to producing the antidote. Without her, Lianne’s only chance of being cured would disappear.

Lianne had already sacrificed her own opportunity to survive for me. Several days ago, she’d secretly given me the only dose of the antidote. Now, her remaining time was slipping away by the second.

Jeremy approached and spoke in a subdued voice. “Ethan, keep yourself together. Those wounds would have killed Melisa quickly. She wouldn’t have had enough strength to leave behind anything useful. We need to leave before Brian returns with his people.”

I wouldn’t listen. I pulled free of Jeremy’s hold, lowered myself beside Melisa, and began examining every inch of the floor around her.

This was Lianne’s last chance. If necessary, I would tear the entire shack apart with my bare hands until I found something that could save her.

Then, just as desperation began swallowing me whole, something caught my attention near Melisa’s body. Her left hand was resting against the floor. One finger was stained crimson, and several uneven marks had been dragged across the concrete.

The blood had already dried, yet the markings were still visible. Numbers.

I immediately took out my phone, switched on the flashlight, and crouched closer. After taking a picture, I enlarged the image. My heart jolted. Those figures weren’t a telephone number. They were part of the antidote formula.

The doctors had already determined which substances made up the toxin. Their previous attempts to create a cure had failed because the order of the components was wrong. Instead of neutralizing the poison, the incorrect combination made its effects even more lethal.

Melisa had left behind the correct sequence. But she’d only managed to record seven groups of numbers before her strength gave out. The final two were incomplete, blurred beneath streaks of blood.