The sharp shriek of the call button was cut off by a slender hand. Olivia Stevens clamped onto Devon Fox, her grip cold and unrelenting as ice.
"Devon, knock it off," she said, her voice hard.
The door swung open and the doctor on rounds stepped in. A surge of hope shot through Devon. He grabbed at the chance, his voice a desperate rasp. "Doctor, please, help me! They've lost their minds—they're trying to hurt me!"
Olivia cut in, cool and commanding. "Devon, remember where you are. This is the Stevens family clinic."
The words hit him like a bucket of ice water. Realization washed over him, making him shiver. His eyes went wide with horror as Olivia addressed the doctor with absolute authority. "Bring the sedative."
"But... he has pre-existing injuries. This drug could trigger a severe reaction," the doctor protested, nervously wiping his forehead. But he couldn't resist; he passed the syringe to Olivia with shaking hands.
"You can't do this to me, Olivia Stevens!" Devon's voice crackled with panic and despair.
In the murky light where shadows bled into darkness, Olivia held the needle, its tip gleaming with menace. "Devon, you remember last time. Even after you fell ten stories, I still pulled you back. This is just a tiny little shot."
As the mixture of pain and drug seared through his veins, Devon's scream strangled in his throat, trapped. His vision smeared, and Olivia's voice faded into nothing.
"Pedro, I'll have him over to you right away."
Sharp agony jolted Devon awake. Blinding fluorescent lights bore down on him; he was strapped to a surgical table, fighting for air.
"Awake now, are we?"
A mocking voice drifted from behind. Pedro Snyder emerged from the shadows, a smug grin twisting his lips as he fiddled with lab instruments.
"I never thought Olivia would hand you over so willingly for my experiments," he sneered.
"You murdered my children, you psychotic bastard!" Devon shouted, his eyes blazing with hatred for Pedro.
"Relax. It's just a little test..." Pedro's grin stretched wider, venomous.
Casually, he pressed an electrode pad against Devon's temple. The next second—
"Ahhh—!"
Devon's scream tore through the room as the electric current ripped into him, a thousand needles drilling into his brain. But even that agony was nothing compared to the searing torment in his limbs. He tried to cry out again, but only ragged breaths escaped.
Pedro gave a low chuckle, scribbling notes like it was nothing. "Extreme stimuli really do trigger those self-preservation mechanisms. You're the perfect subject, Master."
Devon couldn't hear a word. His world was a cocoon of pain, his spirit shattered into pieces. How could Pedro do this to him? What nightmare had swallowed his three unseen children?
Hours bled by, leaving Devon a broken shell. But Pedro's "experiment" was far from done. A long needle pierced his skin, draining vial after vial of blood.
Through the night, Devon teetered on the edge of consciousness, every thought drowned by pain. Pedro's smile never wavered as Devon's pleas echoed through the lab. Holding a gleaming scalpel to Devon's throat, Pedro taunted, "I swear, this is the last one, okay?"
"No! Pedro Snyder!"
As the blade edged closer, desperation lit a fire in Devon. He grabbed the scalpel with his bare hands, ignoring the flesh tearing, the skin splitting. Pain threatened to swallow him whole, but he held on with everything he had.
Shock flickered across Pedro's face. "You..."
Summoning what strength remained, Devon drove the blade into Pedro with a fierce, determined thrust.
"Arghhh—!" Pedro's scream split the air as he stumbled back.
Devon scrambled off the bed, bare feet slapping against the freezing floor as he bolted, finally bursting out onto a road. Like a drowning man clutching a lifeline, he reached for passersby.
"Help me, please, somebody help me!"
Then, a soft hand settled on his shoulder.
"Devon, where do you think you're going?"
