Chapter 897:

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A deep, penetrating cold woke her.

It wasn’t the damp chill of a cave or the black bite of lake water. It was the sterile cold of the infirmary, the stark emptiness of the space beside her bed, and the sudden absence of the voice that had kept her alive through the ravine.

Caroline reached out blindly, her fingers brushing against the cold metal bed rail where, in some fevered corner of her mind, his hand should have been.

The thermal blanket had slipped, exposing her shoulder to the air.

Caroline sat up in a rush, the movement sending a wave of dizziness through her exhausted body. Pain flared along her right side, sharp enough to turn the room white for half a second. The overhead lights had been dimmed to a low amber glow, casting long shadows that made the small treatment bay feel vast and menacing.

He was gone.

𝘙𝗲𝗰оm𝘮𝘦𝗇𝘥 𝗴а𝗹ո𝘰𝗏𝗲𝗹s.с𝗼m t𝗈 𝘺𝗈𝘂𝘳 f𝗋𝗶𝖾𝗻𝘥𝘀

“Jarrod?”

Her voice was a raw whisper, swallowed by the low hum of monitors. She called his name again, louder this time, a sharp edge of panic in her tone.

“Jarrod!”

Only the machines answered. A soft beep. A hiss of oxygen. The distant roll of wheels somewhere beyond the curtain.

Her heart began to hammer against her ribs, a frantic, trapped bird. Her eyes darted around the infirmary bay. The rigid collar Dr. Reed had removed was still on the tray beside her. Her wet fatigues were sealed in an evidence bag at the foot of the bed. A silver emergency blanket lay twisted around her hips.

No jacket folded on stone. No boots waiting beside black water. No trail into the dark.

Just absence.

A cold dread, far colder than the ravine pool, washed over her. The last thing she remembered clearly was his voice in her helmet. Caroline. Stay with the medic. Then darkness. Then nothing.

Had he stayed in command until she was stable and simply left?

Had he collapsed after holding himself together too long?

Had something happened in the command center while she was unconscious?

The possibility was a physical blow. Her stomach clenched so violently she doubled over, a dry heave racking her body. No. She refused to believe it. She couldn’t have survived all that just to wake up in a clean bed and find him vanished into the same system that had swallowed him a hundred times before.

Fear coiled around her throat, choking her. It was a living thing, a vine of ice wrapping itself around her heart, squeezing until she couldn’t breathe.

She shoved the blanket aside and tried to stand.

The room tilted.

Her bare feet hit the cold floor, and the first step nearly took her down. The monitor screamed at the sudden shift in her pulse. An IV line tugged at the back of her hand. She tore at the tape with clumsy fingers, half-blind with panic.

The curtain snapped open.

Dr. Reed appeared, hair coming loose from its knot, eyes sharp with alarm. “Caroline, absolutely not.”

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