Chapter 15
Myra
Myra waited until Jace’s breathing evened out, the mixture of medications coursing through him soothing him to sleep.
It didn’t take long, exhaustion clung to him like a second skin these days.
Still, the waiting was unbearable. It wasn’t just the patience required, it was the war in her head and the guilt whispering her name.
She hadn’t let herself feel something like this in years.
But Prometheus had a way of reminding her that allowing yourself any weakness always came at a cost.
She should have remembered how merciless they were at their core.
That mistake had nearly cost her everything.
Once she was certain Jace was asleep, Myra silently slipped away from his room. She headed for the elevators, a plan slowly unfolding with each step.
Luci had claimed with such unshakable confidence that Doc would cover for her if things went south, that his word could shield her decisions from consequences.
Maybe he had tried, but it had clearly not been enough.
Myra had only met Doc a handful of times, but he didn’t seem cruel enough for this.
Still, she knew if the Collective wanted someone punished, even Doc couldn’t protect them.
She knew it without question because before the outbreak, when she’d barely crossed the threshold of adolescence, Prometheus had drilled simple rules into her and her peers.
Complete the task. Obey the orders. End those who have strayed from our ideals.
Mercy had never been a part of her curriculum.
But Myra had to try to find a way out of this. And she had to trust that Luci’s moral assessment of Doc was accurate because he was the only person who could help.
Her hand remained steady as she raised it to knock on Doc’s office door.
By now he would have finished his morning rounds and would likely be there looking over the information he’d collected.
The sound of her knuckles against the wood seemed louder than it should have but Myra was vaguely aware that that could simply be a result of the anxiety thumping in her chest.
The door opened a crack before swinging wider to reveal Doc’s face. A nervous smile tugged at his lips. “Ms. Lopez,” he greeted her. “I wasn’t expecting you back so soon. Come in.” He stepped aside and closed the door behind them. The click of the latch only made her anxiety worse.
“Would you like some tea?” he asked, gesturing to the chair across from his own.
Steam curled from a chipped porcelain cup on his desk, its herbal scent lingering in the air.
Myra hesitated before declining with a shake of her head.
It was rude, she knew that, but her stomach twisted at the idea of swallowing anything at the moment.
“Alright then,” Doc mumbled, lowering himself into his chair. He studied her from across the desk for a moment before he spoke. “Is there something I can help you with today, Ms. Lopez?”
Myra leaned back in the chair and crossed her arms over her chest. “You can help me by telling me what the hell is going on with Jace.”
Doc’s smile faltered. He adjusted the pen on his desk, straightening it until it was parallel with his notepad. “Jace?” he echoed, as if he needed clarification.
“You know exactly who I mean,” Myra snapped. “His nurse just told me he’s been taken off the list and I need to know why that is. Luci assured me you wouldn’t let that happen.”
Silence pressed down between them. Doc dropped the pen and folded his hands on the desk. “Ms. Lopez…” His tone had softened but his eyes betrayed him, clearly displaying his unease. “Jace’s case has…shifted in priority.”
“Shifted in priority?” Myra repeated. “He’s twelve. He needs a new kidney. That’s not something that changes overnight.”
Doc removed his glasses and rubbed at the bridge of his nose, as though the truth itself was painful to speak.
“There are consequences for certain actions. Dr. Castillo interfered with the registry. She forced a hand that was not hers to force, and though I did my best to protect her, there are others far above me who believe punishment is in order.”
Myra’s hands curled into fists in her lap until her nails bit into her palms. “So they’re taking it out on a kid?”
His eyes finally lifted to meet hers, and she noted how they were filled with such weary resignation. “They want to make an example, and considering that Luci is already under scrutiny — ”
Myra jumped to her feet, her chair screeching against the floor, “Scrutiny for what? Did she not just spend years of her life slaving away in the lab to find a cure for all of us? I mean after everything she’s done, can’t they just let this go?”
Doc didn’t flinch. “It’s not that simple. If I push harder they won’t just come for her. They’ll come for me too, and then no one will be left to help either of them.”
Her chest rose with fury, but beneath it clarity began to take shape. If Luci couldn’t protect Jace and Doc was too compromised to fight back, then the only person left standing between them and Prometheus was her.
“There’s something you’re not telling me,” she said as she leaned forward and pressed her palms into the desk. Her eyes locked on his, demanding answers. She wasn’t going to yield, not yet.
Doc held her gaze as though he were searching for something within her, until finally, his voice broke the silence. “How long have you been with Prometheus?”
Myra blinked, taken aback. “Why does that matter?” she shot back.
“Just answer the question.”
She exhaled sharply. “Since I was fifteen.”
Doc gave a slow nod. “Almost a decade then. After all that time, you should know Prometheus doesn’t operate on morals. They thrive on control and manipulation.”
Myra’s brows furrowed as her frustration twisted into confusion. “What does that have to do with anything?”
Leaning across the desk, Doc’s voice dropped to a whisper.
“Think about it, Myra. With all the resources Prometheus has at its disposal, doesn’t it strike you as strange that Dr. Castillo was sent out there with nearly nothing.
Almost as if…” He paused. His gaze shifted toward the closed door before finding hers again.
“As if they don’t want her to make it to Arizona at all. ”
Myra’s eyes widened as the words hit her.
Holy fuck.
“That doesn’t make any sense. Are you saying they sent her out there to die?” she asked, trying to force all the pieces together. Still, in the back of her mind she knew that if Doc’s words held even a shred of truth, it wouldn’t be the worst atrocity she’d seen Prometheus commit.
“The vaccine gives people hope,” Doc said, still in a whisper. “And hope is a dangerous thing.”
Myra recoiled slightly, her brows knit together. “How the hell can hope be dangerous?”
Doc leaned back. “Because hope inspires courage where there should be submission. Hope makes people question, resist, and rebel. And for a regime like Prometheus, that’s dangerous.”
Myra’s chest tightened. “And the vaccine gives everyone hope?” she said, her question turning slowly into realization.
“Precisely.”
Myra sank back into her chair, stunned and struggling to process the enormity of what she was hearing. “Why are you telling me this?”
For the first time, Doc’s composure wavered.
He rubbed a hand across his withered face and his tone broke into something that almost sounded like regret.
“If I were twenty years younger, maybe I’d still have the fire to do something myself, but I’m not.
I’m an old man, Myra. Old enough to know when to swallow my pride and ask for help.
Old enough to know when the truth has to survive me. ”
Myra’s stomach twisted as the pieces clicked together.
Luci and Alex hadn’t just been sent on an assignment.
They’d been sent on a mission designed to fail.
All the danger, all the impossible odds — it wasn’t just bad luck.
It was intent. Prometheus never wanted the vaccine to succeed.
They wanted Luci silenced before she ever reached AZ-7.
Her fists clenched against the arms of the chair.
“So that’s it? You’re telling me they were sent out there just to die?
And Alex…he went with her because he actually believed in her.
” She shook her head in disbelief as her voice trembled with anger.
“If all of that’s true, then we have to do something.
There’s strength in numbers, and surely if we told the others — ”
“No,” Doc interrupted. “Prometheus has mastered the ability to manipulate the populace. You’ll find that it’s difficult to change the opinion of people who believe they owe Prometheus gratitude and loyalty. The numbers will always be against us.”
A heavy sigh escaped Myra as her shoulders fell. “So that’s it? There’s nothing that can be done?” she asked.
Doc’s gaze softened, but his tone remained urgent. “There is something you can do. Take Jace. Intercept Luci before she either dies out there or worse — makes it to AZ-7. Because if Prometheus gets their hands on her, she’ll disappear, and the work she’s done will disappear with her.”
Myra’s throat went dry as she pictured Jace’s pale face, his thin arms, the tubes tethering him to machines. “But where? Where do we go?” she asked, her voice little more than a whisper.
“There’s a place across the border in Sonora, Mexico,” Doc replied. “There are people there — scientists and doctors who aren’t under Prometheus’s will. They can protect Luci and they can help Jace in ways this place never will. It’s the only chance any of you have left.”
For a moment, the office felt smaller, as if the walls were pressing in around her. Myra had never been afraid of danger but this required something else from her entirely. To do this, what she needed was faith, and Prometheus had beaten the ability to be faithful out of her a long time ago.
Still, when she met Doc’s eyes, there was no mistaking it. He was telling her the truth and with it came a choice she could never undo once she took it.
Myra let out a harsh laugh, shaking her head. “I could survive something like that on my own, but how the hell do you expect me to drag a sick kid across half the country? He can barely make it through a dialysis session without collapsing. He won’t make it.”
Doc folded his hands on the desk once again.
He seemed calmer than before. “That’s where you’re wrong.
Jace is stronger than you think, and with the right care, he can survive the journey.
” He leaned forward. “I’ll give you precise instructions.
What medications to administer, how to keep him hydrated, what signs to watch for.
If you follow them exactly, he’ll make it. ”
Myra swallowed hard. “Okay, and how the hell am I supposed to get the both of us out of here without anyone seeing?”
Doc’s gaze didn’t waver. “You have friends…people who you trust and who can help you...”
Her breath hitched and for a split second, Cipher’s face flashed in her mind and then the chill set in. Prometheus knew. Of course they did. They knew everything: who she saw, who she trusted, who she loved — even if she hadn’t admitted it to herself yet.
“You’ve been watching me?”
Doc’s silence was enough.
Myra felt sick as everything settled in her stomach. Take Jace, find Luci, and run. It sounded so simple, but if she did this, she would be crossing a line that couldn’t be uncrossed. It wasn’t just her life Prometheus would come for if she failed. It would be Jace’s, Cipher’s.
But Prometheus had already made their choice about Jace. Taking him off the transplant list was a death sentence. They were going to let him rot in that bed until his body gave out.
Her fists curled against her knees as a thought seared through her.
If I do nothing, Jace dies anyway.
The idea of becoming a kidnapper, of betraying the only system she’d ever known felt suffocating and yet…
what other option did she have? Every path led to danger, but at least this one held a chance that Jace might live, that Luci might succeed.
That something good could come of all the blood she’d ever spilled.
Slowly, she lifted her gaze to Doc. The war raging in her mind quieted into a single, terrible truth.
There was only one path forward.
Her tone was certain when she finally spoke. “Okay,” she said. “Tell me everything I need to know.”