Chapter 23
Lucilla
After being thrown inside one in a row of isolation rooms, Luci’s panic spiked. She’d screamed until her throat was raw, kicking her heels against the metal door until her toes ached. It hadn’t mattered in the end because no one answered and no one came.
This wasn’t how it was supposed to go. She’d told herself a hundred times that she was prepared for anything, but now that she was sitting half dressed beneath the sterile glow of fluorescent lights, she knew without a doubt that she wasn’t prepared for this.
After what felt like hours, a hiss from the intercom broke the silence. “Take a seat on the patient table and remain still,” a man’s voice ordered. “The doctor will be with you shortly. And for your own good, don’t try anything.”
Luci’s jaw tightened, but she moved anyway, crossing the short distance to the thin bed bolted against the wall. She sat straight and kept her hands in her lap. Compliance felt like the only weapon she had left.
Minutes passed before the door finally opened. A woman stepped inside in full quarantine gear, but instead of the cold detachment Luci expected, the woman’s voice was gentle.
“I’m sorry,” the doctor said, her words muffled but sincere as she approached. In one of her hands was a pale blue hospital gown that she set on the bed beside Luci. “They should have given you this before. No one deserves to be left like that.”
Luci blinked, startled by the doctor’s kindness. It had been so long since she’d heard an apology from anyone affiliated with Prometheus that she almost didn’t understand what the woman was saying.
Luci hesitated and debated taking the offering but the alternative of sitting half naked and vulnerable under their eyes was worse. With a stiff breath she pulled the gown over her head. The paper thin material rubbed uncomfortably against her skin.
When she settled back on the bed, Luci lifted her eyes to the doctor. “Where’s Alex? Is he okay?”
The woman adjusted her gloves. Her face remained unreadable behind her face shield. “We’ll address your concerns later,” she said gently, letting her words slide past the question. “For now, I need to evaluate you.”
Frustration burned through her, but before she could push, the doctor continued.
“Discovering the vaccine is truly an extraordinary feat, Dr. Castillo. You should be proud.” She stepped closer then and her gaze scanned Luci with an expression closer to curiosity than suspicion. “How long ago were you bitten?”
Luci shifted and tugged at the edge of her gown. “Two days ago.”
“Any fever, chills or muscle pain?” the doctor asked.
“No.” Luci shook her head. “Well, maybe a little bit of a fever but that might have been from the bite itself, not the virus.”
The doctor hummed under her breath and jotted down notes on the datapad in her hands. “And did you administer the vaccine before or after exposure?”
“Before,” Luci answered. “I wasn’t sure when the onset of immunity would be, but I guess it’s immediate.”
The doctor’s eyes softened, a flicker of genuine admiration behind her mask. “You may have just changed everything.”
Luci swallowed hard before she pressed again, unable to stop herself. “I need to know about Alex and Luna. Where are they? Can I see them?”
The doctor paused, letting her pen hover over the datapad. She didn’t meet Luci’s eyes this time. “Right now, we need to focus on you.”
Luci’s thoughts scattered until a realization cut through the panic in her mind. They needed her and not just as a patient. They needed her because she was proof the vaccine worked, because only she knew how it worked, and without her, they had nothing.
Luci’s hands tightened on the edge of the bed, and she lifted her chin, steadying her voice until she was sure she could speak with conviction. “You either tell me where Alex and Luna are, or this conversation doesn’t continue.”
The doctor paused for a moment. Behind the mask, Luci could see the woman’s hesitation and a brief moment of calculation before she exhaled and lowered her datapad slightly.
“There was…a small altercation,” the doctor admitted. “Your companion was restrained and given a mild sedative. He’ll be waking soon.”
Relief and worry crashed through Luci at once. She leaned forward and searched the woman’s eyes for any trace of deceit. “Can I see him?”
“No, he’s being processed separately,” the doctor responded as if she were reciting a procedure she had no control over.
“Once he wakes, he’ll be sent back to Sanctum Medical.
But there’s no need to worry, he’ll be provided with transport, weapons, and enough supplies to get there safely,” she said like it was nothing. As if exile was a courtesy.
Luci’s stomach threatened to spill at the woman’s words.
Sent back.
She’d said it as though Alex were disposable, and the worst part was that the doctor almost sounded as though she believed she was delivering good news.
“No!” The word tore from Luci’s throat before she even realized she was on her feet. The gown shifted around her knees as she stood, and her fists trembled at her sides.
The doctor instinctively stepped back, startled by the suddenness of her movement.
“If he goes, I go,” Luci said, her voice nearly breaking with the force of it. “I won’t stay here without him.”
The doctor’s shoulders shrugged slightly, as if she’d heard this before. “I appreciate your loyalty,” she said softly, “but that is simply not an option.”
Luci blinked in confusion, “Why not?”
The woman took a deep breath before she continued. “Per your contract, you are property of Prometheus. Any research or discovery you make is the property of Prometheus. You broke protocol the moment you administered an unauthorized dose of the vaccine to yourself.
“You have no choice but to stay here. You will let us experiment, run trials, and extract what we can from your success. And then…” She looked away. “You will join the reproduction program.”
The room spun and a million thoughts drilled into Luci’s skull. She shook her head. This wasn’t the agreement they’d come to back home. “No. No, I — ” She clutched the fabric of the gown against her chest as if it was the only barrier between her and Prometheus.
This wasn’t medicine.
This wasn’t research.
They meant to possess her. She was property..
Her voice cracked. “Please. At least…at least let Alex stay. I’ll do it. I’ll be in the program, but let me do it with him.”
Pity rose in the doctor’s expression.
“You don’t know,” she said.
Luci froze. “Don’t know what?”
The woman hesitated, then spoke as though reciting from a file. “Alex is ineligible. He was medically sterilized after completing the Reformation Program. It’s standard procedure for our troubled youth.”
Sterilized.
The meaning of the word settled slowly. Luci felt sick to her stomach. Alex had been robbed of his very autonomy.
Her knees nearly buckled as she, for the first time, saw Prometheus for what it was. It wasn’t a sanctuary or an institution of order but a machine that consumed lives and called it progress.
And she was trapped inside it.
In fact, she’d led them both straight into this trap.
Luci sank back onto the edge of the bed, her hands trembling in her lap. Her mind felt hollow, scraped raw as every word the doctor had spoken echoed until it drowned out everything else.
The oath she’d sworn, the promises she’d clung to about saving lives — it all dissipated in a single moment. What good was saving people if this was what salvation looked like? If Prometheus could steal Alex’s future, break him, and then hold her body and her research hostage?
For the first time, she felt the fire of hatred burn hotter than duty. She hated them for what they’d done to him and for what they’d taken without remorse.
They didn’t deserve her research, and she couldn’t trust them with the vaccine.
But rage alone wouldn’t save her.
“Please,” she whispered, lifting her eyes to the doctor’s shielded face. “Let me see him again. Just once. I’ll do whatever you need me to. Tests, trials, the program — all of it. But please,” her throat caught, and the plea bled out desperately. “Let me say goodbye.”
Behind the mask, the doctor’s eyes softened again with something Luci couldn’t quite read.
Sympathy maybe, or perhaps regret.
Luci’s heart ached but she held the woman’s gaze and refused to look away. If Prometheus was going to try and chain her, she would fight until her last breath.
The silence between them stretched until Luci’s pulse throbbed in her ears.
Then, finally, the woman let out a quiet breath and gave a small nod.
“Alright,” she said, relenting. “I’ll authorize it.
A few nurses will come in first to take your blood.
Once that’s complete, I’ll allow your companion in to say goodbye. ”
Luci swallowed hard and forced herself not to break right there and then.
The doctor hesitated almost as if she hated what she had to say next. “I know this may not seem fair,” she added softly, “but it’s for the greater good.”
The greater good.
That was the line they all hid behind, the justification for every cruelty and every stolen choice. For sterilizing Alex. For trapping her here. For twisting her discovery into their property.
She dropped her gaze to her hands and gave a small nod. “Of course.” Her voice came out quiet, but stable. “I’ll be waiting for the nurses.”
When the doctor left and the door locked behind her, Luci sat in silence. For a moment she stared at the floor and let her heart ache until that pain turned into rage.
If Prometheus thought she would go along with their plan without a fight, then they were terribly mistaken.