Adeline POV
The call came while I was standing in line at the medical supply counter.
“Doctor Lean!” My assistant’s voice was trembling. “Something’s happening…you need to come back right now!”
“What happened?”
“The lab…it’s Evelyn. She…” the rest drowned in static and shouting behind her.
My blood turned cold. “I’m on my way.”
I dropped the basket of reagents, didn’t even bother explaining to the cashier, and ran. My coat flared behind me as I bolted through the corridor, mind spinning with a thousand fears and her name on my lips.
When I burst through the lab doors, it was already too late. The air stank of chemicals and broken glass. The floor was slick with spilled serum; shattered test tubes glimmered under the fluorescent lights. The monitors were cracked, the incubators over
