We had brought the worst cases here first, the ones who hadn’t responded to Simon’s field serum, children who froze mid-sentence, mid-step, mid-breath. After the last round nearly broke me, we were supposed to stop.
I had collapsed in Richard’s arms, body unresponsive, field overextended, and barely managed to recover. But Simon said this group was different. He believed I could stabilize them without another shutdown.
This was a new attempt, a different strain of resonance, and the only cluster we hadn’t yet reached. I didn’t argue, I just followed him into the new chamber.
The children were half-stabilized as I stepped inside, their bodies twitching in irregular intervals like the signal had released them only halfway. It wasn’t a full collapse, but it felt dangerously close, like som
