Sneaking from the back door of the bar, Lin Ye could be seen sprinting in the alleyway with a girl in his arms.
When he ran far enough, he stopped and looked around in a complete daze.
He had no idea where he should be to treat her. He had only been in this town at most an hour by now. That was why he called Warfarin. He wanted to know what place was best for her. He was now waiting for her to reply in his earpiece. She said he needed to wait a bit.
Shaking his head, he continued to search for a place while holding Yelena's body close to his.
After a while, he heard panting in his ear. Warfarin sounded like she was the one that was running.
"Where were you?!" Lin Ye yelled, "Sorry if I am annoyed but I have someone to save here!"
"Shut up! I am more anxious than you! I'm almost there!" Warfarin replied, "For now hurry up and tell me about the other party's situation… No. Before that, you should find a place with enough ventilation and sufficient light for her. Of course, it's best to stay away from crowds. I know you won't be infected but other people aren't that special compared to you."
With how she sounded, it was like she cared for him. However, Lin Ye knew better. She was just worried that would lose a good test subject. Was being indifferent to people's lives a side effect of living for so long? Maybe she just cared about the concept of death by now?
He shook his head, focusing on what was important now.
Helping Yelena.
So turned his head, searching for somewhere that was best for her. Eyes darting around the area, he muttered in his breath, "Ventilation, light, away from the crowd..."
After a few moments of searching, something caught his attention.
It was the roof of a run-down building, about five floors high. Attracted to its wall were stairs leading up to its roof. From how run down it looked, he was willing to bet that there was no one living in that whole building.
With a destination in his sight, he did not hesitate. He ran towards him, holding the unconscious Yelena near his body.
"Hold on," Climbing the stairs, he muttered under his breath, "You need to hold on a bit longer."
As his feet made noise with each step he took on the rusted stairs, Lin Ye felt something moving in his arms. He heard something.
"... Is that you?"
Not slowing down, he glanced below and his eyes widened.
Lin Ye's black eyes stared shockingly at the dazed silver of Yelena's.
"It is… It really is you," Yelena's voice was barely a whisper to him, "Am I dreaming?"
"... No. This is not a dream. I am here, Yelena," Smiling at her and not stopping, Lin Ye said to her. His grip on her tightened, "Hold on just a little longer, okay Yelena? Do you know my name?"
"...No," She muttered, forcing her eyes to close, "You did not tell me."
"You did not ask. You were a bit distant when I first met you," He chuckled, "The only reason why I know your name is because you told me before you disappeared."
"... Let's fix that, no? Call me Ye." He moved faster up, "Stay strong."
Lin Ye could see Yelena was barely staying awake. She probably could distinguish what was real or not. This was really bad.
At this very moment, the best weapon that she had to stay alive was her will. She needed to concentrate on staying alive. Telling her his name might help her focus.
"...Ye?" She muttered.
Now standing on top of the roof, he gently put her down. He smiled at her to reassure her that he was here, "Yes, Ye. That's my name."
Lin Ye saw her eyes became too heavy for her and were slowly closing. He quickly placed his hand on her cheek.
"Hey, hey. Hey! Don't lose me!" Her body felt cold. He called her, "Don't faint, Yelena! Stay with me here!"
When he touched her cheek, her eyes widened. Lifting the corner of her mouth to make a small smile, she leaned into his palm.
"... You really are here," Her eyes stared deeply at his, "Thank you. Thank you for making one of my goals fulfill."
He did not understand what she was trying to say but he didn't have the time to delve into that. He was about to talk to Warfarin again but something grasped onto his hand, stopping him.
He looked down to see, her hand barely holding his free hand.
Glancing back at her, Lin Ye was greeted by the sight of her staring worryingly at him.
"You… need to hurry…. Leave me," She whispered, "You can't save me… And I… Don't want to hurt you… Not you…"
Hearing this, Lin Ye's heart ached. His hand that was on her cheek did not leave her though, telling her that he was not going anywhere. Her eyes slowly fluttered close.
Then suddenly Warfarin's screams rang into his earpiece.
"Oi! Lin Ye!" She screamed at him, "You still have time to flirt with the patient!"
His veins popped.
"What about you?!" He yelled back, "Are you there yet?!"
"I'm here! I'm here! "She said impatiently, "First thing first, do you have the drug on you?"
"Of course," He answered.
"Good, first put the drug under the sun. We need to heat it up, " She instructed him, "Leave it to heat up for about three minutes. That should be enough. While waiting, tell me about your friend! Hurry!"
With that, he placed the capsule where the sun shined the brightest.
Then he looked at how Yelena was doing. The crystals were much better now but it looked like they were growing back again. Every breath that she took, a mist of white followed.
Just when he was about to tell Warfarin about all of this, she cut him off.
"Nevermind. We don't have the time," Sha said, "Send me a picture. That will be faster."
Lin Ye pulled out his phone and took a couple of photos of her. Seeing enough photos, he sent them all to her.
Half a minute later, she creamed into his ears, "What did that take too long?! What is up with your connection?!"
"I barely have it here!"
"Try to find somewhere better then!" She yelled back, "Nevermind, let's just get this over with. First, take off her coat and shirt. Use your speaker, make it easier for me to hear."
Disconnecting his earpiece with his phone, he opened the speaker. Then he went and took off her coat and with her shirt, he had to use Maple to rip it off... At this moment, Yelena could barely hear him.
However, he could still hear her telling him to leave her be. Telling him that it was dangerous.
He ignored her pleas and continued.
She did not have much time now.
After he was done undressing her, leaving her with only a sports bra to cover her, he picked up his phone and talked to Warfarin.
"Done," He said, "What's next?"
"Okay." Warfarin said, "Look at her chest size now.
Lin Ye almost bit his tongue, hearing that.
He had to do a double-take to make sure he was not hearing her wrong.
"Can you tell me why you need to know this?" Lin Ye asked.
"I need to know her size!" She answered, "It's not that hard! From the photos that you sent me, she is in critical condition! I am willing to bet that most of the crystals are forming near her heart. The drug, when you apply it on the skin, will slip into it and fight off the virus! I need to know how big she is just to make sure it could reach the infection part or not!"
He had nothing to say to this.
So with much reluctance, he stared at her breast.
"... They are quite big," He answered honestly to her.
"Tsk." The sound of her clicking her lip followed after, "It's a big-breasted woman? This is going to be a bit difficult. Why do most women have big breasts? Why are they good for anyway?"
Hearing her rant about breast size, Lin Ye ignored all of that.
"What should I do now?"
"The best we could do was to apply the drug under the armpit. Although the effect is not as good as applying it on her chest," She said, "Maybe if you feed her half of it, the result might be better?"
Hearing all of this, Lin Ye grabbed the capsule and opened it. Just as he was about to apply it on her, he stopped mid-way.
"...Warfarin," He called her, "I know for a fact that you already did some testing on people with this drug. Can you tell me the results?"
"... Hmm?" She hummed to his question, "What made you ask me that?"
"Call it gut feeling," Lin Ye looked at the potion in his hand and said softly, "If I were you, I would still do some testing on people even if Kal'tsit forbids it."
"... You are terrifyingly good at reading people," Warfarin said to him, "Yes, I did some testing on people with the drug. Don't worry, I am not an evil mad scientist who forces the test on them. They were near the death door when I tested it on them just like the situation of your friend now."
"... We need to talk about this when I get back," Lin Ye took a deep breath, "So, what was the success rate? "
"0%" Warfarin answered, "13 test subjects, all of them were as infected as your friend and all of them did not make it."
Hearing this, Lin Ye's body froze.
"What? Do you want to give up already?" Hearing no reply from him, Warfarin asked, "If so, I do not blame. After all, from the look of it, she was about to blow. It is best for you to be as far away from her as possible."
He did not say anything.
"Your life is much more valuable than her. So-"
"I do not care," He did not let her finish, "I need to help her. And that's what I am going to do."
He opened the capsule and slowly applied it to her skin, near her armpit.
He remembered her, telling him that it might be better for her to drink some of it. He placed the lid of it to her move and tilted the liquid into her mouth. However, he saw that she was not swallowing it, some of it leaked out.
Seeing this, he took the tube and put all of the liquid that was left into his mouth, the taste of iron greeted his tongue. He then gently lifted her head up and placed his mouth on hers, letting the drug go into her. What followed was the sound of her swallowing it.
He pulled back and stared at her laying body.
"I will bring you back."
{Rhodes Island's Psychologist}
Draft: Jaq
Proofread: Jaq
Edit: Jaq