Chapter 9: 9 | Twin flames of fire

It's innocence when it charms us,

ignorance when it doesn't.

—Mignon McLaughlin

 

---

 

26 September 1983

Former Institut für Klinische Chemie, Munich University Hospital

 

The heavy steel double doors swung open, alerting Professor Von Braun to look up from his microscope. Professorin Dahn carefully wheeled a girl into the makeshift laboratory.

"This is Rya's latest DCA results." She handed him a manila folder with a tired smile—evidence of how hard she had been pushing herself throughout the day and into the night. "Her dicentric count has decreased again, Professor." 

"Thank you." He nodded his head at the comatose girl in the wheelchair. "Rya looks much better since I last saw her. What did you do?" 

"She had surgical reconstruction performed on the major wounds last week. The rest of her injuries healed naturally overnight," she said, a look of satisfaction on her face. “This  girl is truly a miracle, like you said. How are her cell samples looking so far?” 

"Nothing new from what we already know." He scratched the stubble on his chin as he contemplated the latest microscopy results. "The irradiated cells behave in a remarkably similar fashion to HeLa cells, but with the ability to repair and regenerate entire tissue at a speed which I have never seen before. Her body is quite literally immortal in that sense. But to research further, Professorin, I must require more expert opinions—"

"We musn't allow anyone outside of this room to know about Rya," she said urgently in a low voice. "Can you just imagine how large the ramifications of her discovery will be? The government will definitely—"

The deafening blare of a siren suddenly drowned the rest of her sentence. Stunned, the two momentarily froze in their places. 

"A fire?" Professorin Dahn asked first. 

He shook his head vehemently. This wasn't the sound of a fire alarm—it was an air-raid siren being sounded. "I think it's a siren test," he shouted over the din. 

Then, discordant cries and shouts rose up throughout the university campus. Furrowing her brows, she hastily searched through the drawers for a portable radio. The yellow indicator light flickered to life when she switched it on. 

A staticky voice sounded over the speaker. "...le Bür-ger soll...rt Schutz suche..."

Exchanging a look of horror with her, Professor Von Braun grabbed the radio and tuned it to a different frequency. Then another. And another. 

All the stations were replaying the same public warning message on an endless loop. 

You are reading story I, Death, will save this world at novel35.com

"Scheiße," she breathed. "This is actually happening. Professor, w-we must leave now!"

“And leave Rya behind?” he snapped. “Where can we go, anyways? Nowhere is safe anymore!”

“They’ll attack West Berlin or Hamburg first,” she muttered. “We still have some time left, Professor. Quickly, we must act now!”

“I’ll go get the emergency supplies,” he said hastily. “You stay with Rya, Professorin. Make sure that she is safe.”

“O-okay, please hurry.” She gingerly cradled the unconscious girl out of the wheelchair and laid her supine on the plastic tarp. “It’s alright, Rya, this will be over soon. I’m just going to need you to stay with us through this.”

“We’ll all be fine, right?”

…

-

…

…r…

…right?

Her sluggish mind slowly flickered to consciousness. Everything about her body felt strange and unnatural, as if there was some kind of membrane enveloping her and dulling her senses. She tried to concentrate, to grasp onto the thread of consciousness that was pulling at her. Her heart began to beat stronger. Her chest slowly rose in new waves, regular and synchronised. Nothing had ever felt as good as the first rush of air into her lungs when she finally gasped for breath. Then, when her heavy eyelids fluttered ever so slightly, a voice spoke and she was suddenly aware of the presence of another being near her.

It was a voice that seemed distant, yet clear as a twinkling bell; a faint, sepulchral tone contained within stirred a strange feeling of melancholy in her.

“Hello,” the voice said in a whisper that was both loud and soft at the same time.

She tried to mouth the words that formed in her head, but her lips barely parted. With much difficulty, she slowly cracked her eyes half-open. Her gaze flickered in the pitch-black darkness until she caught a flash of silver beside her.

Silvery hair that flowed down to her waist. Bright golden eyes the colour of amber and sun. Snow-white skin as pale as the first light of dawn showed at her neck. The girl in black had an entrancing cold beauty, she thought, like moonlight on a dark still lake.

“You’re finally awake,” the mysterious girl spoke again. “How are you feeling?”

 

 

 

You can find story with these keywords: I, Death, will save this world, Read I, Death, will save this world, I, Death, will save this world novel, I, Death, will save this world book, I, Death, will save this world story, I, Death, will save this world full, I, Death, will save this world Latest Chapter