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"Natalie!" Day screae floods through e at Sebastian We crash to the floor

"I’ll kill you!" I yell "I’ll fragging kill you!"

He laughs, the sound mad, frenzied--a man who doesn’t care His cold eyes are like silver coins; the infection has spread right through him

"Natalie, oh God, oh God," Day sobs behind us

Ba-boomba-boom

I punch Sebastian, over and over Blood seeps out of his bruised lips, but he doesn’t stop laughing Panicked voices cut through the air as the others arrive:

"Oh God, irl--" General Buchanan

"Where’s Craven--" Natalie’s mom

"In the laboratory--" Elijah

"We need to get her downstairs--" Beetle

"Don’t take the blade out--" Evangeline

"She’s dying! Oh God, oh God Natalie--" Day

Ba-boomba-boom

No! NO! NO!

There’s a crunch as I break Sebastian’s nose

"Don’t die, Natalie, please don’t die--" Day

"Put pressure on the wound--" Beetle

Ba-boom

NO!

I shoot a look overto breathe I whip back around on Sebastian, pain, anger, terror shreddingkill you!" I screaot what she deserved, just like her sister"

I yank his head to one side and plungeabout the risks of infection Veno his body with Haze He flails, his fists pounding against o, even when his body becos are drained I don’t stop until I know for certain Sebastian Eden is dead

I riphis body aside, then race over to Natalie and carefully pick her up, the blade still buried deep in her body We dash down the stairs to the laboratory

Her heart, my heart, is just a faint whisper insidedoll inover ray color, her soft lips parted like she’s awaiting a kiss Her breaths co is just a blur I can’t think straight All I can focus on is the ice creeping into my heart

No, please, no Don’t let Natalie die, please, please, please

We enter the laboratory Dr Craven’s eyes widen with shock when he sees her

"What happened?"

"Sebastian stabbed her--" Natalie’s mom

"He’s here?"

"He’s dead" General Buchanan "Help her, please"

Dr Craven lets out a broken breath, then nods "Put her on the gurney"

I place Natalie on her side on the steel gurney while everyone rushes around, getting all the equipency heart transplant when she was eight years old, so the laboratory is well stocked I stroke Natalie’s ashen face She’s so cold Her lips are blue She has just minutes left

Baboom

"You have to save her," I plead, my voice choked "Please, don’t let her die"

Dr Craven pushes ins the operation, with the help of Day and Evangeline, who pass him the tools There’s a crack of ribs I look on, helpless, as I watch the life slip out of Natalie’s broken body Everyone is shouting, crying, barking instructions at each other, but their voices sounddeeper under water Meh my mind, with every beat of my heart:

A pair of cornflower-blue eyes lit by the headla truck

"Can you fix her--" Eed--" Dr Craven

The touch of her fingertips against

"You have to save her--" Natalie’s father

"The dae, the stars glinting above us

"We’re losing her!--"

"Please, Craven! Do soirl--"

The fierce look on her face as she announced to the whole world that she loved me

"I can’t save the heart--"

"Takeoff my shirt "Give her urney, placing it beside the operating table I lie down Evangeline hurries tomy hand

I nod

"There’s no time for anesthetic," Dr Craven says