ARIA'S POV - NEXT MORNING, 6:13 AM
Consciousness came in fragments. Beeping. Voices. Pain.
Aria's eyes fluttered open and everything was too bright, too loud, overwhelming. She tried to move and couldn't...something was restraining her arms.
"She's awake!" A voice she didn't recognize. Urgent. Excited.
"Aria? Aria, can you hear me?" Damien's face swam into view, his eyes red-rimmed and desperate. "Baby, stay with me. Stay awake."
She tried to speak but her throat was too dry, her tongue too heavy. Everything felt wrong...her body felt wrong, like it was shutting down piece by piece.
And then the symptoms clicked into place in her medical brain. Organ failure. Progressive. Systematic. The specific pattern...
Oh god.
"I know..." Her voice came out as barely a whisper. "I know this...."
"What?" Damien leaned closer. "Aria, what do you know?"
"The substance..." She struggled to focus through the fog. "I've seen it before. Years ago. MIT."
