Chapter 441: Save Them

It wasn’t just one shot. There were several, one after another in quick succession, and I couldn’t tell what was happening beyond the door. I didn’t want Sergio to get hurt because of me — but I couldn’t protect anyone, least of all myself. Every wave of pain that tore through me was worse than the last, each one arriving before I had recovered from the one before it, and I threw every last bit of strength I had into pushing. After a few attempts, there was nothing left. I was hollow, barely present in my own body.

It hurts so much. I’m so tired.

Something warm and sticky pooled beneath me, and I couldn’t tell anymore whether it was amniotic fluid or blood. The elderly woman had slipped away the moment the shooting started. I didn’t blame her — on this island, gunfire wasn’t unusual, and survival came before everything else. No one was going to risk their life for a stranger’s delivery. I understood it completely. And still, I felt my life thinning out with every second that passed, like something being slowly drawn from an open wound.

...