Page 82 of No Asylum Here

Bunny weakly shook her head at my inquiry. Her eyes fluttered shut, and she began mouthing the words to the song.

Hope lifted my chest. This was a good sign.

Inhaling deeply, bracing myself, I put the blade to her skin and ran it across, opening her up. I worked carefully, making sure to do everything exactly as I was supposed to, all the while Rook continued to run his mouth in the corner of the O.R.

“I have more experience with this. You’ve never done a C-section before. You need me.”

“The only thing we need from him is to shut the hell up.”

I chuckled darkly at the mad thing’s joke while telling the nurse to turn the music up to drown out Rook’s incessant complaining.

Should have bitten his tongue off, not his nose.

The thing in my ear laughed manically. “Sorry, Doc. It was my first time running the show. Baby’s first bite.”

The music rolled through me, steadying my hands and calming my rioting heart. After what felt like an eternity, I reached inside and removed the infant from his mother.

I wasn't exactly a god-fearing man, but I'd still prayed—to whatever would listen—that Bunny's baby would be alright. It was alive. But it was as I'd feared.

The poor child hadn't been able to handle the drug, and it had mutated and warped into something unfortunate.

Swallowing deep, I slowly pulled the baby from its mother's womb, and as I lifted it to the light, gasps filled the room. The nurses fled to the outer edges of the space, staring at the newborn in horror.

"Someone help me!"

No one moved, no one dared take a step toward me, let alone get close enough to assist with severing the umbilical cord and cleaning the child off.

Fuck.

"You want to help so bad?" I said snidely to my father. "Get over here."

He sprang into action. There were no cries from the child, but it was very much alive.

Bunny cried out at the sight of it. Shit, I hadn't meant for her to see it.

As if triggered by its mother's voice, the infant came to life, screaming and kicking, but no one in the room was relieved. The nurses watched in silence that rivaled that of a funeral.

The baby's veins were pumping wildly and practically glowing that same toxic hue as the serum it had been injected with. When his eyes slid open, my lungs slammed together, leaving me gasping. Its eyes were a demonic green. Bright and piercing.

“Aw, it’s kind of cute.”

While the other side of me seemed to soften to the demonic boy, the nurses all muttered amongst themselves, some of them offering up prayers and making the sign of the cross over their chests. Others simply sobbed from sheer terror.

"Dr. Rook... I— I don't feel good." Bunny sounded so frail.

"Probably has something to do with the gaping hole in your stomach, girl."

"She was talking to me," I growled at my father, pushing him aside while handing him the baby so I could attend to Bunny. "I'm here, Bunny. We're going to get you closed up and back in bed. I'll even let you recover in my bed. No cell. No orderlies. No nurses. You'll have my personal attention. We can even move the record player from my office so you can listen to whatever you like."

Bunny stared blankly at me, her eyes glossing over. The corners of her mouth quivered with the faintest smile. Then, without much warning at all, her eyes rolled back into her head, and she went limp. There was no time to act. She'd been alive one minute, and gone the next.

"Get the defibrillator!"

No one moved.

"Now! We could still save her!"

"Mal—" Rook reached for me with one hand, with the screaming baby tucked in his other.