Chapter 48: Fractured lines

The room didn’t feel real...it was way too clean and was too precise compared to what was happening inside of it.

Bright surgical lights burned overhead, flooding everything in harsh white.

The smell of antiseptic clung to the air, sharp enough to sting the back of the throat, but it couldn’t mask the underlying scent of blood.

Ashell Volkov lay at the center of it all or at least what was left of him.

His body was held open by structure, not strength. Metal rods kept his ribcage spread apart....the reason they were there was because Victor feared that the crystalline growths that had spread inside of Ashell’s lungs would spread.

They locked into position so Victor could reach deeper. Thin instruments moved in and out of him with careful, deliberate motions, each one designed to cut, separate, or stabilize.

But the problem wasn’t something that could just be cut out.

Crystalline growths had formed inside him. They were clean and they moved in an erratic way.

Jagged, invasive structures spread through his chest cavity, weaving through tissue, pressing into his lungs.

Some had already been removed, placed into sterile trays nearby, glinting faintly under the lights like fragments of something unnatural.

More remained inside of him.

Every time Victor or Mr. Derous removed one section, another became visible...it happened each time Ashell took a breath.

The growths would go deeper...much further in, like it was growing faster than they could keep up.

Machines surrounded him, monitoring everything. His heart rate, oxygen levels and neural responses. Each screen flickered with unstable readings, numbers shifting too quickly to settle.

"Beep.Beep.Beep." it came too fast.

Markus stood a few steps away, unmoving.

His eyes stayed fixed on the operating table, but his focus kept slipping. Every time the light reflected off something sharp, something crystalline, it pulled his attention back to his own hand.

He lifted it slightly...the surface caught the light immediately.

Faceted, reflective and plainly felt wrong.

It didn’t look like part of him.

"...I hope he’s okay." The words came out quiet, almost swallowed by the sound of machines.

No one answered him.

Ashell’s father stood on the other side of the room, his posture unsteady. Blood had soaked through the makeshift bandages around his abdomen, and beneath the fabric...

It was spreading, the crystallization hadn’t stopped.

It pushed outward beneath his skin, faint lines forming, branching slowly like cracks through glass. Every now and then, his body would tense, reacting to something that wasn’t supposed to exist inside him.

But he didn’t move away, he didn’t sit down, he didn’t even look at himself or try to tend to him wounds.

His eyes never left his son...he would sometimes alternate with Victor to remove the growths inside of Ashell.

"...Stay with me," he whispered under his breath, voice trembling despite the effort to control it. "Stay with me..."

On the table, Ashell’s chest rose...barely.

Then fell once then struggled yet again.

Victor spoke, voice low but urgent, "Internal obstruction still present. The outer parts of the lungs seem to be incased in this diamond like thing....The lungs have a hard time expanding now."

"Remove the casing then." Ashell’s father barked.

"I am trying, but it’s fused into surrounding tissue." Victor answered.

"Then cut around it." Ashell’s father continued.

"We risk his death." Victor answered.

"We already are." Mr DeRouse said.

Silence fell heavy on them.

Then Victor started up again..this time he was more sharp and precise.

Markus bared witness to this, he swallowed as he could not look away.

Every motion felt like it was happening too close, too deep, like he shouldn’t be seeing this but he couldn’t stop.

Ashell’s fingers twitched slightly against the restraints. It was a faint movement, it was small but enough to see that he was fighting for his life.

Markus leaned forward slightly, "Ashell...?"

The man’s eyes opened in response to being called. It was just enough to show his awareness.

His eyes were unfocused, drifting about, struggling to anchor onto anything real. For a moment, they didn’t recognize anything in the room.

Then they shifted slowly landing on a familiar shape.

"...Father..." The word was barely there as it came out in a fragile sense.

Ashell’s father froze.

"I’m here," he said immediately, stepping closer despite the strain on his body. "I’m right here."

Ashell’s lips parted slightly, like he wanted to say something more but nothing came out. His chest rose once...the diamond growths that covered his chest increased.

Then his body went still...It went completely still. The machines reacted instantly.

A sharp, piercing tone cut through the room, "Cardiac instability....Pulse dropping—"

"No, no, no—my son!" His father lunged forward, grabbing the edge of the operating table, his voice breaking completely now. "Do something! Do something!"

Victor didn’t stop. He started to move much faster, more aggressively, "Clear obstruction now! The crystals are increasing pressure...

Stabilizing pressure—Ah shit, we’re losing him!"

Markus felt his chest tighten, "...He’ll live." The words left him before he could stop them. They had a hollow sound to them, like something said out of habit, not belief.

His gaze dropped again, to his hand.

The crystal surface reflected the chaos around him, bending light into something distorted. For a moment, it looked like the room itself was fractured inside it.

Then a voice tore through, "Markus."

Markus didn’t respond immediately.

Mr DeRouse stepped closer, his presence steady but heavy, "What you did back there..."

Markus’s fingers curled slightly.

"...that wasn’t normal." Ashell’s father continued.

There was still no response from Markus.

"You remember it, don’t you?" the man said.

Markus’s jaw tightened, "...Yes i do." Ashell’s father’s eyes narrowed slightly, "When that infected individual attacked... you grabbed him."

A pause in-between, "And then it happened."

Markus exhaled slowly, "It wasn’t intentional." "But it happened." Mr DeRouse interjected.

The silence stretched between them.

Mr. DeRouse stepped closer, his voice lowering, more controlled now, "The moment you made contact, his structure changed."

Markus’s eyes flickered, "...I couldn’t help but see that."

"He didn’t just stop moving." Mr DeRouse pressed. He took another step, "He crystallized."

The word hung in the air.

Markus looked down at his hand again, "I didn’t tell it to do that."

"No," Ashell’s father said quietly. "You didn’t." A beat, "That’s the problem."

Markus’s breathing slowed down slightly, "...What are you saying?"

Mr DeRouse didn’t answer immediately. He just looked at Markus’s hand, the surface of it, the way it caught the light.

"I think," he began carefully, "that whatever happened to you... didn’t just change your body."

Markus’s fingers twitched.

"I think it gave you the ability to spread it." The words settled heavily.

Markus didn’t react to it at first. Then, "...Infect?" His voice was quieter now.

"Not in the traditional sense." Mr DeRouse said his gaze not wavering even once, "But yes."

Markus stared at his hand as the memory replayed in him mind.

’The moment of contact, the resistance it has at first which melts later and the sudden, unnatural shift...The fracture.

It all happened instantly’ he realized.

"...It was instant." Markus continued.

"Yes." DeRouse confirmed.

"No delay....the only other thing is that their shape could be changed."

Markus swallowed, "That means it doesn’t behave like the others."

"No." Mr DeRouse replied. Ashell’s father’s voice sharpened slightly, "It behaves like a trigger."

That made something in Markus click. Markus’s eyes narrowed slightly, "...Activation huh."

Mr DeRouse didn’t confirm it. He didn’t need to.

Markus’s mind moved faster now, pulling pieces together, "If it activates structural change on contact..." he muttered, "then it bypasses the instability phase entirely...the phase that we thought was what it relied on when infecting others."

His fingers flexed slightly. The crystal surface shimmered faintly under the light.

"...It forces the end state of infection but in my case I will then change the shape of the object when it’s fully crystallized."

The machines behind them continued their relentless rhythm.

Ashell’s condition fluctuated, unstable and in a fragile state.

Markus didn’t look up as his thoughts drifted, ’That means I’m not just affected by it.’

His voice dropped lower, "I can use it."

Mr. DeRouse watched him carefully, "And what exactly do you think that makes you?"

Markus didn’t answer immediately. His gaze remained fixed on his hand.

The reflection of the surgical lights fractured across it, splitting into sharp, unnatural lines.

"...Different...it just makes me different."

A pause.

"...Or dangerous." DeRouse said..he sighed, "...or maybe both."

Behind them, the machines shifted again. A steady rhythm began to return.

Ashell’s chest rose again, it was weak. His father collapsed slightly against the table, relief breaking through the fear, even as the crystallization continued to spread across his own body.

Markus finally looked up and for a moment, everything in the room felt suspended.

His hand remained raised slightly but something about it had changed.

Not physically but in the way he looked at it now. The way he perceived it had now greatly improved.