Chapter 4 - The Blackout
Clara violently rattled the bedroom door handle, but it refused to budge.
She pounded her fists against the thick oak wood.
"Hey! Open this door!" she yelled into the silent hallway.
Nobody answered.
She ran back to the bed and shook Leo's shoulder.
"Leo, wake up," she pleaded.
He groaned, his skin burning with an unnatural fever from the neurotoxin.
He was in no condition to fight.
Suddenly, the lights in the master bedroom flickered and died completely.
The low hum of the estate's central air conditioning faded into eerie silence.
The emergency backup generators did not kick in.
Someone had deliberately cut the main power lines to the mansion.
Clara's heart hammered frantically against her ribs.
She heard the faint, metallic scrape of a key sliding into the bedroom door lock.
She frantically searched the dark room for a weapon.
Her hands found the heavy silver-tipped cane resting against Leo's nightstand.
The heavy oak door creaked open, revealing the silhouette of the guard with the snake tattoo.
He held a silenced pistol fitted with a laser sight.
The red dot swept across the dark room, searching for the bed.
Clara held her breath and pressed her body flat against the wall behind the door.
The assassin stepped fully into the room, aiming his weapon at Leo's sleeping figure.
Clara swung the heavy silver cane with every ounce of strength in her body.
The metal tip cracked viciously against the back of the assassin's skull.
He grunted and collapsed onto the plush carpet, dropping his gun.
Clara scooped up the weapon with trembling hands, aiming it blindly into the dark hallway.
No one else was coming.
She locked the door and ran back to Leo, turning on the flashlight app on her phone.
Leo was gasping for air, his pulse dangerously erratic.
The stress of the situation was accelerating the toxin's effect on his heart.
She grabbed the emergency blood bags stored in the small medical refrigerator in the corner.
She prepared to hook the IV line back into his arm to stabilize him.
As she held the flashlight over the plastic blood bag, she froze in pure horror.
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The rare AB-negative blood inside the bag had turned a sickly, cloudy yellow color.
Someone had poisoned the estate's medical supply while they were sleeping.
