Page 40 of Forged in Deception

She’d had no idea what to do or say.

She still didn’t.

Instead, she allowed herself five seconds to close her eyes and breathe in and out. Panicking now was out of the question. It wasn’t about her, it was about her patients, and she had to be the adult in the room.

God, if you’re out there, please help Destiny. Help her to be okay. Help us to help her.

Her ears hurt from the screaming and the drumbeats, but she felt a renewed sense of determination. It wasn’t the calm sortof peace that so many Christians seemed to speak of, but it was something to hold on to. It would have to be enough.

Bajwa rushed across the room to help as Destiny got to her feet. She was walking around in place, screaming all the while. “Stop, Destiny! It’s okay!”

She ignored the man, and instead began grabbing handfuls of her dark curls and attempting to pull them out of her skull.

The others were in various states of panic now.

Paul had gotten to his feet and was leaning against the wall. Karlin could see from where she stood that he was breathing far too fast. Lily was crying, and Cora had wandered over to her mat, embracing her as she rocked back and forth.

Karlin and Bajwa tried to grab hold of Destiny, but the outburst seemed to have filled her with an almost inhuman sort of strength. She lashed out with her arms and legs, scratching and kicking as hard as she could. Bajwa yelped as her arm collided with his face, sending blood rushing from his nose.

Axel was at her side in an instant. Despite her attempt at calm, alarm bells were ringing in her head. He couldn’t break his cover. He couldn’t ruin everything. Not after how far they had come.

Everything that came next happened too quickly for Karlin to make sense of it.

Bajwa had pulled away, clutching at his bleeding nose. Destiny took her chance and slipped from Karlin’s remaining grasp, but instead of pulling back, her foot slipped on one of the blankets, sending her reeling backward.

Karlin heard Axel swear as he rushed to grab her, but he was a couple of seconds too slow.

Destiny fell backward, her head hitting the hard floor with a sickening thwack.

Everyone was still rocking, crying, panicking. The sound of the drumbeats continued to hammer through the room, adding to the chaos.

Karlin simply stared at Destiny on the ground. Any sense of peace was gone now, pushed out by a relentless, thundering panic that gripped at her insides.

The terrified woman had managed to get into a sitting position, and her screaming had slowed, but her eyes were wild and frantic.

She had to do something.

She had to do something.

She had to help her.

She had to move.

But her body wouldn’t cooperate with what her brain was commanding. The fear and guilt of too many swallowed memories threatened to overtake her completely.

“Karlin!” Axel was shouting now, crouching down beside Destiny and examining the back of her head. “She needs an ambulance. She needs something to calm her down. Come on! You need to call 9-1-1. Hurry!”

Bajwa cut in then, his fingers still splayed over his nose as blood dribbled down his chin. “There’s nothing they’ll be able to do,” he argued. “Not without putting her at more risk. There are no known trip killer drugs for DX8 at this time.”

Her annoyance at Bajwa’s words was enough to snap her out of her momentary paralysis. She joined Axel on the ground. Destiny had closed her eyes now, and Karlin forced one eyelid open, glancing at her expanded pupils as the woman screamed in her face at the top of her lungs. Fortunately, she seemed to be out of energy for violence, at least for the moment.

Axel’s eyes were full of questions, but she’d have to explain later.

Once again, she was faced with the neglect of the company she’d spent years working for. Senera should have prioritized developing effective trip killer drugs for DX8, or at least tried to work out a safe dosage of an existing benzodiazepine or an antipsychotic that could dull the effects of a bad trip in an emergency.

But they hadn’t.

Instead, they’d pushed ever forward in their trials, with no regard for their patients. And she’d been complicit.

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