Healer’s Wrath

CHAPTER 1B – THE SEVEN MINUTES

Light tore through the corridor like a flash grenade. Nurses screamed. Machines shrieked. Fred’s hand was locked on the dying man’s chest, glowing veins of gold and red crawling up his arm like living fire.

The bleeding stopped. The man gasped, air flooding his lungs. Then something went wrong. Pain hit Fred’s chest like a blade. His spine arched, vision warping, breath stolen. The energy didn’t stop, it fed back.

He tried to pull away, but his hand wouldn’t obey. The patient’s eyes snapped open, bright, unblinking, wrong. “Let go!” a nurse shouted.

Fred yanked back, staggering into a tray. Metal clattered. The man on the bed convulsed violently, then lay still. Flatline. Everyone froze.

Fred’s hand was smoking. His pulse was wild. The world hummed, every heartbeat in the room vibrating in sync with his own.

He looked up. Rhea Cole stood at the end of the hallway, watching. No surprise. No panic. Just quiet approval.

She mouthed two words: “You see?”

Security rushed in, dragging him back. Fred struggled. “He was alive, he was breathing”

The nurse screamed, “You killed him!”

“I didn’t” His voice cracked. “I tried to help!”

But the monitors screamed in unison. The dead man’s body twitched once more, eyes flickering open, and then his skin darkened, veins black with burned energy.

Rhea turned away. “He’s not dead,” she whispered. “He’s hollow.”

The security guard holding Fred suddenly collapsed, clutching his chest. Fred jerked free, horrified. “I didn’t touch him!”

Rhea’s voice was calm. “You didn’t have to. Resonance leaks when you panic.”

“Get away from me,” he said, backing toward the wall. “Whatever this is, stop it!”

“You can’t stop it,” she said softly. “But you can learn to steer it.”

“By killing people?”

“By controlling who lives and who doesn’t.”

Fred shook his head. “You’re insane.”

She took a slow step closer, eyes gleaming. “Seven minutes, Fred. You were gone for seven minutes. You came back different. The energy inside you doesn’t belong in this world, and it’s tearing you apart.”

He felt it, the burn under his skin, the way his bones hummed like tuning forks. “So fix it!”

“That’s what I’m offering. Join me. The Order can teach you balance.”

“Balance?” His laugh was raw. “You call this balance?”

Rhea smiled thinly. “Healing drains life. Taking gives it. You’re already choosing every time you breathe.”

She glanced at the dead patient. “You’ll learn soon enough which side you belong to.”

Before he could answer, she pressed a card into his shaking hand. White, blank except for a symbol etched in silver, two intertwined spirals, one light, one dark. “When you’re ready, touch the center.”

She walked away, heels clicking, leaving chaos behind. They kept Fred for observation, but his mind never rested.

The hum in his body wouldn’t stop, louder when people came near, like their hearts were calling to him.

At night, he stood by the window, looking down at the rain-slick city. Ambulances wailed through neon streets below. His reflection stared back, pale, hollow-eyed, veins faintly glowing beneath the skin.

He whispered, “What did you do to me?”

The voice returned, faint, echoing inside his skull. You did this to yourself. He spun around, heart hammering. “Who said that?”

You opened the door, it whispered. Now something’s listening. He stumbled backward, clutching his chest. The monitor spiked red.

The door creaked. A nurse peeked in. “Mr. Miller? You okay?”

“Fine,” he said too quickly.

But when she stepped closer, he heard her heartbeat clearly, rhythmic, strong, perfect. His body ached toward it, like a starving animal smelling food.

He squeezed his fists. “Stay back.”

She frowned. “You’re sweating”

“Please,” he snapped. “Don’t come closer.”

Her hand brushed his wrist. A surge, hot, violent, blasted through him. The nurse gasped, stumbling. Her heart rate monitor flatlined instantly.

Fred stared, horror flooding his chest. “No… no, no, no”

He knelt beside her, pressing his palm to her heart. “Wake up, please”

White light flared again. Her chest rose, a gasp of air, but Fred felt his knees buckle. His vision tunneled. The hum roared, too loud now, too alive. And then, silence.

Footsteps thundered down the hall. Doctors burst in, shouting orders. Fred looked at his hands, one glowing faint gold, the other pulsing red. He whispered, “What am I becoming?”

Hours blurred. He drifted in and out of consciousness. The hum never stopped. When he opened his eyes again, the room was empty, except for a man sitting by his bed. Older. Muscular. Shaved head. His presence filled the space like gravity. “Who are you?” Fred croaked.

The man smiled without warmth. “Name’s Kane Voss. I train people like you to stop breaking everything they touch.”

Fred eyed him warily. “Rhea sent you?”

“Rhea recruits. I fix.”

“Fix what?”

“Your balance problem.” Kane leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “You burned yourself out trying to heal, didn’t you? Let me guess, you felt weaker every time.”

Fred said nothing. Kane chuckled. “You’re running on fumes, kid. You keep trying to play savior, and you’ll die again, for good this time.”

Fred forced himself upright. “Then teach me how to stop it.”

“Stop it?” Kane’s grin widened. “No. Control it.”

He snapped his fingers, the room’s fluorescent lights flickered. The air thickened, vibrating faintly. Fred felt the hum in his chest sync with Kane’s, perfectly aligned, terrifyingly strong.

“What did you just do?” Fred whispered.

Kane stood. “Tuned you.”

“Why?”

“Because you’re loud, Miller. Every Resonant in this city just heard you screaming through the air.”

“What do you mean?”

“It means they’re coming,” Kane said simply. “Rhea’s not the only one hunting new Resonants. You’ve got about ten minutes before someone walks through that door who doesn’t want you alive.”

Fred’s heart pounded. “Why would they”

“Because you’re the first hybrid,” Kane said. “Healer and destroyer both. That’s power no one’s supposed to have.”

Fred swallowed hard. “Then what do I do?”

Kane’s eyes gleamed. “Decide which side you’re on.”

The hallway lights flickered again, once, twice, then went out. Darkness. A voice echoed from the corridor, distorted, wet, wrong. “Found you.”

Fred’s pulse spiked. Kane reached into his coat, tossed him something heavy, a pair of black gloves etched with faint silver lines. “Put those on,” Kane said.

“What are they?”

“Your last chance.”

The door handle turned, slow, deliberate. Fred slipped the gloves over his shaking hands. The hum inside him roared, aligning, resonating.

The door burst open, shadows pouring in like liquid smoke. Kane grinned. “Welcome to your new life, Miller.”

The world erupted in light.