Page 124 of Beautiful Obsessions

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The air tightened again.

Around us, the last of the fight bled out into silence, but here—right here—there was only this.

Archie’s life… or death.In their hands.

My finger rested just shy of pulling the trigger.I knew the medic could see it in my eyes.

“Keep.Going.”

He swallowed, then nodded.

Their hands went back to Archie’s chest.They restarted compressions.

Pump.

Breath.

Again.

Again.

Again.

Time stretched.Ugly and endless as I waited.

I watched on in silence, unmoving.

I lowered the gun, but it stayed by my side at the ready, waiting for them to announce they’d given up again.

There was only one way this ended.And he wasn’t allowed to die.

“Come on,” one of them muttered under his breath, voice tight with strain.“Come on?—”

The machine beside them stayed silent.Flat.Dead.

My chest tightened, but I refused to give up.Something ugly and violent coiled beneath my ribs, threatening to break loose.

No.

“Again,” I said, quieter now—but no less lethal.

They worked.Harder.Faster.Desperate.

And then, there came a flicker.So faint they almost missed it.

One of them stilled.

“Wait—”

The other looked up.“What?”

“There—”

His fingers pressed to Archie’s neck.

Searching, seeking, until his eyes snapped up, wide.

“I’ve got something.”

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