Chapter 13: Talent

The temperature inside the car seemed to rise along with the tension.

Ray’s breathing gradually grew heavier.

He kept his eyes fixed on the road ahead. The veins along the arm gripping the steering wheel stood out sharply, as though he were using every ounce of his strength to suppress some instinct he absolutely did not want to acknowledge.

"Bang!"

The front of the truck slammed into an abandoned sedan blocking the road. The impact sent another violent wave of shaking through the vehicle.

May cried out as she was thrown upward before dropping heavily back down.

This time, she couldn’t catch herself. Her upper body lurched forward, and her chest collided squarely with the man’s hard cheek.

The force of the impact also drove her into the side of his burning neck.

Ray instantly went rigid.

His fingers tightened around the steering wheel until his knuckles turned white, a faint creaking sound coming from his grip.

May’s warm breath, carrying that faintly sweet, milky scent, washed repeatedly over the sensitive skin along his neck. It was soft as a feather brushing against him.

And that dangerous heat inside him flared all over again.

"Sit... sit still."

May was practically losing her mind too.

She wanted to straighten herself, but the truck was shaking so violently that she could barely control her own body.

Every jolt felt as though it might rattle her organs loose. Or somehow grind her entire soul straight into the man beneath her.

Her cheeks were hot enough to fry an egg.

She could feel the powerful muscles beneath her shifting with every movement of the vehicle.

"Your–– your hand..."

"I’m fine. Just hold on!"

Finally, the truck broke through the densest section of the zombie horde and reached a relatively smooth stretch of road.

The violent jolting gradually subsided.

Inside the cab, an eerie, suffocating silence settled over them. Only the increasingly uneven breathing of the two people filled the space.

May stiffly began trying to climb off him. But the instant she moved, a scorching hand clamped around her waist.

"Don’t move."

Ray’s voice was low and hoarse, carrying a dangerous warning.

May immediately froze. She could feel the frightening heat radiating from his palm against her waist.

Meanwhile, in the back of the truck, several figures came tumbling forward in relief and threw open the rear door.

"Hey, are you all right?"

Mitch rushed over first. One glance was enough for him to spot the deep wound in Ray’s arm, black blood still slowly seeping from it.

"Don’t touch him."

Theo’s voice followed immediately, cold as ice.

He pushed the frantic Mitch aside, his gaze instantly locking onto the gruesome injury beneath Ray’s torn sleeve.

"The Ripper’s claws carry necrotic bacteria. If we don’t treat this properly, he could lose the entire arm."

Jack and Ace gathered around as well, their expressions grim.

May felt as though her heart had been plunged into ice water.

She awkwardly climbed down from Ray’s lap and stared at his mangled arm, her lips trembling without being able to form a single word.

He had been injured because he protected her.

A crushing wave of guilt and fear wrapped itself around her heart like vines.

Theo opened his medical kit and immediately got to work.

He pulled on a pair of sterile gloves and picked up the forceps, reaching toward the torn flesh.

"Take off your shirt. All the fabric around the wound needs to be removed."

He didn’t look at Ray, keeping his attention fixed on the injury.

"Bear with it. Debridement is going to hurt."

Ray acted as though he hadn’t heard him, remaining completely expressionless.

Jack and Mitch, however, couldn’t stop hovering nearby, staring anxiously at the black blood.

"Damn... why is the blood black? He isn’t going to..."

Theo didn’t even look up. He removed a piece of necrotic tissue saturated with dark blood and dropped it aside.

"That’s a normal result of infection by the necrotic bacteria. The toxin isn’t our biggest concern right now."

He paused to examine the wound more carefully. Then his brow furrowed slightly.

"Strange..."

"What is?" Ray finally spoke, his voice roughened slightly by blood loss.

Theo stood and looked between Ray and May. There was now a faintly amused undertone in his voice.

"The amount of blood he’s lost is within manageable limits." He slowly removed his gloves. "For a wound this deep, there should have been significantly more bleeding."

The corner of his mouth lifted almost imperceptibly, as though he’d just discovered an interesting result in an experiment.

Oh... no wonder Ray still looks relatively fine. Looks like all that blood just went somewhere else instead...

"It seems the blood flow in your body has been redirected to a considerable degree," Theo observed, his meaning unmistakable.

"Not all of it escaped through the wound. Some of it apparently... went somewhere else and became quite useful there."

Mitch and Jack stared at him blankly.

"What does that even mean? Blood can just... go somewhere else?"

May’s face instantly went scarlet. She understood exactly what Theo was implying.

That horrifying situation in the driver’s cab... So that’s where all that extra blood had gone.

Ray’s expression darkened as well.

He shot Theo a warning glare that clearly said, Say one more word. I dare you.

Theo acted as though he hadn’t noticed. Instead, he turned toward May, whose cheeks were burning, and smiled like a fox that had just stolen something delicious.

"So if you want to thank someone, thank her." He pointed toward May. "She was quite helpful to you back there."

"I..." May opened and closed her mouth, wishing desperately for a hole in the ground to swallow her.

Helpful?

The way he’d phrased it made it sound as though she’d deliberately done something to help him recover.

Mitch finally caught on. He looked at Ray’s face, dark enough to rival a thundercloud, then at May’s blazing cheeks.

His expression became absolutely priceless.

"Damn, bro. You can still be this horny when you’re injured like that? What a waste of talent if you’re not starring in some trashy adult movie!"

"Shut up!"

Ray cut him off impatiently. He tore away the remains of his ruined shirt, revealing a powerful, well-built torso.

"Theo. Get it done."

The debridement was bloody and painstaking.

Theo’s hands never wavered. The forceps and surgical blade moved with precise efficiency, removing every trace of infected tissue.

Ray didn’t make a sound throughout the entire procedure. Cold sweat rolled from his temple along the hard line of his jaw.

May stood nearby, watching the gruesome treatment with her heart aching.

"All right. All that’s left is stitching and dressing."

"I’ll do it!" May blurted it out without thinking.

Every eye turned toward her.

She took a deep breath beneath everyone’s attention and reached into the medical kit for clean gauze and bandages.

"I... I learned basic first aid and bandaging through a university club."

It was a flimsy excuse, and her voice still trembled slightly, but her expression was determined.

"I’ll bandage Ray’s arm. I can do it."