Chapter 121: Lemon grass?

As Zyra walked away, Scotty began to hum as he sorted through the leafy herbs. He pulled a particularly vibrant bunch of tall grass like leaves close to his face and took a deep sniff. A pleasant, bright aroma filled his nose.

"Huh. This smells exactly like lemon grass," Scotty thought, his eyes lighting up. "Actually, it smells even better than lemon grass because it is stronger! Man, this would make black tea taste absolutely exquisite."

He felt a pang of jealousy. Lemon grass was incredibly expensive on the market because it was rare, a luxury he rarely got to enjoy. And here it was, being fed to a lazy snake!

Scotty looked around. The pavilion was quiet and Zyra was focused on her phone quite a distance away. Shrugging, he tore off a few generous leaves and stuffed them deep into his pocket to save for his evening tea. But the scent was just too tempting. Looking at the fresh, juicy tall leaf in his hand, Scotty figured a tiny taste wouldn’t hurt. He popped a leaf into his mouth, took a big, crunching bite, and swallowed. Then, he tossed the rest of the bundle into Spice’s glass cage.

He whispered to Spice, "Don’t tell Zyra or I will not play with you again." His silly threat made him chuckle. It reminded him of his childhood. He had a cousin that used to steal his bread and food and whisper this exact threat.

Now that he thought about it, he held an intense dislike for that cousin. Would Spice feel that same way?

Scotty his pocket, deciding to return the stolen property. It was an act of foolishness that could cost him a lot if he was not careful. If Zyra had enough lemon grass for a snake, she probably had more for human consumption. Maybe it was in the supermarket. His eyes gleamed at the thought.

Suddenly, a weird tickle started in the back of his throat. He tried to swallow to clear it, but his throat muscles wouldn’t budge. It felt like his windpipe was swelling shut. His chest tightened, and he gasped for air, but nothing came.

His vision started to blur, and he started to panic. He could feel his limbs losing strength.

Zyra hadn’t even made it out of the beast pavilion when she heard a heavy, muffled crash behind her.

Instinctively, she whipped her head around. Her heart leaped into her throat. Scotty was flat on his back on the floor, his body twitching. "Scotty!" She screamed, sprinting back to the snake’s lair as fast as her legs could carry her.

Her scream attracted attention of the others inside who, run fast to help.

"What the hell is wrong with him." Someone asked.

By the time she slid to her knees beside him, Scotty’s eyes had rolled back, showing only the whites, and thick, white foam was bubbling rapidly from his mouth.

"Beauty! Scan him! Quickly!" Zyra panicked, her hands shaking as she made chest compressions on his chest.

[No need to scan, Host,] Beauty’s voice rang out, remarkably calm. [These are symptoms of someone that has ingested poison. That absolute fool just ate the poisonous evolution herbs meant for the beast snake.]

"He what?!" Zyra shrieked.

Those around Zyra looked at each other, they could not tell whom she was talking to. Perhaps talking to herself or communicating with Hunter via the link band.

"Someone please call Malia!" Armillo shouted.

Something appeared at Zyra’s side, a small glass vial with a single round white pill.

[This is the antidote,] Beauty said urgently. [Feed it to him right now, or he will enter a permanent vegetative state in the next three minutes.1...2...]

Zyra didn’t waste a single millisecond. She popped the plastic lid off the vial with her teeth. "Can someone hold his mouth open?"

"I’ve got him!" Armillo’s voice barked as he quickly knelt down, hoisting Scotty’s head up and forcing his jaw open. "What is that?" He asked

Zyra didn’t answer him, she threw the pill into Scotty’s mouth and told Armillo to close it.

"He can’t swallow if he is unconscious." Armillo reminded her.

[The pill melts in heat. The inside of his mouth is hot right now.] Beauty explained to Zyra.

She repeated the same to Armillo. For a second, Scotty convulsed. Then, his body went completely still. His eyes closed, and the violent twitching stopped.

Zyra froze, her breath catching in her throat. "Is he...?"

Armillo quickly pressed two fingers against Scotty’s neck, waiting. After a tense, agonizing silence, he let out a breath and looked up at Zyra. "Scotty’s still breathing. His pulse is stabilizing."

Zyra let out a huge, trembling sigh of relief. The adrenaline drained from her body all at once, and she collapsed backward, sitting flat on the floor. She stared at the unconscious man in absolute bewilderment. "Why..." Zyra groaned, rubbing her temples, "why on earth would anyone look at, poisonous snake herbs and think, ’Yep, looks like a great snack’?!"

"He ate those?" Armillo pointed at the herbs still in Scotty’s clenched fist.

She nodded her head, still in disbelief. Quickly, she took the herbs from his hands. "Armillo, please carry him to the medical room. I’ll call Malia."

"She is already waiting in the medical room." Someone announced.

A short while later, in the warm light of the medical room, Malia finished checking Scotty’s vitals. She pulled the blanket up to his chin and turned to Zyra, who was leaning against the wall, looking completely drained.

Hunter breezed in panting desperately. He was wearing gym clothes, with sweat running down his biceps and forehead. He had been mid-work out when he got the news. "I came as soon as I heard."

"He’s perfectly stable now," Malia said, shaking her head with a soft, puzzled smile. "His heart rate is normal, and the poison is entirely out of his system, I do not know how that is even possible. But Zyra, what in the world happened? Did he really eat beast herbs?"

Zyra took a deep, loud breath, staring at the ceiling. A sudden, hysterical giggle escaped her throat, bubbling up into a full, breathless laugh. It was the laugh of someone who had just looked a ridiculous disaster in the face and somehow dodged the bullet.

"Malia," Zyra gasped, wiping a tear of laughter from her eye, "people do crazy things. He ate an herb meant for Spice."

Hunter shook his head, "I have to say that had it been someone else, I would have been surprised but Scotty_ nope."

The women laughed lightly as Malia assured them that he was just fine and perhaps Scotty should be transferred to work in the kitchen where there was plenty of safe human food. If he continued to work in the beast pavilion, he would kill himself sooner or later.

"Do you think he will be embarrassed when he wakes up?" Tessi asked.

Everyone exchanged the same look. If they were in his shoes, they would be embarrassed. What was the difference between this and fighting over a bone with a dog when you had meat in the kitchen?