Chapter 81: The Woman From the Past

Carmela Bane stood beneath the harsh white light of the medical triage checkpoint, drenched from head to toe. Thick brown mud caked the hem of her torn jacket, and a jagged smear of drying blood ran down the left side of her face.

Her rain-soaked hair clung to her hollow cheeks as her chest heaved in short, terrified gasps amidst the crowded refugees behind her. Yet Raviah saw none of those present physical injuries at first.

She saw only the ghost of a woman from a previous life. The third-rate actress who had stood smiling beside Zachary Taylor while Raviah’s world was stripped away piece by piece.

The scheming woman whose name had appeared in private text messages, forged hospital receipts, and whispered betrayals before the world ended.

Carmela Bane.

For several agonizing seconds, Raviah remained rooted to the concrete floor, unable to draw breath. Suppressed memories returned all at once like a violent torrent.

The sterile odor of hospital antiseptic, her own trembling hands, and Zachary’s cold, unfeeling eyes on the day he abandoned her. The vital medical supplies she had painstakingly gathered, only to watch them vanish from the storage bay.

The pathetic excuses, the double-cross, and ultimately, her own lonely death in the dark.

Raviah’s fingers slowly curled into tight fists at her sides, her nails digging into her palms.

Carmela shifted her gaze, her wide eyes finally meeting Raviah’s cold stare.

Sudden, shock-filled recognition flickered across the woman’s bruised face.

"Doctor Solomon?" Carmela breathed out, her voice barely audible over the hum of the facility’s generators.

Raviah kept her expression unreadable, hiding the storm raging inside her chest.

Carmela stumbled forward a step, her knees buckling under her weight.

"Please," she sobbed, her cracked voice breaking desperately.

"Please help me, Raviah," she begged, reaching out a mud-stained hand.

Two heavily armed fortress guards immediately stepped into the gap, raising their rifles.

"Halt right there!" the forward guard barked, his finger resting flat along the trigger guard.

Carmela froze in place, raising her shaking, bloody hands into the air.

"I’m not infected! I swear I’m not infected!" she shrieked, tears cutting clean lines through the dirt on her skin.

"I was separated from the main convoy when the river broke through the southern embankment," she babbled hysterically.

A field medic stepped forward, sweeping a handheld bio-scanner across Carmela’s torso and face.

The device emitted a sequence of high-pitched, rhythmic beeps.

[BODY TEMPERATURE: ELEVATED]

[TRAUMA DETECTED]

[NO ACTIVE PATHOGEN DETECTED]

[ELEMENTAL ACTIVITY: NONE DETECTED]

The medic lowered the scanner and looked up at Raviah.

"Doctor, she is stable enough to be moved for standard treatment," the medic reported professionally.

Raviah stared down at the trembling woman kneeling on the cold floor. She remembered vividly how this very person had once taken everything from her without a shred of remorse. Yet here Carmela was, helpless, terrified, and entirely at her mercy.

Raviah knew she could end it all right now with a single word. One subtle command to the guards, one lethal dose of sedative, or one purposeful error on the operating table. No one in this chaotic apocalypse would ever ask questions.

After the cruelty Carmela had inflicted in her previous life, no one could blame Raviah for taking her revenge. But Raviah was no longer that foolish, helpless victim who had perished in the ruins.

She had been reborn with the dark knowledge of the future. And she had sworn an oath that she would never allow petty vengeance to consume her humanity.

"Escort her to the isolation medical ward," Raviah commanded calmly.

Carmela’s tear-filled eyes widened in utter disbelief.

"You’re... you’re actually helping me?" Carmela stammered, clutching her bruised arm.

Raviah looked down at her with eyes as cold as glass.

"I am treating an injured survivor who walked through our gates," Raviah stated dryly.

She paused, her voice dropping into an icy blade.

"Nothing more, and nothing less," she added.

Two soldiers stepped up, grabbing Carmela firmly by the shoulders to pull her to her feet.

"She remains under constant armed guard," Raviah instructed the soldiers.

"No unsupervised movement, no access to storage bays, and absolute isolation from other refugees until cleared," she ordered.

"Understood, Doctor," the lead soldier replied, bowing his head.

Carmela reached out wildly toward Raviah’s coat sleeve as she was dragged past.

"Raviah, wait--" Carmela cried out.

A guard snapped his rifle across her path, blocking her arm.

"Back off," the soldier growled.

Raviah turned her back on the scene, her subtle gaze catching Rhyder standing nearby.

He had been leaning against the concrete pillar several meters away, silent and watchful throughout the entire interaction. His sharp features gave away nothing, but his intense gray eyes tracked her every movement.

When Raviah pushed open the door to the primary examination room, Rhyder quietly followed her inside.

Carmela was forced onto the stainless steel examination table while a junior medic prepared clean gauze.

Raviah pulled on a pair of sterile nitrile gloves to examine the injuries herself. A deep laceration stretched across the forehead, accompanied by severely bruised ribs and a fractured left forearm.

She was suffering from acute exhaustion and dehydration, but nothing was immediately life-threatening.

"Prepare an intravenous saline drip and broad-spectrum antibiotics," Raviah instructed the assistant.

"Immobilize the left forearm with a rigid splint immediately," she added.

Carmela stared up at Raviah’s steady hands as they worked.

"You really aren’t going to hurt me?" Carmela asked, her voice shaking violently.

Raviah met her gaze without flinching.

"No," Raviah replied simply.

"Even after everything?" Carmela whispered, her voice laced with guilt.

A suffocating silence descended over the examination room.

Beside the doorway, Rhyder’s posture straightened, his dark eyes narrowing at Carmela’s words. Raviah knew precisely what the woman was referring to.

"You remember," Raviah said, her voice dropping into a flat, dangerous register.

Carmela swallowed hard, her trembling lower lip bleeding slightly.

"I remember you, Raviah," Carmela admitted in a faint breath.

Raviah’s gaze hardened into steel.

"And I remember you," Raviah answered.

Carmela dropped her head, staring down at her mud-covered knees.

"I never knew the world would end like this," Carmela whimpered softly.

Raviah nearly let out a bitter, humorless laugh.

Instead, she tightened the medical bandage around the woman’s arm with practiced precision.

"You didn’t know the world would collapse," Raviah said smoothly.

Carmela shook her head weakly.

"No," she whispered.

"But you certainly knew what you were doing long before it did," Raviah reminded her coldly.

Carmela shut her mouth, unable to offer a single word in her own defense.

Raviah secured the final clip on the splint and stepped back.

"Your past sins do not dictate whether I perform my duty as a doctor to save a life," Raviah stated.

Tears brimmed in Carmela’s eyes, spilling over her bruised cheeks.

"You’ve changed so much," Carmela whispered.

Raviah stepped away toward the sink to peel off her latex gloves.

"No," Raviah said, watching the water wash away the dirt.

"I simply have something far more important than petty revenge to live for now," she declared.

Her eyes shifted toward the doorway, meeting Rhyder’s gaze. A quiet spark of mutual understanding passed between them instantly. He understood her completely.

She was not sparing Carmela out of weakness. She was keeping her alive because Raviah refused to allow the apocalypse to strip away her humanity. The rest of the medical checkup proceeded in silence.

Just as the assistant medic prepared the needle for the IV line, Carmela suddenly reached out and grabbed Raviah’s sleeve. Her skin had gone pale, drained of all color.

"Raviah," Carmela gasped out, her fingers tightening around the fabric.

"What is it now?" Raviah asked, attempting to pull her arm back.

Carmela leaned forward frantically, her raspy voice dropping into a terrified whisper.

"Zachary is alive," Carmela revealed, her breath smelling of copper and salt.

Raviah froze mid-motion, her eyes locking onto the trembling woman.

Carmela glanced fearfully toward the open corridor door before leaning back in.

"He survived... and he has a whole army with him," Carmela whimpered.

A chilling silence blanketed the medical room.

Raviah felt her heart give a violent, terrible thud against her ribs.

Behind her, Rhyder’s relaxed stance vanished, replaced by the lethal aura of a commander preparing for war.