Chapter 5 - The Descent
The effect of the toxin was immediate and horrifying.
It felt as though liquid fire had been pumped directly into Toby's vascular system. The pain spread from his forearm up into his shoulder, then plunged straight into his chest like a red-hot iron spike. His vision instantly shattered into a kaleidoscope of screaming white static and violent black spots.
The syringe fell from his numb fingers, shattering against the concrete floor.
Toby’s legs buckled beneath him. He hit the cold floor hard, his chin slamming against the concrete, but he couldn't feel his skin. His nervous system was short-circuiting. His lungs locked instantly—his diaphragm frozen in a state of absolute, rigid contraction. He couldn't inhale. He couldn't scream.
He lay on his side, his eyes wide, staring at the steel legs of the table.
Above him, Marcus stood motionless, looking down at his pocket watch with cold, detached precision.
"Heart rate spiking at one hundred and eighty beats per minute," Marcus announced into a lapel microphone. "Oxygen saturation dropping rapidly. Ninety percent... eighty-four percent... seventy-nine percent."
Toby’s world narrowed to a tiny, suffocating tunnel of blackness. His brain felt as though it were expanding against his skull, starving for oxygen. The agony in his chest was absolute—a crushing, suffocating weight that made every second feel like an eternity in hell.
Through the darkening tunnel of his vision, he saw Marcus kneel down beside him.
The old man’s face was close to his now. Marcus reached out a gloved hand and gently pressed two fingers against the pulse point on Toby’s neck.
"Hold on to the thought of her, Toby," Marcus whispered, his voice sounding as if it were coming from the bottom of a deep well. "Don't fight the darkness. Let it take you."
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Toby tried to hold onto Clara’s face in his mind, but the image was burning away, turning to gray ash. The pain in his heart reached a terrifying climax—a single, violent spasm—and then... complete, deafening silence.
The tunnel closed entirely. The light died. Toby Vance ceased to breathe.
