128 (Operation Armageddon: Book 1)

Chapter Eight: The Traitor | Part 1

"Oh my God," Madison shrieked in fear as she covered her face in fright at the ugly sight of a wounded Emma. "She looks so... dead," she stammered.

Matthew placed two fingers on Emma's cold wrist. He quivered nervously as he struggled to find any signs of life in her. "There's no pulse..." he trailed off anxiously.

After a few moments, Megan and Daniel, who were much further from the watchtower than Matthew and Madison were, came running towards the others.

"What happened?" Daniel gulped, staring down at Emma, who remained unconscious despite Matthew's desperate attempts to resuscitate her.

Tears began to flow down Megan's face as she got a glimpse of Emma. "Emma... Emma! What happened to you?" she sobbed as she ran over to Emma, touching her face. "She's... ice cold..."

"I know. And... she still doesn't have a pulse..." Matthew sighed, breaking the news to the others.

"I think we all know that she's now... she's now gone..." Daniel trailed off, wiping a tear from his reddening eyes.

"No!" Megan screamed in retaliation, standing up and turning to face the detectives. "Emma is not dead! She can't leave just like that!" she protested, her nose turning red from the crying.

Matthew nodded rapidly upon hearing Megan's statement, too attached to let go of his dear friend. "We can't give up hope on her yet. Madison, do you have an AED?" he queried, turning towards her for assistance as he fought the tears that were about to spill out of his eyes.

"Yes, there's one in my cabin," she replied quickly. "Are you... going to try it on her?"

Matthew heaved a sigh. "We don't have any other choice," he lamented. "It's either this or her death. We can't afford not to try."

Madison nodded and rushed towards her cabin hastily to retrieve the defibrillator.

"H-how did she even fall?" Megan quivered.

Matthew inspected Emma's body more carefully. There didn't seem to be any scratches or punctures on her body. Only her head was bleeding profusely.

"I think she had an accident similar to Mason's," he spoke. "She has no wounds except on her skull, which was probably caused by the fall. I think... I think she was dragged off by the creature."

Meanwhile, Madison returned with the defibrillator and an additional first aid kid to treat and bandage Emma's head.

"We must hurry. Even if we revive her, she may die from blood loss," Madison said as she wrapped a bandage around Emma's skull. "Daniel, I'm sure you know how to operate an AED. Open it up."

Daniel nodded before removing the defibrillator from its packaging. "Well, here goes nothing," he said before preparing Emma for the revival process.

He began to operate the defibrillator on her, despairingly attempting to save his close friend. Madison continued to bandage Emma's head while Matthew watched anxiously. Megan chewed on her fingers, which was a practice she would usually consider "uncultured", while tears continued to leak from her swollen eyes.

Unfortunately for them, nothing went as they had desired. The defibrillator worked everything but miracles for them. With every charge that Daniel worked on Emma, she didn't wake up.

"I-I'm sorry guys.... She's gone," Daniel tried to keep a straight face while announcing the bad news before breaking into a miserable sob as soon as he finished the sentence.

"You didn't try enough!" Megan screamed. "I'll do it instead!"

Megan brought up the defibrillator and began utilising it as Daniel had done. The others watched nervously as she worked the machine on the unconscious Emma. Even Daniel, who had given up earlier, prayed for something good to turn out of it. Sadly, the results were still the same. Emma didn't wake up.