[POV: Sofia Lanka]

"Can you hear me, Sofia? Squeeze my hand if you can hear my voice. Focus on the light for me, just for a second."

The voice sounded as if it were traveling through miles of thick, dampened cotton. Sofia Lanka fought the heaviness behind her eyelids, her consciousness flickering like a dying candle in a drafty room. The air smelled sharply of antiseptic and ozone, a sterile bite that stung her nostrils. Slowly, the world began to sharpen into a blur of white ceiling tiles and the rhythmic, artificial chirp of a heart monitor.

"She’s stabilizing. Heart rate is evening out, but the neuro-inhibitor has left her...