A Dangerous Stranger
"Don't... call the police," the man gasped, his grip tightening around Avery’s wrist with surprising strength. His eyes were a piercing, intense blue, filled with a mixture of pain and raw desperation. "They're tracking me. If they find me here... they’ll kill us both."
His military tags read Ethan Cruz. He was burning with fever, but there was an authority in his voice that Avery couldn't ignore. Despite the danger, her instinct to save a life took over. She spent the next hour extracting the bullet and stitching him up in the dim light of the emergency room.
As Ethan rested, the clinic's main power suddenly snapped. The lights went out, plunging the building into pitch blackness. Only the red, glowing emergency backup lights flickered on, casting long, eerie shadows across the walls.
Ethan was instantly awake, his hand instinctively reaching for a hidden weapon. "They cut the grid," he whispered, pulling Avery down behind the reception desk. "They're here."
