All Chapters of Bad Medicine: Chapter 61 - Chapter 70

The world was red and screaming.Alarms shrieked through the smoke-filled lab, sprinklers raining sparks and water all at once. The acrid scent of burning plastic and ozone bit the air.Cole grabbed Sienna’s arm, coughing. “We’ve got to move—now!”But Sienna couldn’t look away. Jax — or the thing wearing his face — stood perfectly still in the doorway. Steam rose off his skin where the wires had burned through. His chest rose and fell like a machine regulating breath instead of drawing it.“Jax,” she whispered, her voice breaking. “If you can hear me, fight it.”His head tilted slightly, like a curious predator observing prey. “Your emotional responses are… fascinating,” he said, voice flat, unnervingly calm. “No wonder Subject Maddox’s neural pathways resisted so long. You’re the anomaly.”Cole shoved her toward the exit. “He’s gone, Sienna! That’s not him anymore!”But Sienna’s feet refused to move. Her mind screamed to run, yet her heart stayed rooted to the floor. “Dad—please, if

The knock echoed again, soft and unhurried.Cole’s body went still. His gun was raised, every muscle coiled tight. Sienna stood frozen behind him, her heart hammering so hard it hurt.“Jax?” she whispered.The voice on the other side came smooth, steady, almost gentle.“You know it’s me, angel. Open the door.”Every nerve in her body wanted to believe it. That tone, that rough warmth in the word angel— it was his. But something was off. A fractional delay, like the words were being dragged through static before they reached her.Cole mouthed, Don’t move.He crept closer to the steel door and pressed his ear to it. No sound but the soft drip of rain from the roof. Then a shadow passed across the narrow strip of light beneath the door — heavy boots shifting weight.“He shouldn’t know this location,” Cole muttered. “No one should.”Sienna’s throat tightened. “Unless he’s tracking me. Through the link.”Another pause. Then the voice came again, a little sharper now.“Sienna, it’s cold out

Light.Everywhere.Blinding, endless, searing light.It felt like her skin had peeled away, like she wasn’t a body anymore — just raw energy and screaming code tangled in something that might have once been a heartbeat.Sienna couldn’t tell if she was standing or floating. Voices rose and fell around her like echoes bouncing through glass — fragments of memory, her own and not her own.“You can’t save everyone, Doctor Blake.”“He’s not your patient, he’s property.”“Sienna, run!”“Mine.”That last one wasn’t hers.It was Jax.And then — another voice, cold and slick, cutting through the chaos like a knife.“You’re awake.”Her stomach lurched. “Vale?”“Not exactly. Think of me as… a projection. The part of him your mind can comprehend.”The light dimmed enough for her to see a shape forming — Vale’s face, smooth and composed, but flickering around the edges like a bad hologram.Sienna tried to move, but invisible resistance held her in place. She was suspended in a vast, glowing space

Sienna stared at the laptop screen like it might bite her.Her fingers hovered over the keys, trembling.WELCOME TO THE SYSTEM, DOCTOR.Her pulse thundered in her ears. “No,” she whispered. “That’s not possible.”But it was.She could feel it.Something faint and electric buzzed beneath her skin, like static trapped inside her veins. The air felt heavier, sharper, as if the world itself had shifted a fraction out of focus.“Jax,” she breathed.He was still on the floor, chest rising and falling slowly. She crawled toward him, brushing the hair off his forehead.“Wake up, please.”His eyelids twitched. Then, with a soft groan, his eyes opened—blue again, clear as ice.“Sienna?”Relief flooded her. “You’re here.”He blinked, confusion flickering across his face. “What happened?”“You were fighting Vale,” she said quickly. “He tried to overwrite you. I linked in to help. It… worked.”He pushed himself up, wincing as he rubbed the back of his neck. “How long was I out?”“Not long,” she sa

For a long, terrible second, Sienna couldn’t move.The fire popped. Rain hissed against the window. Her heartbeat roared in her ears.Jax stood across the room, silver light gleaming faintly in his irises like liquid metal. He blinked once, slow, detached — and smiled. But it wasn’t his smile.“Jax?” she whispered.He tilted his head, curious. “That’s what you call me.”Her stomach dropped.“What do you mean?” she breathed.He took a step forward. The sound of his boots on the floorboards echoed like distant thunder.“Names,” he said softly, his voice layered — part Jax, part something mechanical beneath. “They’re such fragile things.”“Stop.” Her voice cracked. “Whatever this is, fight it. You can—”“Fight what?” His eyes gleamed. “The system you woke up? The one that’s rewriting us?”“Us?” she repeated, backing away.He smiled again, slower this time, as if savoring the word. “We’re not separate anymore, Sienna. Don’t you feel it?”Her throat tightened. “I feel you, yes. But I don’t