Chapter 5 - THE SICKNESS SPREADS
The tension had barely settled when a man in a pinstripe suit—Arthur Sterling, a banking magnate—suddenly collapsed onto the floor, gasping for air. His hands clutched his chest, and his face turned an alarming shade of gray.
"He's having a heart attack!" someone shouted.
Elena dropped the skillet and sprinted over. She checked his pulse; it was racing, erratic. She looked at his trembling hands and pale skin. "It's not a heart attack," she said, her mind flashing back to her mother's medical emergencies. "He's diabetic. He's crashing. His blood sugar is completely bottomed out."
"I... my insulin... my bag is in the car," Sterling wheezed, his eyes rolling back.
"No one can get to the cars," Elias said, his voice laced with genuine fear.
"We don't need the cars," Elena said. She dashed behind the counter, blindly feeling around in the dark until her hand closed around a jar of cake frosting. She ran back, pried Sterling's mouth open, and rubbed the sugary paste directly onto his gums. "Come on, Arthur. Stay with me. Swallow."
May you like
For ten agonizing minutes, the diner was dead silent. The fourteen other billionaires watched in stunned reverence as a waitress from Vermont saved the life of a man worth eight billion dollars with a two-dollar jar of frosting. Slowly, the color returned to Sterling's face. He blinked, looking up at Elena. "You... you saved me."
"Don't thank me yet," Elena muttered, wiping sweat from her forehead. "We still have to survive the night."
