Chapter 534 Cayden Is Back
At that crucial moment, Avery managed to react on time by running up to higher ground despite her legs turning to
jelly, causing the snake to lose sight of her for a second.
With that, she narrowly escaped a lethal attack.
How did something so dangerous get inside here?
Avery's legs were weak, and her stomach was in great pain. She simply didn't have the strength to continue
running.
There were stairs in front of the mansion, and although every step she took felt especially draining, she could only
steel herself and keep going.
The venomous snakes began to catch up. Just as the biggest one was about to strike, James returned from the
same path he had left on and yelled in fright, “Mrs. Moore!”
Then, he spotted a wooden shovel nearby—the one Zachary and Rory normally used for gardening. Spurred by a
sudden burst of courage, he picked up the tool and struck the snake in the head.
In spite of the light weight of the shovel, James used so much force that the snake took a heavy blow, further
aggravating it and causing it to slither toward him even more quickly with a hiss.
No longer caring about the difference in hierarchy between Avery and himself, he carried the pregnant woman and
dashed toward the building.
The entrance was in sight, and James kicked the door to the bedroom open before putting Avery down.
Just as he was about to close the door, he felt a sharp pain in his leg. Bearing it, the man mustered the last of his
strength to slam the door shut, making sure every snake remained outside.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇt“L-Lock the door, Mrs. Moore. Don't... Don't go outside...” Suddenly, James felt his head spin as his body twitched,
and he collapsed to the floor with a loud thud.
On the verge of tears, Avery knelt down and called out his name relentlessly, “James!”
Yet, it was no use. James could hear nothing, for he had lost consciousness.
Upon folding one side of his trousers up, Avery noticed two bite marks on James' leg.
The area around the wound had begun to swell up, indicating that he had been poisoned.
Avery was filled with both remorse and gratitude when she saw how pale James had become. If he hadn't saved her
at that very moment, she would have been the one injured by now.
Still, now was not the time to grieve. I have to find the antidote and save him.
Disregarding the pain in her belly, an anxious Avery lugged her tired body to the room next to the study on the
second floor.
It was a medium-sized medicine room with a large array of drugs for both internal and external use. However, most
of them were non-prescription medications meant for treating colds, stomach aches, and other common illnesses.
Avery recalled that there were injectable antidotes somewhere in the mansion, given that it was located halfway up
a mountain and surrounded by lush greenery crawling with ants, spiders, and other similar creatures.
Most of these animals were harmless, and since the mansion took great measures in regard to pest control, there
was hardly a need for antidotes.
Even so, that didn't mean there was no antidote. It was necessary to be prepared for the unexpected.
People often panic during moments of desperation.
The more one tries to find something, the more likely it won't appear. In contrast, that something will be in plain
sight when one isn't looking for it.
Such was the case for Avery. She had scoured every drawer in the room and come across every medication
imaginable, but the antidote was nowhere to be found.
Beads of sweat rolled down her forehead as she thought about how every minute wasted could put James' life at
further risk.
Suddenly, she recalled something Cayden had told her over the phone: one of the drawers had a hidden
compartment containing goods such as rifles and anesthetics. Could the antidotes be kept there too?
With that in mind, Avery opened the closet and pulled the entire drawer out of its place. There, she saw a rifle, a
bottle of anesthesia with an Ustranasion label, two vials of antidotes, a few packs of unopened syringes, and a large
bag of realgar powder.
Breathing a sigh of relief, she grabbed every item and headed downstairs frantically.
The sounds coming from outside the house intensified.
Avery turned pale in shock. She hadn't expected the snakes to be so persistent that they would hurl themselves
against the door.
This isn't normal! Snakes usually won't attack humans without reason unless they feel threatened, so why are they
going at it like this? I can't believe it.
Yet, this wasn't the time to ponder over such things. James' face was slowly turning purple, and this was clearly a
bad sign.
Not caring about anything else, Avery fought her nervousness and opened a pack of syringes with trembling hands.
Imitating her nurse's steps, she attached the needle to the syringe, drew the antidote out of the vial, and began
looking for one of James' blood vessels on his arm.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏm
This was her first time giving someone an injection, and the fact that her hands couldn't stop quivering made her
miss a few times before finally getting it right.
Heaving a sigh, she slowly injected the antidote into James' arm.
Her face grew increasingly ashen when she heard the sounds of banging outside the door. To her, there was no way
snakes could cause such a ruckus.
For the first time, Avery felt so helpless.
She sprinkled a generous amount of realgar powder around James and herself. Some books mentioned that
venomous snakes were afraid of realgar, but whether or not this was scientifically proven was a different matter.
She didn't care at this point and used up the entire bag of realgar powder.
Then, with a rifle in her right hand and a bottle of anesthesia in her left, she eyed the door closely.
The room had a sturdy door complete with an electronic lock, so she wasn't worried about the snakes breaking in.
Some were a bit brighter and slithered over to the floor-to-ceiling windows, throwing themselves against the glass.
Avery was beyond shocked to see that. Are these snakes trying to kill themselves?
Things would have gotten tricky if these floor-to-ceiling windows were made of ordinary glass.
Thankfully, Cayden had deliberately instructed for all the windows to be reconstructed using bulletproof glass, so
everything remained intact no matter how hard the snakes tried to break in.
Still, they continued to pummel at the door as though having lost their sanity, refusing to stop despite how bloody
and battered they had become.
Avery hugged her knees as she sat on the carpet in fear. She couldn't imagine what to do if the snakes were to
make their way in.
Suddenly, she heard a flurry of rushed footsteps from outside the mansion, followed by a series of gunshots. Then,
a man's familiar voice calling her name in worry instantly caused the tears in her eyes to roll down her cheeks.
He's back. Thank God.