Wasted Years, Empty Love

Jim once extracted venom to make antivenom, but he was imprisoned for twelve years after his adoptive brother Julian diluted his serum for profit and their family forced him to take the blame. His fiancée Jessica threw acid in his face, and now he shovels pig manure on a remote farm, his face scarred beyond recognition.

When Julian is bitten by a coral snake during a livestream and lies dying, the family tracks Jim down. His parents Richard and Eleanor kneel in the mud, his sister Ava holds a knife to his throat, and Jessica livestreams her tearful plea to a jeering crowd. They demand his blood, offering money and forgiveness, but they have forgotten that years ago they injected him with a sedative that destroyed his ability to produce new blood.

Jim refuses, and Ava's men force him to the ground. As his mother kneels begging, a sliver of hesitation pierces him—until her next words plunge him into an abyss of ice.