The fluorescent lights above me buzzed like flies trapped in glass.

I kept my eyes on the floor.

Not because I was scared to look up.

Because if I looked at Jennifer again, I thought I might actually lose my fucking mind.

"What was that, sweetie?" Jennifer cut through my thoughts.

I blinked once before realizing she’d spoken at all.

"I said I need more time to think..." I said quietly.

Then, after a second:

"Please."

I hated that my voice cracked.

Jennifer smiled immediately. Not kindly. Not sympathetically. It looked like she’d been waiting for weakness to finally slip out of me.

"Oh, of course, Adrian. There’s no question that you need time to...come to terms with things."

The way she said things made my skin crawl.

Like she already owned me.

I finally looked up at her.

"You’ll be moved to a different set of quarters under armed surveillance. Limited movement. Limited contact. You’ll have some time to pick your poison, so..." Her smile widened slightly. "I hope you’ve already started thinking."

My jaw tightened.

What the fuck was I supposed to say?

No?

Tell her she was insane after she just admitted she knew exactly what had been done to my head?

After she admitted she helped create it?

I swallowed hard and nodded once.

Jennifer’s expression softened in a way that somehow made everything worse.

"There we go."

She stood from the chair slowly.

For a second, I thought she was finally leaving me alone.

Then she stepped beside me and rested a hand on my shoulder.

My entire body locked up.

"I’ll make you into something the world has never seen," she whispered near my ear. "You’ll just have to trust me on this."

Her breath brushed against my skin.

Warm.

Intimate.

Wrong. 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

My eyes stayed fixed ahead even after she walked away.

The door opened.

Closed.

Silence swallowed the room again.

I sat there for what felt like forever after that.

Just thinking.

Chicago.

Texas.

The woods.

Vivian.

Lila.

Aubrey.

Every bad choice. Every body. Every moment where I thought I was smarter than the consequences catching up to me.

If I could take something back...

What would it even be?

I genuinely didn’t know anymore.

That scared me more than Jennifer did.

Eventually the door opened again.

Two guards stepped inside.

Neither spoke.

One grabbed my arm harder than necessary while the other cut the zip ties from the chair only to replace them around my wrists behind my back.

I didn’t fight.

Didn’t have it in me.

They dragged me into the hallway.

The cold air outside the room hit my face immediately. The entire corridor smelled like bleach, wet concrete, and cigarettes. Soldiers moved up and down the hall carrying rifles across their chests while radios crackled over each other endlessly.

I stared ahead blankly while they marched me forward.

Then movement caught my eye.

Across the corridor, another group of guards escorted someone toward the interrogation room I’d just left.

Harry.

His face looked swollen to shit.

One eye purple.

Blood dried near his mouth.

He walked stiffly now. Different from before. I could tell I’d hurt him badly.

His eyes met mine for only a second.

There was no yelling.

No threats.

Just hatred.

Pure fucking hatred.

Then the guards shoved us both forward in opposite directions.

I barely cared anymore.

The hallway turned.

And that’s when I saw her.

Cherie.

Saul beside her.

The second my eyes landed on her, something ugly ripped open in my chest.

She looked exhausted.

Mascara smeared beneath her eyes.

Hands shaking slightly at her sides.

But all I could think about was one thing.

Cherie...Laurent.

"She claims that you and this group had some unfinished conflict in which you were the aggressor."

My breathing sharpened.

The guards kept walking me forward.

Cherie finally looked up.

And the guilt on her face made everything worse.

I stopped walking.

The guards jerked me forward roughly.

"Keep moving."

"No."

My voice came out harsher than I intended.

Cherie froze completely.

So did Saul.

I stared directly at her.

"You testified against me?"

Neither answered.

I laughed once.

Short. Empty.

"You sold me out?"

"Adrian—" Cherie started weakly.

"No." I snapped immediately. "No, don’t fucking do that. Don’t say my name like we’re still friends."

Her mouth shut instantly.

The hallway had gone quieter now. Even some soldiers nearby had started watching.

Saul stepped slightly in front of her.

Protective.

That irritated me even more.

"You really sat there and talked about me to these people?" I asked. "After everything?"

Cherie looked sick.

Actually sick.

"I was trying to help—"

"Help?" I barked out a laugh. "HELP?"

The guards tightened their grip on me.

I barely noticed.

"You testified against me and called that helping?"

"I didn’t know what else to do!" Cherie shouted suddenly, tears filling her eyes again. "People are dead, Adrian!"

"And whose fucking fault is that?!"

The words exploded out of me before I could stop them.

Saul’s expression darkened immediately.

Cherie flinched hard.

I saw it.

And for some reason that only made me crueler.

"You know what your problem is?" I said, voice shaking now. "You act like you’re innocent in all this."

"Adrian—"

"No, shut the fuck up and listen to me for once."

The hallway had become dead silent.

Even the guards dragging me looked uncomfortable now.

"You followed me everywhere. You stayed. You watched everything happen and stayed anyway." I felt my throat tightening. "But now suddenly I’m too much for you?"

Cherie’s lips trembled violently.

I kept going.

Couldn’t stop.

"I should’ve never trusted you."

That one landed.

I saw it immediately.

Something in her face broke apart.

Saul stepped forward angrily. "Watch your fucking mouth."

"Oh, here he comes," I spat. "Her new fucking guard dog."

"Adrian!" Cherie cried.

"No, you know what?" I laughed again, but this time it sounded wrong even to me. "You’re all fucking sick. Every single one of you."

The guards started forcing me forward again.

I resisted this time.

Hard.

"I mean it!" I shouted at her. "You’re fucking scum!"

Cherie covered her mouth instantly.

Tears spilled down her face again.

And then I said the thing I shouldn’t have.

The thing I couldn’t take back the second it left my mouth.

"I wish Vivian would’ve killed you that night."

Silence.

Complete silence.

Cherie’s breath hitched sharply like she’d been punched in the stomach.

Saul looked genuinely stunned.

Even the soldiers restraining me hesitated.

And the second I saw her expression—

I regretted it.

Not because it wasn’t cruel.

Because I knew I meant it for half a second.

That was the part that horrified me.

"Move," one of the guards barked.

They shoved me forward violently this time.

Cherie never looked at me again.

Not once.

Saul wrapped an arm around her shoulders carefully as they walked away down the opposite hall.

And then something inside me finally gave out.

"Fuck..." I choked out.

The guards kept dragging me.

My vision blurred.

Suddenly I couldn’t breathe correctly anymore.

Vivian’s face flashed through my head.

The basement.

The screaming.

The restraints.

The needles.

That fucking room.

I stumbled hard enough one guard almost lost grip on me.

"Keep him moving."

"I’m trying!"

"Lila..." I heard myself say weakly.

No response.

"Wait— wait, where’s Lila?"

The guards ignored me.

Panic surged immediately.

"Where the fuck is she?!"

No answer.

My chest started tightening harder.

I began struggling now.

Actually struggling.

"WHERE IS SHE?!"

"Calm down."

"Don’t fucking tell me to calm down!" I screamed.

One guard slammed me against the wall.

Pain shot through my shoulder.

I barely felt it.

"Please," I heard myself say.

And that was somehow worse than the yelling.

"Please...please let me see her."

My voice cracked apart completely.

"Just let me see her."

Nothing.

They dragged me harder down the hall.

I started thrashing now despite how exhausted I was.

"LILA!"

—

Inside the holding cell, Lila sat slumped against the far wall.

Blood had dried through parts of her hair.

One eye swollen.

Breathing shallow.

The world around her still felt delayed.

Then she heard it.

Her name.

Adrian.

Something inside her snapped awake instantly.

Her head jerked upward.

Another shout echoed through the corridor.

"LILA!"

She lunged toward the bars so fast her shoulder slammed into them violently.

Metal rattled.

Her hands wrapped around the bars immediately as she shoved herself against them desperately.

Her mouth opened.

Nothing came out.

Her throat burned.

She tried again.

Still nothing.

Only a broken rasp.

Panic exploded across her face.

She slammed against the bars harder.

Again.

Again.

The entire cell shook from the force.

Outside, soldiers shouted at her to stop.

She didn’t.

Adrian’s voice sounded farther now.

Desperate.

Breaking apart.

"Please—!"

Lila’s eyes widened frantically.

She tried to scream his name.

Nothing.

Not even a whisper.

Her voice was gone.

Completely gone.

The realization hit her so hard she froze for half a second.

Then she began beating against the bars with both fists like an animal caught in a trap.

Blood smeared across the metal.

Still no sound came out.

Only ragged breathing.

Only panic.

Only him disappearing farther away.

—

Eventually, I stopped fighting.

Not because I wanted to.

Because my body physically couldn’t anymore.

My legs dragged weakly across the concrete while the guards escorted me toward the far end of the building.

The night air hit my face the second the exit doors opened.

Cold.

Sharp.

Real.

And standing there between armed soldiers and floodlights and walls higher than anything I could climb...

I finally understood something.

This place wasn’t just another stop.

Wasn’t another group.

Wasn’t another problem I could outsmart.

For the first time since the outbreak started—

I genuinely had no idea how the fuck I was supposed to escape.