Sleep wouldn't come.Lilly and Kyle had gone quiet hours ago, finally surrendering to exhaustion. They lay on opposite sides of the small concrete room like strangers, curled up in a way that felt wrong for two people who used to share secrets behind my back. I sat by the perimeter monitor, the lantern dimmed to a low glow, staring at words that only I could see.[Subject: Lilly Grant] [System: Healer — Rank B] [Hidden binding detected.] [Binding: Contract signed. Counterparty: M. Vance.] [Status: Dormant.] [Terms: Locked.]Dormant. Not active. Not yet. Whatever Marcus wanted from her, or whenever she’d agreed to it, the trigger hadn't pulled. That meant I still had time time to wrap my head around what this meant before it woke up and took something from me that I wasn't prepared to lose.The thought that kept looping in my mind was a simple, ugly one: when exactly had she signed it?It had to be before the outbreak. Before the system even existed for her. That meant Marcus hadn't ju

"Do I know you?" she asked again, her tone sharpening when I didn't respond immediately."No," I blurted out. I said it too fast, and I saw her eyes narrow slightly at the obvious lie.Behind me, I heard Kyle shift. He still had his blade raised, clearly torn between staying on guard and backing down. "Jayden. Who is she?""I don't know," I said. It wasn't entirely a lie; I didn't know her name, and I didn't know anything about her in this life.But I did know a flash of memory I'd been avoiding for weeks. It was a split-second fragment from a dying hallway, right before the world went black. In that moment, something had moved at the edge of my vision something other than the creatures tearing into me. A shape. A face. It had vanished before I could be sure it was actually there.It was her face."You're letting the cold in," she said, stepping past me into the safehouse without waiting to be invited. She still held her blade, but it was loose at her side now, no longer a threat. "An

"Positions," I said, my voice low and steady. Years of rehearsing this exact moment in my head were finally collapsing into a single, terrifying reality. "Lilly, stay back by the shelves. Kyle, cover the window. Mira…""Already on it." She was at the door before I could even finish, blade drawn and her expression completely unreadable.[Distance: 40 meters.]I pressed myself against the narrow window, scanning the edge of the woods. Shapes were moving between the trees upright, purposeful, carrying things. This wasn't the aimless, hungry shuffle of the infected.This was people."They're organized," I noted. "Whoever they are.""Organized doesn't mean they're friendly," Mira countered. "Could be raiders. Could be a group that’s already decided anyone with supplies is a target."[Distance: 25 meters.]A man’s voice drifted from the treeline, sounding rough and worn thin by exhaustion. "We aren't here to hurt you! We saw your light last night we just need shelter, that's all!"Kyle look

I slammed into the door at a full sprint, blade already gripped in my hand, every instinct honed from weeks of fighting screaming at once.The scene inside hit me like a physical blow.It wasn't an attack. It wasn't the infected breaking through the walls. It was one of the new arrivals a thin, wiry man whose name I hadn't even bothered to learn standing over Lilly. He was gripping her wrist so hard her face was contorted in pain, while one of the two children was crying somewhere behind them."Let go of her," I said. My voice was flat, cold enough to pull the air right out of the room.The man’s head snapped toward me, his eyes wide and frantic. "She was taking food from my kid's bag," he snapped, his breath coming in ragged gasps. "I saw her…""I was giving her more!" Lilly shot back, wincing as his fingers dug deeper. "She was still hungry, I was just…""Let go of her," I repeated, slower this time. I crossed the room before he could even process the warning.[Truth Sight: Active.]

Lilly woke up screaming.I was on my feet before my brain even processed the sound, blade drawn, scanning the shadows of the dim room for a threat that wasn't there. All around me, the others jolted awake in a panic Dale reached instinctively for his wife, Kyle was already scrambling toward Lilly's cot, and Mira rose from her corner, silent and alert.Lilly sat bolt upright, her chest heaving. She had both hands pressed hard against her temples, as if she were physically trying to hold her skull together."Lilly." Kyle reached her first, his hands hovering near her, hesitant to touch her. "Lilly, hey, you're okay. You're safe…""It's not that." Her voice was ragged, her eyes wide and unfocused. "Something's... there's something in my head. A voice. It's not mine."My stomach dropped.[Truth Sight: Active.][Subject: Lilly Grant] [Binding status: DORMANT → ACTIVATING] [Trigger condition met.]The words I had been dreading since I first saw them days ago were finally manifesting. They w