The closer the two men came, the louder the questions screamed inside Siya's mind.
How do they know my name?
What do they want from me?
Why are they looking for me?
Her fear sharpened into instinct.
Siya bent down and grabbed a broken glass bottle from the ground, gripping it tightly.
"Stay back," she warned, her voice cold and shaking with fury. "If either of you takes one more step, I'll kill you."
"Listen to us, Siya," one of them said urgently. "It's us."
She screamed, "I said stay where you are! Who are you? What do you want? Who sent you?"
"We're the ones you're looking for," the other man said. "Andy and Ali."
Siya staggered back two steps, her grip tightening around the glass shard.
"You think I'm stupid?" she hissed. "Where are Andy and Ali? Tell me now—or I'll tear your throats out with my bare hands. Why are you using their names?"
"Give us a chance to explain," Andy said. "But we can't stay here. This place isn't safe."
Before she could respond, a siren howled through the ruins—sharp, mechanical, and terrifying.
Siya made a decision in an instant.
"Move," she said. "We leave. Now."
They reached a hidden settlement far from the city—buried beneath broken hills and ruins. When Siya saw the people there—dozens of them, alive—her disbelief cracked. Slowly, painfully, trust began to grow.
"Tell me," Siya said. "What is this place? And how are you Andy and Ali?"
Ali took a deep breath.
"Do you remember the factory explosion?" he asked. "The one that lit up the sky?"
Siya nodded.
"We all thought we were dead," Ali continued. "But that blast was not an accident. Jate was behind it."
Siya's fists clenched.
"You were telling us about your dreams that night," Ali said softly. "But the explosion didn't just destroy us. It destroyed the world."
He gestured around them.
"Death spread everywhere. Herbal Industries played its most horrific game. They released their drugs—chemicals that turned humans into mutants. They were delivered through vegetables, into every home, every city."
Siya's breath caught.
"The weak died instantly," Ali said. "And the strong… became monsters. They slaughtered the remaining humans. Even now, Jate rules this world through his mutant army."
Andy stepped forward.
"They experimented on us too," he said. "But the effects were different. We weren't ordinary humans."
"But our bodies were still torn apart," Ali added. "By the time we woke up, we were already transforming into mutants."
"Five years ago," Andy said. "That's when we regained consciousness. We escaped."
He swallowed hard.
"When we saw what the world had become, something inside us broke. To survive—to move freely among them—we had to change our bodies."
Ali looked at Siya.
"That's when we began searching for you."
Siya's voice trembled. "And me?"
"We found you two years ago," Ali said quietly. "Jate had hidden you in a deserted wasteland. Your body was rotting. You were nothing but bones."
Siya froze.
"To save you," Andy continued, "we spent an entire year praying—to God, to divine energy. We awakened it. But in doing so… we lost all our powers."
"Everything," Ali whispered. "Just to keep you alive."
Siya's voice broke. "Then… whose bodies are these?"
Andy turned and pointed toward a young woman standing nearby.
She stepped forward.
"My name is Clara," she said. "I was once a soldier."
Her eyes were steady, but grief lived in them.
"The bodies you three now have belonged to my fallen comrades. They died in this war. I escaped—barely."
She gestured toward the settlement.
"All these people you see… survivors. Like me. Running. Hiding. Refusing to die."
Siya bowed her head. "Thank you," she whispered.
Then she looked at Andy and Ali, tears blurring her vision.
"So… we failed," she said hoarsely. "We couldn't save the world. We couldn't keep our promise to George."
Ali shook his head.
"You're wrong, Boss," he said firmly. "Even if the explosion hadn't happened, we couldn't have stopped Jate."
Siya looked up.
"When Jate appeared before you for the first time," Ali said, "he was already prepared. He was playing with us. Watching. He knew we couldn't stop him."
A heavy silence followed.
"What we can do," Ali continued, "is protect those who are still alive."
Siya looked around. "How many humans are left?"
"More than this," Andy replied. "Small groups are still hiding across the world."
"And the infected?" Siya asked. "Can they be cured?"
Ali's expression hardened.
"No," he said. "There is no cure. And I don't think there ever will be."
He paused.
"The infected in Jate's army are no longer human. Their bones are metal. Their bodies are stitched with scraps of flesh. They can't think. They can't feel. Only hunger remains."
"And now," Andy added, "Jate is controlling their minds."
Ali nodded.
"If we want to stop them, there's only one way. Each of them has a metallic heart. Destroy it—and the body shuts down."
Siya clenched her fists.
"There has to be another way," she said. "There has to be."
The silence that followed said everything.