Helicopter rotors and gunshots never stopped through the night.
The sounds had become constant background noise—urban warfare soundtrack that played endlessly while Nana and Zayne hid in the hotel storage room. Explosions. Screaming. Creature roars. Military commands barked over loudspeakers.
Linkon City dying in real-time.
But in the small dark space, wrapped in Zayne's arms, Nana felt *safe*.
She smiled against his chest when she woke to find him still holding her tightly—one hand pressed carefully over her bandaged thigh, the other around her shoulders. He'd kept watch all night, hadn't slept, just stayed awake to protect her while her enhanced healing did its work.
The wounds were already better. Not fully healed—that would take days—but better. The bleeding had stopped. The pain had dulled to manageable. Her aether core glowed steady blue again, recharged from rest and Zayne's presence.
She could fight if she needed to.
*Please let us not need to.*
Zayne stirred when he felt her move, hazel eyes opening immediately. Alert. Checking for threats. Then softening when he saw her face.
"How do you feel?" he murmured.
"Better. Much better." Nana sat up carefully, testing her injuries. The stitches held. The hybrid claw marks were already scabbing over with enhanced cellular regeneration. "Your medical skills are showing off again, Doctor Li."
He smiled—tired and relieved—and pressed a kiss to her cheek. "Good. Because we need to move. Can't stay here."
They gathered their weapons in silence. Checked ammunition. Reloaded. Prepared for whatever hell waited outside.
When they emerged from the hotel, Linkon looked even worse than yesterday.
Helicopters were *everywhere*. Military birds circling in coordinated patterns, searchlights sweeping ruins, soldiers rappelling down to fight creatures and evacuate civilians. The evacuation effort had intensified—dozens of transports landing and lifting off in constant rotation.
It should have been hopeful. Should have meant rescue was imminent.
But something felt wrong.
Nana and Zayne walked hand in hand through the chaos, moving toward the evacuation zone three blocks east. Just two more survivors trying to get home. Trying to rest. Trying to help more people tomorrow.
Normal. Unremarkable. Invisible.
Then a helicopter broke formation and flew directly toward them.
Not circling. Not searching. Targeting.
Zayne saw it first. "Nana—"
The helicopter opened fire.
Machine gun rounds tore through the street—concrete exploding, debris flying, death raining down from above specifically aimed at them.
Zayne's ice evol responded automatically. Massive shield forming overhead, crystalline barrier deflecting bullets in cascading sparks. He grabbed Nana and *ran*, ducking into a collapsed building, pulling her out of the line of fire.
They pressed against the wall, breathing hard, trying to process what just happened.
"Why—" Nana started.
The helicopter circled back, searchlight pinning their hiding spot. More gunfire. The building shook as rounds punched through walls.
They ran deeper into the ruins.
"Why are they shooting at us?!" Nana shouted over the chaos.
And then she understood.
Tears started falling before she could stop them. Because of course. *Of course.*
Zayne saw her expression and nodded grimly, understanding hitting him at the same time.
The government wanted to hide the specimen program. Wanted to erase the evidence. Wanted to eliminate anyone who knew the truth about Avalon, about the facility, about what they'd done.
Specimen 21. Version 06.
The witnesses.
The targets.
"They're not here to save us," Zayne said, voice hollow. "They're here to kill us."
The helicopter kept searching, shooting at every building, every corner where they might be hiding. Methodical. Systematic. *Hunting*.
More tears fell down Nana's face. They were crying openly now—both of them—watching hybrids and vampires attack the helicopter in territorial defense. Some helicopters fell, spinning out of control, crashing in fireballs. Others successfully flew away, regrouping for another pass.
"We survived Avalon," Nana whispered brokenly. "Survived the facility. Survived twelve days of this nightmare. And our own government wants us dead."
Zayne pulled her close, pressing his forehead to hers. "We'll survive this too. We have to."
But his voice cracked on the words.
A bullet punched through the wall and caught Zayne in the upper arm.
He didn't make a sound. Didn't even flinch. Just looked down at the blood spreading across his sleeve with detached curiosity.
"Zayne—!" Nana grabbed him, panic flooding her system.
"I can't feel it," he said calmly. Too calmly. "The facility injections. They modified my pain receptors. I know I'm shot but I can't—"
Nana was already pulling him deeper into cover, fingers working on his sleeve. "Sit. Now. Let me see."
She tore the fabric away, revealing the gunshot wound. Clean through-and-through, missed the bone, but bleeding heavily. The bullet had exited the back of his arm.
Even though Zayne wasn't fully human anymore—even though the facility had enhanced him against his will, turned him into Version 06, made him into something more—
He was still her Zayne.
The man who'd jumped into Avalon to save her. Who'd fought beside her for nine months. Who'd died six times and fallen in love with her again each rebirth. Who'd been captured by the facility and enhanced into a weapon but chose to use his power to heal instead of kill.
Nana's hands shook as she pulled out her medical supplies—the ones Zayne had taught her to carry, had shown her how to use.
"This is going to hurt," she warned, even though he couldn't feel pain.
"Just do it."
She worked quickly. Tweezers extracting the bullet fragments. Antiseptic cleaning the wound. Needle and thread stitching muscle and skin back together with careful precision.
Her vision blurred with tears but her hands stayed steady.
Because Zayne had done this for her last night. Had stitched her wounds while creatures hunted outside. Had held her while she broke down. Had promised they'd survive.
Now it was her turn.
"Done," she said, tying off the last stitch. "You're okay. You're—"
Footsteps.
Heavy boots. Multiple sets. Military cadence.
The soldiers had found them.
Nana and Zayne stood simultaneously, weapons ready. Her dual guns. His ice evol coating his hands in lethal frost.
Five soldiers entered the ruined building, rifles raised, flashlights cutting through the darkness. They froze when they saw what waited for them.
Nana's eyes were glowing. Faint green luminescence that came from her aether core operating at maximum output. Enhanced. Dangerous.
Zayne's hands were encased in ice. Sharp crystalline edges forming claws, weapons, death. Enhanced. Lethal.
The soldiers stared. Some of them looked young—barely out of training, following orders they probably didn't understand. Others looked hardened, professional, committed to their mission.
All of them looked afraid.
"Specimen 21," one soldier breathed. "Version 06. Holy shit, the intel was right—"
"We know why you're here," Zayne said quietly. Ice spreading up his arms, forming into a crossbow. "We know the government sent you to kill us. To erase the evidence."
"Stand down," the lead soldier ordered, rifle aimed at Nana's chest. "We have authorization to use lethal force. Surrender and we'll make it quick—"
Nana moved before anyone could finish raising their weapons.
Combat knife flying through the air, embedding in the lead soldier's throat. Dual guns firing—*bang bang*—two more soldiers down before they could react.
The remaining two tried to run.
Zayne froze their legs in place. Ice coating them from feet to knees, solid and unbreakable.
They couldn't move. Couldn't flee. Could only watch as Nana approached with guns raised and Zayne manifested his ice crossbow.
"Please—" one soldier begged. "Please, we're just following orders—"
"So were my parents," Nana said coldly. "When they turned me into Specimen 21. When they threw me into Avalon. When they watched me die over and over for their data."
Her finger tightened on the trigger. "Following orders doesn't make you innocent."
"Wait—" Zayne's hand on her arm. "Wait."
She looked at him, confused.
"They're terrified," Zayne said quietly, looking at the frozen soldiers. "Look at them. They didn't know. Didn't understand what we are, what the government did. They're just kids following orders from monsters."
"They tried to kill us—"
"Because they were ordered to." Zayne lowered his crossbow slightly. "If we kill them, we're proving the government right. That we're dangerous. That we need to be eliminated."
Nana stared at the soldiers—young faces, terrified eyes, probably had families waiting for them in Bloomshore.
Just like Zayne's parents were probably waiting for news of their son.
Just like her parents had been scientists following orders before they died in the facility fire.
The cycle of violence. The chain of command. The excuse of "just following orders" that had justified every atrocity in history.
She wanted to pull the trigger. Wanted to make them pay for hunting her, for shooting Zayne, for proving that even survival wasn't enough if the government decided you knew too much.
But Zayne was right.
Killing terrified soldiers wouldn't fix anything. Wouldn't expose the truth. Wouldn't stop the government from sending more.
It would just make them murderers.
Nana lowered her guns with shaking hands. "Tell your superiors," she said to the frozen soldiers, voice hard as ice. "Tell them Specimen 21 and Version 06 are still alive. Tell them we're not dying quietly. Tell them if they want us dead, they'll have to do better than sending kids with guns."
She turned to Zayne. "Let them go."
He hesitated, then nodded. The ice around the soldiers' legs cracked and dissolved.
They ran immediately—scrambling over the bodies of their dead comrades, fleeing into the ruins without looking back.
One of them—the youngest, maybe nineteen—paused at the doorway.
"They're going to nuke the city," he said, voice shaking. "In 72 hours. Maybe less. Everyone still here—enhanced or not—dies. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."
Then he was gone.
Nana and Zayne stood in the ruined building, surrounded by bodies of soldiers who'd been sent to kill them, processing the information.
They're going to nuke the city.
*72 hours.*
*Everyone dies.*
"We need to run," Nana whispered. "Need to get out before—"
"They'll hunt us," Zayne said hollowly. "Wherever we go. We're witnesses. Evidence. The government can't let us live."
"Then what do we do?!"
He pulled her close, wrapped his arms around her, and had absolutely no answer.
Because they were trapped.
Hunted by their own government. Surrounded by creatures. Marked for death by nuclear fire in three days.
And the only crime they'd committed was surviving.
60 hours until nuclear deployment.
Two witnesses still alive.
For now.
.
.
.
.
.
To be continued.