𝘾𝙝𝙖𝙥𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝟭𝟭. 𝙉𝙤 𝙃𝙤𝙢𝙚 𝙇𝙚𝙛𝙩

𝙉𝙤 𝙃𝙤𝙢𝙚 𝙇𝙚𝙛𝙩

Erin felt it before she even said the words.

There were others in the apartment, two of them. Their thoughts flickered faintly in the air, like echoes trapped behind the walls. Children.

Her stomach tightened.

A moment later, the confirmation came crashing through the tension as Axel and Dottie burst back into the room, their faces pale beneath their masks.

"We got a problem," Axel said.

"Kids," Dottie added breathlessly. "There are kids in the apartment."

At the word kids, Ray's head jerked up. Panic swept across his face like a storm. "Please..." he gasped, eyes wide, pleading. "Please don't—"

Kali didn't look at him. Her focus shifted to Jane, who stood frozen, visibly shaken by the mention of the children.

"It doesn't matter," Kali said sharply. "Did he show your mother mercy? No. He didn't."

She was trying to reach her, to twist the pain, to mold it into something sharp and useful. Erin could feel it happening, the way Kali's words slithered into Jane's heart, tempting her toward the same darkness that fueled Kali herself. She had been in Jane's place before.

And Erin knew it wasn't right. Every nerve in her body screamed against it.

"Please..." Ray whimpered. "No..."

"Kali," Erin said quietly, her voice trembling but steady enough to cut through the air. "Let's just go."

Kali's gaze snapped toward her. The message in her eyes was clear: shut up. Then she turned back to Jane, her tone low.

"He took your mother from you, Jane. Without hesitation. Without remorse."

Ray shook his head wildly. "Please don't—I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"

Jane's hands were trembling. Her eyes glistened with tears, but her face was carved in stone, caught between rage and horror.

From the hall, Axel's voice broke the moment. "We gotta go, K. They called the cops."

Kali didn't move. "We finish this first."

She turned back to Jane, her voice rising now. "Jane, now!"

Ray let out a terrified sob. Erin's heart was pounding so hard she thought it might burst.

"Kali, stop it!" she shouted. "Let's just leave!"

But Kali didn't even blink. Her eyes stayed locked on Jane's, urging her to strike, to cross that line. And when Jane didn't move, when she hesitated, Kali's patience shattered.

She reached for the gun at her hip and pulled it free, aiming it directly at Ray.

The sound of the gun cocking split the silence like thunder.

"Kali—no!" Erin took a step forward but before she could reach her, Jane lifted her head sharply.

The gun ripped itself from Kali's grip, flying across the room in a burst of invisible force. It smashed through the window, shattering the glass.

Kali staggered back, eyes wide in disbelief. Erin froze, lips parted, her pulse hammering in her ears.

Somewhere outside, the wail of sirens began to rise echoing through the night.

Kali's heavy gaze found Jane again. Jane didn't meet her eyes. She stared at the floor instead, shaking.

"Cops!" Axel barked from the hallway. "We gotta go! Erin do your thing and let's fucking go!"

The command snapped Erin out of her daze. Her mind switched into automatic, cold, efficient, trained.

She dropped to her knees beside Ray, who was still crying, still whispering apologies. She grabbed his wrist, closed her eyes, and reached in.

The memory of this night, the faces, the voices, the fear, she found it, and she wiped it clean.

When she opened her eyes again, Ray was blinking in confusion, dazed and empty.

"Go!" Axel shouted.

They ran. Down the hall, through the back exit, across the dark alley to the waiting van where the engine was already running. Mick's hand slammed the gearshift as soon as the doors clanged shut. The tires screeched, and the van tore off into the night.

Inside, the air was thick and silent except for the pounding of their hearts.

Kali turned in her seat, fury still burning in her eyes.

"If you wanted to show mercy," she spat at Jane, "that's your choice. But don't you ever take away mine. Ever."

Then she looked at Erin, voice dropping to a dangerous calm.

"And you, don't you ever question my choices again. Do you understand?"

Erin couldn't speak. She turned her face toward the window, watching the dark blur of the city rush by.

The uneasy feeling in her chest didn't fade. It grew heavier, settling deep in her bones. And it stayed there, silent and cold, for the rest of the ride.

- ⏳-

Erin had isolated herself on the rooftop the moment they got back.

She hadn't said a word to anyone, not even Funshine, who'd tried to lighten the mood before she'd shut him down with a glare sharp enough to wound.

It was too much. All of it.

Too much running, too much fear, too much blood. Living like this wasn't living, it was surviving, clawing through one day at a time, waiting for the next explosion, the next scream, the next body. For the first time, Erin realized she wanted more than this.

She didn't even have the strength to write. Her notebook lay abandoned beside her, its pages trembling slightly in the wind. She was afraid to touch it, afraid that if she did, she'd tear it apart out of sheer frustration.

Up here, under the faint hum of city lights, everything came into question.

Erin had never imagined a future for herself.

She'd always assumed her life would end here, with this group, in this cycle. Either captured or killed. 

That was the only outcome she knew. Dying for the cause, as Kali liked to say.

But what cause was worth dying for, if you'd never truly lived?

The sharp metallic creak of the rooftop door jolted her out of her thoughts. Erin flinched, eyes darting toward the sound. Kali stepped through the doorway, her silhouette cut against the dim glow of the sky.

To Erin's surprise, Kali looked calm. Serene even, like nothing had never happened.

"You shouldn't isolate yourself like this," Kali said softly as she approached.

There was something almost gentle in her tone. That duality had always unsettled Erin: the way Kali could sound like warmth and feel like fire; how she could hold so much love and cruelty in the same breath.

Erin's shoulders tensed. She turned her face away, jaw tight.

Kali came to sit beside her, folding her legs with deliberate grace.

"You know everything we do," she began quietly, "everything, it's for us. For our safety." She glanced toward Erin. "I know I can be hard on you, but it's only to keep you from making the same mistakes I once did."

Erin drew in a slow breath, as if summoning the courage to finally let something break loose inside her.

"You keep saying this is for us," she said. "For me. But it's not true, and you know it."

She turned to face Kali, their eyes locking.

"How does murdering a father in front of his children protect me, exactly?"

For a second, Kali said nothing. Then her jaw tightened.

"Don't forget," she said coldly, "we were children too when I pulled us out of that lab. We were children when they locked us up, when they treated us like test subjects. He was one of them, Erin."

Erin looked away, shaking her head as if to push the words out of her mind. She didn't want to hear it. Not again.

"I know you're angry with me," Kali continued. "I know you hate me sometimes. But I saved your life that day, and I've been protecting you ever since. Everything I do, I do for you."

Erin gave a broken, bitter laugh, a sound caught between disbelief and exhaustion. She looked at Kali then, really looked at her, the girl she had once thought of as a sister.

"You gave me panic attacks," she said softly. "Anxiety. Nightmares." Her voice trembled, cracking under the weight of all she'd never said. "Do you even realize that?"

Kali shook her head almost instantly, defensive. "I taught you to control your powers. To defend yourself."

That was it. The final thread snapped.

Erin pushed herself to her feet, voice rising with the anger she'd held in for years

"I'm thirteen! I shouldn't have to defend myself!"

Kali stood too, her expression hardening.

"In this life, you fight or you die. That's it. You need to accept that."

Erin stared at her, eyes wide, breath catching in her throat. For a moment she couldn't speak then her voice came out, fragile but fierce.

"No... no, I refuse. This can't be my life."

Kali exhaled, her patience thinning. "You don't get to choose."

A tear slid down Erin's cheek.

Before she could respond, a thunderous boom erupted from below. The rooftop trembled beneath her feet.

Both of them froze.

The sound of shattering metal echoed up the stairwell. The door to the building had been forced open.

There were intruders.

Without another word, they bolted, feet pounding down the stairwell, the air growing heavier with every step. When they burst through the door of the second floor, Kali didn't hesitate; she slammed it open and grabbed Jane by the arm.

Through the cracked glass of the window, Erin saw them.

Officers. Dozens of them.

Flooding the yard, surrounding the building like a swarm of black-clad ghosts, guns drawn.

"Let's go!" Kali shouted, dragging Jane behind her. Erin followed, her chest burning.

They tore through the hallway, boots slapping the linoleum.

"Don't move!" a voice boomed from below.

But they were already running.

They burst into the far corridor where the rest of the group was waiting,  eyes wide.

Axel turned toward them, gun half-raised.

"What the hell is going on?"

"They found us!" Kali barked.

"Jesus Christ—" Axel cursed, cocking his weapon, ready to fire the second the police hit the stairs. 

But before he could, Kali shoved the barrel down.

"No. No, no, no..."

She stepped forward, lifting her hands slightly.

"Stay still," she ordered. Her voice went low, commanding.

The group froze, holding their breath as Kali closed her eyes. Erin felt the air shift, a strange shimmer crawling over her skin like static. Seconds later, the first wave of officers stormed into the room and ran straight past them.

They didn't see them.

Kali had cloaked them from sight.

The moment the last officer cleared the hall, Kali snapped her eyes open. "Go!"

They bolted.

The van was parked just beyond the alley. It wasn't far, but the flashing lights and the chaos made it feel like miles. Shouts echoed behind them, someone had spotted movement.

"Stop right there!"

Gunfire erupted.

Axel spun and fired back. The street exploded in noise and light. Erin grabbed Jane's wrist and yanked her forward.

"Come on! Hurry!"

Bullets cracked the pavement near their feet. Mick threw herself behind the van, fumbling for the keys.

"Kali, do something!" she yelled.

Kali clenched her jaw and lifted her hands again.

Suddenly, everything went quiet. The gunfire stopped. The shouts turned to confused murmurs. Whatever she was doing, it worked.

"Go, go!"

Everyone piled into the van, breathless, panicked. Everyone except Erin and Jane.

Kali leaned out, arm outstretched. "Get in!"

Erin moved to climb aboard but stopped when she saw Jane. The other girl was still standing there, frozen, torn.

"What are you doing?" Erin called.

Jane didn't answer right away. Her eyes were wet, her chest heaving.

Kali's voice snapped like a whip. "Jane, get in!"

Jane shook her head, backing away. "I'm sorry... I'm sorry. But I have to go back."

"What?" Erin's voice cracked.

Jane's gaze met hers, steady and desperate. "My friends... My friends are in danger."

Axel cursed from inside the van. "This isn't the time for a damn heart-to-heart! Erin, get in!"

But Erin didn't move.

Something in the moment, something in Jane's eyes, held her there.

Kali's tone softened, coaxing now.

"Your mother sent you here for a reason, remember? We belong together. All three of us."

She looked between them, pleading, like she could pull them back into her orbit by will alone.

"They can't save you, Jane," Kali said, voice rising.

Jane's answer came quiet.

"Maybe not. But I can save them."

And in that instant, something shifted inside Erin.

Kali turned to her, hand still extended.

"Erin, please. There's nothing for you out there."

Erin looked at her, this woman who had been sister, savior, captor all at once and for the first time, she didn't feel small in front of her.

Her voice trembled, but her words didn't.

"But what if there is?"

Jane held out her hand. Erin hesitated, just a breath, then took it.

Her hand was locked around Jane's, both of them sprinting into the dark, the pavement slick beneath their boots, their lungs burning as the van's tires screeched behind them.

Kali's shout echoed behind them, desperate, breaking apart in the chaos.

"Erin!"

But Erin didn't look back. Sirens wailed in the distance, swallowing the world in blue and red light.

For the first time, Erin felt like she wasn't running from something.

She was running toward it.

Whatever waited ahead, danger, freedom, maybe even hope it was hers to find.

Thank you so much for reading this far! 🎡

Annnd the new chapter is here, hope you guys enjoy it.

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