Chapter 151 Obligations, sacrifice and fear

Chapter 151: Chapter 151 Obligations, sacrifice and fear

Back at the island base where the battle against the rogue awakened had taken place, Astrid had finally managed to defeat the attackers. But winning the battle hadn’t meant they had escaped without consequences.

The base was still a mess. Broken pieces of the mansion were scattered everywhere, some walls had been completely destroyed, and several of the security systems remained offline. The entrance door had been ripped away during the battle, leaving the inside of the base exposed to the outside world.

Astrid had spent days trying to repair what he could.

Unfortunately, there was only so much he could do.

Miles was still severely weakened. He had been placed on a couch inside the base because he could barely walk. His body was still recovering from the damage he had suffered during the battle, and although Astrid had used his blood ability to help stabilize him, it hadn’t magically repaired everything.

Miles lay against the couch, breathing heavily. His hands trembled. Every few seconds, his entire body seemed to tense as though he were still trapped in the middle of that battle. Days had passed, yet the memories refused to leave him alone.

"I am useless without powers," Miles muttered, struggling to control his breathing. "I can’t help you against those people. I need to empower myself too."

He reached toward the water jug sitting on a table opposite him. His hand trembled so badly that he almost knocked it over.

Astrid noticed immediately. Without saying anything, he walked over, picked up the jug, poured the water into a glass, and brought it to Miles. Miles accepted it with both hands.

"That isn’t what this is," Astrid said sharply.

Miles looked at him.

"You’re not useless. You’re a weapon bearer, and your ability to understand which controls need to be activated is important. You know this base better than anyone. You know how the traps work, how to reactivate them, and how to repair things when they’re damaged."

Astrid leaned slightly forward. "My powers saved us because we reached a point where there wasn’t another option. We didn’t have much choice. That doesn’t mean you were useless."

Miles lowered his gaze.

Astrid straightened. But just as he did, he felt something move along the side of his neck. His body stiffened. A strange sensation crawled beneath his skin.

Astrid slowly touched the side of his neck and sighed. Again? He had been feeling strange movements beneath his skin ever since the battle. Whatever had happened to him during those experiments had clearly left something behind. But he didn’t want to think about it. Not now. He removed his hand and decided to ignore it.

Miles noticed anyway. "You’re not alright, are you?"

Astrid glanced at him.

"They damaged you during those experiments, didn’t they?" Miles asked quietly. "And you don’t seem to remember everything that happened. That must be traumatizing."

There was genuine concern in his voice.

Astrid stared at the broken floor for a moment before answering. "Honestly, I’m glad I don’t remember."

Miles looked surprised.

"I can feel that whatever happened must have been one of the most painful things anyone could ever experience." Astrid’s expression hardened. "What they did was barbaric. They took someone’s choices away. They didn’t ask whether we wanted to be experimented on. They simply decided they had the right to do whatever they wanted to our bodies."

Miles nodded slowly.

He understood. More than Astrid probably realized.

There had been a time when Miles had felt obligated to Luna. Especially after what his former friends had done to her. At first, he had struggled with everything that happened. The thought of Luna killing his friends had disturbed him deeply.

But eventually, he had thought about it differently. Those people had been dangerous. They couldn’t share resources. They couldn’t think rationally. They were willing to sacrifice anyone if it meant keeping themselves alive. In a world where survival had become everything, people like that would eventually create an even bigger catastrophe.

So, as painful as it was, Miles had eventually accepted what Luna had done. Maybe killing them really had been the best choice.

And instead of throwing him away afterward, Luna had allowed him to remain at the base. She could have rejected him because of what his former teammates had done. She could have decided that he was no different from them. But she hadn’t.

That was something Miles hadn’t forgotten.

Luna had slowly accepted him into her circle. He wasn’t simply some random worker anymore. He still worked. He repaired things. He handled the base. He understood the architecture and security systems better than almost anyone. But he had also started becoming part of the conversations.

Not completely. Not like Luna, Kai, Rowan, Ethan, or Adrian. But enough to know that his presence was appreciated.

And somehow, that mattered more than he wanted to admit.

Miles leaned deeper into the couch. "I understand what obligations can do," he said quietly. "But this doesn’t look like something we’re going to survive."

Astrid looked at him.

"The worst could still come." Miles stared toward the open entrance of the base. "And I’m starting to wonder if this is really going to end." His voice became quieter. "Are we actually getting closer to the end of this apocalypse? Or are we just going to keep going around in circles, facing bigger monsters, bigger disasters, and bigger problems until there’s nothing left of us?"

He swallowed. "That’s the dangerous truth that’s been bothering me."

Astrid remained silent for several seconds. Then he finally answered. "Evolving."

Miles raised an eyebrow.

"Yes. I know the Earth is evolving, and so are the dangers that come with it." Astrid leaned against the wall. "But why does it have to stop there? We’re evolving too."

Miles looked at him.

"What we are now isn’t what we were at the beginning." Astrid’s voice remained calm. "I don’t know when this will end. Nobody does. We don’t have that knowledge." He paused. "But we’ll find a way."

Miles gave him a tired look. "How can you be so sure?"

"Because we’re human." Astrid smiled faintly. "And no matter how infuriating humans can be, there’s one thing about us that I admire."

Miles waited.

"Our ability to find another way forward." Astrid looked toward the ruined entrance. "Believe it or not, years from now, if we make it that far, we might look back at all of this and wonder how the hell we survived it."

Miles shrugged. "Or years from now, we’ll all be dead."

Astrid glanced at him.

"I’m just saying, we have to be open to that possibility too."

Miles’s expression became serious again. "And there’s something else I’m worried about."

Astrid already knew what he was going to say.

"Luna and the others." Miles looked toward the sea. "It’s been days." His fingers tightened around the glass. "They should have returned by now."

Astrid didn’t answer.

"Have we received anything from them?" Miles asked.

"No."

"Nothing?"

"Nothing."

That silence said more than words could.

Miles slowly looked back at him. "I don’t remember if it was you or me who said it first."

Astrid’s eyes narrowed slightly. "What?"

"That we had a feeling they might not come back."

Astrid’s expression changed.

Miles continued. "What if that’s the reality?" His voice cracked slightly. "So stop telling me everything will be fine. Maybe we’re just being delusional. Maybe we’re deceiving ourselves because accepting the truth is too painful."

He gestured toward the ruined entrance. "Look outside."

Astrid didn’t move.

"Look at the sea. Look at the monsters. Look at the dungeons. Look at the zombies." Miles shook his head. "Everything keeps getting worse."

His eyes became distant. "And sometimes I look at all of it and get this terrifying feeling that we’re not just in trouble anymore."

He swallowed. "Maybe we’re already walking corpses."

Astrid stared at him.

For the first time, disappointment was visible on his face. Not anger. Not irritation. Disappointment.

Days had passed since the battle that had nearly torn them apart. Afterward, things had strangely become peaceful. No new attack. No monsters approaching the base. No strange signals. Nothing.

Astrid had spent those days cleaning and repairing whatever he could while Miles recovered. But Miles wasn’t recovering quickly. His body had almost been destroyed during the battle. His spine and bones had taken tremendous damage, and without Astrid’s blood ability, he might have ended up completely paralyzed. For now, he could barely move.

And the longer Luna’s group stayed gone, the more his fear grew.

Astrid understood it. He was worried too.

His eyes drifted toward the entrance. The massive door was still missing. He had tried fixing it several times, but without Miles, there was only so much he could accomplish. The security system was also still offline. Without Miles’ knowledge, Astrid couldn’t properly reactivate it.

Everything felt exposed. Vulnerable. Like the base was simply waiting for the next disaster to arrive.

"I don’t want to give up, Miles." Astrid’s voice finally broke through the silence. "I never want to."

He turned toward him. "My hope is the only treasure I have left." Miles looked at him. "And losing it would consume me."

Astrid walked toward the ruined entrance. "I can only help as much as I can, but it seems you’ve already decided we’re not going to survive." He stopped at the doorway. "As for me?"

His eyes hardened. "I will."

Miles stared at him.

"I didn’t come this far just to die like that." Astrid pointed toward him. "So fuck evolution."

Miles almost smiled.

"Recover quickly and help me fix this mess." Astrid shook his head. "I know we don’t have a healer anymore, but at least try to stop hurting yourself."

He turned around and walked away.

Miles watched him leave. For a few seconds, the base became completely silent.

Then—Tap.

Miles froze. His head slowly turned toward the entrance.

Tap.

Something had touched the broken door.

Miles narrowed his eyes. Astrid had already walked away. Nobody should have been there.

Tap.

The sound came again.

Miles pushed himself upright despite the pain shooting through his body. "What the..."

His eyes widened. Something was moving behind the doorway.

Then a hand appeared. A bloody hand. Its fingers slowly wrapped around the edge of the broken door. Miles stopped breathing.

The hand dragged itself forward. Tap. Tap. Tap. The fingers trembled against the metal.

Miles stared at it in horror. His heart began pounding. "Who is that?"

The hand suddenly tightened around the doorway.

And something slowly pulled itself into view.