After our passionate sex in one of the storage rooms of the Municipal Office, shamelessly conducted amidst the chaos of spilled boxes and scattered supplies, I found myself lingering with Elena in the small space.

I focused on the practical task of collecting the scattered food cans from the floor, methodically returning them to their proper boxes while trying to process the complex emotions swirling through my mind.

"Was this really such a good idea?" I asked Elena, though my voice came out more uncertain than I'd intended.

Elena was occupied with the delicate task of cleaning herself, using tissues to wipe away my traces from her thighs and more intimate areas. Her cheeks burned with embarrassment, and I couldn't blame her for the awkward self-consciousness that had replaced the passionate abandon of just minutes before.

I felt equally uncomfortable about our chosen location and timing. We'd been utterly shameless, continuing our encounter even when someone had called for us from outside the storage room. It had been reckless beyond measure clearly.

"Maybe it wasn't," Elena replied softly. "B…But it wasn't bad, was it? What we shared together?"

"Bad?" I repeated, turning to look at her directly. "There's absolutely no way I could ever feel bad about anything we've shared, Elena. Especially that..."

Our eyes met and held for a long moment, then, almost simultaneously, we both looked away.

Once Elena had finished cleaning herself, she joined me in the task of restoring order to the storage room we'd inadvertently destroyed. We worked together in comfortable silence, carefully collecting scattered supplies and lifting the overturned boxes back onto their designated shelves.

"Ryan," Elena said quietly once we'd finished restoring the storage room to some semblance of its original organization.

I turned to give her my full attention, noting the serious expression that had replaced her earlier embarrassment.

"Once we defeat the Screamer and eliminate that threat," I said before she could continue, "I'll speak with Alisha. I'll be completely honest with her about my feelings for you and my intentions regarding our future together."

It would be irresponsible—even cruel—to approach Alisha without being able to offer some genuine assurance that I could protect her sister and provide for her safety. The alien Screamer device represented the most immediate and dangerous threat to everyone in our group, and Elena deserved better than hollow promises made while that menace still loomed over us.

Elena's face lit up with a smile that transformed her entire expression, and she suddenly leaped into my embrace with an enthusiasm that caught me completely off guard. I caught her instinctively, my arms wrapping around her waist as she pressed against me with obvious joy and relief.

"I'll speak with her too," Elena said. "Alisha will listen to both of us."

I held her close, feeling the warmth of her body and the steady rhythm of her breathing. "But first, we have to deal with the Screamer," I reminded her, though my voice was gentler than before. "I can't guarantee your safety—can't guarantee any of our safety—as long as that device continues to operate and summon infected forces to our area."

"You worry too much," Elena replied, her voice muffled against my shoulder. "We'll handle it together, as a team."

"I'll handle it," I said quickly, more forcefully than I'd intended.

The memory of nearly losing Rachel at the radio station was still too fresh, too terrifying to risk repeating. There was absolutely no way I was going to drag another person I cared about into that kind of lethal situation, especially now that Elena and I had finally acknowledged our feelings for each other.

I had to find a way to neutralize the Screamer device without requiring anyone else to enter that cursed building. The alien technology was too dangerous, too unpredictable, and the enhanced infected that guarded it were beyond anything most people could handle even with virus enhancements.

If only I had access to some kind of explosive weapon—but even conventional explosives like C4 would require me to get close enough to plant them effectively. The radio station's layout and the sophisticated defenses I'd observed would make such an approach extremely dangerous, possibly suicidal.

Could Mark possibly create some kind of rocket launcher or long-range explosive device that could destroy the entire building from a safe distance?

But even if such a weapon were possible, how could I explain the need for such devastating firepower without revealing the true nature of what we were facing? Mark already suspected that my previous encounters had involved threats more dangerous than standard infected, but he didn't know about the alien intelligence or the sophisticated technology we were really up against.

The weight of secrecy was becoming increasingly difficult to bear. Every lie I told to protect people from the full truth also prevented me from getting the help I might need to actually solve the problems we were facing.

"Elena," I said, pulling back slightly so I could look into her eyes, "there are things about the Screamer situation that are more dangerous than anyone realizes. I can't ask you or anyone else to face those risks when I'm not certain I can protect you from them."

"What aren't you telling me?" Elena asked suspiciously.

Her blue eyes searched my face.

I hesitated, running my hand through my hair as I struggled with how much to reveal.

"I went to the radio station to investigate the Screamer with Rachel," I said finally, the words tumbling out before I could second-guess myself.

"What?!" Elena's shocked exclamation echoed off the storage room walls, her voice rising to a pitch that made me wince. Her face went through a rapid series of expressions—surprise, disbelief, anger, and hurt—as she processed what I'd just admitted.

"Please, calm down," I said quickly, reaching out toward her with placating gestures. "Let me explain the situation properly."

"What happened?" She asked. "When did this happen? How long ago? Are you hurt?"

"I needed to record the Screamer's frequency patterns so Mark could artificially reproduce them," I explained. "The plan was to use artificial scream signals to potentially redirect and control infected movements, maybe even turn them away from populated areas."

Elena's expression grew more alarmed as I continued. "We found the Screamer device, but we also encountered the creatures protecting it. Among them was another massive enhanced infected similar to the electrical one we fought at the warehouse—you remember how dangerous that was. Things became extremely perilous, and Rachel and I nearly died during the encounter."

"All of that happened and you didn't tell us—didn't tell me—anything about it!" Elena exploded, her anger finally breaking through her initial shock. She punched my shoulder with surprising force.

"Ouch!" I groaned, rubbing the spot where her fist had connected. "That actually hurts quite a bit."

"H…How could you do this to us, Ryan!" Elena's voice cracked with emotion, tears beginning to gather at the corners of her eyes. "It's always the same pattern with you! Hiding important information and doing dangerous things in secret! I bet Rachel had to force herself to accompany you, otherwise you would have attempted this mission completely alone!"

That is right…

"Elena..." I reached out to touch her cheek, gently pulling her closer despite her obvious anger and distress.

"If you had died during that mission, we wouldn't have even known why or how it happened!" She continued, her voice breaking as tears began flowing freely down her cheeks. "We would have just waited and waited for you to return, never knowing that you'd sacrificed yourself for something we didn't even understand!"

Looking at her tear-streaked face, I felt a bitter twist in my chest as I recognized something I'd been trying to ignore. Despite Elena's outward strength and strong character, there was a vulnerability beneath the surface that she worked hard to conceal. Her strength was partially a protective wall she'd built around herself, and Alisha's fierce protectiveness made more sense when I considered how deeply Elena felt things, even when she tried to hide those emotions.

"These enhanced creatures I encountered are unlike anything we've faced before," I said gently, trying to make her understand without causing additional distress. "Even with all my abilities and enhancements, I struggled against them. You witnessed how difficult the electrical infected was to defeat. I couldn't bear the thought of putting you in that kind of mortal danger."

"Because I'm too weak to be useful," Elena said lowering her gaze.

I shook my head, refusing to let her diminish herself that way. "Not because you're weak, but because these enhanced infected are extraordinarily powerful. I can't fight effectively while simultaneously trying to protect someone else—do you understand what I'm trying to explain?"

Rachel was the strongest among the women I'd enhanced with the Dullahan virus, and her barrier abilities provided crucial defensive capabilities that had saved both our lives in the radio station. Elena had only recently awakened her enhanced abilities, and asking her to face the kind of lethal threats we'd encountered would have been not just dangerous but potentially suicidal.

Elena clenched her fists in my shirt, her knuckles white with the intensity of her grip. The gesture spoke to frustration and helplessness rather than anger, and I could feel her trembling slightly against me.

"Are you going to sulk about this?" I asked a bit jokingly.

She looked up and glared at me with renewed fire, attempting to push against my chest with both hands. But I kept her close, not allowing her to create distance between us.

"We have to leave this room," she said, her voice somewhat unsteady. "People will be looking for us soon, and we can't explain why we've been in here so long."

"I don't want to leave you," I replied honestly, meaning it in both the immediate physical sense and the broader emotional context of our relationship.

"H…Haven't you had enough already?" She asked, her cheeks flushing bright red as she avoided meeting my eyes directly.

"I want more," I blurted out, feeling emboldened by the intimacy we'd shared and the emotions we'd just exchanged. The admission slipped out before I could consider whether it was appropriate timing for such declarations right after we had sex///

Elena stiffened in my embrace, her entire body going rigid as she processed what I'd just said. She looked away completely, unable to face my gaze as embarrassment colored her features.

"You're such a pervert, Ryan," she muttered.

"W…Wait, I was just joking!" I said quickly, realizing how my spontaneous comment might have sounded after everything we'd just discussed.

"You're still a pervert," Elena repeated, but this time I could see the smallest hint of a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth despite her attempts to maintain an indignant expression.

"Then I'm only being a pervert with you," I said, enjoying the way her cheeks flushed even deeper at my brazen comment.

"You!" Elena glared at me, but her protest was cut short when she suddenly stiffened, her eyes widening as she felt something pressing against her lower abdomen—the evidence of my body's involuntary reaction to our proximity and the lingering effects of our intimate state.

"W…Wait, Elena, this is just an uncontrolled physiological response," I said quickly, heat flooding my face as I realized how my body had betrayed me yet again. "I can't exactly help it after what we just—"

Elena had gone completely red and seemed unable to form words, her mouth opening and closing soundlessly as she processed the situation.

"Hum, are you two finished in there?"

The voice that echoed through the storage room made both Elena and I freeze in absolute horror. We hadn't even heard the door open, too absorbed in our private moment to notice that someone had entered here.

Of all people, it was Jasmine standing in the doorway.

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