"How do you know what my ability is?!" Mia's eyes went wide, staring at Ethan like he'd just read her diary aloud.

Ethan gave her a crooked smile. "I don't just know your ability… I also noticed you're pretty easy on the eyes."

"…"

Before anyone could respond, Colonel Reyes's earpiece crackled to life with a series of clipped, urgent voices.

"Sniper One in position. Target locked. Awaiting orders."

"Sniper Two in position. Target locked. Awaiting orders."

"…Visual obstruction from upper floors. AT-4 locked and loaded. Ready to fire on command."

Reyes stood frozen, jaw tight, the voices in his ear buzzing like flies. One word from him, and this would turn into a bloodbath.

But he hesitated.

He'd never really intended to kill them. The pursuit had been more about curiosity than duty. He wanted to see for himself what kind of people could take out a squad of Enhanced like that.

Now that he had, he wanted even less to fight them.

If Ethan and his crew had been reckless killers, Reyes wouldn't have blinked before giving the order. But everything pointed to the opposite. This whole mess reeked of the Harlan family's arrogance. And these kids? They didn't seem like the type to start a war for fun.

His men could die fighting zombies. That was the job. But dying over someone else's petty vendetta? That wasn't a sacrifice he was willing to make.

Reyes exhaled sharply, then raised his hand.

"Stand down. We're pulling out."

"!!"

"Colonel—what?" one of the soldiers blurted, stunned. "We came all this way and we're just… leaving?"

"You forget why we're here, Colonel?" a sharp voice cut in. A young man stepped forward, his expression tight with disapproval. "The suspect is right in front of you, and you're turning your back?"

The man was Elliot Graves—Mayor Marks's hand-picked liaison to the National Guard. Officially, he was here to "support coordination efforts." In reality, he was the Mayor's eyes and ears, planted to make sure the military stayed in line.

Reyes turned to him, his voice cold. "Elliot, you're a liaison. This is a combat decision. Stay in your lane."

"The Mayor expects results, Colonel. If you walk away now, how do you plan to explain this to him?"

"My responsibility is to my men," Reyes snapped. "Not the Mayor's damn agenda."

He turned to his unit. "We're leaving. Move out."

"You're letting a suspect walk!" Elliot shouted after him.

"He asked for it," a voice said calmly.

There was a sickening crack—like a melon dropped from a rooftop.

Everyone turned just in time to see Elliot's head explode like a smashed watermelon, chunks of skull and brain matter splattering across the pavement. Ethan stood where Elliot had been, casually lowering the barbell bar he'd just used to cave the man's skull in.

"He tried to get me killed," Ethan said, brushing a fleck of blood off his sleeve. "I disagreed."

The entire squad stared at him, stunned into silence.

"You all saw it," Ethan said, shrugging. "He lied about me, tried to provoke you into killing me. I figured that made it fair game."

"…"

Reyes opened his mouth, then closed it again. What the hell was he supposed to say to that?

Ethan gestured vaguely at the mess. "I was ready to let you all walk. Then this idiot had to stir the pot. Guess he thought I was having too easy a day."

Reyes's face twisted through a dozen expressions—shock, frustration, resignation—before he finally clenched his jaw and barked, "Move out!"

He turned on his heel and marched away, not daring to give the situation another second to spiral. The last thing he needed was another surprise.

Ethan watched Colonel Reyes's retreating back, eyes narrowed in thought. Then he called out, voice clear and cutting through the air:

"Colonel Reyes! A word of advice—this isn't the old world anymore. People are selfish by nature. Blind loyalty will get your men killed."

Reyes's steps faltered for a beat. But he didn't turn around. He just kept walking.

He wasn't stupid. He knew exactly what Ethan meant.

But the situation was already a mess. The last thing Starlight City needed was a full-blown clash between the military and the government. The political infighting had already pushed things to the brink. If the leadership kept tearing itself apart, the city wouldn't survive.

Right now, all Reyes wanted was to kill more zombies and save more lives. Everything else—politics, blame, fallout—could wait until the higher-ups showed up and sorted it out.

He still believed the country would find a way through this disaster. It had to.

Yes, people were selfish. But someone still had to do the hard things.

His duty wasn't to politics. It was to protect lives. No matter what, soldiers were supposed to stand between the people and the storm.

Mayor Marks might have his own agenda, but at least he kept the Safe Zone running smoothly. That gave Reyes the space to focus on rescue operations without worrying about the rear collapsing.

Only with military and government working together could the people of Starlight City have a real shot at surviving this apocalypse.

Still, the thought of facing Mayor Marks after this made Reyes's head throb.

Not only had he failed to bring Ethan in, but the Mayor's own liaison, Elliot Graves, had just been turned into sidewalk pulp. Marks was going to blow a gasket.

"Damn it all…" Reyes muttered, letting out a long sigh as he led his men away at a brisk pace.

...

Once the convoy was out of sight, Chris and the others dropped down from the fifth floor and jogged over to Ethan.

"Ethan, that was badass!" Chris grinned, clapping him on the back. "Talked 'em down without firing a shot!"

Ethan shook his head. "Wasn't me. Colonel Reyes never planned to fight us in the first place."

"Oh?" Chris raised a brow. "So the Safe Zone leadership isn't exactly on the same page, huh?"

"Seems that way."

"Ethan," Sean asked, a little more serious, "if it had come to a fight… could we have taken them?"

"Nope," Ethan said flatly. "If it went down, all of you—except maybe me—would've died right here."

"...What?"

The group stared at him, stunned.

Since the apocalypse began, they'd been leveling up faster than anyone else. Their powers, their teamwork—it had all made them feel untouchable. Even when facing the government, they'd never really been afraid. Confidence had turned into quiet arrogance.

Ethan looked around at them. "I scoped the area. They had at least a dozen snipers set up, all using high-powered rifles. Spread out, overlapping fields of fire. Even with my Teleportation, I could maybe take out two or three before the rest turned your heads into red mist."

He paused. "Add in the heavy machine guns and mortars? Your odds of getting out alive were slim."

"...Damn," Chris muttered.

"No wonder you went out alone," Garrick said, nodding with newfound respect. "And you showed off your Teleportation on purpose—to rattle them."

"Partly," Ethan admitted. "If it came to a fight, I'd go straight for the command. Take out the officers, buy you time to run. As for me… they can't catch what they can't hit."

Teleportation gave him that edge. Without it, he'd be just as screwed as the rest of them.

Big Mike scratched his head. "Okay, but… they were already leaving. Why'd you kill that guy? Weren't you worried it'd piss them off and start the fight anyway?"

Ethan looked a little sheepish. "He was talking shit. I lost my temper."

"Seriously?"

"But he wasn't one of them," Ethan added quickly. "He was Mayor Marks's guy. Not military. Reyes wasn't gonna risk his whole unit over someone like that."

He glanced in the direction the soldiers had gone. "Reyes knew the truth—if it came to a fight, even if they won, they'd bleed for it. Badly. That's why he backed off."

"Ethan, man," Garrick said, shaking his head in admiration. "You really think ten steps ahead."

"Alright, enough with the flattery," Ethan said, waving him off. "Pack up. We're moving."

"On it," Garrick said, already slinging his bag over his shoulder.

"Where to now?" Big Mike asked.

Ethan grinned. "Let's find ourselves another upscale neighborhood. Just because it's the end of the world doesn't mean we have to live like animals."

"Hell yeah," the others chimed in, already gathering their gear.

...

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