Chapter 196: The Closest Thing Humanity Has Left

Jennifer and the man stood over Adrian’s unconscious body in silence.

The room hummed softly with machinery hidden somewhere behind the walls. White lights reflected against the steel restraints around his wrists. His chest rose faintly. Barely enough to reassure someone he was still alive.

Jennifer’s eyes never left him.

The man noticed that first.

Not the machines.

Not the blood dried beneath Adrian’s nose.

Her.

The way she looked at him.

Like something holy.

It disgusted him.

He stepped closer to the bed.

Jennifer immediately moved too.

Wrong decision.

The lighter flicked open with a sharp metallic sound.

A tiny flame bloomed beside Adrian’s leg.

Jennifer froze so fast it almost looked painful.

"Don’t," she said.

There was no authority. No calm calculation.

It was just fear.

Actual fear.

The man saw it immediately.

And smiled.

"Then I’d advise you not to come any closer."

Jennifer’s jaw tightened hard enough to twitch.

For a second, her hand drifted near the walkie clipped to her waist.

The man noticed that too.

"And the moment I hear soldiers outside that door," he said quietly, "I burn him."

Silence.

Jennifer slowly lowered her hand.

The flame hovered lower.

Near Adrian’s bare foot.

The room suddenly felt much smaller.

Much hotter.

The man looked down at the unconscious teenager strapped to the table.

This.

This was the thing that had destabilized an entire borough.

Riots outside.

Dead civilians.

Panicked soldiers.

Infections spreading through sectors that had remained untouched for how long.

All because of him.

"This fucking kid?" he muttered.

Jennifer said nothing.

The lighter drifted closer.

Heat brushed Adrian’s skin.

One of his toes twitched weakly.

Jennifer’s face lost what little color remained in it.

The man watched carefully.

Interesting.

Very interesting.

"All this chaos," he continued. "All this death. For him?"

Still nothing.

The lighter lowered again.

The flame kissed the underside of Adrian’s foot for barely a second.

Jennifer inhaled sharply.

The sound almost didn’t seem human.

"You wouldn’t understand," she said.

The man laughed once.

Short. Humorless.

"What? He’s got some superhuman ability nobody’s ever seen before? Is that why your people refuse to put him down?"

"Get the lighter away from him."

"No."

His voice hardened.

"Because I want you to explain to me why your organization has destroyed my borough over some half-dead topsider."

The flame edged closer again.

Jennifer’s composure finally cracked.

Not loudly.

Not dramatically.

But enough.

"Give me one fucking reason," the man snapped, "why I shouldn’t burn this stupid little bastard alive right now."

Jennifer exploded.

"BECAUSE THEN YOU’D BE KILLING OUR CURE."

Silence. 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

Complete silence.

Even the distant riots outside seemed to disappear for a second.

The man stared at her.

The lighter remained lit in his hand.

"...what?"

Jennifer looked like she regretted saying it immediately.

But it was too late now.

The words were already alive in the room.

"You people told us there was no cure for the Veil."

Her eyes lowered toward Adrian.

"There wasn’t," she said quietly.

"Until him."

The man frowned.

Jennifer stepped closer to the table slowly now, careful not to provoke him further.

"You know what the Veil does to the brain," she said. "The aggression. The degeneration. The compulsions. It destroys neural restraint first before anything else."

He didn’t answer.

Jennifer continued anyway.

"Most infected brains become unusable within weeks. The frontal lobe activity collapses under stress from the infection. Memory retention disappears shortly after."

Her eyes flickered slightly.

"But Adrian’s didn’t."

The man looked back at Adrian.

Jennifer’s voice softened without her realizing it.

"He adapted."

"Adapted how?"

"The infection didn’t overwrite him correctly."

The man’s brow furrowed harder.

Jennifer gestured faintly toward Adrian’s head.

"The neural lattice amplified preexisting adaptation factors already present in his brain. Pathways that shouldn’t have survived exposure remained functional."

"You’re speaking nonsense."

"No," she replied calmly. "I’m simplifying."

That irritated him even more.

Jennifer ignored it.

"The lattice implants were originally designed to stabilize higher cognition under neurological collapse. Memory preservation. Behavioral retention. Emotional regulation."

Her eyes darkened slightly.

"But Adrian’s brain started doing things the lattice wasn’t programmed to support."

The man slowly lowered the lighter.

Not fully.

Just enough.

Jennifer noticed.

"He retains himself while infected stimuli are active," she continued. "Not perfectly. Not safely. But enough."

The man stared at Adrian again.

"You’re telling me this kid can stop infection?"

"I’m telling you," Jennifer said carefully, "that if we can isolate the neural response occurring between his implants and the infected tissue adapting around them... we may be able to suppress compulsions entirely."

The room went quiet again.

The explanation sounded insane.

But not impossible.

That was the worst part.

The man finally looked unsettled.

"You’re serious."

Jennifer didn’t answer immediately.

Instead, she brushed dried blood away from Adrian’s temple with her thumb.

A gesture so absentmindedly intimate it almost felt invasive.

"When infected subjects are exposed to him long enough," she said softly, "they begin showing abnormalities."

The man’s stomach twisted slightly.

He thought about the reports.

The red-eyed infected girl.

The incidents spreading through the borough.

The increasingly strange behavior.

Jennifer looked exhausted now.

"Something about him interrupts the process."

"And you’re sure?"

"No," she admitted.

That honesty caught him off guard.

"But I know he’s the closest thing humanity has left."

Before he could respond—

BANG.

The door burst open.

A soldier stumbled inside breathing heavily, sweat soaking through the collar of his uniform.

Jennifer immediately straightened.

The man snapped the lighter shut.

"What?" he barked.

The soldier swallowed.

"Our estimates were wrong, sir."

Jennifer frowned slightly.

"What estimates?"

The soldier looked pale.

"Potentially infected civilians."

The room stiffened.

"They’re beginning to reveal themselves throughout multiple sectors," he continued quickly. "Our forces are trying to contain it quietly but—"

"But what?"

The soldier hesitated.

Then:

"They’re attacking people openly now."

Silence.

Jennifer’s face changed almost imperceptibly.

The man looked away sharply.

Outside the tower, muffled screams echoed faintly through the glass.

The riots.

The panic.

It was getting worse.

Fast.

The soldier continued carefully.

"We believe exposure at the station spread farther than anticipated."

Jennifer’s eyes narrowed.

"How many confirmed?"

"We... don’t know yet."

That answer hit harder than any number could have.

The man closed his eyes briefly.

Thinking.

Calculating.

Then finally:

"...issue a borough-wide code black."

Jennifer looked toward him immediately.

The soldier froze slightly.

Code black.

Even hearing the words out loud felt wrong.

"You heard me," the man said coldly.

"Seal district movement. Suspend transit access. Curfew goes active immediately."

The soldier nodded once.

"Right away, sir."

Then he disappeared back through the doorway.

The room felt heavier after he left.

Like the oxygen itself had changed.

The man walked past Jennifer slowly.

Then paused beside her.

"You’re going to fix this."

Jennifer didn’t respond.

His eyes drifted toward Adrian.

Still unconscious.

Still breathing.

Still somehow at the center of everything.

"I don’t care if it kills him."

Then he left.

And Jennifer stood there alone beside the bed.

For the first time since meeting her—

She looked afraid of the future.

—

Further inside the borough, Aubrey shoved through another crowd of angry civilians while Terri followed close behind.

The atmosphere had changed completely.

Hours ago, the borough had felt untouchable.

Now it felt nervous.

People argued openly in the streets.

Signs waved through the air.

LIARS.

THIS ISN’T A SANCTUARY.

CRUCIBLE OUT.

Soldiers struggled to keep crowds separated as shouting echoed between buildings.

Aubrey looked around with disbelief.

"What the hell are they even complaining about?" she muttered. "These people have everything."

Terri didn’t answer immediately.

Her eyes remained fixed ahead.

Toward the massive council tower looming over the borough.

Soldiers crowded every entrance.

Barricades had already started going up.

Terri pointed subtly.

"If Adrian’s anywhere," she said quietly, "it’s probably there."

Aubrey followed her gaze.

Then nodded once.

"Yeah."

The two kept moving through the swelling unrest carefully.

A bottle shattered somewhere nearby.

Someone screamed at a soldier.

Another civilian got shoved to the pavement.

The tension crawling through the borough no longer felt contained.

It felt alive.

Then—

The intercoms activated.

Static crackled overhead.

Every conversation around them stuttered to a halt.

A calm voice echoed throughout the district.

"Attention civilians. Due to an ongoing health emergency, this borough is now entering code black procedures."

Aubrey stopped walking just then.

Terri slowly looked up, something flickering on her face.

"Remain calm and return to your residences immediately. Avoid unnecessary travel. Security forces are actively managing an infectious outbreak."

Outbreak.

The word hit the crowd like a grenade.

Panic had spread almost instantly.

"WHAT?"

"Outbreak?!"

"No no no—"

The voice continued repeating itself overhead.

Aubrey’s stomach dropped.

"Infected?" she muttered.

"In here?"

Terri’s face had gone pale.

"That can’t be good."

Aubrey looked toward the tower again.

Toward the soldiers.

Toward the chaos spreading faster by the second.

Then back at Terri.

Terri swallowed once.

"...then I guess we need to hurry."

And somewhere far deeper inside the borough—

sirens finally began to scream.