Crash!

Blake fell straight onto the kitchen table, sending fruits rolling across the floor as the wood creaked violently beneath him.

"Jesus Christ!"

Pain shot through his entire body at once.

"That hurt..."

For several long seconds, he didn’t move.

Then slowly, with trembling arms, Blake pushed himself off the broken mess of fruit and wood before dropping heavily onto the floor.

Not even onto a chair, but directly onto the cold tiles.

Honestly, he was too exhausted to care.

The chair had fallen over nearby during the impact, but Blake didn’t bother picking it up.

His chest rose and fell harshly, so much so that every breath burned. His hands shook weakly as he reached for the mask covering his face and ripped it off.

The cool air hitting his skin should have felt relieving.

Instead, it only made him feel emptier.

For a while, Blake just sat there, motionless.

The apartment remained silent around him.

An orange rolled slowly across the floor before eventually stopping against the wall.

Blake stared at nothing.

Or maybe at everything.

What was everything, what was nothing?

The sticky sensation on his hands hadn’t disappeared yet.

Blood.

Even after teleporting away, it still felt like it coated his skin.

It was so warm and wet, so disgustingly thick.

His fingers twitched unconsciously.

Was this Freddie’s blood?

The soldiers’ blood?

His own blood?

The metallic smell still lingered inside his nose no matter how hard he breathed.

Blake looked down slowly.

His hands were clean now, but his mind refused to process that.

He could still feel it, like something had dried beneath his nails.

Like if he touched his face right now, blood would smear across his skin again.

His stomach twisted.

The hallway flashed through his head again.

The gunshot.

Freddie collapsing.

"No!"

Blake squeezed his eyes shut immediately, but that only made things worse. 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

Now he could see Freddie more clearly, the blood soaking through his chest.

His unfocused eyes.

The way his breathing had rattled painfully before stopping completely.

Blake’s fingers dug into his own arms.

Then suddenly, ahand touched his face gently, and his eyes snapped open.

For one horrible second, there was someone kneeling in front of him, smiling .

"Goodbye."

Blake jerked backward violently, his breathing instantly spiraled out of control again.

"No!"

His voice cracked.

The hallucination disappeared immediately, only the empty apartment remained.

Blake covered his face with shaking hands as tears started falling again.

It felt so much worse now.

Before, everything had been simple.

Well, maybe simple was an overstatement, but it was definitely easier to live through this, thinking that there was a plot.

A hero.

A villain.

A world that would eventually end.

Blake’s role had only been trying to survive inside it and save everyone.

But now everything felt rotten, twisted, wrong.

The things he discovered underground shattered every neat explanation he believed.

AL-TECH wasn’t what it claimed to be.

And it wasn’t just shady, they experimented on humans.

People.

Blake let out a shaky breath before dragging his hands down his face harshly.

He needed to move.

If he stayed sitting there any longer, he felt like he’d genuinely lose his mind.

Slowly, he forced himself upright.

The moment weight landed on his foot, pain shot through him hard enough to make him hiss.

"...Fuck."

His entire body hurt, every bruise from the bullets had fully settled in now.

He got hit way too many times, he knew what was coming.

Blake limped toward the bathroom slowly, using the wall for support halfway there.

The bright bathroom light made him squint immediately, then he looked up.

And froze.

"..."

He looked horrible.

It was much worse than he had expected.

His eyes were swollen and red from crying.

Dark bruises spread across multiple parts of his body, visible even beneath his clothes.

There was one along his ribs.

Another near his shoulder.

A nasty one forming against his cheek.

But the worst was his foot.

Even through the sock, the swelling was obvious.

Blake stared at himself silently.

How the hell had he even managed to keep running like that?

Adrenaline really was terrifying.

He looked less like someone who survived a mission and more like someone who got beaten half to death.

His fingers trembled slightly against the sink.

Then he looked away, he couldn’t stand seeing himself right now.

Blake eventually dragged himself toward the bedroom and practically collapsed onto the bed.

The mattress dipped beneath his weight.

Instant relief hit him the moment he stopped standing.

He genuinely couldn’t remain on his feet anymore.

Even sitting hurt.

Lying down was the only remotely bearable position left.

Blake threw an arm over his eyes and exhaled deeply.

’Now what? There is too much.’

The underground facility.

The generations.

The aliens.

AL-TECH.

Myles.

Freddie.

Captain Caine.

Asher Phoenix.

His head hurt just trying to organize it all.

Where was he even supposed to start anymore?

Blake turned slightly onto his side.

The sheets felt cold.

His body felt unbearably heavy.

At some point, his thoughts blurred completely.

And eventually, he fell asleep.

Chirp.

"Ugh..."

For a moment, he stared blankly upward.

Then he grabbed his phone sluggishly.

1:07 PM.

"What?"

Blake immediately tried sitting up, and regretted it instantly.

Pain exploded through his body hard enough to make him freeze completely.

"Oh my god—"

Everything hurt. His ribs, his shoulders and his legs.

Even breathing too deeply felt wrong.

Blake slowly laid back down again with a groan.

How the hell did he feel worse after sleeping?

He grabbed his phone again carefully.

There were no missed calls or texts.

Blake nearly sighed in relief.

’Thank god.’

Then his eyes landed on Myles’ contact.

And immediately, nausea twisted through his stomach.

Blake stared at the screen silently.

Everything he learned yesterday completely changed the way he viewed him.

Not necessarily in a bad way.

That was the problem.

If anything, Blake understood him more now.

And somehow that terrified him.

AL-TECH belonged to Alfred.

Alfred was Myles’ mentor.

Freddie had called Myles the son of a Delgada.

Second generation.

Human experimentation.

Alien DNA.

Blake squeezed his eyes shut tightly.

Myles was connected to all of it.

No, not just connected, he was born from it.

Which meant, Myles himself carried alien DNA.

That explained so much about his abilities, his absurd strength.

Even the other so-called villains suddenly made more sense too.

The media carefully chose who to focus on.

Blake swallowed hard.

And then there was that phone call.

The one Blake overheard before.

Alfred saying something about wanting to find them.

Or maybe get rid of them.

Honestly, Blake couldn’t remember the exact wording anymore.

Over time, he had to focus on other things aside from that one.

Now it sounded horrifying.

Blake stared at Myles’ contact again.

He absolutely couldn’t let him come home and see him like this.

Not physically and not mentally either.

Slowly, Blake typed a message.

I forgot to tell you earlier, but I need to stay with my family for a while because of the concussion medical fees. We probably won’t see each other for some time.

Blake stared at the text afterward.

"That sounds fake as hell."

It barely even made sense.

But his brain felt too exhausted to come up with anything better.

Eventually, he hit send anyway.

Then immediately threw the phone onto the bed beside him in frustration.

"No, but seriously, what the hell is this?!"

His voice cracked sharply through the room.

AL-TECH.

The company publicly praised by society, the company tied to the hero’s mentor, experimenting on human beings.

Blake grabbed his hair tightly.

"They experimented on humans..."

Not volunteers, not willing subjects, but people they tricked.

People like Freddie, most probably.

Blake pressed his face harder into the pillow.

That meant Myles was second generation.

Born from someone experimented on.

And suddenly, destroying the world no longer sounded like some insane evil motive coming from nowhere.

Not after this.

Not after learning what kind of system existed underneath society.

Blake rolled onto his stomach slowly.

Who knew what Myles had gone through growing up?

Who knew what AL-TECH did to people like him?

Maybe Myles wasn’t even the real cause of the apocalypse.

Maybe he was just another victim pushed toward it.

Or maybe the world was designed to force someone like him into destroying it eventually.

Blake frowned deeply.

Then there was Asher too.

Where did he fit into all this now?

Before, Blake categorized everyone neatly according to the novel.

Hero.

Villain.

Supporting character.

But now, the more reality unfolded in front of him, the less trustworthy that story became.

What if the novel itself was biased?

What if Blake only ever saw a manipulated version of events?

What if the villains were never truly villains to begin with?

Blake stared blankly ahead.

That novel had been the foundation for every assumption he made since arriving here.

And now, that foundation was cracking apart completely.