Chapter 5

As we approached the shelter, a familiar cough echoed from a corner.

My blood instantly froze.

It was Julian.

He was curled up in a pile of moldy blankets, his left sleeve empty and dangling, his face ashen like a corpse.

Cassandra was squatting beside him, wiping sweat from his forehead with a dirty rag.

Her son, Leo, was nowhere to be seen.

The moment Julian looked up and saw me, his murky eyes suddenly lit up.

"Willow?"

He struggled to stand, his voice hoarse and unrecognizable. "You're alive."

Cassandra whipped her head around, her meticulously drawn eyebrows raised high.

"Well, well, still clinging to life, are we?"

She sneered. "What, here to beg Julian for food?"

My nails dug deeply into my palms. Ryder, sensing my unease, stepped half a pace to shield me.

He asked quietly, "You know them?"

"My husband."

I heard myself say. "My former husband."

Julian's expression rapidly shifted from surprise to anger.

"Willow, you have the nerve to come back?"

He swayed as he stood. "If you hadn't opened the blast door, how would I have…"

He lifted his empty left sleeve, his voice choked. "How would Leo have…"

So the child died.

A twisted sense of satisfaction welled up in my heart, but it was immediately swallowed by a greater emptiness.

A child's death shouldn't make me happy, even if it was Cassandra's son.

"Enough."

Ryder's voice wasn't loud, but it instantly silenced the entire shelter.

He turned to the shelter's manager. "This is Willow, a new member of our team."

"She has a unique constitution; she can move freely in heavily radiated zones without getting infected."

A collective gasp swept through the room.

Julian and Cassandra’s expressions were priceless.

First shock, then greed, then deep, profound fear.

"Impossible!"

Cassandra shrieked. "She's just a regular housewife!"

Ryder scoffed and pulled a radiation detector from his backpack.

He gestured for me to extend my hand, then placed the detector against my skin.

The instrument remained silent. But when he moved it towards himself, a piercing alarm immediately blared.

"This…"

Julian's eyes widened, shimmering with an emotion I couldn't decipher. "Willow, what's going on?"

I didn't answer.

Ryder clapped his hands. "From today on, Ms. Willow will be in charge of our supply exchange with the East District shelter."

"Anyone who disrespects her will be considered an enemy of the entire shelter."

Julian's expression changed again and again, finally settling into a sickeningly fawning look.

"My wife… I mean, ex-wife, she's always been excellent."

He tried to approach me, but Ryder's gaze pinned him to the spot. "Willow, we need to talk…"

That night, I lay in the private cubicle assigned to our team, listening to the continuous coughing and groaning outside.

A shadow appeared under the door crack.

Then came a familiar, careful knocking.

"Willow? It's me."

Julian's voice was barely a whisper. "Please, just five minutes."

I scoffed silently, but opened the door anyway.

He slinked in like a stray dog, smelling of stale sweat and unwashed clothes.

In the dim light, I saw the bloodshot in his eyes and his deeply sunken cheeks.

"I know you hate me."

He dropped to his knees as soon as he spoke, his empty sleeve dangling limply. "But I truly regret it, Willow."

"That day, I was misled by Cassandra, I…"

"Daisy was only six."

I said softly, my fingers unconsciously caressing the cloth pouch on my chest. "She was still calling for Mommy when she died."

Julian's tears immediately flowed, whether real or fake.

"I have nightmares every night…"

He choked. "That pipe… I only found out later that a few mutated rats had gotten in…"

Lies. All lies.

I distinctly remembered him saying they were just common rats, saying Daisy was too stupid and scared herself to death.

But now, looking at him sobbing, I suddenly understood what I needed to do.

"Julian…"

I reached out and gently stroked his dirty hair, my voice intentionally soft. "I… I also made mistakes…"

He clung to my leg like a drowning man grasping a lifeline. "Can we start over? Just like before…"

"Give me some time."

I said gently. "Right now, I have to follow the team, but… maybe after the mission is over…"

Julian looked up, the hope in his eyes nauseating.

"I'll wait for you."

He said eagerly. "I'll cut ties with that crazy woman, I swear."

Footsteps suddenly sounded outside the door, and Julian flinched.

Ryder's voice came from outside: "Willow? Everything alright in there?"

Julian frantically let go of me. I quickly adjusted my expression and opened the door.

Ryder stood at the doorway, his gaze like a knife, sweeping over Julian kneeling on the ground.

"Am I interrupting your reunion?"

His tone was chillingly calm.

Julian scrambled up awkwardly, lowering his head, and slinked away.

In the early hours of the morning, an alarm ripped through the shelter's tranquility.

"Mutated plant invasion! Everyone evacuate to the central hall immediately!"