The sanctuary wasn't quiet. It hadn't been since the system came.
From the courthouse steps, the self-appointed council barked orders about rationing, rotations, and water duties. Arguments rolled across the square in waves, breaking against the stone walls and coming back louder each time.
Ethan kept his distance. He sat near a cracked wall with his small group, letting the noise fade into background static.
Marcus prowled like a caged bull, arms folded tight, jaw set.
Kira leaned against the wall, sharpening her knife with short, clean strokes.
Ravi crouched cross-legged, scribbling on a torn piece of cardboard, muttering equations under his breath.
Caleb sat close to Ethan, knees hugged to his chest, still pale but trying to look stronger than he felt.
Darren and Tina hovered near Marcus. Darren's posture screamed unease, while Tina's eyes kept drifting toward the clusters of children scattered around the square.
Ethan watched them all — his strange little unit — and realized how fast trust had grown. He'd only known them for a few days, but he trusted them more than the shouting crowd pretending at leadership. Trust wasn't about time. It was about blood, and choices.
A shadow moved closer. Maya.
She lingered at the edge of their group, arms crossed like she was still bracing for rejection. Ethan had pulled her from the wreckage and healed her leg, but she'd stayed half a step apart ever since.
"I want to stay with you," she said finally. Her voice was quiet but steady. "If you go out again, I'm not staying here. No one else even looked at me when I was trapped. You did. That has to mean something."
Marcus raised a brow. "Out there's worse than in here. We don't babysit."
"I'm not asking you to," Maya shot back, lifting her chin. "I'm asking to belong."
Kira stopped scraping her blade. "Then tell us what you chose."
Maya hesitated, then exhaled. "When the system spoke, I saw the same three as everyone — Strength, Speed, Intelligence. But there was another one. It said... Sonic Veil."
The air changed.
Marcus frowned. "Never saw that."
"Neither did I," Kira said.
Ravi looked up, eyes suddenly sharp behind cracked lenses. "Not in mine either. Which means it's tailored."
Maya shifted uneasily. "I don't even know what it does. The name just sounded… safer. So I picked it. But since then? Nothing. No change."
Marcus barked a laugh. "So you picked blind."
"Like me," Ethan said quietly.
The others looked his way.
"I had the same three," he said. "But there were two more. The one I chose was called Gene Warden."
The name hung in the air like a dropped weapon.
"Gene Warden," Ravi repeated, tasting the words.
Caleb leaned forward. "So you both got something extra. Different from the rest of us."
Ethan nodded. "Different. The system didn't treat everyone the same."
Darren rubbed the back of his neck. "All I saw were the basics. Picked Speed. Figured it's easier to live longer if you can run."
Tina spoke softly after a pause. "Mine was different too."
Marcus turned, surprise flickering across his face. "Yeah?"
She nodded. "I had the three… and one more. Guardian's Instinct. It said I could shield children when they're threatened. I chose it. It felt right."
Kira tilted her head. "Protecting kids? That's oddly specific."
Tina's expression tightened, but Marcus beat her to the punch. "Then it was the right choice."
Ravi tapped his pencil against the cardboard. "It's not random. The system's tailoring paths to who we are." His gaze moved over them, thoughtful. "What did you all do before this started?"
Ethan shrugged. "Combat medic."
Ravi's brows lifted. "Medic. And you got Gene Warden — power to restore, to reverse. That's not coincidence. That's design."
Maya hesitated. "I was a musician. Violinist. Played small shows, weddings… quiet stuff."
Ravi smiled faintly. "Music, vibration — Sonic Veil. You see the pattern."
Tina folded her arms. "Kindergarten teacher. Kids were my life."
Ravi spread his hands. "And you got Guardian's Instinct. The system isn't throwing dice. It's amplifying what we already were — instincts, roles, the parts of us that matter most."
The noise of the square faded to a dull hum. For the first time, the group began to see it — the system wasn't chaos. It was shaping them. Watching. Choosing.
Kira broke the silence. "Talk's cheap. Let's see if it works. Maya — show us this Sonic Veil."
"I told you, I don't know how," Maya said, flustered.
"Try something," Marcus grunted. "Scream. Sing. Shake the air."
"I'm not just going to—"
Kira clapped sharply beside Maya's ear. The crack split the air — and for a heartbeat, the space around Maya rippled like heat above asphalt.
She flinched. "I didn't—"
"You did," Ethan said gently. "Even if it's small. The system doesn't hand out useless gifts. We'll figure it out."
For the first time, Maya sank down beside them instead of hovering on the edge. Not an outsider anymore.
Ethan looked around: Marcus, Kira, Ravi, Caleb, Darren, Tina, Maya.
His people.
I've only known them days, he thought. But I'd trust them with my life.
---
Night fell.
The council's shouting dulled to low, uneasy murmurs. Fires burned to embers. The sanctuary dozed in half-sleep — that brittle quiet that only lives between fear and exhaustion.
Maya tensed suddenly, one palm flat against the ground.
"What is it?" Ethan asked.
"I felt something," she whispered. "Through the floor. Heavy. Like footsteps."
Kira stiffened. "Inside the dome?"
Maya shook her head slowly. "Outside. Circling."
Ethan moved closer to the barrier, scanning the shimmer of light. At first, nothing. Then he saw them.
Crows — dozens of them — perched along the broken buildings just beyond the dome. Their eyes glowed faintly, catching the moonlight. All of them faced inward, unmoving. Watching.
"They're not scavenging," Ravi murmured. "They're waiting."
Ethan's stomach turned cold. Mutants had been only the start. Something worse was already awake.
The dome hummed above them, fragile and bright. For the first time, Ethan wondered whether even this wall would hold.