[Aria's POV]
I couldn't stop staring at the system message burned into my mind.
True Power Unsealing: 1%Power too dangerous for current user level
What did that mean? Was I stronger than F-Rank? Had the system been lying this whole time?
I had to know more.
My fingers trembled as I tried to pull up my system screen again, searching for that message, for any clue about what I really was.
Nothing appeared.
Just the same lying screen: F-Rank. Basic Healing. Useless.
"Looking for answers?"
I jumped. Jade stood beside me, her ice-blue eyes sad. She glanced at Sophie's covered body in the corner.
"I tried to save her," I whispered. "I tried so hard—"
"I know." Jade squeezed my shoulder. "But infection is different from wounds. Maybe... maybe there's nothing anyone could have done."
But the system had said S-Rank could cure it. Which meant somewhere, someone had that power.
Just not me.
Not yet.
"You should rest," Jade said gently. "Marcus wants to move locations at dawn. We need to pack supplies."
Supplies. From my father's warehouse. That Marcus was treating like his own.
"Where is he?" I asked.
"Supply room. Doing inventory with Vivian."
Something cold slithered through my stomach. "Alone?"
Jade's expression turned uncomfortable. "Aria... maybe you shouldn't—"
But I was already walking toward the supply room.
My heart pounded with each step. I told myself I was being paranoid. That Marcus wouldn't— that he couldn't—
We were engaged. He'd proposed six months ago. Kissed me under the stars. Promised forever.
That had to mean something. Even now. Even in this nightmare world.
The supply room door was closed.
I reached for the handle.
Heard a sound that made my blood freeze.
A woman's laugh. Low and intimate. Vivian's laugh.
Then Marcus's voice, rough and deep: "We shouldn't—"
"Why not?" Vivian purred. "She's useless, Marcus. You know it. I know it. Why keep pretending?"
My hand hovered over the door handle. I should leave. Should walk away. Should protect myself from whatever was happening inside.
But I had to know.
I had to see.
I pushed the door open.
And my world shattered completely.
Marcus had Vivian pressed against the supply shelves. His hands were in her platinum hair. Her legs were wrapped around his waist. And they were kissing like they were drowning and each other was air.
"How could you?" The words ripped from my throat.
They jumped apart. Marcus's face showed surprise for half a second.
Then it went cold.
"Aria." He didn't even sound guilty. "We're taking inventory."
"THAT'S NOT INVENTORY!" My voice cracked. Tears burned my eyes. "We're engaged! You— you proposed to me! You said you loved me!"
"That was before," Marcus said flatly, straightening his shirt.
"Before what? Before the world ended? Before you decided I wasn't useful enough?"
"Before I realized what you really were." Marcus's gray eyes were ice. "Weak. Helpless. A burden I can't afford anymore."
Each word was a knife in my chest.
"I saved your life today!" I shouted. "I healed you! You would have died without me!"
"And you're useful for healing. I'll give you that." He shrugged like we were discussing the weather. "But that's all you're useful for. This world needs strong people, Aria. People who can fight. Kill. Survive."
"I can survive! I—"
"You can't even save someone from infection!" Vivian snapped, sliding away from Marcus. "Sophie died because you were too weak. How many more will die because you can't protect them?"
The accusation hit like a punch. Sophie's terrified face flashed in my mind. Her white eyes. Her screams.
"That's not fair," I whispered.
"It's reality." Marcus walked toward me. I backed up, but he kept coming until I hit the wall. He loomed over me, lightning crackling faintly around his fingers. A threat. A warning. "You're F-Rank, Aria. The lowest of the low. In the old world, I could afford to keep you around. Pretend to love you for your father's connections."
"Pretend?" My voice broke. "Five years. Five years were all pretend?"
"Every single day." His smile was cruel. "You were so easy to fool. So desperate to be loved. All I had to do was smile and bring you flowers, and you believed every lie."
I couldn't breathe. Couldn't think.
"The proposal?" I managed.
"Your father's will. Everything goes to you when you marry. I figured I'd marry you, wait a respectable year, then divorce you and take half." He laughed. "But then the apocalypse happened. Now I don't need marriage. I just take what I want."
Vivian moved to his side, sliding her arm through his. "Face it, sister. You lost. You were always going to lose. Even without the apocalypse, did you really think someone like Marcus would stay with someone like you?"
"We need strong people together," Marcus said, his voice matter-of-fact. "Vivian is A-Rank. I'm SSS-Rank. Together, we can build something powerful. You?" He looked me up and down with disgust. "You're weak, Aria. Always have been. Always will be."
The tears finally came. I couldn't stop them.
"So what now?" I choked out. "You throw me away like garbage?"
"Don't be dramatic." Marcus turned back to Vivian, dismissing me. "You're still useful as a healer. You'll stay with the group. Heal whoever needs it. Earn your keep."
"And if I refuse?"
Marcus's head turned slowly. The look in his eyes made my blood run cold.
"Then you leave. Tonight. Alone. With nothing." Lightning danced around his entire body now. "And we both know you won't last one day out there by yourself. So here's your choice, Aria: Stay and be useful. Or leave and die. Pick one."
My legs shook. My whole body shook.
He was right. I couldn't survive alone. Not with F-Rank healing. Not against zombies and rival survivor groups and everything else hunting in the dark.
I was trapped.
"I'll stay," I whispered.
"Smart girl." Vivian smirked. "Now run along. Marcus and I have more... inventory to check."
They turned back to each other. Marcus pulled Vivian close again.
They kissed right in front of me.
I stumbled out of the supply room, bile rising in my throat. Tears blurred everything. I made it three steps before collapsing against a wall.
Five years. Five years of my life given to a man who never loved me. Who used me. Who threw me away the second I wasn't convenient anymore.
"Aria?" Jade appeared, her face full of sympathy. "Oh no. You saw them."
I couldn't speak. Could only cry.
"I'm so sorry," Jade whispered, hugging me. "You deserve so much better than this."
But did I? Maybe Marcus was right. Maybe I was weak. Useless. Nothing.
"Hey." Jade pulled back, forcing me to meet her eyes. "Don't you dare believe what he said. You're not weak. You're not useless. They're the monsters, not you."
"Then why does it hurt so much?"
"Because you loved him. And love makes us vulnerable." Jade's jaw tightened. "But you know what? Heartbreak can make us strong too. If we let it."
I wanted to believe her. Wanted to believe I could be strong.
But all I felt was broken.
A commotion erupted near the entrance. Shouting. The sound of boxes crashing.
Jade and I ran toward the noise.
Two men were fighting—both survivors from our group. One had blood pouring from his nose. The other had a knife.
"He's hoarding food!" the man with the knife yelled. "I saw him! Stealing extra rations while the rest of us starve!"
"I wasn't stealing! I was just—"
"Liar!" The knife flashed.
"STOP!" I screamed, running forward.
Too late.
The knife plunged into the other man's stomach.
He gasped. Staggered. Blood bloomed across his shirt.
Then he dropped to his knees, clutching the wound.
Everyone froze. Staring. Waiting.
The man's terrified eyes found mine. "Please," he begged. "Please heal me. Please—"
I ran to him, my hands already glowing gold. I pressed them against the knife wound.
My healing power poured into him. The golden light was so bright it hurt to look at.
But the wound was deep. So deep. The knife had pierced something vital—a liver maybe, or intestines. I could feel his life draining away even as I tried to save it.
"Come on," I whispered desperately. "Come on, come on—"
The light flickered.
My power was running out.
I'd used too much today. Healing Marcus. Healing Vivian. Trying to save Sophie. I had nothing left.
"No," I sobbed. "No, please, I can save you—"
The man's eyes went glassy.
His breathing stopped.
He died with my hands still pressed against his wound. Still glowing. Still trying.
But not enough.
Never enough.
I pulled back, staring at my trembling, blood-covered hands.
Two people dead today. Sophie. Now this man.
Both because I was too weak to save them.
"Pathetic," Vivian's voice dripped with contempt. She stood in the doorway with Marcus, both watching my failure. "Can't even heal a simple stab wound."
"It wasn't simple," Jade defended me. "The injury was too severe—"
"For an F-Rank, maybe." Vivian's smile was poisonous. "A real healer could have saved him. But Aria isn't a real healer. She's just a girl playing dress-up with a useless power."
Marcus said nothing. Just looked at me with those cold, empty eyes.
Like I was nothing.
Nobody.
The man with the knife started backing away. "It was self-defense! He attacked me first! I didn't mean—"
"Save it," Marcus said tiredly. "Everyone's on edge. Mistakes happen. Clean up the body and get some sleep."
That was it? No punishment? No consequences?
A man was dead, and Marcus didn't care.
None of them cared.
I stood there in the middle of the warehouse, covered in blood, surrounded by people who hated me or pitied me or ignored me.
And something inside me finally, completely broke.
"I need air," I whispered.
"Don't go far," Marcus called after me. "We move at dawn. Be ready."
I walked to the warehouse's back exit. The one that led to the small alley behind the building. The one nobody guarded because it was blocked by dumpsters.
I pushed through the door and sank down against the wall outside.
The night air was cold. Distant zombie moans echoed through empty streets.
I pulled my knees to my chest and let myself cry. Really cry. For Sophie. For the dead man. For my shattered heart and broken dreams and the five years I'd never get back.
For the girl I used to be, who believed in love and happy endings.
That girl was dead now too.
My system screen flickered to life, unbidden.
New words appeared:
[User emotional threshold reached][True Power Unsealing: 5%][WARNING: Unsealing requires extreme conditions][Current conditions met: Heartbreak, Betrayal, Rage, Despair][Continue experiencing trauma to unlock full power]
I stared at the words, my tears drying on my cheeks.
The system wanted me to suffer.
Needed me to suffer.
To unlock whatever power was hidden inside me.
"How much more?" I whispered to the screen. "How much more do I have to lose?"
The screen didn't answer.
But behind me, I heard footsteps.
Slow. Shuffling. Wrong.
I turned.
A zombie stood five feet away.
But not just any zombie.
Sophie.
My dead best friend.
Her white eyes fixed on me. Her mouth opened in a hungry moan.
And she lunged.