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Chapter 18 - BROADCAST THE BLOOD.

The sun didn't rise the next morning.

Instead, the sky turned rust-red.

Clouds moved like smoke.

And everyone inside Sanctuary Nine felt it:

The shift.

Something had broken.

Liam stood at the edge of the barracks rooftop, watching survivors stir in the lower courtyards.

Beside him, Naomi clutched Tess's recovered medical tablet.

"Three girls vanished overnight," she said. "No alerts. No patrols."

"Taken?" Liam asked.

"More like… processed."

He clenched his jaw.

They were speeding up the Blooming. Retaliation for the womb rupture. For him.

Below, a sudden loudspeaker buzz crackled.

A voice echoed across the Sanctuary:

> "This is Commander Sera. All hosts are to report to the mess hall at once for security review. This is not optional."

Liam turned.

"It's time."

[System Trigger – Red Garden Files Scheduled for Release in 60 Seconds]

> Location: Command Broadcast Tower

Target: Entire Sanctuary Network

Side Effect: High threat response expected

Optional Override: Abort leak

Proceed?

[YES] – Selected.

In the command tower, Caleb stood still as the terminal unlocked.

Sera was away—coordinating a tactical sweep.

Guards gone.

Everything lined up.

Caleb pressed [SEND].

The file uploaded to every data screen, wrist-comm, tablet, and wall terminal across the Sanctuary.

And the screams began.

Inside the mess hall, hundreds watched in stunned silence.

Footage played of the Blooming.

Children injected.

Women screaming.

Girls locked into "wombs" built into steel and flesh.

Then: a voice recording.

Sera herself.

> "Rot is the only future. If we can't stop it, we become it. Controlled. Bred. Purified."

Someone vomited.

Someone else punched the wall.

Others began running—toward the tower, toward the Processing Wing.

Toward truth.

Liam stood beside Maya and Artemis outside the entrance to Command.

They heard the chaos before they saw it.

And then—Sera arrived.

Clad in black armor. A pistol holstered.

Her expression unreadable.

Behind her: six elite guards.

Sera looked Liam in the eye.

"You did this."

"No," he said. "You did."

The guards raised their weapons.

So did Maya.

Artemis was already moving—disarming two in a heartbeat.

Naomi whispered, "Please don't—"

Then someone fired.

The first bullet hit the ground near Liam's feet.

The second never landed—intercepted by Ava, who stepped from the shadows and shot the gunner through the neck.

Chaos erupted.

People screamed.

But then: a wall of survivors blocked the path—men and women, some bonded, some not, all done being used.

Sera looked around.

Her control was fracturing.

"I built this place!" she shouted. "I kept you alive!"

"You farmed us," Naomi said coldly.

"You bred us," added Artemis.

Sera's hand hovered near her gun.

Then she said, "You want to play gods? Fine. But don't beg when the Root comes for you."

She turned—and vanished into the inner wing.

[System Update – Sanctuary Nine Status: UPRISING]

> Control Shift: 62% Rebel | 38% Loyalist

Commander Sera Status: Marked Hostile

Red Garden Project: Crippled

Public Morale: Surge

Liam exhaled hard.

It had worked.

They'd exposed her.

But victory?

Still far.

Because now they were leaderless.

And Liam had a target on his back the size of the moon.

That night, the survivors gathered in the lower hall.

Caleb stood near Liam. Maya on his right. Naomi and Artemis beside him. Echo watching silently from a terminal screen.

He took a breath and stepped up.

"You've all seen what Sera did. And you've seen what's coming."

He gestured to the broken projection of the Bloom Network.

"She didn't protect us. She prepared us for slaughter."

He looked out at the crowd—angry, scared, trembling.

"I won't lie to you. This war isn't over. But we finally have something she doesn't."

Silence.

Then he said:

"Each other."

[System Milestone – Charisma Threshold Achieved]

> Trait Unlocked: Voice of Defiance

Effect: +10% morale to all nearby allies in combat

Passive: Charm link bonus when giving orders

That night, he returned to his quarters.

Alone.

Until someone knocked.

It was Naomi.

She didn't speak.

She just kissed him.

And whispered: "Five days. Let's not waste them."

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