The fire crackled low, casting soft light across the dusty shelter. The girl sat across from the team, arms tucked around her knees, one cheek smudged with ash. Her eyes flicked from face to face but didn't linger.
They knew her name now "Lina"
She hadn't said much else. But she hadn't tried to run again either.
Elen sat cross-legged near her, unwrapping a second candy bar. She held it out gently.
Lina took it without a word, still watching the door.
"You were good back there," Elen said. "Knew how to stay quiet. How to fight."
Lina frowned. "Didn't wanna fight. Just thought you were them."
"Them?" Rivas asked gently.
"The monsters. The ones outside."
She chewed on the chocolate, voice muffled.
"They don't knock."
They didn't push her. Just let the quiet settle.
Eventually, Lina spoke again. "We live down here. Me, and Mom… and some others. A long time ago."
"How long?" Elen asked.
Lina shrugged. "Since I was little… sine I was a baby."
"Just you and your mom?"
"At first there were more people. They were nice. Some got sick. Some left and didn't come back."
Her voice grew softer. "Then it was just us."
The fire crackled.
"I don't remember before the monsters. Mom said the world used to be loud and big. She said there were schools and parks and cars everywhere." Her eyes lit up a little. "She said there was ice cream, and people talked on little boxes all the time."
Toma smiled faintly. "That's true. I miss ice cream."
"I've never had it." Lina picked at the wrapper. "But I know what chocolate is. That's enough."
They were quiet again.
"Mom taught me stuff," Lina said suddenly. "Like how to make fires, and where to find clean water, and how to hide when they come. She showed me how to cut bandages and read the old maps. I didn't like the maps."
"Why not?" Koji asked.
"They made me scared. The red places are where the monsters live now. And the red places got bigger every time."
Elen scooted a little closer. "How did you know they were coming? The monsters?"
Lina hesitated. She looked down at herhands.
"I feel it. In my head. It's like… like pressure. My ears don't hurt, but it's loud. Not sound-loud. Inside-loud. And I get dizzy if they're close."
"You mean you can sense them?" Rivas asked.
Lina nodded, then added, "I think so. Sometimes I feel them before I see them. Mom said it was a gift. I don't know. I don't like it. It makes my head heavy."
"How long have you been able to do that?" Toma asked.
She hugged her knees tighter. "Always. I thought everyone could feel them. But Mom said no. Just me."
Rivas crouched beside her.
"Where is your mom now, Lina?"
Lina looked at the fire.
"She went out. Said she'd be back. She told me to stay in the hide room. That was… a lot of sleeps ago."
No one spoke.
"I think maybe she's still coming back," Lina whispered. "Or maybe she's watching."
She glanced toward the far hallway. "She said not to cry. Just wait. And listen."
Later, as Lina curled into her blanket and fell asleep beside the dim fire, the team gathered in whispers near the shelter entrance.
"She's got reflexes like a scout," Elen said. "And instincts like someone trained."
"She shouldn't be alive," Koji murmured. "Not this far out. Not alone."
"She's not mutated," Rivas added. "But she's not… ordinary either."
Toma stared at the child's sleeping form. "She was born in this. Never knew the world before. This… is normal to her."
Rivas looked toward the dark hallway, where Lucia had once walked out and never returned.
"She didn't survive by luck," she said quietly.
"She survived because someone raised her to."