The air inside the shelter had barely settled. The echoes of Lilly's breakdown still haunted the walls like ghosts that refused to leave.
Ava walked in like a storm—jaw tight, fists tighter.
Sam looked up from where she was tending to supply. "What now?"
Ava didn't answer her. Her eyes were locked on Lilly. "You've always been dramatic, but murder fantasies? Really?"
Lilly's head snapped up. Rage ignited behind her eyes. "You were eavesdropping?"
"I was passing by. What, am I not allowed to exist in the same crumbling dump as you without stepping on one of your emotional landmines?"
Sam stepped between them like a shield. "Ava—don't."
Ava smiled, sharp as a scalpel. "Funny. I thought you wanted me to stop tormenting her. Isn't that what you said?"
Sam's blood ran cold.
"You heard that?" she asked, voice barely above a whisper.
Ava's eyes flashed. "I hear everything. Especially the part where you decided I'm the villain in your little tragic romance."
Lilly stood now; fists clenched. "If the villain mask fits, wear it. No one made you leave. No one made you stay silent for years."
"Oh, and what were you going to do if I didn't?" Ava shot back. "Keep pretending, I was the hero who'd never walk away? You're delusional."
"Better than being a coward."
Ava's laugh was bitter. "You think you're angry now? Keep pushing, Lilly. You haven't even scratched the surface of what I'm holding back."
And like a storm building on the edge of a cliff, it crackled—dangerously close to another explosion. The room vibrated with tension.
Sam stood there, in the eye of the chaos, breathing hard.
"Enough!"
But neither of them listened.
This wasn't a fight. It was a reckoning.
And somewhere—deep in the bones of the shelter—the air shifted. Something ancient, something dangerous… had awakened.