The morning light gently filtered through the window of the hut where Elena and Alex were. The baby, who had been their hope amidst the chaos, now slept peacefully in an improvised crib. Elena felt a peace she hadn't experienced in a long time, but she knew she couldn't avoid facing the truth with Alex.
Alex was sitting on the edge of the bed, watching the baby when Elena slowly got up, taking his hand.
"Alex, we need to talk," Elena said, her voice a little broken.
He looked at her with a mixture of doubt and expectation, knowing that he couldn't ignore the tension that had always existed between them, even after everything they had been through together.
"Elena, what's going on?" he asked, still looking at the baby, as if afraid that by looking at Elena, the truth would crush him.
With a deep sigh, Elena looked Alex directly in the eyes. "Alex... the baby, ours... she's yours."
The words hung in the air, colliding with the calmness that had been established between them. Alex blinked, processing the information.
"What?" he said, his voice barely a whisper.
"You're the father of the baby," Elena said, a little more firm now. "She's yours, Alex. What we did, what happened... it's been complicated, but I want you to know that all of this, what's happening now, is real. It's yours, and we've brought her into the world together."
Alex fell silent. It wasn't a silence of acceptance, but one of deep surprise. Then, with a determined expression, he said, "Elena... I always knew something had changed between us, but I didn't think this... What I'm feeling right now is so hard to process."
"I know," Elena replied, her voice soft. "And I want you to understand that what happened, what we did, wasn't easy. But the baby is yours, and you need to know. She needs to know too."
Just as they were looking at each other, feeling the weight of the words, Alexa entered the room. Her face was tense, her gaze fixed on Alex.
"Alex... we need to talk," she said coldly. "What we did, what happened between us, I can't keep ignoring it. You and I... we can't keep going like this. We can't stay together if you keep choosing Elena over everything else."
Alex opened his mouth to protest, but Alexa had already made her decision.
"You're not the man I thought you were," Alexa said, her voice harsh and full of disappointment. "I fell in love with a version of you that no longer exists. Goodbye."
With those words, Alexa turned and left the room, leaving Alex stunned, his heart broken, and his mind overwhelmed by the decisions of the past few days.
Elena watched him, her eyes filled with sadness but also understanding. She knew what that meant for him, but there was something else that needed to happen.
Soon after that intense moment, the hunters arrived at the camp. They weren't aggressive, but their presence was a reminder of the difficult decisions that had been made.
Ethan approached Elena. "We need to talk," he said with a seriousness on his face that he couldn't hide. "It's important."
Elena nodded, aware that the moment to face the truth was now. "I know," she responded, her eyes meeting Ethan's. "I know."
In a tense but finally sincere conversation, Ethan explained to Elena that his deal with the hunters had been to protect her, that he had never wanted her to feel betrayed. The truth Elena had feared was now on the table: Ethan had done what he did for love and protection, but also for the future of their daughter.
"I know what I did wasn't right," Ethan said, "but if I ever offended you, I'm sorry. Everything I did was so you and the baby could be safe."
At that moment, the hunters, led by their leader, Darius, approached. With a solemn tone, Darius spoke.
"Elena, everything we've done so far has been about surviving, but in this world, there's something we need to protect more than our own lives: the life of a child. We know what you've been through, and we want to make a deal."
Elena looked at him, surprised.
"We, the hunters, are not what the world thinks we are," Darius continued. "We just want to protect those who, like you, still have something to fight for. We promise to protect your daughter, Elena, and you, always. What's happening here is that, maybe, we've been hard in our decisions, but we've learned to value what truly matters."
With that promise, the hunters, now closer to the survivors, made a pact to protect the baby, the future of everyone, and survival in this new world.