𝐃𝐄𝐀𝐃 𝐂𝐈𝐓𝐘 𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄: 𝐒𝟏 - Chapter 14: If You Kill Him, You Kill Me Too

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4:58 a.m. – Basement Bomb Shelter Entrance

The room pulsed gold.

The four reanimated students—The Goldborn—stood in a loose circle around Lada, eyes shimmering with something beyond death. Something close to divinity.

Rin gripped his crowbar, sweat dripping down his temple.

Eli’s fangs were half-extended, black veins trembling on his neck.

Sol and Mew stood behind them, frozen.

Then one of the Goldborn moved.

Fast.

Too fast.

Eli lunged forward—

Steel met claw—

They slammed into the wall, a crack of bone and metal.

“They’re not like zombies!” Eli shouted. “They think!”

Rin spun his weapon. “Then we hit harder.”

---

5:01 a.m. – Rooftop

Jet stood at the edge of the rooftop, eyes half-lidded.

Tae watched him, trembling.

“Your veins… they’re glowing.”

Jet nodded. “I know.”

“You told me if it got worse—”

“I’m still me.” Jet’s voice was quiet. “But it’s hard to hold on. The infection wants control.”

Tae stepped forward, grabbed his face with both hands.

“You’re stronger than it.”

Jet leaned into his touch.

“I’m not. But you… you anchor me.”

Their foreheads touched.

“Don’t let go,” Jet whispered.

“Never.”

---

5:03 a.m. – Basement Corridor

One Goldborn leapt at Mew—screaming, laughing—

Sol shoved him aside, grabbing Mew’s hand and running.

“This way!”

Mew stumbled beside him, breath ragged.

“You think Lada’s still in there?”

Sol’s jaw clenched. “Doesn’t matter. We burn her either way.”

---

5:05 a.m. – Shelter Core Room

Rin broke off from Eli mid-fight—

He’d seen him.

P’In.

The boy he once loved.

The one who left him broken months before the outbreak ever began.

He was waiting in the control room—sitting in a chair like he belonged there.

Golden veins shimmered up his neck.

“Hello, Rin.!

Rin swallowed. “I should’ve known you’d end up like this.”

P’In smiled. “Because I left you?"

“Because you never loved me enough to stay human.”

P’In stood. “I was always meant for something greater.”

Rin raised his crowbar. “Then you’re not the boy I loved.”

P’In looked sad. “I never stopped loving you.”

“I don’t care.”

He swung.

---

5:08 a.m. – Rooftop

Jet’s knees buckled.

His eyes turned solid black again.

Tae caught him. “Jet—!”

Jet shook his head violently. “I can’t hold it. Tae… run.”

“No.”

Jet’s breath was shallow. “Please—”

“No!” Tae shouted. “If you go down, I’m going down with you.”

“Don’t say that—”

“I mean it!”

Jet gritted his teeth, fists clenching—

—but then his eyes flashed gold.

Tae gasped.

The virus was… combining.

Jet screamed—collapsed—

—and then went silent.

---

5:10 a.m. – Shelter Control Room

Rin pinned P’In against the console, crowbar at his throat.

“I want to believe you’re still in there,” Rin whispered.

P’In looked at him, eyes flickering from gold to brown.

“…Then believe it.”

But before Rin could decide—

P’In grabbed his hand.

Golden veins rushed up Rin’s arm.

“JOIN ME,” P’In hissed.

And Rin screamed.

---

5:12 a.m. – Rooftop

Tae cradled Jet’s body.

His eyes were black and gold.

His veins burned like fire.

“Jet…?”

Jet opened his eyes slowly.

And whispered:

“…I hear everything.”

Tae trembled. “Are you you?”

Jet looked at him.

And smiled, barely.

“I chose you. Not the virus.”

Then his face twisted in agony.

And a voice—Lada’s voice—inside his head.

“Kill him. It’s the only way to be free.”

Jet convulsed.

Tae gripped his hand tighter.

“You fight this, or I swear I’ll die with you.”

---

5:14 a.m. – Shelter Control Room

Rin writhed on the floor.

P’In stood above him, triumphant—until:

“GET AWAY FROM HIM!”

Eli crashed through the wall.

Eyes pitch-black. Fangs bared.

He tackled P’In in a whirlwind of claws and blood.

“You don’t get to take him!”

P’In laughed—“You can’t stop the truth.”

“Then I’ll stop you.”

Eli tore into him.

Gold met black.

---

5:15 a.m. – Rooftop

Jet let out a final cry—

The light in his veins pulsed one last time—

And then…

It faded.

He fell silent in Tae’s arms.

Breathing.

Normal.

Tae sobbed in relief.

“You’re still here.”

Jet opened his eyes.

And whispered:

“Thanks for not letting me go.”

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