로그인The nine survivors stood outside Liana’s gate. Nobody spoke. They looked exhausted. Two children clung to their mother. An old woman leaned heavily against a teenage boy. A man in a dirty mechanic uniform kept glancing at the electrified fence. And a woman with a medical bag stood at the front.Adrian lowered his weapon. “Quarantine first,” he said.Liana nodded. “No exceptions.”The woman stepped forward. “We understand.” Her voice was calm despite her trembling hands. “My name is Clara. I’m a nurse.”Liana looked at the others. “Names. One by one.”The mechanic introduced himself as Victor. The older woman was Maria. The teenage boy was Leo. The mother was Grace. The two children were Mia and Noah. The remaining two were Samuel, a former security guard, and Daniel, a schoolteacher.Liana studied their faces. In her first life, she had learned one painful truth. People didn’t become monsters because the apocalypse started. The a
Liana stared at the message.We know where your family is.Her first reaction wasn’t fear. It was anger. Not because she suddenly cared about rescuing them. But because those people had discovered the one weakness she had spent her entire second life trying to eliminate. Her family.Adrian read the message again. “They’re threatening you.”“Yes.”“Do you know where your family is?”Liana nodded. “At the city shelter.”“Then we need to assume they’ve already reached them.”Ethan frowned. “Who are these people?”“Raiders.” Liana put her phone down. “They tried to take my supplies. When that failed, they found another way to pressure me.”Adrian studied her expression. “What are you going to do?”Liana looked toward the dark road. “Nothing.”Ethan raised an eyebrow. “Nothing?”“They want me to panic.” She turned toward the control room. “I’m not giving them that.”---Twenty minutes later, another message arrived.Unknown Number: Your mother is asking for you.Then a photograph. Liana op
The headlights multiplied in the darkness. Five vehicles became eight. Eight became twelve.Liana stared at the security monitor.[Estimated hostile survivors: 47.]Forty-seven people. Her fingers tightened around the edge of the table.“We can’t fight forty-seven people head-on,” Ethan said.“We don’t need to.” Liana looked at him.The old farmer pointed toward the western field. “They’re expecting a house full of frightened civilians.”Adrian understood immediately. “Then we make them think we’re not.”Liana opened the defense panel. The farmhouse had several advantages—the reinforced fence, the electric perimeter, the security cameras, the narrow road, the darkness. And most importantly, the attackers didn’t know the property. She did.“How much fuel do we have?” Adrian asked.“Enough.”“Water?”“Enough.”“Food?”“Enough.”Adrian smiled. “Then we don’t leave.”Liana nodded. “We make them leave.”---The first vehicle stopped outside the gate. A man stepped out. He carried a rifle.
Liana stared at the message.We know you have supplies. Open your gate. Or we’ll come and take them.For several seconds, nobody spoke. Then Adrian took the phone from her hand.“How did they find you?”“I don’t know.”He looked toward the security cameras. “Could someone have followed us?”Liana shook her head. “No. We never brought anyone here.”Ethan approached the window. “Maybe they saw the solar panels.”Liana looked outside. The panels were difficult to see from the road. “But they could see the fence.”Adrian’s expression hardened. “Then we assume they’ve been watching this place.”Liana immediately opened the security system. She checked every camera—the main road, the eastern field, the rear fence, the old shed. Nothing. Then she noticed something. A tiny movement near the trees. She zoomed in. A person. Watching the farmhouse.Liana’s eyes narrowed. “There’s someone outside.”Adrian leaned closer. “Where?”“North side.”He grabbed the binoculars. After several seconds,
Liana couldn’t move.She stared through the reinforced glass at Daniel. The boy who had arrived less than ten minutes ago was no longer behaving like a sick child. His movements were wrong—too fast, too violent. His fingers dragged across the glass.Scratch. Scratch.His mother sobbed behind him. “Daniel…”Liana forced herself to breathe. “Don’t go near him.”The woman turned toward her. “Please! That’s my son!”“I know.”“He’s sick! We need a hospital!”“There aren’t any hospitals you can safely take him to anymore.”The woman’s face collapsed. “What are you saying?”Liana didn’t answer. Because she didn’t know how to explain what was happening. In her first life, the infected had appeared much later. They had been sick for days before becoming dangerous. This time, the transformation was happening within hours. The timeline had changed again. Or perhaps—her actions had caused something worse.---Adrian stepped beside her. “What do we do?”Liana looked at the medical scanner.[Unk
"Now.”Liana’s voice left no room for argument. Adrian immediately stood. Ethan followed him toward the basement.“What exactly are we preparing for?” Ethan asked.“Anyone who becomes sick.”“You think someone will come here?”“I think we should be prepared if they do.”That was only half the truth. Liana knew the first wave of illness would spread quickly. In her previous life, the early symptoms had been mistaken for ordinary flu—fever, headaches, fatigue. Then came confusion. Then aggression. Then something far worse. But this time, she didn’t know whether the disease would behave exactly the same way. The timeline had already changed. She couldn’t take chances.---The basement was divided into three sections. One would become the quarantine room. Another would store medicine. The third would remain empty as an emergency isolation area.Adrian reinforced the door. Ethan helped install shelves. Liana brought medical supplies from storage—bandages, thermometers, masks, gloves, disin







