Chapter 3 Reunion at the Edge of Ruin

I shoved the communicator into my jacket and twisted sharply to the left, moving fast enough to hook out a leg as I went.

'Splash!'

The entire cup of water went straight into Eliza's face, dripping down onto the deck. She screamed and tumbled awkwardly onto a seat.

"Eliza! Are you okay?" A few of the male teammates instinctively rushed forward to help her up.

Eliza sat on the floor, wiped the water from her face, and tears instantly flooded her eyes. "Iris… if you didn't forgive me, you could've just refused to drink the water. Why did you have to push me?"

The way she twisted the truth really was second nature to her.

I pulled the communicator—completely intact—from my jacket and gave it a casual shake. "Eliza, choose your words carefully. Everyone here saw it—you slipped and lunged forward on your own.

"This is the only communicator our entire team has. Even a single drop of water could've destroyed it. You were waving a full cup of water right over it—were you trying to make sure we couldn't contact the base and just waited to die in the radiation storm?"

The teammates glanced at the delicate piece of equipment, then at the puddle of water on the deck, and all of them felt a chill run down their spines. In the apocalypse, survival came before everything else.

"Yeah. That thing's our lifeline."

"Eliza, we all know you mean well, but maybe you should keep your distance from Iris from now on."

"I-I didn't! I just wanted her to drink some water…" Eliza stammered, flustered, but I cut her off.

"Whatever your intentions were, stay away from my equipment. This thing's fragile—not like certain people, whose lives are tough enough to survive any kind of recklessness."

Eliza shrank back into her seat, nodding meekly, her eyes full of resentment as she stared at me. I ignored her and focused on tuning the device.

'Bzzz…'

'We've got signal!'

I immediately dampened the sound, making sure Eliza didn't notice.

…

That night, the signal came and went, but I successfully intercepted a crucial message: the main force was stationed at a secure base to the southwest.

We changed course immediately.

Over the next few days, Eliza stayed unusually quiet, curled up in a corner of the vehicle.

To reach the base, we had to pass through an old chemical plant zone. In the pale green fog, several modified off-road vehicles gradually emerged, their bodies marked with a distinctive insignia.

'That's… Alec's team!' My heart skipped violently, and I shouted, "Stop the car!"

The other side reacted at once. Alec Kessler jumped down with a heavy sniper rifle slung across his back. He was tall and broad-shouldered, his features sharp and cold, a lethal edge settled between his brows.

Before the apocalypse, I'd been a pharmaceutical graduate student buried in lab work, while he'd been a special recruit from the same university—a former special forces soldier. After the world fell apart, I'd devoted myself to researching anti-radiation medication, while he fought on the front lines, bleeding to save others.

In my previous life, we'd met right here and traveled together. No matter how many times Eliza tried to drive a wedge between us, he'd always trusted me.

But later, when he went to look for a signal tower to protect me, Eliza had accused him of assaulting her, claiming we were stealing supplies to run away together. In the end, an enraged crowd had beaten his legs until they were broken, and we'd both been cast out of the base.

Before we died, his hand had been nothing but bone, yet he'd gently held me as I was on the verge of turning, using a dagger to give me release.

"Iris… in your next life, don't give your trust away so easily."

Those had been the last words I ever heard.

Now, watching Alec walk toward me completely unharmed, my vision blurred red.

"Which unit are you?" Alec asked warily, raising his gun as his gaze swept over our vehicle.

"Alec!" I jumped out of the car and pulled off my protective mask. "It's me—Iris."

He froze. Shock flickered through his eyes before giving way to raw disbelief and joy. "Iris? You're alive?!"