Zane moved before sunrise, slipping out of the safehouse while the others slept. Ava had taken the rooftop shift, eyes half-closed in the mist.
He followed the System's guidance, stepping over moss-eaten bricks and cracked pavement. The eastern district was mostly ruin now—abandoned apartments, a flooded underpass, and rusting delivery trucks long since looted.
[Signal Proximity: 62m]
The static in his HUD grew sharper, focused.
He turned the corner and froze.
A drone—busted, tangled in vines, its red light blinking weakly—lay half-buried in a ditch. Not a FEDRA model. Sleeker. Custom-modified. Experimental.
He crouched next to it, brushing dirt off the shell. There was no symbol, no flag. Just a code scratched into the side.
R-23 / GLR-FLY-A2
[Object Scanned: Recon Drone - Class: Rogue Firefly Variant]
Possible Use: Territory Mapping, Target Acquisition, Audio Logging
Zane opened a compartment and pulled out a small drive, surprisingly intact.
Next to it, buried beneath the debris, was a leather-bound journal—water-damaged but legible in parts.
He flipped through.
Scouting logs. Coordinates. Sketches of safehouses—including his.
He kept flipping, hands tightening as the entries got messier. Desperate. Obsessive.
"She's still out here. I know it. Jackson's not safe anymore. She left something unfinished."
"If we find her, the others will follow."
Then one word, underlined again and again:
Ellie.
Zane's heart skipped.
She was out there.
And someone was hunting her.
[Side Quest Unlocked: The Unfinished Path]
Objective: Locate signs of Ellie. Warning: High-Risk Encounter Potential.
He pocketed the drive and journal, standing slowly. Something about this wasn't just survival. This was bigger. People were still fighting wars, chasing ghosts in a world that had already ended.
And Ellie? If she was out there… what could she mean to this world now?
To his base?
Footsteps.
Zane spun around, pistol raised.
Ava.
"You weren't in your bed," she said, rifle slung casually, but her eyes sharp.
"Couldn't sleep," Zane said, slipping the journal deeper into his coat. "Found a drone."
Her gaze dropped to the wreckage. "Fireflies?"
"Maybe rogue. Old world stuff."
She didn't push further—but she didn't look convinced either.
"You planning to tell me what you're really building back there?" she asked.
Zane met her gaze, calm. "A place where people don't have to run."
That made her pause.
"Yeah?" she said. "Hope you know what that costs."
He didn't respond.
Not yet.
[Bond Progress: No Change - "Tension Stable"]
They started walking back in silence.
Zane kept one hand in his coat pocket, thumb brushing the edge of the journal.
Ellie.
Not yet.
But soon.