The hours had passed in silence as the team settled into the darkened building,their minds still processing the day’s events. The weight of their pasts, though discussed briefly, seemed to linger in the air like the dust settling around them. After Maverick had opened up, Shadow, who had been mostly quiet, seemed to shift in his seat. There was a heaviness to his posture that had been absent before.

  The sound of a distant wind rattling the broken windows was the only thing that filled the silence, but it was clear that Shadow wasn’t content to leave things unspoken any longer. His sharp eyes, usually scanning for danger, now seemed distant, almost lost in thought.

  Razor, noticing the change in Shadow’s demeanor, shifted slightly. “You want to talk?” His voice was firm but not unkind. “It helps.”

  Shadow’s eyes flickered toward Razor for a moment, his lips pressed into a thin line. He wasn’t one to talk much, but there was something about the moment that urged him to open up, if only a little. He let out a quiet breath before speaking, his voice low and controlled, as if carefully choosing each word.

  “I was in the army,” Shadow began, his gaze fixed on the floor. “A sniper. Special Forces. My job was to take the shot when no one else could. You get used to being the invisible one—the one who doesn’t get noticed. You don’t need recognition. You don’t even need to talk to anyone. You just do your job.”

  There was a quiet pride in his tone, but also a weariness, as though it was a life he had both embraced and been forced to leave behind. He paused, running a hand through his short-cropped hair before continuing. “I was good at it. I wasn’t the best—there’s always someone better—but I was damn good at what I did. And that made me valuable, kept me alive longer than most.”

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  He glanced up, meeting the eyes of the team one by one. There was something different about him now—something human, something raw. His voice was softer, tinged with nostalgia, as he spoke about his family.

  “My parents... they’re still on base. They survived the outbreak, but they’re not out there with me. I couldn’t be there with them, couldn’t do anything to protect them when it all went down. It was like the world ended and I couldn’t even help the ones who were closest to me.” Shadow’s voice trailed off, his fists clenching at his sides.

  Gator, who had been fiddling with some equipment, looked up with a grunt. “Doesn’t matter, man. We all lost someone. It’s about surviving now. Protecting what’s left.”

  Shadow nodded, a small acknowledgment, but it didn’t seem to take away the weight of what he was carrying.

  “My parents... they’re safe, for now. But every day that passes, I wonder how long that’ll last. If they’ll make it. If any of us will.” His eyes darkened slightly, his words laced with a sense of urgency, as though his mind was racing ahead to scenarios where things could go wrong. “I’m here, with you guys, because I have to be. Because there’s nothing left for me back there if I don’t.”

  Whiz, who had been absentmindedly cleaning his medical kit, stopped for a moment, meeting Shadow’s gaze. “You don’t always get to choose where you are. But we’re all in this together, man. We don’t get to go back to what we were before. But we have each other.”

  Shadow’s lips tightened into a thin line at that. He didn’t say anything for a while, the words heavy on his tongue. But Maverick, still processing his own emotions, gave him a quiet nod of solidarity.

  “Family. It’s hard to think about, huh?” Maverick murmured, his voice softer now, understanding in his eyes. “I know I can’t go back to who I was. But I’ll keep going for them. And for all of us.”

  There was a brief moment where Shadow allowed himself a small nod. “Yeah. It’s hard. But you keep moving forward. That’s all you can do now.”

  Razor, ever the leader, broke the brief silence that followed. “Enough talk. Rest up. Tomorrow, we move again.” His tone was firm, reminding them all of the mission ahead.

  As the night stretched on, the team settled into a restless sleep, shadows of their pasts lingering in their dreams. They were different people now—haunted by loss, shaped by survival. But they were still a team, and that was all they could hold on to as the world around them continued to crumble.