Hannah’s face is still stained with tears.
Avery’s blood covers her hands.
But her voice?
Steady now.
“You have a name.”
Eli stares at her like she just handed him oxygen.
“My sister used to call me Eli-bug,” he whispers.
Oh God.
The woman operative suddenly covers her mouth with trembling fingers.
“I had a brother.”
Wu snaps instantly.
“Your brother abandoned you.”
The woman recoils automatically.
Fear.
Conditioned response.
But Hannah steps closer.
“No,” she says softly. “They told us that about everyone.”
Silence.
Horrible silence.
Because I think every person in that tunnel just realized the same thing.
Sentinel isolated them on purpose.
Destroyed family bonds.
Rewrote attachment.
Made children dependent on the system instead of each other.
Gabriel’s voice goes rough beside us.
“They used to tell us family made us weak.”
Hannah looks at him slowly.
Tears welling again.
“But you still came back for me.”
Gabriel’s composure finally breaks.
