The quarantine shed sat tucked between the milk preparation area and the perimeter fence. The wood was weathered but solid, the metal roof faded with rust along the edges.

Bette had made a short trip across the compound in record time and was already waiting outside the open door, when the van, which had been forced to follow the road, rolled to a stop a few feet away from her. Wilson stepped out first. Elijah followed, slower, his boots crunching on the gravel as he approached, his eyes were on the ground.

Bette didn’t move. Her gaze was locked on him, unreadable, cool, controlled, but seething underneath. Elijah finally looked up, and for a moment, neither spoke. The silence pulsed between them.

“Elijah,” she said at last, her voice even but low. “You’re standing in a place built for the injured, the infected… the ones we had to isolate to stop something worse from spreading. Fitting, don’t you think?”

Wilson shifted beside Elijah, as if preparing to intervene, but didn’t speak.

Elijah raised his eyes fully to hers. “I didn’t come here to cause more harm.”

Bette didn’t flinch, but something flickered in her expression, doubt, perhaps, or recognition. “Then I suggest you start explaining why you’re here. Because right now, all I see is someone who helps the kind of men who kill what we fight to protect.”

Elijah shifted uncomfortably, his eyes darting briefly to the ground before meeting Bette’s gaze again. “I know my past doesn’t speak for itself. I haven’t exactly earned your trust. But I didn’t come here to hurt anyone or anything. I came because… I need to stop what’s happening. Chang isn’t just a poacher. He’s got a grip on this whole operation, and I’ve been caught up in it longer than I should have been.”

Bette’s expression remained steely. “You’ve been part of this mess, Elijah. You’ve helped the very people who tear apart the essence of this continent. I can’t just look past that.”

Elijah’s throat tightened, but he pressed on, the words coming with a weight he hadn’t fully realized he carried. “I’m not asking you to forgive me. I’m asking for a chance to make it right. The man in the van, Kamau… he knows things. I know things. We have information that could expose Chang. If we don’t do something, Chang will only get worse, and I don’t know how much more damage he’ll do.”