The headache hit me like a sledgehammer the moment I stepped back into the house. I pressed my palm against my forehead, trying to ease the pounding that seemed to sync with my heartbeat. The alien visions were still flashing behind my eyelids—those impossible cities, the wars fought with reality-bending weapons, and most disturbing of all, that vast intelligence that had evaluated me like I was some kind of specimen.

"Ryan, you look like hell," Sydney said, her voice cutting through the fog of pain as she guided me toward the living room couch. "Sit down before you collapse."

I dropped into the cushions gratefully, every muscle in my body feeling like it had been wrung out and left to dry. The red stone in my pocket had cooled somewhat, but I could still feel it there, humming faintly with residual energy. Whatever connection it had to that device was real, powerful, and absolutely terrifying.

The others had followed us inside, forming a loose semicircle around the couch. Christopher and Cindy stood near the doorway, their faces etched with concern. Daisy had positioned herself as far from me as possible while still remaining in the room, her usual nervousness amplified into something approaching panic. Liu Mei had taken her customary position by the window, observing everything with those unnerving red eyes.

Rachel settled into the chair across from me, her green eyes filled with worry that went deeper than simple concern for my physical wellbeing. Beside her, Rebecca stood with her arms crossed, her expression a mixture of fear and growing suspicion. Elena and Alisha lingered near the staircase, and I caught the way Elena's hand trembled slightly where it rested on the banister.

"What the hell happened out there?" Rebecca demanded, her voice sharp with accusation. "One minute you're fine, the next you're acting like you stuck your finger in an electrical socket."

"I need to tell you all something," I said, my voice rougher than I intended. "Something I should have told you a long time ago."

The room went dead silent. I could feel everyone's eyes on me, waiting for an explanation that I'd been dreading to give for weeks.

"The infection," I began slowly, choosing my words carefully, "it wasn't an accident. It wasn't some natural disaster or laboratory mistake that got out of control."

"What do you mean?" Christopher asked, stepping closer. His face had gone pale, and I could see him already trying to process implications he didn't want to consider.

"I mean it was deliberate," I said, meeting his eyes. "The virus was released intentionally. By... by beings that aren't from Earth."

The silence that followed was deafening. For a moment, nobody moved, nobody breathed. Then Christopher let out a short, nervous laugh.

"Aliens?" he said, shaking his head. "You're talking about aliens? Come on, Ryan, I know you hit your head or whatever, but—"

"I'm not joking," I cut him off. "And I didn't hit my head. The creatures that released the infection, they're not human. They're from somewhere else, and this was part of some larger conflict."

Sydney's hand found mine on the couch, squeezing gently. "Ryan, that's... that's insane. You're saying little green men are responsible for the zombie apocalypse?"

"Not little green men," I said, grateful for her touch even as I saw the disbelief in her eyes. "Something else. Something that saw Earth as a threat, or maybe just in the way. But the invasion itself... it wasn't really about conquering us."

Daisy made a small sound of distress from her corner. "This is crazy," she whispered. "This is absolutely crazy."

"Is it?" Liu Mei spoke for the first time since we'd come inside, her voice carrying that same unnervingly calm tone she always used. "More crazy than the dead walking around trying to eat us? More crazy than that device sitting in our garage that clearly wasn't built by human hands?"

"You believe him?" Rebecca snapped, whirling to face Liu Mei. "You actually believe this science fiction nonsense?"

Liu Mei shrugged elegantly. "The evidence supports his claim. The device, the coordinated nature of some infected attacks, the way certain locations seem to be specifically targeted..." She paused, those black eyes fixing on me with uncomfortable intensity. "And of course, there's Abraham Lincoln himself."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Christopher demanded.

I felt my stomach drop. This was the part I'd been dreading most.

"There's more," I said, forcing myself to continue. "I'm... different. I've been different since I was born. I carry something inside me—a virus, but not like the infection that's spreading outside."

"Different how?" Cindy asked, though from her tone I could tell she was already afraid of the answer.

I took a deep breath, knowing that once I said this, there would be no taking it back.

"When I was a baby, I was chosen as a host by something called the Dullahan virus. It's been inside me my entire life, dormant mostly, but it makes me stronger, faster, more resilient than I should be. And it also..." I paused, hating what I had to say next. "It also makes me a target. The infected are drawn to people like me automatically."

Rebecca's face had gone white. "You," she said. "You're talking about yourself, aren't you? You're some kind of walking magnet for those things."

I nodded, unable to meet her eyes. "Yes."

The explosion of rage that followed was immediate and devastating.

"ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?" Rebecca screamed, her voice cracking with fury. "You've known this your entire life? You've known that you're some kind of walking target, and you never thought to mention it?"

"Rebecca—" I started, but she cut me off with a gesture so violent I flinched.

"Don't you dare," she snarled. "Don't you fucking dare try to explain this away. We've been living with you, traveling with you, trusting you, and this entire time you've been putting us all in danger!"

"It's not that simple—"

"IT IS EXACTLY THAT SIMPLE!" She was shaking now, her hands clenched into fists at her sides. "Every time those things attacked us, every time we barely escaped with our lives, it was because of you! Because you're some kind of monster magnet and you were too much of a selfish coward to tell us!"

"Rebecca, stop it!" Rachel interrupted sharply. She stood up from her chair, moving to place herself between Rebecca and me. "That's enough!"

"Enough?" Rebecca whirled on her sister, her face twisted with betrayal and fury. "ENOUGH? Rachel, he's been lying to us for weeks! He's been putting us all in danger and lying about it, and you want me to stop?"

"Yes," Rachel said. "I want you to stop and think about what you're saying. Think about how many times Ryan has risked his life to save us. Think about how many times he's put himself between us and danger."

"Because it was HIS FAULT we were in danger in the first place!"

"Was it his fault that he was born with this virus?" Rachel shot back, her voice growing heated. "Was it his fault that aliens decided to invade Earth? Was it his fault that you and I were trapped in our apartment with infected trying to break down the door?"

Rebecca's mouth worked soundlessly for a moment, but then her eyes narrowed with a different kind of anger.

"You knew," she said, her voice dropping to a dangerous whisper. "You knew, didn't you? You've known what he was this whole time."

Rachel's face went pale, but she didn't back down. "Yes. I knew."

"YOU KNEW?" Rebecca's voice cracked like a whip. "You knew he was putting us all in danger, and you didn't tell me? Your own sister?"

"I knew he was trying to protect us," Rachel replied firmly. "I knew he was carrying a burden that wasn't his fault, and I wasn't going to make it worse by betraying his trust."

"By betraying his trust?" Rebecca repeated incredulously. "What about betraying MY trust? What about betraying the trust of everyone else in this group?"

Elena stepped forward hesitantly, her voice quiet but clear. "Rebecca, please. Ryan saved our lives multiple times. Whatever danger he might represent, he's also been our protector."

"Don't," Rebecca snapped, pointing an accusing finger at Elena. "Don't you start defending him too. I suppose this means you knew as well?"

Elena's silence was answer enough.

Rebecca let out a bitter laugh. "Perfect. Just perfect. So half the group has been keeping this secret, and the rest of us have just been walking around blind while you all decided what we needed to know."

Christopher was staring at all of us with an expression of shocked bewilderment. "Wait, hold on. You're saying that multiple people knew about this? And nobody thought to share with the rest of us?"

"We were trying to protect—" I started.

"Protect who?" Christopher interrupted. "Protect us? Or protect yourself from having to deal with our reactions?"

The accusation hit home harder than I wanted to admit. "Both, maybe," I said quietly. "I was scared. Scared you'd all leave, scared you'd hate me, scared you'd see me as a monster…"

I have acted arrogant, clearly thinking without me they wouldn't be safe…

"Well congratulations," Rebecca said bitterly. "You got at least one of those right."

I saw Rachel flinch at her sister's cruelty, and Elena made a small sound of distress.

"He saved our lives that day," Rachel said, her voice fierce with protective anger. "When those infected were breaking down our door, when we were trapped and terrified and certain we were going to die. Same in Lexington Charter. Ryan risked everything to get us out of there. He also saved people from the Municipal Office…"

"Because he was the reason we were in danger in the first place!" Rebecca shot back.

"No," I said quietly, and something in my tone made everyone turn to look at me. "No, that's not true. Not always."

"What do you mean?" Sydney asked, her hand still holding mine despite everything.

"The attacks on the Municipal Office," I said slowly. "They didn't start because I was there. They started before we ever arrived. The first attacks happened days before we showed up."

Rebecca's expression shifted slightly, confusion replacing some of the anger. "Then why...?"

"Because I suspect there's someone else," I said. "Someone like me, but carrying a different virus. Maybe a higher-tier one. The aliens were systematically attacking that place, targeting specific locations. I think whoever they were looking for was probably in the municipal office."

The room fell silent as everyone processed this information.

"You think there are others?" Christopher asked quietly. "Other people born with these... viruses?"

I nodded. "I think the Dullahan virus isn't the only one. I think there are others scattered around the world, people who were chosen as hosts when they were babies. The aliens see us as threats, so they're trying to eliminate us."

"And the infected are drawn to all of you automatically," Liu Mei observed with her characteristic directness.

"Yes. It's not something I can control. They just... sense us somehow."

Rebecca stared at me for a long moment, her face cycling through a dozen different emotions. The fury was still there, but it was being joined by confusion, fear, and something that might have been understanding but beyond that I saw disappointment.

"I know you saved us," she said finally, her voice thick with unshed tears. "I know you've risked everything for us, over and over again. But I can't... I can't just accept that you hid something this important from us. That you all did." Her gaze swept across Rachel and Elena. "I can't pretend that's okay."

She turned toward the stairs, pausing only to look back over her shoulder.

"And Rachel," she added, her voice cracking, "I can't believe you didn't trust me enough to tell me. I'm your sister. We've never kept secrets like this from each other."

"Rebecca, please—" Rachel started, but her sister was already walking away.

The sound of her footsteps on the stairs and the slam of her bedroom door echoed through the house.

The silence that followed was oppressive. I could feel everyone's eyes on me, could sense the wheels turning in their heads as they tried to process everything I'd just told them.

Christopher was the first to speak.

"So let me make sure I understand this," he said slowly. "You were born with an alien virus that makes you stronger but also makes you a target. There are probably others like you scattered around the world. The aliens are hunting all of you. And the zombie apocalypse was basically a side effect of their search and destroy mission."

I wasn't sure about the last part but it was possible…

"That's... that's about the size of it, yeah."

He ran his hands through his hair, letting out a long breath. "Jesus Christ, Ryan. I mean... Jesus Christ."

"Are you angry?" I asked, bracing myself for another explosion.

Christopher looked at me for a long moment, then at Cindy, then back at me. "I don't know what I am," he said finally. "Scared, maybe. Confused as hell. But angry?" He shook his head. "I keep thinking about all the times you've had our backs. All the times you've stepped up when the rest of us were too scared or too slow. If having this virus is what made that possible..."

He trailed off, shrugging helplessly.

"I wish you'd told us," Cindy added quietly. "Not because I'm angry, but because... because maybe we could have helped. Maybe we could have figured this out together instead of you carrying it alone."

Sydney squeezed my hand again, and when I looked at her, I saw understanding beginning to replace the hurt in her eyes.

"The device," she said. "When you touched it, you had some kind of reaction because of this virus?"

"I think so. I saw... things. Visions, maybe. Other worlds, other wars. And I think that red stone I've been carrying is connected to it somehow."

"Red stone?" Christopher asked, but before I could explain, Liu Mei spoke up from her position by the window.

"Fascinating," she said in that maddeningly calm voice. "A primordial alien virus that enhances human capability, mysterious artifacts that respond to carriers, and an ongoing extraterrestrial conflict that we've stumbled into the middle of." She turned away from the window to face the rest of us. "How delightfully complicated."

"That's all you have to say?" Sydney raised a brow. "Delightfully complicated?"

Liu Mei tilted her head, considering the question. "What would you prefer I say? That I'm shocked? Horrified? Devastated by this revelation?" She waved a dismissive hand. "I suspected something of this nature from the beginning. Abraham Lincoln has never behaved like an ordinary teenage boy. His combat effectiveness, his strategic thinking, his uncanny ability to sense danger before it arrives... it was obvious that something had fundamentally altered him."

"So you're just... okay with this?" Daisy asked from her corner, her voice small and frightened.

"I'm practical," Liu Mei replied. "The nature of our circumstances doesn't change based on their origin. We're still surrounded by hostile entities. We still need food, shelter, and security. Whether those hostile entities are the result of a natural plague or an alien invasion is ultimately irrelevant to our day-to-day survival."

She moved toward her room then, pausing to glance back at us.

"Though I will say this," she added. "If we're truly caught in the middle of an interstellar conflict, then our previous assumptions about the scope and duration of this crisis may need to be... revised."

With that characteristically cryptic comment, she disappeared upstairs, leaving the rest of us to stare after her.

"Did she just basically say 'we're all doomed' and then go take a nap?" Sydney asked incredulously.

"That's Liu Mei for you," Christopher replied, laughing.

Elena, who had been quiet throughout most of the confrontation, finally stepped forward from her position near the staircase.

"Are there others?" She asked quietly. "Other people with these... viruses?"

I looked at her, grateful for the supportive tone in her voice after Rebecca's harsh words.

"I think so," I said carefully. "The aliens seem to be systematically hunting for people like me, which suggests there might be others out there. Different viruses, different capabilities, but all seen as threats that need to be eliminated."

"The device in the garage," Alisha said suddenly, her voice tight with realization. "You think it's connected to this somehow?"

"The visions I had when I touched it... they showed me a network of similar artifacts scattered across different worlds. Like they were all connected, all part of some larger system."

"A weapon system?" Christopher asked.

"Maybe. Or maybe something else entirely. I don't know yet."

The guilt was still eating at me, but looking around at the faces of people who had become my family, I felt a small flicker of hope. Yes, Rebecca was furious—and she had every right to be. Yes, I'd shattered their trust by keeping such a massive secret. But the others... Christopher, Cindy, Sydney, even Elena, Alisha and Daisy... they were still here. Still willing to stand by me despite everything.

"I know this changes everything," I said, my voice heavy with the weight of what I was about to offer. "I know having me here puts you all in constant danger. If you want me to leave... if you think you'd be safer without me around... I'll understand. I can pack my things and be gone by morning."

The words tasted like ash in my mouth, but I forced them out anyway. These people deserved the choice—the choice I'd taken away from them by hiding the truth for so long.

"Don't be an idiot," Sydney said fiercely, her grip tightening on my hand. "You're not going anywhere."

"Absolutely not," Christopher added, stepping forward with a determined expression. "We're not kicking you out because of something that isn't your fault."

"Where would you even go?" Cindy asked. "And more importantly, how would we survive without you? Even from before, you're really the one who's kept us alive this long."

"We're stronger together," Elena said quietly, her voice steady despite the tremor I could detect underneath. "That's been true since the beginning, and it's still true now."

Even Daisy, pale and frightened as she was, managed to speak up from her corner. "You... you saved us all so many times. I don't want you to leave either, Ryan…"

The only one who remained silent was Alisha. She stood near the staircase, her blue eyes unreadable as she watched the exchange.

"See?" Sydney said, gesturing around the room. "Nobody wants you to leave. We're family, Ryan. Weird, dysfunctional, alien-virus-infected family maybe, but still family."

"Thank you," I managed, my voice rougher than I intended. "All of you. I know I don't deserve—"

"Stop," Christopher interrupted. "Just stop with the guilt spiral. We've all made mistakes, we've all kept secrets. The important thing is that we're dealing with it now."

"Speaking of dealing with it," Cindy said, turning to face Rachel and Elena with a mischievous expression that immediately put me on alert. "I have to say, I'm a little hurt that you two knew about this the whole time and didn't think to share with the rest of the class."

Christopher nodded in agreement, crossing his arms with mock severity. "Seriously. How long have you known? And more importantly, how did you figure it out? Because I pride myself on being pretty observant, and I completely missed it."

Rachel's face immediately went bright red, her eyes widening in what looked suspiciously like panic. "We... I... that is..."

Elena wasn't faring much better. Her usual composed demeanor cracked entirely as a deep blush spread across her cheeks. "It's complicated," she said weakly.

"Complicated how?" Christopher pressed, clearly enjoying their discomfort. "Did Ryan tell you directly? Did you figure it out from observation? Come on, throw us a bone here."

Both women exchanged a glance, and in that instant, I could almost see the realization flicker in their eyes. They were sharp—too sharp not to put the pieces together once the silence stretched long enough.

I had cured them both, yes, but I'd never breathed a word about the other. Each of them thought she carried that secret alone, hidden away under the veil of my discretion. I had carefully avoided mentioning names, avoided even the slightest hint of who else in our group had received the same gift.

But after Rebecca's outburst—after she cornered Rachel and Elena with those pointed words and forced them to confess they already knew—I watched as the truth clicked in their minds.

The possibility hit them like lightning: the woman sitting across from them… she might be the another one cured by me.

Shock widened both pairs of eyes, bright and unguarded for a split second, before they quickly broke the stare, turning their gazes aside as if the very thought was too heavy to confront directly.

Alisha, who had been watching quietly from the side, finally let out a long sigh. Her expression softened with the weight of understanding. She, too, had guessed the truth about Rachel judging from her reaction.

"Hey! What's with this reaction!" Christopher shouted but clearly none of us three were ready to speak about my super curing power through sex…

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