The Spare's Second Chance in Apocalypse-Chapter 251: Ch 250: The Confrontation - Part 1

The kiss left Selene stunned. She parted her lips to say something, but nothing coherent came out.

A stutter, a breath—her mind scrambled for words, but they refused to form.

Ethan noticed.

His expression flickered with amusement before a blush crept onto his face.

But unlike Selene, he was quick to regain composure.

He reached out to take her hand again, maybe to reassure her, but Selene jerked her hand away as if his touch burned her.

She stood abruptly, turning on her heel and walking away without another word.

Ethan sighed, running a hand through his hair.

"Guess I deserve that."

He muttered, before following after her.

They walked in silence for a while.

The tension from the kiss still lingered, thick and unspoken between them. Ethan finally broke it.

"So, what’s your plan now?"

Selene, still a little stiff, forced herself to refocus. She took a deep breath and pushed past her lingering emotions.

"The Vale family will cover this up soon. They’ll bury this facility, erase everything. Before that happens, I need to retrieve any data I can."

Ethan nodded, his usual sharpness returning.

"Makes sense. Let’s split up. Cover more ground."

Selene agreed, and they moved in separate directions, searching for anything valuable.

She knew from her past life that the Vale research team had extensive knowledge of the apocalypse—studying it, predicting it, maybe even trying to control it.

But their findings had never been made public. If she could get her hands on their hidden research, it might be the key to understanding the system and fighting against it.

As she navigated the ruined hallways, she finally found what she was looking for. The main computer.

A massive server system sat at the end of the room, its monitors still active despite the chaos around them.

Selene hurried over and tried to access the files, but a login screen appeared. A password was required.

Selene gritted her teeth. She had no idea what the password could be. Time was running out, and she was about to give up when—

[Do you need help?]

The voice.

Selene stiffened. The entity inside her, the one that had been lingering in the back of her mind, whispered again.

Before she could even respond, the screen flickered. The login page disappeared, and suddenly, she was inside the system.

Selene swallowed. That was too easy.

[I can store all the data for you. The system will help you in this regard.]

The voice added, almost smugly.

Suspicion curled in her gut.

Every time this thing intervened, it acted like it was doing her a favor. Like it was waiting for something in return.

But she had no time to argue.

If she hesitated now, the information would be lost forever.

"Fine."

She whispered, allowing the voice to do its work.

Immediately, she felt something shift. A wave of satisfaction pulsed through her, not from herself, but from the entity inside her mind.

It was pleased. Too pleased.

Ignoring the discomfort, she focused on gathering the files.

She sifted through manual documents while the system downloaded digital data.

Countless records, experiment logs, confidential notes—most of it was vague or coded, but some were valuable. She kept looking until she stumbled upon something strange.

Project X-09344

The label sent a chill down her spine. Something about it felt... off.

She didn’t recognize the name, but her instincts screamed at her to open the file.

Her fingers hovered over it.

Then—

BEEP. BEEP. BEEP.

A blaring alarm shattered the silence.

Selene’s head snapped up as red lights flashed across the facility. A robotic voice echoed through the speakers:

[WARNING. SELF-DESTRUCTION SEQUENCE INITIATED. EVACUATE IMMEDIATELY.]

The ground trembled. Machinery groaned. Metal beams screeched as the facility began its automated collapse.

Selene cursed. She had wasted too much time.

She grabbed a handful of physical documents, shoving them into her coat before sprinting out of the room.

Data still streamed into her system storage, but she had no way of knowing if it would finish before everything went up in flames.

As she turned the corner, she almost collided with Ethan.

"We need to go, now."

He snapped, already moving.

She didn’t argue. They sprinted down the crumbling hallways, dodging falling debris and avoiding collapsing pathways.

Flames burst from ruptured pipes, and the heat made it harder to breathe.

"Did you get anything?"

Ethan yelled over the alarms.

"Some. Not sure how much, but enough!"

Selene shouted back.

Ethan cursed under his breath.

"Then let’s hope it was worth it!"

A chunk of the ceiling caved in behind them, sending a shockwave of dust and debris.

Selene didn’t look back. She focused on the exit.

Almost there.

A massive steel door stood between them and freedom. It was already half-shut, slowly sealing itself as part of the lockdown procedure. If they didn’t make it in time—

"Go!"

Ethan barked, grabbing Selene’s wrist and pulling her forward.

They sprinted at full speed. The gap was closing.

Selene gritted her teeth, pushing her body to its limit. The pain from earlier still burned through her limbs, but she ignored it.

Ethan shoved her forward first. fɾēewebnσveℓ.com

Selene barely managed to squeeze through the narrowing gap, scraping her arm in the process. She turned back just in time to see Ethan dive forward—

The door slammed shut.

For a second, everything went silent.

Selene’s heart stopped.

Then—

A loud clang echoed as Ethan forced the door open an inch, his strength barely keeping it from locking him inside. His teeth were clenched, veins visible in his arms.

Selene didn’t hesitate. She grabbed his hand, pulling with everything she had.

With a final push, Ethan wrenched himself through. The door locked behind him with a deafening bang.

They collapsed to the ground, coughing and gasping for air.

Behind them, the facility trembled violently. Flames burst through the cracks, and with a final, earth-shaking roar—

It imploded.

Selene shielded her eyes as the lab was swallowed by dust and fire.

For a long moment, neither of them spoke.

Then Ethan groaned, rolling onto his back.

"That was way too close."

Selene let out a breath, her hands still trembling.

"Yeah."

They had made it. But at what cost?

As Selene looked at the data she had gathered, her grip tightened.

She had a feeling this was only the beginning.