_*]:min-w-0 !gap-3.5">Viktor crouched by the perimeter fence of the research outpost, his pale fingers tracing the rusted chain links. The morning sun filtered through patchy clouds, causing him to instinctively shift into the shadows cast by nearby trees.

  "The facility appears intact," he said, voice low and measured. "Environmental research, according to the signage. Should have the basic boratory equipment we need."

  Elena knelt beside him, notebook already open. "Soil and water testing equipment at minimum. Possibly centrifuges, microscopes." Her eyes gleamed with scientific anticipation. "After all this time, a proper b setup again."

  Runner bounced on his heels, eager energy radiating from his nky frame. "I found something! East fence has a breach—looks deliberate, though. Someone cut through it."

  Viktor's expression tightened. "The main approach is too exposed. Anyone watching would see us coming from half a mile away."

  "And if the fence was cut deliberately..." Elena closed her notebook with a snap.

  "Then someone else might have the same idea we do," Viktor finished, rising smoothly to his feet. "We should circle around, approach from the rear where tree cover is denser."

  Runner grinned. "Like shadows in the night. Except, you know, morning."

  They moved with practiced coordination, Viktor taking point with Elena close behind. Runner brought up the rear, his footfalls nearly silent—a skill he'd developed under Viktor's patient training. The clouds above shifted, allowing more sunlight to break through. Viktor's shoulders tensed almost imperceptibly.

  Elena noticed immediately. "The cloud cover's breaking up," she whispered, concern evident in her voice.

  "I'm aware," Viktor replied tersely, then added in a gentler tone, "It's manageable."

  Halfway around the perimeter, Viktor froze. His head lifted slightly, nostrils fring.

  "What is it?" Elena asked, immediately alert.

  "Human scents. Multiple. Not passing through—staying." His voice dropped even lower, barely audible.

  Runner frowned. "How many? How close to the facility?"

  "Can't determine precisely. The wind is shifting." Viktor's eyes scanned the seemingly empty forest, seeing details invisible to his companions.

  "I can find out," Runner volunteered, already reaching for the pouch of herbs at his belt. "The blood-masking works. They won't detect me."

  Viktor turned to him, weighing options with clinical precision. "Fifteen minutes," he finally conceded. "Any longer and we come looking."

  Elena touched Runner's arm. "Priority information: numbers, weapons, position retive to the facility."

  Runner nodded, quickly rubbing the pungent herbs on his pulse points. "Back before you know it," he whispered, then slipped into the underbrush with remarkable agility for someone so young.

  Viktor remained perfectly still, listening to Runner's fading footsteps. His stance betrayed nothing, but Elena had learned to read the minute tensions in his body.

  "He's gotten very good," she offered quietly.

  "Yes." A single word, but the pride in Viktor's voice was unmistakable.

  They waited in silence, Viktor occasionally shifting to avoid direct sunlight as the cloud patterns changed. Elena observed his movements, mentally calcuting his sun exposure with clinical precision.

  Runner returned exactly fourteen minutes ter, breathing slightly elevated but controlled. "Six, maybe seven of them. Improvised weapons, one rifle I could see." He crouched down, using a stick to draw a rough map in the dirt. "They've been there at least a few days. Empty cans, waste pile. They're camped right by the main entrance."

  Viktor studied the crude map. "Well-positioned. They have clear sightlines to all obvious approaches."

  "We could wait until dark," Elena suggested, gncing at Viktor. The increasing sunlight was clearly causing him discomfort, though he'd never admit it.

  Runner shook his head. "They have the entrance covered with lookouts. But—" he added with a hint of pride, "there's a maintenance road that curves around to the back. Might give us cover to reach the secondary entrance."

  Viktor considered this, eyes flicking briefly to the increasingly bright sky before returning to the map. "Show me."

  Runner traced the route with his stick. "Here. It's overgrown, but passable. We can avoid their camp completely."

  "Your assessment?" Viktor asked Elena, including her in the tactical decision as he always did.

  Elena weighed the options with precise logic. "Runner's route minimizes contact risk. If we move quickly, we can be inside before midday."

  Viktor nodded once. "Lead the way," he told Runner.

  They followed the maintenance road, Viktor increasingly keeping to the shadows as cloud breaks became more frequent. Elena watched him with barely concealed concern as they moved deeper into the woods, circling wide around the perceived threat.

  "Stay in the tree shadow, Viktor," she murmured as a particurly bright patch of sunlight dappled the ground ahead. "The cloud cover's breaking up completely."

  "I'm fine," he replied automatically. "Keep moving."

  Runner moved with growing confidence, occasionally pointing out features that confirmed they were on the right track. "Almost there. The maintenance entrance should be just beyond that rise."

  The path narrowed as they approached a slight hill, trees closing in on either side. Viktor's instincts prickled, but the wind had shifted again, carrying their scents away from him. The forest seemed almost too quiet.

  They crested the small rise, and Runner's posture rexed slightly. "See? Told you I'd—"

  Five figures emerged simultaneously from concealed positions—three from behind trees ahead, two more stepping onto the path behind them. Crude weapons gleamed dully in the filtered sunlight—pipes, machetes fashioned from wn tools, and in the hands of the central figure, a battered hunting rifle.

  "Well now, what do we have here?" The leader was a weathered man in his fifties, deep creases lining a face burned brown by the sun. "City folks by the look of your gear."

  Viktor stepped forward, subtly positioning himself between the strangers and his companions. "We're just passing through. No need for trouble."

  The man's eyes narrowed, studying Viktor with growing suspicion. "That one's too pale. Eyes ain't right..." His rifle shifted, centering on Viktor's chest. "You traveling with a bloodsucker?"

  The atmosphere changed instantly. The other scavengers adjusted their stances, weapons raising.

  "We don't want conflict," Elena said evenly. "There's room for all of us to use the facility."

  A harsh ugh. "Hear that, boys? They want to share." The leader gestured with his rifle barrel. "Bags down, now. Everything you've got."

  Viktor remained motionless, calcuting odds with cold precision. Five opponents, crude weapons but one firearm. Protected positions. Elena and Runner exposed.

  "Do as he says," Viktor instructed calmly.

  The scavengers rexed fractionally—a mistake. As Elena and Runner slowly lowered their packs, the leader nodded to his companions.

  "Grab the woman!" he ordered suddenly. "The thing will behave if we have her!"

  Two men lunged forward. Viktor moved with inhuman speed, but the leader had anticipated this, swinging his rifle toward Elena even as Viktor engaged the first attacker.

  Runner reacted instantly. Elena saw a blur of movement as he threw himself between her and the second attacker, Viktor's combat training evident in his precise movements. There was a fsh of metal, a sickening sound of impact, and Runner cried out.

  "No!" Elena's shout coincided with Viktor's head snapping around at the sound of Runner's pain.

  What followed happened too quickly for Elena to process fully. Viktor moved between attackers with fluid, lethal efficiency. One man flew backward into a tree trunk. Another colpsed with a shattered knee. The leader raised his rifle, but Viktor was already there, wrenching the weapon away and snapping it like kindling.

  As the violence erupted, the clouds parted. Bright sunlight flooded the clearing.

  Viktor's exposed skin began to smoke immediately. He flinched but didn't retreat, dispatching the remaining attackers with ruthless precision despite the agony evident on his face. His hands blistered before Elena's eyes as he fought.

  "Get him out of here!" Viktor shouted to Elena, gesturing at Runner who had colpsed to one knee, blood spreading across his shirt.

  Elena scrambled to Runner's side. A crude bde protruded from his abdomen, the wound pumping blood at an arming rate. She immediately applied pressure around the weapon, knowing better than to remove it.

  "Can you walk?" she asked, her voice steady despite the panic fluttering at the edges of her mind.

  "Sort of," Runner gasped, his young face gray with shock and pain.

  The remaining scavengers were retreating, dragging their injured companions. Viktor turned back toward Elena and Runner, his face and hands severely burned, skin bckening in pces.

  "We need shelter. Now." Viktor's voice was tight with pain as he scanned their surroundings. His gaze fixed on something beyond the trees. "There. That building with the faded sign. Looks secure."

  Elena followed his gaze to what appeared to be an abandoned gas station about two hundred yards away. Viktor moved to lift Runner, but staggered as the continuing sun exposure weakened him.

  "I've got him," Elena insisted, helping Runner to his feet. "Lean on me. We all make it, or none of us make it."

  Viktor nodded once, pulling his coat over his head for minimal protection as they made their desperate retreat.

  The gas station was a single-story structure with boarded windows and a colpsed fuel canopy out front. Viktor forced the door with his remaining strength, the metal giving way under his enhanced power despite his weakened state. The interior was dim and dusty, shelves long since looted of anything useful.

  "Barricade that door," Elena directed as she eased Runner onto the old sales counter. "I need clean surfaces, water if you can find it."

  Viktor moved immediately to secure their position, dragging heavy shelving units against the door despite the obvious pain of his burned hands. Elena id Runner down carefully, her mind shifting into clinical assessment mode. The improvised bde—part of a dismantled car, she noted with detached professional interest—had penetrated his lower right abdomen, but the blood flow suggested it had missed major vessels.

  "Runner first," Viktor insisted, returning to her side. His face was a mask of burned tissue, hands blistered and raw. "My injuries can wait."

  "He's lost blood but the bde missed major vessels." Elena gave Viktor a stern look that brooked no argument. "Don't argue, Viktor. I need you functional to keep us secure. I'll treat you both."

  She worked methodically, carefully cutting away Runner's shirt around the wound. Her movements were precise as she cleaned the area, administered a local anesthetic from their medical supplies, and assessed the bde's position.

  "This will hurt," she warned Runner, who had maintained consciousness through sheer stubbornness. "But I need to remove it to treat you properly."

  "Just do it," Runner whispered, attempting a smile that turned into a grimace. "Did I get him at least?"

  "You did exactly what you needed to," Elena assured him, then met Viktor's eyes over Runner's body. A silent communication passed between them, and Viktor moved to hold Runner still.

  Elena extracted the bde with surgical precision, immediately applying pressure to control bleeding. The wound was deep but clean, requiring internal and external sutures. She worked with quiet efficiency, her hands steady despite the circumstances.

  "You're lucky," she told Runner as she finished the st stitch. "Another inch to the left and we'd be having a very different conversation."

  Runner's attempt at a response was slurred, the pain medication taking effect. Elena administered antibiotics, dressed the wound, and ensured he was comfortable before turning her attention to Viktor, who had maintained a vigint watch by the window despite his obvious agony.

  "Your turn," she said firmly.

  "I've had worse," Viktor replied, not moving from his position.

  "Not with me as your doctor." Elena's tone left no room for debate. "Shirt off. Now."

  Something in her voice broke through his stubborn resolve. Viktor complied with uncharacteristic obedience, carefully peeling the fabric away from burned skin. Elena fought to keep her clinical demeanor as the extent of his injuries became apparent. The burns covered his face, neck, hands, and now she could see his chest and back where sunlight had penetrated his clothing.

  "These are second-degree burns, Viktor. Don't tell me they're minor." She prepared burn treatments from their supplies, applying them with gentle efficiency.

  "I should have sensed them sooner," Viktor said quietly as she worked. "This is my failure."

  Elena's hands paused briefly. "They were waiting, Viktor. They knew exactly how to position downwind." She resumed treatment, her touch gentle despite her matter-of-fact tone. "They've probably done this before."

  As evening approached, both patients were stabilized but seriously injured. Runner slept fitfully on the makeshift bed Elena had created from their sleeping bags. Viktor sat propped against the wall, his burns treated and wrapped where possible, his healing already beginning but severely hampered by the extent of the damage.

  "How long before Runner can be moved?" Viktor asked, breaking the silence.

  Elena sighed, rubbing her eyes. "At least two days. Your burns need time too, though you won't admit it."

  "The outpost is still less than a mile away."

  "And will still be there when you're both stronger." Elena's tone was gentle but firm—the voice of authority she rarely used with Viktor, but which now came naturally in her role as their medic.

  Viktor studied her for a long moment, then nodded slightly. "Your assessment is correct. We stay."

  The night deepened around them. Elena maintained watch despite her exhaustion, regurly checking Runner's wound and Viktor's burns. Her journal y open beside her, filled with clinical notes on both patients' conditions written in her precise handwriting.

  Viktor woke to find her still working in the dim light of their single mp, her movements slow with fatigue.

  "You need to sleep, Elena," he said softly.

  "I need to change Runner's bandage in an hour." She didn't look up from her notes.

  "I can wake you. Your hands are shaking from exhaustion."

  She gnced down at her hands as if noticing their tremor for the first time. After a moment's hesitation, she nodded reluctantly. "Wake me in exactly one hour. The wound needs to be checked for signs of infection, and your burns—"

  "—need to be redressed. I remember your instructions." A ghost of a smile touched Viktor's burned lips. "Sleep, Elena."

  She settled onto the makeshift bedding beside Runner, medical instructions still tumbling from her lips as exhaustion cimed her. Viktor watched her for a moment, then took up position by the window despite his pain. His burned hand rested lightly on the weapon beside him, eyes alert as he maintained his vigil through the night.

  The tableau settled into silence—Runner sleeping the deep sleep of the injured, Elena finally surrendering to exhaustion, and Viktor maintaining watch over them both, pain evident in the set of his shoulders but determination unwavering in his vigint gaze.