Page 67 of Outbreak Protocol

He manages a weak smile for her, reaching to touch her cheek with his free hand.

"We're at a special hospital," she tells him earnestly. "Erik says you're getting better. And he's been taking care of me just like he promised."

Felix looks at me over Emma's head, a world of questions in his eyes.

"Later," I mouth silently. "Rest now."

As Emma chatters to Felix about our helicopter ride, I step into the hallway and check my phone. Reports are coming in—Bremen, Hannover, and Kiel reporting new cases despite the containment operation. The virus had already spread further than anyone realized.

Hamburg's destruction was for nothing.

I slide down the wall until I'm sitting on the floor, phone clutched in my hand. Sarah finds me there sometime later.

"Erik," she says gently. "Felix is asking for you."

I nod, unable to speak.

"The military wants our team to continue research. They've prioritized our project now."

Now. After Hamburg is gone. After 5 million people are dead. Now they prioritize the treatment.

"We'll keep working," I finally say, voice rough. "We'll make it work for everyone. No more Maria Schmidts. No more Johann Webers."

"And then?"

"And then we make them acknowledge what they've done." I stand slowly, pocketing my phone. "But first, Felix needs me."

I return to his room. Emma has fallen asleep again, her head resting against Felix's side. He's more alert now, eyes tracking me as I enter.

The military doctors have removed his breathing tube,replacing it with a nasal cannula. He looks exhausted but present.

"Hamburg, are you sure?" he whispers, voice raw from intubation.

I sit beside him, take his hand. "Completely gone. Military containment protocol. Three tactical nuclear strikes."

He closes his eyes, absorbing this. "Anna?"

"We buried her, remember? Before..."

He nods slightly, his mind still confused by the aftereffects of the virus. "Emma's parents?"

"Her mother was Anna," I remind him gently. "Her father has never been in the picture, remember?"

"So she's..."

"She's with us now. You're her guardian, according to Anna's will."

He processes this, eyes moving to the sleeping child. "And the virus?"

"Still spreading. The treatment works, Felix. Not perfectly, not for everyone yet, but it works. We just needed more time."

"And now?"

"Now we continue our work. Make the treatment safer. More effective. Prevent this from happening again."

He squeezes my hand weakly. "Stay with me?"

"Always," I promise, settling in beside him. "Always."