Nana had never imagined she'd wear a wedding dress.
Specimen 21 didn't get fairy tale endings. Weapons didn't have weddings. Enhanced individuals designed for combat didn't stand in gardens wearing white lace and holding flowers.
But here she was.
The dress was beautiful—simple, elegant, with enough give in the fabric to allow movement. Because Sophia had understood when Nana said "I need to be able to kick things if necessary."
And the dual guns strapped to her hips under the flowing skirt. The combat blade secured to her thigh. The weapons hidden in the bouquet's ribbon wrapping.
Just in case.
Zayne had laughed when he saw her weapon checklist. Then quietly added his own ice bow and arrows to his groomsman's jacket.
"We're getting married armed," Nana had said.
"We survived Avalon armed," Zayne had replied. "Only fitting we start our marriage the same way."
The ceremony was small. Intimate. Exactly what Zayne wanted.
His parents in the front row, already crying before the ceremony even started. A handful of close friends—Captain Chen in dress uniform, several doctors from the hospital, a few hunters from the Association.
And Nana's side... mostly empty.
Her parents were dead. Her Hunter colleagues from Linkon were gone. The friends she'd made before the outbreak had all been vaporized or evacuated to other cities.
She had no family left.
Except—
Sophia reached across the aisle and squeezed Nana's hand before the ceremony started. "You're our daughter now. Whether the paperwork says so or not."
William nodded firmly. "Family isn't just blood. It's choice. And we choose you."
Nana had cried into her bouquet while trying not to ruin her makeup.
The music started. Everyone stood.
And Nana walked down the aisle alone—no father to give her away, no family to watch her marry—but choosing this. Choosing Zayne. Choosing happiness despite everything.
Zayne stood at the altar looking like he'd stepped out of a dream. Black suit, ice-blue tie that matched her aether core, eyes wet with emotion as he watched her approach.
She reached him and he took her hands immediately.
"Hi," he whispered.
"Hi," she whispered back. "You look pretty."
"You look breathtaking."
"I have guns under my dress."
"I know. It's very you."
The priest cleared his throat, smiling. "Shall we begin?"
The ceremony was traditional. Readings about love and commitment. Promises to honor and cherish. Zayne's parents crying loudly. Captain Chen suspiciously misty-eyed.
Then came the vows.
Zayne went first, voice steady despite his hands shaking slightly in hers.
"Nana. You jumped into hell to save me. Made me fall in love with you three times. Survived everything the world threw at us and chose to keep fighting. You're the strongest person I know. Not because you're Specimen 21—though you are incredible—but because you choose kindness despite being built as a weapon. Choose love despite being taught violence. Choose me despite everything."
His voice cracked. "I promise to fight beside you. To protect you. To annoy you with wedding planning and scold you for kicking Wanderers. To love every part of you—enhanced, human, chaotic, perfect. For the rest of my life."
Nana was openly crying. "Your turn is going to be hard to beat—"
The Wanderer appeared mid-sentence.
Purple-black portal opening right behind the priest. Standard threat level. Claws raised. Hostile.
Nana didn't even turn around. Just grabbed it by the arm as it lunged, spinning and slamming it into the ground in front of the assembled guests with enough force to crack the stone pathway.
Everyone stared in stunned silence.
"This Wanderer," Nana muttered, stepping on its head while it dissolved, "trying to ruin my perfect vows."
The guests erupted in laughter.
The priest was trying not to laugh too. "Should we... continue?"
"Yes!" Nana turned back to Zayne, wedding dress slightly dusty, weapons visible now, still holding her bouquet. "Sorry. Where was I?"
"Your vows," Zayne said, grinning despite tears on his face.
"Right. Vows." She took a deep breath. "Zayne. You died six times for me. Every time, you chose to protect me. Even when you didn't remember why. Even when it killed you. You're the kindest person I've ever met. The best doctor. The most beautiful human—"
"Enhanced human—"
"—whatever, you're gorgeous. You make me want to be more than a weapon. Make me believe I can be human even with all the modifications. Make me laugh and feel safe and want impossible things like weddings and forever."
Her voice broke. "I promise to protect you. To let you scold me even though I won't listen. To tackle you during important moments. To love you through every timeline, every memory loss, every crisis. To choose you. Always. For the rest of my life."
"I now pronounce you husband and wife," the priest said, barely holding back laughter. "You may—"
Nana tackled Zayne before he could finish.
Full-force enhanced-strength tackle-kiss that knocked him backward, both of them tumbling into the grass while guests cheered and laughed.
"NANA—" Zayne protested between kisses. "You just—I got tackled—by someone who doesn't even reach my shoulder—"
"You're my husband now. I can tackle you whenever I want."
"That's not how marriage works—"
"That's exactly how OUR marriage works."
She kissed him again, deeper, while their guests applauded and took pictures and celebrated the most chaotic wedding in Bloomshore's history.
For a while, everything was perfect.
Dancing with Zayne while he whispered that he'd tackle her back later as revenge. Eating cake that Sophia had made with love and entirely too much frosting. Watching Zayne's parents cry happy tears while giving speeches about finding Nana and gaining a daughter.
Captain Chen's toast: "To the two people who saved Bloomshore and somehow found time to fall in love. May your marriage have fewer vampire attacks than your courtship."
Everyone laughed. Clinked glasses. Celebrated.
Nana felt happy. Genuinely, impossibly happy.
This is what we fought for. This moment. This peace.
Then Zayne's phone buzzed. Emergency alert. His expression shifted immediately—doctor-mode activating.
"There's been an incident," he said quietly. "Multiple casualties. Soldier bites. They need me at the hospital."
Nana was already standing, wedding dress or not. "I'm coming."
"Nana, it's our wedding day—"
"And we're both needed. Come on."
They left together, still in wedding attire, weapons visible now, guests calling worried goodbyes.
Of course. Of course something would happen today. We're cursed or fate hates us or—
The hospital was chaos when they arrived.
Soldiers everywhere. Medical staff running. Screaming from the trauma bays.
"What happened?" Zayne demanded, already moving toward the sounds of crisis.
"Facility breach. The one in Harbor City. Demons escaped during containment. Bit multiple soldiers before being contained." The triage nurse was pale. "Transformation time is three hours for demon bites. We've been amputating infected limbs to stop the spread—"
They entered the trauma bay.
The smell hit first. Blood. Burned flesh. Something wrong.
Soldiers on tables. Some missing arms where demons had bitten. Some missing legs. All screaming, crying, terrified.
Zayne moved immediately into surgeon mode. Assessing wounds. Calling orders. Stabilizing patients while nurses prepared for emergency amputations.
"If we cut fast enough—within the first hour—we can stop the infection from spreading," he explained rapidly. "The demon venom travels through the bloodstream but it's slower than vampire bites. We have time—"
A hunter crashed through the doors.
Female. Maybe thirty. Covered in blood. And her neck—
Vampire bite. Fresh. Maybe twenty minutes old.
"Please—" she gasped. "Please save me—I can feel it—I can feel myself changing—"
Nana recognized the transformation immediately. Had seen it too many times in Avalon. The way pupils dilated. Skin paled. Breathing changed.
Twenty minutes was too fast. Way too fast.
"How long ago were you bitten?" Zayne asked, already checking the wound.
"Fifteen—twenty minutes—we were investigating the Harbor City breach and a vampire—it was so *fast*—"
The transformation accelerated.
Right there. In front of everyone.
Her teeth lengthened. Her shoulder blades cracked. Wings—black and leathery—burst from her back.
But her eyes stayed human. Aware. Terrified.
"Help me—" she begged. "I don't want to—I can't—"
Then the hunger took over.
She lunged at Zayne.
Nana was faster.
She grabbed the vampire by the wings—enhanced strength allowing her to hold a fully transformed creature—and *slammed* it into the floor hard enough to crack tiles.
"Kill it!" someone shouted. "Burn it!"
Soldiers moved in with flamethrowers. Military protocol for vampire elimination.
The flames hit. The vampire screamed.
But it didn't die.
Didn't dissolve into ash. Didn't break down like Avalon vampires did.
It kept moving. Kept struggling. Kept burning but still alive.
"WHY ISN'T IT DYING?!" A soldier screamed.
Nana's blood went cold.
She looked at the vampire—still aware despite transformation, still struggling despite flames, still existing when it should have dissolved.
Then at the demon bite victims. At how fast the transformations were happening. At how aggressive the infections were.
Different. These creatures are different from Avalon and Linkon.
"They evolved them," she whispered. Horror dawning. "The scientists. In the new facilities. They made better vampires. Ones that can't be killed normally."
Zayne stared at the burning vampire that refused to die. "That's impossible—"
"We killed hundreds in Linkon. Thousands in Avalon. Fire worked. Decapitation worked. Why would they keep making creatures we could easily kill?"
She looked at Zayne with devastating understanding.
"This is why they made us. This is why they created specimens. Because *normal* humans can't kill these. Can't stop the infection. Can't survive the transformation."
The vampire broke free from the soldiers' restraints—still burning, still *moving*—and lunged again.
Nana's aether core flared to maximum. She grabbed it mid-leap and this time didn't hold back.
Enhanced strength. Combat training. Fury.
She tore the vampire's head clean off.
That finally killed it. Finally made it dissolve.
But the amount of force required—the sheer power needed—was far beyond what normal hunters could manage.
Silence.
Everyone stared at Nana. At the vampire ash. At the proof that these new creatures were nearly invincible to conventional methods.
"Oh my god," a doctor breathed. "They're weaponizing the infection. Making it worse. Making creatures that can only be stopped by enhanced individuals."
"Which means normal humans—" Zayne's face was pale. "They're all vulnerable. Anyone bitten will transform. And once transformed—"
"They can't be killed except by specimens," Nana finished hollowly. "By people like me and you. By the weapons they created."
She looked down at her wedding dress—covered in ash and blood and evidence of the fight.
At Zayne in his wedding suit—splattered with vampire remains and surgical blood.
At the trauma bay full of soldiers missing limbs, fighting to not transform, *begging* for help.
"This is why they built twelve facilities," she said. "Why they kept going even after Linkon. Because they're not preparing humans to fight Wanderers."
She met Zayne's horrified eyes.
"They're preparing to replace humanity. With things that can't be killed. With infections that transform everyone. With a world where only specimens survive."
Outside, emergency alerts screamed. More breaches. More bites. More transformations.
The crisis was escalating.
And Nana and Zayne stood in a hospital on their wedding day, covered in monster remains, realizing the conspiracy was so much worse than they'd imagined.
Day 90.
Married.
And discovering the end of the world.
Together.
.
.
.
.
.
To be continued.