Silar walked slowly behind the group.
The hallway lights were dim and the sound of their footsteps echoed faintly against the walls. Everyone was tired. Everyone was afraid. No one spoke loudly anymore.
Josh walked in front.
Even from behind, Silar could see how alert the young man was. Josh moved with a kind of careful awareness that most students his age did not have. Every corner, every doorway, every shadow received a quick glance.
Mira stayed close to him.
She looked exhausted, but she still kept moving.
Silar watched them quietly.
For a moment, the chaos of the night faded from his mind.
He thought about the speeches he had given earlier that day.
About the words he used to tell students that they were the future.
At the time it had sounded like something politicians always said. Encouraging words meant to inspire young people.
But now he wondered if maybe he had not been entirely wrong.
The world around them was collapsing.
But even in the middle of that collapse, people like Josh were still trying to protect others.
Atleast that meant something.
Silar felt a strange calm settle inside his chest.
Then the pain in his side flared again.
He slowed his pace.
The cloth wrapped around his wound was completely soaked now. The bite marks beneath it throbbed with a deep burning sensation that spread through his body.
The infection was moving faster, and he knew it.
The others probably knew it too.
Silar glanced behind him.
The remaining students kept their distance now. They tried not to look directly at him, but their eyes betrayed their fear.
He didn't blame them.
If their roles were reversed, he might have been afraid too.
Still, the fear in their eyes carried another meaning.
If he turned…
They would have to kill him.
The thought did not make him angry.
He had already accepted his situation.
At least he would not live long enough to see the world become completely unrecognizable.
He looked forward again.
Josh and Mira had stopped near the next corner of the hallway while the group caught up.
Josh was studying the path ahead.
Silar watched the young man's back for a moment.
Then his mind drifted again.
Politics had not been the noble battlefield many people imagined.
When Silar first joined the local political organization, he believed that hard work and honest effort could slowly change things.
In some ways he had been right.
In other ways, he had been terribly naive.
During his first few years he worked on community projects. Building programs for schools, improving local infrastructure, organizing charity events.
Those were the parts he enjoyed.
But the deeper he went into the political world, the more complicated things became.
Decisions were rarely made based on what was best for the community.
They were made based on influence.
Silar remembered the first time he witnessed a deal being arranged behind closed doors.
Two senior officials had been discussing a funding project meant to improve public housing.
But the conversation quickly turned into something else.
"How much are we actually allocating to construction?" one of them asked.
The other man shrugged.
"Enough to show progress."
"And the rest?"
The other faced the one who asked the question, looking him in the eye.
"it will be handled normally."
Silar understood exactly what that meant.
The funds would disappear.
Contracts would be given to companies connected to powerful figures.
And the project would only receive enough support to appear successful on paper.
At first Silar tried to speak up about it.
He raised questions during meetings.
He pushed for transparency.
The responses he received were polite but dismissive.
Given the replies he received.
One replied.
"Things are more complicated than you think, you will understand after more experience."
Another said.
"This is how the system works."
Eventually one of the older officials pulled him aside privately.
"You are a good man, Silar," the man said calmly.
"But if you want to survive in politics, you need to choose your battles carefully."
Silar asked the question that had been bothering him for weeks.
"And if I don't?"
The man sighed.
"Then the system will simply push you aside."