The days after the gathering were heavy. Supporters left flowers outside Lily and Finn's building, while others left broken bottles and angry notes. The city split in two. Some called them proof that real love could still exist, others said they were frauds planted to distract people from the truth that love was gone. Everywhere they walked, eyes followed.
Lily tried to ignore it, but the tension wrapped around her like chains. At night, she dreamed of being chased, faceless figures demanding she prove herself over and over. Finn would hold her when she woke, whispering, "It's just us, remember? Just us." But even as he said it, his eyes looked tired, shadowed.
Dr. Alba visited less often, but when she did, her words carried more weight. "The council is watching. They don't trust you. They want answers you can't give. Be careful what you say, Lily."
Lily wanted to ask her why she cared so much, why she risked everything for them. But each time, she swallowed the question. Something in Alba's face told her the answer was too heavy to carry.
One night, as snow fell in thick sheets, a group gathered outside their building. Angry voices rose, shouting their names, demanding they come out. "Frauds! Liars! Show yourselves!" Stones hit the walls, glass shattered.
Finn pulled Lily back from the window. "We can't stay here anymore," he whispered.
"Where do we go?" Lily asked, her chest tight.
"Anywhere but here."
They packed quickly, slipping out the back stairs while the mob screamed in front. The city streets were dark, lined with broken lamps and glowing screens that repeated their faces like wanted posters. They moved like shadows, keeping close to alleys, avoiding the eyes of strangers.
For the first time, Lily realized they might never have peace again. Not here. Maybe not anywhere.
They reached the river by dawn. The water was frozen, sharp as glass. Finn stopped, breathing hard. "We can't keep running blind," he said. "We need a plan."
Lily looked out at the endless white. "What if there is no plan? What if all we can do is keep moving?"
He shook his head. "No. We need to live, not just survive. We need… something more."
His words echoed in her chest. She thought of the gathering, the faces watching, the weight of their eyes. She thought of the applause, hesitant but real. And then she thought of the mobs, the anger, the fear.
A thought came, small and terrifying. "What if we leave the city?" she whispered.
Finn blinked. "Leave? Where?"
"Anywhere. Beyond the walls. Beyond the rules. If this city only wants to use us or break us, then maybe we don't belong here at all."
Silence stretched. Then Finn's mouth twitched in the smallest smile. "I never thought I'd hear you say that."
Lily let out a shaky laugh. "Neither did I."
The decision was not simple. Leaving the city meant no shelter, no safety, no food except what they found. But staying meant being hunted, questioned, torn apart by people who wanted them to be everything except human.
Dr. Alba appeared once more before they left, as if she sensed it. She came without warning, slipping into the warehouse they now hid in. Her face was pale, her voice quiet. "If you go, you may never come back. Out there, it is worse than you imagine. And yet…" She paused, looking at them with eyes full of something like sorrow. "Perhaps out there is the only place you'll truly be free."
Lily asked the question that had burned inside her for months. "Why do you care what happens to us?"
Dr. Alba hesitated, then finally spoke. "Because I was the first. The first immune. I stayed silent. I buried it. I let the world twist into this. You… you are my chance to make it right."
The words cut through the air. Finn's eyes widened. Lily's stomach dropped.
"You?" she whispered.
Alba nodded. "I am proof that immunity was always here. I hid. I was afraid. And look what the world became because of my silence. Don't make my mistake."
She left before they could answer, her coat vanishing into the night.
The next morning, Lily and Finn stood at the city's edge. Behind them rose towers of steel and glass, cold and watching. Before them stretched white plains of snow and sky.
Finn held her hand. "Once we step past this line, there's no going back."
Lily looked at him, her heart steady. "Then we don't go back."
Together, they crossed the boundary.
The snow swallowed their footprints as they walked, the city shrinking behind them until it was only a shadow on the horizon. Ahead was nothing but silence and unknown.
But for the first time, Lily felt free. Afraid, yes. Unsure, yes. But free.
And as Finn squeezed her hand, she knew that whatever lay ahead, they would face it together. Not as symbols. Not as proof. Just as themselves.