Annie

Everyone else had either passed out or wandered off, but Nancy, still buzzing with reunion energy, needed answers. And Elizabeth? She was born for this moment.
          
          "So. First of all—Olivia is no longer just Olivia. She's a hybrid."
          
          "A what?"
          
          "Vampire–werewolf plus like every other monster hybrid. We're calling it 'vampwolf' because it sounds sexy and dangerous and you know, saying all the other monsters is just EXHAUSTING."
          
          Nancy blinked. "Wait—what?"
          
          "She got bit and clawed at the same time, went full beast mode, fought off an alien as a wolf, disappeared, came back, kissed Harper in the...somewhere, and now has like... superpowers."
          
          "Okay," Nancy said slowly, "and Harper?"
          
          "Oh, Harper's in love. Like big, sapphic, 'I wrote your name in my journal five years ago' love. And they're officially dating."
          
          Nancy smiled widely. "Aw! Wait... so they've—?"
          
          "Well..." Elizabeth leaned in with devilish glee. "Harper suggested they finally knock boots last night. You should've seen Olivia—girl looked like she'd seen a ghost, a tax form, and a spider in one go."
          
          "She panicked?" Nancy laughed.
          
          "Fully. But Harper's a good egg. She's letting Liv take her time. Very mature sapphic slow burn vibes."
          
          Nancy sighed fondly. "That's so them."
          
          "Oh—and then there's Roan."
          
          "Roan?"
          
          "One of Olivia's hybrid buddies. Kinda mysterious, kind, hot in a 'broody protector' way. He hasn't taken his eyes off you since you got here."
          
          Nancy blinked, cheeks going pink. "...He hasn't?"
          
          "Girl," Elizabeth smirked. "He literally growled when someone asked if you were single."
          
          Nancy looked across the room, where Roan sat, quiet, watchful.
          
          "Oh no," she muttered.
          
          "Oh yes," Elizabeth grinned. "Welcome back."
          
          Outside, under the stars, Roan stood beside Nancy, both watching the woods.
          
          "You ever kiss someone at the end of the world?" Nancy asked.
          
          "No," Roan said. "But I'd like to."
          
          Nancy pulled him in.
          
          Their kiss was slow, thoughtful. A question and an answer at once.

Harper and Olivia were curled together in the dark, tucked into a nest of blankets, arms tangled just enough to make Olivia's heart race.
          
          Harper whispered, lips brushing Olivia's ear, "So... maybe tonight we could—uh—do more than just kiss?"
          
          Olivia froze.
          
          "Not have to," Harper added quickly. "Just... if you wanted to. I want to. But only if—"
          
          "Panic," Olivia blurted.
          
          Harper blinked. "What?"
          
          "I'm panicking. My soul is panicking." Olivia sat up like a bolt of lightning had struck her spine. "I have vamp senses, and even they're freaking out."
          
          Harper blinked again—then smiled. "Liv... I said only if you wanted to. You don't have to be ready."
          
          "I want to be ready," Olivia whined. "But my brain and my body are like 'error 404: chill not found.'"
          
          Harper took her hand gently. "Then we wait. There's no rush, okay? We're good just like this."
          
          Olivia nodded, heart still galloping but smiling now.
          
          Then—BANG.
          
          A knock at the outer gate.
          
          The group scrambled, weapons drawn, until a familiar voice shouted through the door:
          
          "Open up before I melt into roadkill!"
          
          Harper blinked. "No way."
          
          The door creaked open—Robin screamed.
          
          "NANCY?!"
          
          There she was, boots dusty, eyes wild with travel, alive and grinning and real.
          
          "I walked across hell to find you dorks," Nancy said, and was instantly swallowed in a wave of hugs.
          
          Olivia tackled her first. "I thought you were dead!"
          
          "Nope! Just inconveniently alive!"
          
          Margaret and Robin dragged her inside, peppering her with a million questions.
          
          "I can't believe you made it," Elizabeth whispered, almost tearful.
          
          "Me neither," Nancy laughed. "Now... what the hell did I miss?"
          
          Robin and Margaret exchanged smirks, staring directly at Harper and Olivia.
          
          "Babe," Margaret said. "You missed everything."
          
          "Okay," Nancy said, plopping down onto the comfiest couch she could find, "spill everything. I want drama, danger, romance, trauma, and tea."
          
          Elizabeth grinned. "Buckle up, bitch. I've been waiting for this."

A final, massive werewolf lunged for Elise.
          
          But Olivia stepped between them and punched the absolute fuck out of it.
          
          It wasn't human. Or wolf. Or vampiric. It was her—a hybrid force, vibrating with stolen powers and something ancient.
          
          All the monsters ran far away that night. 
          
          Silence fell.
          
          Then—"Liv?!"
          
          Harper's voice cracked through the trees.
          
          Olivia turned just as Harper sprinted from the clearing, Warren behind her, gun still raised.
          
          Harper skidded to a stop, eyes wide, taking in the blood, the bodies, the glowing white eyes.
          
          Then she launched forward, throwing her arms around Olivia without hesitation.
          
          "You're okay," Harper whispered into her neck.
          
          "We're okay," Olivia breathed.
          
          Warren looked between the three of them. "Did we miss the party?"
          
          Elise wiped blood off her face. "Fashionably late, as always."
          
          But everyone was standing.
          
          And for now, they'd won.
          
          The fire crackled in the center of the base, casting flickering light over a rapt audience.
          
          Kira stood on a crate, bandaged but grinning like a maniac. "I uppercut a werewolf. With a broken rib."
          
          Elise added, "And then Olivia howled like a banshee and straight-up body slammed their alpha into a tree."
          
          Robin clapped. "Iconic behavior."
          
          "I blacked out," Kira admitted proudly, "but I woke up to victory."
          
          Laughter echoed through the base, light and real for the first time in days.
          
          Olivia, curled up in a blanket, nudged Harper gently. "Walk with me?"
          
          Harper's smile was immediate. "Always."
          
          They slipped out, leaving the others retelling the same story again—bigger, funnier, and more dramatic each time.
          
          Outside, the stars had started to poke through the clouds. The air was cool, but Olivia was warm from Harper's hand in hers.
          
          "You saved everyone," Harper said.
          
          "We saved each other."
          
          They stopped under a cracked archway where vines curled through stone.
          
          Everyone was quiet back at the campfire as Harper and Olivia walked through the woods. 
          
          The base was finally quiet. Cozy.

"Olivia!" Elise had shouted, dragging her behind a crumbling wall, knuckles white around her pistol.
          
          Kira was unconscious. Olivia, not far behind.
          
          And then came the howls.
          
          A pack.
          
          Elise knelt, her back pressed to stone, holding her ground while Olivia and Kira lay still beside her. She fired warning shots into the trees. It didn't scare them.
          
          She was surrounded.
          
          Back at base, the tension cracked like glass.
          
          "I'm going," Harper said, grabbing her coat.
          
          "No," Warren said, blocking the door. "We don't know where they are. You can't—"
          
          "She could be dying!" Harper shouted. Her voice broke.
          
          Warren's jaw tensed. "Then we find them. But together."
          
          In the darkening woods, Olivia stirred.
          
          Her body ached. Her skin was hot. Her power, shifting, crawling beneath her ribs. She reached for Elise's boot, gripping it weakly.
          
          "I'm here," Elise breathed. "But we're in deep."
          
          Then, Olivia's eyes flashed—bright white, wolf and vampire in perfect sync.
          
          She was getting up.
          
          And hell was about to break loose.
          
          Olivia's breath steamed in the air, even though the woods weren't cold.
          
          She rose slowly, the silver wound on her side sizzling shut with a hiss of smoke. Her eyes blazed white. Beside her, Elise drew her blade again, glancing down at Olivia.
          
          "You back?"
          
          Olivia cracked her knuckles, teeth lengthening. "I'm pissed."
          
          The first werewolf lunged—huge, snarl dripping from its open jaw. Olivia met it mid-air, claws to fur, and slammed it into the ground. Elise moved with her, slicing a second wolf across the ribs and dodging a third that went for her throat.
          
          The pack circled, snarling. Outnumbered.
          
          "Elise!" a voice gasped.
          
          Kira.
          
          Still pale, but standing now. One eye swollen, fists raised.
          
          "About time," Elise grinned, flipping her knife.
          
          Kira launched herself into the fray, blunt-force and brutal grace. Together, the three moved as one—hybrid precision, human instinct, and pure fury. Wolves fell. Claws snapped. Blood sprayed across dead leaves.

Alex cried. Elise hugged Robin so hard she almost passed out.
          
          They didn't pull apart for a long time.
          
          When they did, Harper held Olivia's face like she was afraid she'd fade too.
          
          "I missed you so bad," she whispered.
          
          "I never stopped looking for you," Olivia said.
          
          "You died. I thought you died."
          
          "I was surviving. For you."
          
          Harper kissed her again, softer this time. "You taste like sea salt and blood."
          
          Olivia grinned. "You still taste like cherry soda and heartbreak."
          
          "Still a disaster, I see."
          
          "Only for you."
          
          Roan, Kira, Ezri, and Silas all showed up after Roan went to find them as Olivia dealt with her whole other her. 
          
          Everyone stared.
          
          "These are hybrids?" Alex asked, eyes wide.
          
          "Yeah," Olivia said, Harper's arm around Olivia's waist. "Like me. Different types. Different powers. All hunted. All home."
          
          Roan nodded solemnly. "It's nice to meet the people Olivia loves."
          
          Elizabeth beamed. "She talks about us?"
          
          "Every damn night," Ezri said, smirking. "Especially Harper."
          
          Harper blushed so hard her freckles nearly vanished.
          
          "She deserves someone who sees her," Roan said, not to Harper, but to Olivia. "I'm glad she found that."
          
          Olivia squeezed Harper's hand. "So did I."
          
          The sky was overcast the day after Olivia came back with her hybrid friends when Olivia, Elise, and Kira slipped out before dawn. It was supposed to be a short scouting run—check a nearby radio tower for salvage and return before lunch.
          
          Easy. Routine.
          
          But now, it was nearly dusk.
          
          And they weren't back.
          
          "She promised she'd be careful," Harper murmured, pacing the length of the common room. "She said it was nothing."
          
          "She always says that," Robin replied, sitting stiffly by the window. "And it's never nothing."
          
          Out in the forest, things had gone sideways fast.
          
          Kira had tripped a silent snare—silver-laced. She barely got out a scream before Olivia tackled her clear, catching the full force of the blade that followed. She bled black.

Harper was close.
          
          Closer than she'd been in forever.
          
          And soon... she'd have to face her other self.
          
          Normal Olivia stood at the edge of the training field, sipping water, eyes distant.
          
          She didn't really remember why she was there.
          
          Harper stood a few yards away, watching her. She's not okay, she thought again. Every day since Olivia "came back," something had felt wrong.
          
          This Olivia didn't remember their inside jokes. She didn't move like the fighter she once was. She didn't look at Harper like she was made of stars and fire and laughter.
          
          But Harper tried to believe. She wanted to believe.
          
          Until something weird started happening.
          
          "Are you... okay?" Harper asked.
          
          Olivia blinked at her. "What?"
          
          Her hand was fading. Glitching. Like a shadow losing form in the sun.
          
          "Olivia—your arm—!"
          
          Before anyone could stop it, her body shimmered, flickered... and vanished.
          
          Gone. Before anyone could even try and stop it. 
          
          Chaos erupted. Everyone shouted. Harper collapsed to her knees.
          
          "WHERE IS SHE?" she cried. "WHAT HAPPENED TO HER?!"
          
          And then—
          
          "Well. That escalated," said a voice.
          
          Everyone turned to see Elizabeth strolling into the courtyard, dragging a very much alive Olivia behind her.
          
          The real one.
          
          Hair wild. Skin scraped. Eyes fierce.
          
          Harper's knees buckled.
          
          Olivia froze at the sight of her.
          
          Harper whispered, voice raw: "...Liv?"
          
          Olivia's eyes welled up. "It's me."
          
          Harper didn't move.
          
          "Say something only my Olivia would know," she begged.
          
          Olivia stepped closer. "You hate pickles. You cried during that stupid jellyfish documentary. You call your bat 'Lucy' and think nobody knows."
          
          Harper gasped.
          
          "And the first time I saw you," Olivia said, barely breathing, "I thought the world had finally done something right."
          
          Then Harper ran.
          
          Full speed. Right into Olivia's arms.
          
          They crashed into each other, mouths meeting in a kiss so desperate, so hungry, that time stopped.
          
          Elizabeth cheered. Loudly.
          
          Warren whooped. "Finally!"
          
          Margaret screamed.

She didn't let go, and neither did he. 
          
          They washed ashore bruised, coughing, covered in salt and sand.
          
          Olivia groaned, barely able to move. "We're alive?"
          
          "Barely," Roan muttered.
          
          They stumbled through broken coastlines and overgrown suburbs, Olivia's senses pulling her toward the others. Toward home. The only thing she recognized anymore. 
          
          And then—
          
          "Oh my GOD."
          
          They both froze.
          
          Elizabeth stood on a cracked road wearing a bright pink jacket and combat boots like she belonged in an apocalypse fashion magazine. She was holding a crossbow in one hand and three shopping bags in the other.
          
          "Olivia?" she asked slowly. "The real one?"
          
          "Liz," Olivia croaked. "Hi."
          
          Elizabeth dropped everything and screamed.
          
          "WHAT THE ABSOLUTE— WHAT?! Is this a clone?! A twin?! A shapeshifter?! Is this a Doppel-Olivia?!"
          
          "Long story," Olivia mumbled.
          
          Ella ran to hug her, then shoved her back. "WHY WERE YOU IN THE GODDAMN WATER?! Also—who is the tall, hot, broody man behind you?!"
          
          "That's Roan. He's—uh—like me."
          
          Elizabeth squinted. "Do you mean he's into girls, or—"
          
          "WHAT, NO! I mean, he's a hybrid. Like me. He's my friend. He helped me get back."
          
          Elizabeth crossed her arms. "And how many Olivias are there exactly?"
          
          Olivia winced. "Two."
          
          Elizabeth blinked. "Oh. Cool. Just casually violating the laws of biology. Neat."
          
          They trekked back across fields of ash and forest paths, Elizabeth interrogating them nonstop.
          
          "Wait, so you remember Harper? And she doesn't remember you?"
          
          "Maybe."
          
          "And nobody knows you're the real one?"
          
          "Probably now."
          
          "Okay. New plan: we fake your identity, do a dramatic reveal, and then you make out with her so hard that it triggers an amnesia cure."
          
          "That's not how science works—"
          
          "Romance is the only science I respect."
          
          Olivia laughed—really laughed—for the first time in weeks.
          
          Roan smiled softly. "You have good people."
          
          "I really do," Olivia whispered.
          
          As the base finally came into view on the horizon, Olivia's heart pounded.

The hybrids knew that the longer they stayed, the more attention they'd draw. Something was hunting them now—not zombies or vamps. These were twisted things that never had names. Shifting shapes. Glitching voices. Creatures born from nightmares, not biology.
          
          "They know what we are," Kira hissed, wiping thick black blood from her blade. "And they hate it."
          
          "They want Olivia," Roan said grimly. "The only one who ever survived a full-spectrum mimic."
          
          They made it to the dock in what used to be Marseille. An old fishing boat bobbed on the tide, half-repaired, leaking salt.
          
          "It's not pretty," Ezri whispered, "but it'll get us across."
          
          "To where?" Olivia asked.
          
          Roan's voice was soft. "To her."
          
          The boat creaked like it hated them.
          
          Olivia took the night shifts, watching the moon, listening to the waves, every part of her aching toward home.
          
          Roan joined her the second night.
          
          "Talk to me," he said, his voice low.
          
          "About what?"
          
          "About her. The one you keep whispering about in your sleep."
          
          Olivia looked away. "Harper."
          
          He nodded.
          
          "She was... light. Not the soft kind. The kind that burns through you but makes you want to stay in the fire anyway."
          
          Roan stayed quiet.
          
          "I used to think I'd always be alone," Olivia said. "Too weird. Too intense. Too much. But she never looked away. Even when I changed. She looked at me like I was... everything."
          
          "Still does," Roan murmured.
          
          Olivia blinked at him. "You think?"
          
          "I don't think someone like her lets go. You're not easy to forget."
          
          She smiled, sad and soft. "I don't want to forget her either."
          
          It hit without warning.
          
          Winds like claws. Waves like mountains. Lightning dancing too close.
          
          "Ezri, grab the wheel!" yelled Silas, but Ezri was nowhere to be found. 
          
          "Kira's down—Roan, help me!" Silas yelled again. 
          
          Another wave hit—CRACK—the mast shattered, ropes went flying.
          
          Olivia felt the sea drag her under before she could even scream. She reached out and caught Roan's arm as they tumbled into the black together.

Ezri: The youngest, sweet, and skittish. Part shade, could phase through walls and turn invisible—but it hurt. Modeled after a special type of banshee and alien. 
          
          Silas: Tall, calm, and vaguely unsettling. Alien-vamp hybrid. Could read thoughts, project emotions... and erase them.
          
          "You're like us," Roan said. "Made by accident. Or maybe on purpose. Either way—we're the last defense against whatever's coming next."
          
          "Where am I?" Olivia whispered.
          
          "Europe, we think. Borders don't matter anymore," Kira muttered.
          
          "What happened to me?"
          
          "You were split," Silas said simply. "They took what they feared and left what they needed."
          
          "My memories?"
          
          "Gone... with the part of you that stayed behind."
          
          Back at base, Normal Olivia was adjusting.
          
          She remembered her name.
          
          She liked music. She liked the sun. She liked Harper's voice.
          
          She just didn't know why.
          
          And Harper was hurting.
          
          They'd walk together. Talk. Joke.
          
          Sometimes Olivia would say something with Olivia's exact tone, and Harper's breath would catch—
          
          But it never lasted.
          
          "She's still her," Robin said quietly one night.
          
          "She's not mine," Harper whispered. "Not like before."
          
          "She will be," Elizabeth said. "You'll see. Love doesn't just vanish."
          
          Hybrid Olivia trained with the others.
          
          She ran with wolves—real ones, not werewolves—learning to channel her shape into smaller, purer forms.
          
          She practiced mimicry on twisted monsters in the wild, learning to take only what she needed. Sometimes the pain was too much. Ezri held her hand through it, crying with her.
          
          Kira didn't believe in softness, but she stayed close.
          
          And Roan?
          
          Roan watched her like she was something holy.
          
          "You're the strongest of us," he said. "And the most human."
          
          "I don't feel human anymore."
          
          "You still love, don't you?"
          
          Olivia blinked. "How do you know that?"
          
          "I've seen the way you stare at the stars. Like someone's waiting under them."
          
          Europe wasn't dead. It was evolving.

The group searched nonstop—Alex leading the charge with Margaret and Robin flanking her. Warren was a storm, tearing through towns. Harper didn't sleep. She just stared at the last place Olivia stood every night.
          
          Seven days passed.
          
          And on the eighth, someone knocked at the front gates of their safe zone.
          
          It was Olivia.
          
          But something was... off.
          
          Her hair was shorter.
          
          She wore strange clothes—clean, uniform, almost sterile.
          
          She looked around like she'd never seen this place before. Her eyes held no spark of recognition.
          
          "Liv?" Harper choked.
          
          The girl blinked. "Is that... my name?"
          
          Harper ran to her, hugging her tight, and Olivia tensed.
          
          "Sorry," she said stiffly. "I don't know you. I don't know... anyone."
          
          They called it trauma. Amnesia. Alex ran every test she could.
          
          Olivia—Normal Olivia, they started calling her privately—didn't show signs of vampirism or enhanced hearing, or any of the wolf instincts. No banshee scream. No mimicry. Just... a sweet, slightly shy girl trying her best to figure out where she belonged.
          
          Harper tried not to cry around her.
          
          Sometimes Olivia stared at her a second too long, like something flickered beneath the surface.
          
          But it never came. She didn't even remember Gabby. 
          
          Half a world away, in a ruined city overtaken by silver vegetation and black skies, Hybrid Olivia woke in a glass chamber.
          
          She clawed her way out, coughing and gasping, every nerve on fire.
          
          A figure stood above her. Tall, dark-skinned, with blue eyes glowing faintly. "Easy," they said. "You're not the only one."
          
          She passed out again.
          
          When she woke, she was with four others.
          
          Roan: The one who found her. Quiet, steady, super strength, and night vision. Also very good at brooding. Modeled after werewolves and vampires like her.
          
          Kira: Sharp-tongued banshee hybrid with blue-tipped hair and a hot temper. Could shatter walls with a whisper. Modeled after banshee and zombie.