LOGINOnce aboard, Weasel and Stella found a secluded corner and huddled there with both children close.The convoy struggled through storm after storm. Ships drifted off course or capsized, and people were swept overboard.Eventually, theirs was the only ship left.Food was scarce, few people had enough clothing to keep warm, and the passengers were crammed together. Illness soon spread.Some starved. Others died of disease or slowly lost their minds.Every day brought more deaths.At first, the crew gathered the bodies and took them away. But as hunger took hold, passengers began watching those close to death, staring for hours with a hunger that had nothing to do with concern.No one knew who made the first move. A sick passenger took their last breath, and someone rushed forward with a knife, cutting flesh from their thigh.Others quickly joined in.The family barely had time to register the death before people swarmed their loved one's body.By the time the noise brought the c
After Nicole and the rest finished the cooled food, Poppy wiped down the room, making sure no trace of its smell lingered on the furniture.Darkness settled quickly once the sun dipped below the horizon.A knock came at the door. Nicole hurriedly stowed the sofa bed, table, and the rest of the furniture in her storage space.Poppy caught on immediately. She crouched and spread blankets across the floor, making it look like they planned to sleep there.Nicole opened the door and nearly jumped out of her skin. The man outside looked so much like Gollum that she reached for her knife, barely stopping herself from slashing his throat."Nicole, it's me."Nicole stopped at the familiar voice. She stared, struggling to recognize Weasel in the face before her.He had always been thin, but now, he was little more than skin and bones. An unexpected glimpse of him in the dark could scare anyone half to death. Someone could easily lash out before realizing he meant no harm."What happene
In a world this battered, memories could hurt as much as any fresh wound. Everyone carried pain that would stay with them for the rest of their lives.Nicole didn't press Stella. She carried the buckets inside.No one made it through unscathed. When Nicole first met Stella, she wore that same dress with carefully applied makeup and took obvious pride in her appearance.She was fiery and jealous, but she also lived better than any of the women around her.Now, the dress hung on a woman who looked at least 20 years older. Her face was so thin and drawn that Nicole barely recognized her.Age changed people. Years of disasters only sped up the process.Nicole grabbed a mirror and examined her reflection. "Zeph, do I look a lot older?""No. You look pretty much the same.""You're just saying that." Nicole was past what she considered her best-looking years. Her skin only held up this well because she lavished it with expensive creams, using them as freely as cheap lotion."You're
The walls did little to block out the waves crashing against the massive support columns or the occasional voices outside. Nicole drifted in and out of a restless sleep. She dozed until 5 a.m., then opened the door and stepped into the corridor for some air.The late-afternoon sun hit her square in the face, making her squint.People carrying buckets and basins were heading downstairs to line up for water.Nicole went back inside and retrieved two wooden buckets from her storage space. Poppy stayed with Cola, while she and Zeph joined the line.Looks hardly mattered anymore. Most people were so thin that their heads looked too big for their bodies, their faces gaunt and sickly. These days, people noticed how well-fed someone looked before anything else. Nicole and Zeph stood out, and people openly stared.Living among other people meant putting up with that kind of attention. The two of them felt like a sideshow attraction.After half an hour, they finally reached the front o
The clerk gave Nicole a cold look, clearly in no mood to explain. "You wouldn't understand how it works even if I told you. Just focus on your work, tend your crops, and get along with your neighbors. Leave running the base to us."The staff already fielded more questions than they could handle. As far as the clerk was concerned, survivors needed to focus on feeding themselves and rebuilding their lives instead of pestering people who had work to do.The base had plenty of problems to deal with already. Explaining them to residents who couldn't help solve them would accomplish nothing.Nicole let it go, took the keys, and headed up to the third floor.The housing on Platform B was the first to open. Areas 1 through 3 housed active-duty military personnel, while Area 4 was reserved for civilians.No matter which military base they came from, anyone who wanted to keep serving had to accept a new assignment here.Military personnel made up the vast majority of the settlement's rou
Nicole decided to keep the containers in her storage space until she knew more.This was a military base, with warships patrolling the waters and fighter jets overhead. Little seemed to escape notice, and one careless move could expose her secret.They left Platform A and crossed the footbridge back to the submarine.Platform B had no deepwater dock, so they had to leave the submarine at Platform A and find another way to reach their rooms.A ferry ran between the platforms, but it only made the rounds every three hours.With Cola hidden in the backpack, Nicole wasn't eager to squeeze in among strangers. Someone might notice him, and she had no idea how people here would react.Claiming he was a military dog might have worked at the southern base, but she couldn't count on that here. Keeping a dog when so many people could barely feed themselves would draw attention they didn't need.Back aboard the submarine, they let Cola out to stretch his legs.Nicole and Zeph discussed the
"Ah!"Nicole Floyd jolted upright in bed, gasping. Sweat streamed down her forehead, her eyes unfocused and hollow.The sight in front of her cut through the haze in her mind.This was her old apartment, the one from before the apocalypse.Ding, ding…Text alerts kept chiming. She grabbed her p
Just after midnight, the timer refreshed. One hundred thirty minutes remaining.That meant time could stack.Nicole nearly laughed out loud. Seconds mattered. During crucial moments, even a minute could mean the difference between living and dying.She decided that unless it was absolutely necess
Nicole jolted, then immediately checked with her mind.The storage space was still there. The supplies were still there, too. She tested it; she thought of an item, and a coal briquette appeared in her hand.Sweeping the space again, she noticed the glowing timer had reset to zero.That was when
After paying the deposit, Nicole drove straight to the largest outdoor gear store downtown.The outdoor gear market was fiercely competitive. The store was in full clearance mode, shutting down with brutal discounts. Some items were marked down to 20% of the original price.Perfect timing.Nicole







