LOGINThe siren sounded early, while most survivors were still asleep or getting up for work.The timing was one small mercy. If everyone was already at work, getting home would've cost them precious time. Some families might never have found each other in the chaos.At least now, even if they died, they could be together.Up ahead, Nicole spotted a convoy of enormous trucks. The line stretched so far into the distance that she couldn't see the end. There had to be at least 20.If she was right, they carried materials salvaged from other states and hauled all this way to be preserved in the base's civilization vaults.The convoy barely made it into the base before the alarm sounded.Two hours wasn't enough to unload everything, pack it for transport, and secure it aboard ships before they left. The drivers apparently realized that, too, and abandoned their trucks to save themselves.Not a soul remained near the convoy. With disaster closing in, anything people couldn't eat or drink wa
Nicole felt lighter after dropping off the medicine.She settled back into her routine, enjoying her food and drinks, working out every day, and going over their escape routes on the map.They needed somewhere at a higher elevation, far from tectonic plate boundaries and major fault lines.She and Zeph chose several possible destinations and put together several plans. But they could only plan so much. Once disaster hit, they would have to adjust.Two months flew by. Nicole didn't visit Arthur again, and Sophia didn't stop by either.Life stayed quiet, almost as if nothing happened.Then one morning, a piercing air-raid siren jolted Nicole out of a light sleep. She had never heard one in person, and for a moment, she couldn't make sense of the sound.Zeph shot out of bed. "We gotta move! It's happening!"They threw on their clothes while Nicole swept everything in the room into the storage space.Zeph rushed out. "Poppy, get ready! Now!"Each of them needed an earthquake emer
Sophia lost her temper. "Then why did you let Irene go around calling herself Mrs. Hunt?"Arthur sighed. "What was I supposed to do? Tell everyone she was an ex-girlfriend from 30 years ago?"That only made Sophia angrier. Even her patience had limits. "How thoughtful of you to look after your ex! What about the woman you're actually with?"Arthur looked at her without a word.Tears filled Sophia's eyes, and she quickly turned away.No, that wasn't fair. He did think about her once. They even went to the courthouse to get married, but then his phone rang, and he left without looking back.All he left her with was the same advice: end things. Forget the wedding. Find a good man and marry him.Every year or two, he told her the same thing.But she couldn't just switch off her feelings, find someone else, and get married.Sometimes, Arthur frustrated her so much that she tried dating other men. It never took long to realize she couldn't make herself love someone else.Arthur's c
Brewing herbs was a hassle, and drinking the medicine wasn't much better. Nicole knew how to make pills using the methods she learned at the alternative medicine research institute. They were easier to store and take.Wesley and Mitchell taught her plenty over the years, including tried-and-true formulas and remedies they rarely shared with anyone. If she was going to repay Arthur, she wanted to do it right. The storage space certainly made her life easier these past few years.She adjusted the formulas to suit his health problems, but preparing everything took time. Even with Zeph and Poppy helping, she needed about three days to finish.She made more than stomach medicine. Knowing how hard he pushed himself, she also prepared several bottles of pills for heart emergencies, sleep, and high blood pressure, along with others to help him regain his strength and support his immune system.The finished batch filled a large box, enough to last him several years.Nicole did what she
Arthur and Sophia cleared the required background checks. All they had left to do was get their marriage license and have the wedding.Then the disasters hit. Arthur called off the wedding and took on the mission his country assigned him.Sophia cried for days, but she couldn't stop loving him. In the end, she followed him to the military base.Whenever she wasn't working, she quietly did what she could to take care of him.Arthur put everything into building and running the base, dealing with one crisis after another.Just as Sophia worked up the courage to talk about their relationship again, Irene showed up with Camila.Sophia spent most of her twenties and thirties loving the same man. Now, she was almost forty, and few people understood how hard those years were or how much pressure she faced.Even Arthur told her more than once to stop waiting for him and find someone else to marry. Sophia tried, but she just couldn't do it."I love you. That's my choice, and you don't
Nicole's blunt remark left Arthur at a loss for words.The world wouldn't end if he took a break, but the earth's crust could shift and fracture at any moment. If he could do a little more, maybe a few more people would survive.Humanity had never faced anything like this before. If no one stepped up, they could all die.With no family, no children, and nothing to hold him back, Arthur accepted the mission his country entrusted to him. Even after he learned he had a daughter, his responsibility to everyone else still came first.He couldn't pretend he had no regrets, but life had a cruel way of making those choices for him. His missions cost him the woman he loved when he was young. Now, he didn't even have a chance to make up for all the years he missed with his daughter."Nicole, I'm sorry."He wanted to step down someday, too. Right now, however, there just wasn't time.Everyone made their own choices. Nicole couldn't make the same choice as Arthur, but that didn't mean he
"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
Nicole didn't hesitate. She blocked Edward right away.Less than a minute later, her phone rang again. It was an unfamiliar number.She didn't need to guess; this was Edward's classmate or one of his friends.Given a second chance at life, Nicole had zero interest in being taken for a fool. She w
Nicole never expected the new resident of 1801 to be the same young man who had helped her at the courier station.He looked mildly surprised, too. He nodded once at her, then went back to work.Up close, he was striking in a cold, sharp way. He was tall and lean, with broad shoulders and clean li
Two miles was nothing. The Hummer reached the entrance to the complex in just a few minutes.Nicole handed the man 400 dollars, thanking him for saving her and for ignoring traffic rules.His voice stayed cool. "No need. I was heading this way, anyway."Seeing he wouldn't take it, she didn't push







