I Survive Series Novels & Stories

“You tried. And you failed. Everything good in me—everything human—survived despite you.” He paused then. And for a flicker of a second, I saw something shift in his face. Regret? Doubt? It passed too quickly to be sure. “Maybe,” he admitted quietly. “But the others—they weren’t so lucky.” I stepped closer. “The others. The girls on that list.” He nodded, eyes tired. “Most are gone. Terminated by the program or lost to their conditioning. But one—Subject Eight—she survived.” My stomach twisted.

I had shattered the overhead light fixture and driven the jagged shards straight through his throat. At that moment, my daughters had cried out, "Mom!" Then, I was swallowed by endless darkness. I didn’t know what would happen to them after something like that… until, in that pitch-black void, I saw two faintly glowing figures ahead of me. It was them. Just like me… they were dead. Overwhelmed with grief and fury, tears of blood streaming down my face, I demanded to know what I had done to deserve this. When I opened my eyes again, I was back on the day Vanessa was about to bring her four children to my home.

The zombie swarm broke through the last line of defense. The chopper closed its door and took off, carrying with it whatever survivors it managed to save. My teammates did not catch the final flight, and they cursed. "Yvonne, you madwoman! You just destroyed our only chance at survival! And that idiot! A guitar? You went all the way back right before the retreat just to get a guitar? You think anyone's interested in your performance?" The curses wouldn't stop coming, and my teammates' fury drained Yves of all color he had. If looks could kill, he'd be more shredded than a pack of shredded cheese.

If it hadn't been that Robins was a step away, the fight between Estrada and I would have ended badly. The SIG MOSQUITO found its way to the back of Estrada's head, and Robins commanded him not to move as I started tying up his hands. “ Put the call to the command center for Exfil,” “ Yes, commander.” “ And let them know to bring the recovery team.” With that we both looked over at Hughes. Present time I sat at the chair facing the computer screens and watched the families, the kids playing, the men laughing and the women on the side gossiping. I truly made something here, my name, will forever live amongst these families long after they have all lived and died.

The next morning, ignoring his stern warnings, I took two painkillers and ran straight toward the heart of the ruins. Sebastian told me that if I went out there, I wouldn't make it back alive. Honestly, he wasn't the only one who thought so. During those four years, everyone assumed I wouldn't survive to see the next day. But I couldn't die before I found Damian. By nightfall, I staggered out from the smoke, carrying two children in my arms. Sebastian grabbed the kids to rush them into triage, then glanced over at me as I collapsed onto a cot, barely alive.

Anna spent eight endless days in the ICU. I didn't leave her side once, constantly praying that she'd make it through. Meanwhile, the trio responsible for putting Anna in danger, stood out like a sore thumb. Finally, after eight days, Anna was transferred to a regular hospital room. The instant her eyes opened, tears streamed down my face. "Anna, you really scared me." She cried too, but quickly looked away when her eyes met Wayne, Gabriel, and Casper. "Mom, you understood our secret code, didn't you?"

Even immortals failed at keeping their words and the errors of others always came back to hurt the innocent ones. What a pathetic life pattern. “These are the main game rules: for each game passed, immunity points are awarded. Killing a person during the games amps up your point and even after the games— immunity points are awarded” Silent whispers ensued but the voices never rose past that. “This world is Parasite-infested. The air likewise is polluted with mutating chemicals.” Every revelation kept getting sick, my head churned.

The system continued, "Current death count totals 21. The remaining 195 merit points will be evenly distributed among 15 survivors." With that, my phone screen popped up with a notification showing that I'd just received 13 merit points, which brought my total to 25. "Would you like to spend 75 merit points on redeeming memories of the deceased?" We looked at each other again. After everyone nodded, each of us contributed five points to redeem the memory fragments. When the scene flashed, Isolde's memory was the first to appear. It featured King Ragnar strangling her by the throat and carefully studying her face.

Even if I still wasn’t sure how I was going to stand up in front of them all and be what they needed me to be. We would show them what resilience looked like. What survival looked like. What rebuilding could be. Because if four tiny hearts could keep beating after everything they'd endured, then I could stand before a crowd and tell our story. That night, the silence in the house felt louder than it had in weeks. I stood by the window, arms crossed over my chest, watching the moon hang heavy and bright in the sky. Zerina stirred restlessly inside me. "We need to run," she said. "Something is calling us."

Hyperventilating. I moved closer. Slowly. Carefully. "Look at me. Please. Just—just look at me." She did. Eyes wide. Terrified. But looking. I reached out. Cupped her face. Let her feel me. Solid. Real. Alive. "I'm here. I'm real. I'm alive. I know—I know you saw me fall. I know you thought I was dead. But I'm here. I survived. I came back. I—" "How?" The word came out broken. Desperate. "How did you survive that fall? How are you—"