Surviving As Novels & Stories

Both Ruth and I turned our heads at the same time. From the pile of zombies nearby, a blood-soaked figure crawled out with what little strength he had left. One of his arms was missing. It was Dan. I raised an eyebrow in surprise. I had to admit, the guy was ridiculously tough. Falling straight into a swarm of zombies and still managing to survive?

Amelia pOV I survived. That should have felt like enough. In the arithmetic of the last several months — the attacks, the revelations, the long nights of questioning everything I thought I knew — survival should have registered as a clear and uncomplicated victory. I was alive. My children were alive, still growing, still carrying their ancient blood through the daily industry of becoming, still making themselves known to me in the quiet moments when I turned my attention inward and found them there, steady and present and entirely themselves.

And now we got to live. The door opened. Mom rushed in. Tears streaming. She grabbed me. Held me. "You are alive. Oh, thank god you are alive." "I am okay Mom." I hugged her back. "We are all okay." Others filed in. Aurora. Erik. Yuki. Isabela. Draeven. Everyone battered but alive. We had lost people. The final count would hurt. But we had survived. Had won. Had saved billions. "What now?" Yuki asked. Voice quiet. Uncertain.

"If something goes wrong. If I fall. Promise me you will live. You will rebuild. You will make sure this meant something." "We already promised." Kael reminded me. "But Sabine, you are not falling. We are not letting you." "You cannot control everything." I smiled sadly. "Some things are bigger than us." "Then we become bigger," Evander said with complete conviction. "We rise to meet the challenge. That is what survivors do." Survivors. I had been surviving for so long. Running. Hiding. Just trying to make it through each day. But somewhere along the way, I stopped just surviving and started living. Started fighting for something beyond myself.

"Are you okay?" "I'm fine." "You're not fine." "I'm alive." "That's all that matters." I almost smiled. "Adrian, look at what we've survived." He stepped beside me. He looked at the city. "We've survived worse." "I know." "We've survived the Apex. We've survived the cycle. We've survived the outbreak. We've survived everything." I looked at him. "And we'll survive whatever comes next." He reached for my hand. I let him take it.

Hearing him call me that made Zariah stir and made me melt inside a little. I had done it. I had escaped my ass hole rejected mate and found my second chance mate. I still had a lot to do but I had Amelia, Kyle, Dominic and Emron to help me. I didn't know what would happen but I wasn't completely worried about it and neither was Zariah. I would rescue my pack though from Elstan, I owed them that much. I just hoped it wouldn't be too late. END BOOK ONE

Josh was the only hope, and she knows that he has been trying his hardest to get something. When they finally reached the parking lot, Josh started pacing. "Josh?" Ava said anxiously. Josh comes to a halt and stares at her. "You do know that there are only twenty-one people that survived, right?" Ava nodded. She knew it from the news, but there was never any information of identities. "I got the list of the survivors," Ava's face lit up. "But only the surnames." "Please tell me there are Blackwells," she said, her eyes brimming with tears.

Trying to keep an eye on the battle around us and Elstan was exhausting. Kaydence! Amelia shouted through the pack link startling me. Little busy Mels. Sorry just thought I'd let you know that we got all the children out of the territory safely, Larson is with me. Kyle is heading towards you now for extra support since not much was going on over here. I sighted a breath of relief. She was safe and the children had been gotten out of the Deep Ridge territory without any problem.

Certain I'd die alone. Now I was here. Alive. Healed. Surrounded by family. The journey had been brutal. Painful. Nearly impossible. But I'd made it. We'd all made it. And that was worth celebrating. Worth everything. I'd survived being buried alive. But more importantly, I'd learned to actually live again. Not just exist. Not just survive. But genuinely live. Love. Laugh. Heal. Thrive. It was beautiful. Hard-won and complicated and messy.

Supporters who'd been quiet became more vocal, emboldened by solidarity. We were surviving. Not easily, not comfortably, but definitely. And sometimes, survival was the victory that mattered most.