2025-07-29 00:17:49They reached Echo Ridge just before sunset. The cabin sat at the top of a narrow gravel road, shrouded by thick pine trees and jagged cliffs on either side. To Mei, it looked like something out of a forgotten survival manual—modest, solid, a little crooked with age, but hidden well.
Jared cut the engine and sat still for a second. His eyes swept the treeline like they always had before he approached any shelter—measured, alert. You didn’t survive as long as he had by assuming any place was truly empty.
Mei leaned forward. “This is yours?”
He nodded. “I built it after I left the service. Never brought anyone here.”
“Why not?”
“Because this was the only place in the world that was mine.”
The wind picked up. It carried the faint scent of pine needles and distant smoke. Mei wrapped her arms around herself as they stepped out of the SUV. The air felt colder here—sharper.
Jared led the way to the front door, keys already in hand. He paused as he reached for the knob.
The door was slightly ajar.
He stilled.
Mei didn’t notice. “You okay?”
“Get back in the truck. Lock the doors.”
“What? Jared—”
He looked at her, just once, and she stopped. His voice was low, controlled. “Now.”
She obeyed.
Jared stepped to the side of the door, weapon drawn. The inside was too quiet. Too still. The kind of silence that screamed don’t trust this.
He nudged the door open with his foot. Wood creaked.
No movement.
No sound.
He slid inside, clearing the corners. The living room was untouched—dust on the mantle, old blankets folded. But the back door was cracked open. And there, on the kitchen counter, sat something that hadn’t been there before:
A single red apple.
Polished. Perfect.
Jared’s jaw tensed.
No one had been here in years. He’d made sure of it. The generator was off. There were no tracks on the gravel.
But the apple was fresh. Chillingly fresh.
A symbol.
He checked the rest of the cabin in silence. The upstairs bedroom. The crawl space. Nothing. No person. No noise. But every bone in his body told him someone had been there. Recently.
Back outside, he motioned for Mei. She climbed out, hesitant.
“There’s something wrong, isn’t there?”
“I’ll clear it again later. For now, we stay close. No lights after dark.”
“Why would someone leave fruit?”
“It’s not a gift.”
She didn’t ask what it meant. Her silence was answer enough.
Inside, she wandered through the small living space while Jared reignited the generator. The cabin hummed to life slowly—lights flickered on, fridge growled, and the distant sound of an old radio crackled in the background.
“Where do we sleep?”
“There’s a loft upstairs. You take the bed.”
“What about you?”
“I’ll be on watch.”
“You can’t stay awake forever.”
He looked up at her from where he was crouched, checking the locks. “I’ve done it before.”
There was no point arguing.
That night, the world outside felt closer than ever. The wind whistled through the trees like it carried messages from the dead. Mei lay in the upstairs bed wrapped in a borrowed blanket, listening to every creak of the wooden cabin, every distant animal call.
Downstairs, Jared sat near the fire, rifle across his lap, the apple resting on the mantle.
He hadn’t told Mei everything.
There were rumors—back when he was still embedded in special ops—that a group of people had predicted this collapse long before it came. Not preppers. Not survivalists. People with money, power, reach. They called themselves “The Custodians.” Silent players who believed in starting civilization over. From scratch.
He’d dismissed it at the time as just another ghost story passed around in military bars.
Now, he wasn’t so sure.
He tossed the apple into the fire.
The flames hissed.
—
[Time Remaining: 58 hrs 44 mins]
[Objective: Secure Outpost – 1 of 2 threats remaining]
The next morning brought a thick fog.
Jared was already outside, chopping wood when Mei woke up. She stepped out onto the porch, arms folded tight against the cold.
“You didn’t sleep.”
He didn’t look at her. “Didn’t need to.”
“Yes, you did.”
A silence passed.
“I heard something last night,” she said after a while. “In the trees. Maybe I imagined it.”
“You didn’t.”
Her face tightened. “So we’re not alone.”
“No.”
He wiped the axe clean, eyes sweeping the ridge again. “But that doesn’t mean they’ve won.”
Later, they checked the perimeter together. Jared taught her how to spot old tracks, how to walk without making noise, how to hold the rifle steady without flinching.
Mei learned fast.
Every time her foot slipped or her stance faltered, he corrected her without judgment.
“You’re not weak,” he said, once, when she hesitated to fire a warning shot into the trees. “You’ve just never been taught to fight.”
She aimed again.
The shot echoed across the ridge.
They didn’t talk much after that. There wasn’t room for small talk anymore. Only instinct. Movement. Breath.
But that night, as they sat by the fire again, she asked him something that caught him off guard.
“Why don’t you hate me?”
He blinked. “Why would I?”
“Because I lived in luxury while you scraped by. Because I ignored you for years. Because I never asked what you needed.”
Jared turned to her slowly. His face was shadowed, but his voice was steady.
“I don’t hate you, Mei. I just hated that you didn’t see how close the storm was.”
“And now?”
“Now I need you to see it clearly. Because I can’t do this alone anymore.”
She nodded.
Then quietly, she reached out—and took his hand.
It was a small gesture. But in a world this broken, it felt like hope.
[System Update: Emotional Bond Strengthened – Companion Status: Mei Bai – Level 1]
[Threat Signal Detected – North Ridge Sector – 1.8 km]
[Next Objective: Investigate Intrusion]
Previous Chapter
Latest Chapter
Chapter 67- The Thing About Freedom
POV: JaredJared does not tell Emma where he is going.Not because he wants to hide it from her, but because he knows she would come if he asked. And this is something he needs to face without her steadying the ground beneath his feet.The imprint waits where she found it.It does not look dangerous. That is its trick.The place feels quieter than the rest of the world, like sound itself is holding its breath. The air has a faint pressure to it, the kind you feel before rain, before something gives way. The ground here does not quite commit to being solid. It remembers something else.Jared steps closer.The imprint stirs.It recognizes him immediately.Not with words. With knowing.The world tilts, gently, and then the visions begin.Not explosions. Not triumph. No glory.Relief.He sees Emma sitting beside the river, whole in a way that makes his chest ache. Her breath steady. Her gaze clear. No pauses. No flickers. No fear hiding behind her eyes. She laughs without checking herself
Chapter 66- What He Would Erase
POV: EmmaThe question slips out of her before she can stop it.They are not arguing. That is the worst part. There is no raised voice to blame it on. No sharp edge to pretend caused the damage.They are sitting near the river where the water moves slow and patient, like it has nowhere else it needs to be. Jared is skipping stones, not very well. Each one either sinks immediately or hits the surface wrong and dies with a sad sound.Emma watches his hands. Strong. Scarred now. Real.She tells herself not to ask.She asks anyway.“If you could change one thing,” she says quietly, staring at the water instead of him, “would it be me?”The world does not react.The river keeps moving. A bird calls somewhere far off. The question does not echo or shatter anything. It just exists.Jared’s hand stills.He does not throw the stone.He does not answer.That pause stretches, thin and unbearable.Emma feels it inside her chest like pressure building behind glass.She should not have asked. She k
Chapter 65- The Weight of Knowing
POV: JaredJared notices it in the pauses.Emma still walks beside him. Still listens. Still answers when he speaks. But the spaces between her words have grown careful, like she is choosing where not to step.She laughs less. When she does, it comes late, like an echo that almost didn’t bother returning.That night, the fire burns low. Not dying. Just contained. Jared feeds it small sticks, one at a time, watching the way the flames respond immediately now. No correction. No delay. Cause and effect, clean and honest.Emma sits across from him, knees pulled in, arms looped loosely around them. She is staring into the fire but not really seeing it.He does not say her name at first.He waits.The waiting stretches. Too long.“Okay,” he says finally, keeping his voice light on purpose. “You’ve been doing that thing.”She blinks. “What thing?”“The quiet one,” he replies. “The one where you think if you don’t move too much, the world won’t notice you’re there.”Her mouth curves slightly.
Chapter 64- The Imprint
POV: EmmaEmma notices it because the birds stop mid-sound.Not silence. Worse than silence. The echo of a sound that forgets how to finish.She is standing near the riverbank, rinsing dirt from her hands, when the water ripples wrong. Not outward. Inward. Like the surface hesitates, then resumes pretending nothing happened.Her breath catches.She does not call for Jared.Instinct tells her this is not for both of them.She steps closer. The ground feels normal under her boots until it does not. One step is solid, the next sinks a fraction too deep, then snaps back like it regrets allowing her weight. Her head pulses faintly, not pain, just pressure behind the eyes.The world here stutters.She kneels slowly and presses her palm to the earth.It is warm.Not sunlight warm. Active warm.Her glasses are gone. Her tools are gone. But her mind still knows how to listen. She closes her eyes and lets the feeling rise instead of fighting it.Something answers.Not a voice. Not code. A prese
Chapter 63- Something That Lasts a Night
POV: JaredBy the time the light starts to tilt, Jared realizes they have been walking in loose circles.Not lost. Just not going anywhere on purpose.The world here does not rush them. Shadows stretch slowly. The air cools without warning. When the sun lowers, it does not feel like a threat, but it does feel like a question.He stops near a cluster of trees and looks around.“This is as good as anywhere,” he says.Emma nods. She looks tired in a way that has nothing to do with weakness. More like she is learning how to exist inside a body again. She lowers herself onto a rock and watches him.“So,” she says lightly. “What’s the plan?”Jared stares at the trees.He has led evacuations. Built fortresses underground. Optimized supply chains while cities burned. But right now, all he sees is wood and uneven ground and the fact that night is coming whether he is ready or not.“We build something,” he says.She raises an eyebrow. “Something permanent?”He lets out a short breath. “Somethin
Chapter 62- Emma Forgets
POV: EmmaIt happens in the middle of a sentence.Emma is talking about the river. About how the water sounds different here, like it knows where it is going. She is explaining it badly, she knows she is, using her hands too much, trying to describe something that feels more than it sounds.Then she is sitting down.The ground is cool against her palms. Her breath is wrong, too fast, like she has been running. Her heart stutters once, then starts again, hard and uneven.She blinks.Jared is crouched in front of her.Not rushing. Not shouting her name. Just there, steady, eyes sharp, like he has already measured the situation and decided not to be afraid.That scares her more than panic would have.“How long?” she asks.Jared tilts his head slightly. “A few seconds.”Her mouth feels dry. “I was standing.”“You were,” he says.“And talking.”“You were doing that too.”She presses her fingers into the dirt, grounding herself in the pressure. The world feels intact. Too intact. That makes
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