Semua Bab MY EX LEFT ME TO DIE, SO I BECAME QUEEN OF THE APOCALYPSE: Bab 21 - Bab 30

Everyone reacted instantly to the shriek. The younger survivor nearly swung his rifle toward the sound before catching himself, while Rowan turned sharply toward the trees behind the ravine.Another shriek answered farther downhill.Then another.The infected were spreading through the forest faster now.“We need to move,” the older man said immediately.This time, Rowan didn’t argue. The group climbed out of the ravine together through slick mud and dripping underbrush while fog drifted thick enough between the trees to swallow visibility beyond twenty feet.Nobody fully trusted the others.Evelyn could feel it in every movement. The way Rowan stayed slightly behind the strangers instead of beside them. The way the older man kept checking over his shoulder. The younger guy was gripping the rifle too tightly whenever the woods got quiet.Fear lived everywhere now.“My name’s Caleb,” the older man finally said as they moved uphill through the trees.Not offered casually. More like a ca

The shriek below the ridge silenced the compound almost instantly. Conversations cut off mid-sentence while survivors turned automatically toward the dark tree line surrounding the tower. Rain tapped softly against the fencing and rooftops overhead, filling the quiet that followed. Nobody relaxed until the sound faded completely.Even then, people kept watching the woods.Evelyn noticed how everyone moved afterward: faster, quieter, checking the perimeter between tasks without seeming aware they were doing it.The infected weren’t the only thing changing. Fear was rewiring people, too.By nightfall, Warren gathered everyone inside the main ranger cabin while the generator hummed weakly somewhere outside.The overhead lights flickered every few seconds, casting uneven shadows across old maps and scavenged supply crates stacked along the walls.Lily sat bundled in blankets beside Nora near the stove while Rowan leaned silently against the wall closest to the door. He was not hiding near

The temperature dropped hard that night. Cold wind swept across the ridge surrounding the fire tower while rain turned slowly to freezing sleet against the rooftops and fencing. By midnight, survivors had started layering blankets across the cabin windows to keep heat from bleeding into the storm outside.The generator failed twice before dawn.Each time, the darkness inside the compound felt heavier afterward.Evelyn sat awake near the stove, listening to wind scrape through the trees while most of the others slept in scattered shifts around the cabin.Or pretended to. Nobody here really rested anymore.Across the room, Rowan leaned against the wall beneath the flickering emergency lantern, cleaning rainwater from his rifle in steady silence.Lily slept curled beneath two blankets nearby with one small hand still wrapped around the sleeve of his jacket.Evelyn noticed Rowan glance down at it once before returning quietly to the rifle.Not discomfort. Something more uncertain than tha

Evelyn took the second watch because she knew she wouldn’t sleep anyway.The tower stairs creaked beneath her boots as she climbed into the fog. Wind was colder up here, sliding through the gaps in the wooden railing and cutting through her jacket with damp fingers.At the top, the lookout room smelled like dust, old maps, and lantern oil. The windows were streaked with rain, but from this height Evellyn could see the shape of the compound below: the cabins, the barrel fires, the generator shed, the weak eastern fence patched with fresh wire.Temporary safetyThat was all this place was.Caleb stood at the far window with a rifle resting against his shoulder.“You’re early,” he said.“You’re still here.”“Couldn’t sleep.”Evelyn stepped beside him and looked out over the forested ridge. Below, fog moved between the trees in slow gray currents.“Neither could I,” she said.Caleb didn’t push.That made her like him a little more.For several minutes, they stood in silence while the wind

The eastern fence bowed inward with a sound like bones bending.For half a second, nobody moved.The infected pressed against the chain-link from below the ridge, pale faces and bloodied hands appearing through the fog in jerking flashes. One slammed itself hard enough into the metal to rattle the entire perimeter while another crawled over the mud beneath it, clawing for gaps.Then the compound erupted.“Get weapons!”“Wake the others!”“Light the floodlights!”Warren shouted over everyone, but the panic swallowed half his orders before they reached anyone. People stumbled out of cabins half-dressed and terrified while the generator coughed weakly behind the shed.The eastern fence groaned again.The rope Rowan had tied snapped tight against the anchor stump.It held.Barely.Caleb stared at it for one stunned second before looking at Evelyn.She didn’t have time for the realization on his face.“Lanterns on the lower slope,” she said. “Draw their attention away from the weak point.”