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The Burning 14
Marcus’s gaze swept over us, lingering on Ben for a moment before moving on. "Newcomers," he said, his voice gravelly and rough. "Stick to the rules, and you'll do fine." He didn’t wait for a response before turning on his heel and walking away, his heavy boots crunching on the gravel path. Sarah let out a breath, her shoulders relaxing just a fraction. "He's... intense," she said, her voice dropping to a whisper. "But he's loyal to Harlan. They all are." I frowned, my mind racing. "And what about you? Are you loyal to Harlan?" Sarah’s eyes flickered with something I couldn’t quite read, but before she could answer, a group of children ran past, laughing and shouting as they played some kind of game with sticks and rocks. The sight of them—so carefree, so oblivious to the danger around them—made my chest tighten. "I have to go," Sarah said abruptly, her voice tight. "But if you want to talk more, meet me by the water tower at sunset. There are things you need to know." Sh
Last Updated : 2024-10-27The Burning 15
The morning air had a bite to it, the kind that cuts through layers of clothing and settles into your bones. I stood among the crowd gathered in Eagle's Nest's main square, the dirt beneath my boots frozen solid from the night’s chill. People were pressed in on all sides, faces drawn and tense, eyes fixed ahead. I could feel the weight of their collective dread, the suffocating sense of inevitability that hung over the crowd like a storm cloud. At the center of it all was Harlan. He stood on a platform made of stacked crates, his broad shoulders and commanding presence impossible to ignore. His voice boomed across the square, authoritative and unyielding, as he addressed the crowd. But it wasn’t Harlan that held my attention. It was the young man kneeling in front of him, hands bound behind his back, his face streaked with dirt and sweat. His name was Caleb, one of the newer arrivals we’d seen just a few days ago. He couldn't have been more than nineteen, with shaggy brown hair an
Last Updated : 2024-10-27The Burning 16
Harlan holstered his gun, his expression unchanging. "This is what happens when you betray Eagle’s Nest,” he said, his voice cold and final. "Let this be a lesson to all of you." The crowd dispersed slowly after that, people moving away in silence, their faces pale and drawn. I stood there for a moment longer, staring at Caleb’s body, my mind racing. I didn’t know him, not really. But he didn’t deserve this. No one did. "Maya," Ben's voice was strained as he grabbed my arm, pulling me away from the platform. "We need to go. Now." I let him lead me away, my feet moving mechanically, but my mind was still stuck on that platform, stuck on the sight of Caleb’s body lying in the dirt. The weight of it pressed down on me, suffocating me. I had wanted to believe that Eagle’s Nest could be a sanctuary, that maybe we could find some semblance of peace here. But there was no peace in a place like this. Back in the cabin, I collapsed onto the cot, my head in my hands. Ben paced the roo
Last Updated : 2024-10-27The Burning 17
The scream cut through the silence like a knife, sharp and jagged, sending a tremor down my spine. I froze, my breath catching in my throat as the sound echoed through the camp. It was coming from Harlan's main cabin, the one he used for meetings—and for punishments... I didn't want to go. Every instinct screamed at me to turn away, to pretend I hadn’t heard anything. But my feet moved on their own, drawn toward the noise like a moth to a flame. Maybe it was morbid curiosity, or maybe it was the part of me that needed to see the truth—the real truth about what Harlan was capable of. The closer I got, the more I could hear. The low murmur of voices, the steady thud of boots on the wooden floor, and then another scream, this one more desperate than the last. My stomach clenched, and I felt the bile rise in my throat, but I kept walking, my steps slow and deliberate. By the time I reached the door of the cabin, I could hear Harlan’s voice, low and menacing. "You want to steal
Last Updated : 2024-10-27The Burning 18
By the time I reached the cabin, my breath was coming in short, frantic bursts, my heart pounding in my chest. Ben was there, sitting on the edge of the cot, his rifle resting across his lap. He looked up as I burst through the door, his eyes narrowing in concern. "Maya," he said, standing up quickly. "What happened?"" I couldn't speak. I couldn’t find the words to explain what I had just seen. Instead, I sank down onto the cot, my hands trembling as I buried my face in them, trying to steady my breathing. "Maya!" Ben said again, his voice more urgent now. He crouched down in front of me, his hands on my shoulders. "What’s going on? What did you see?" I took a deep breath, forcing myself to look at him. "Harlan... he's torturing people..." I whispered, my voice barely audible. "A man—he was accused of stealing food, and Harlan... he..." I trailed off, unable to finish the sentence. Ben’s face darkened, his jaw clenching. "We need to leave," he said firmly, his voice hard. "W
Last Updated : 2024-10-27The Burning 19
We ran until our legs burned, until the sounds of Eagle's Nest faded into the night and were replaced by the rustle of wind through the trees and the distant call of night birds. The forest was dense, the shadows thick and impenetrable, but it was our cover. Our sanctuary. For now. It wasn't until we reached a small clearing—a space barely big enough for the three of us—that we stopped. I doubled over, hands on my knees, gasping for air. My lungs felt like they were on fire, my muscles trembling from the strain. Ben was right beside me, his chest rising and falling with heavy breaths, his eyes scanning the darkness for any sign of pursuit. Sarah collapsed against a tree, her face pale and sweat-soaked, but her eyes burning with determination. "We did it!" she gasped, a small smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. "We actually made it out..." "Not yet," Ben said, his voice low and tense. "We're not safe until we’re far away from here. Harlan won’t just let us go. Not after
Last Updated : 2024-10-27The Burning 20
I leaned back against the wall, letting out a long, shaky breath.Ben sat beside me, his body warm and solid, and I felt the familiar pull between us, the unspoken connection that had been there ever since we’d first met. Even in the worst of times, even in the middle of this nightmare, there was something between us—something I couldn’t ignore. "You okay?" Ben asked, his voice low and rough in the quiet. I nodded, though the truth was more complicated than that. "I'm... here" I said, forcing a small smile. "That's something, right?" Ben chuckled softly, but there was no humor in it. "Yeah. That’s something...." We sat there in silence for a while, the weight of everything we’d been through pressing down on us. I could feel the tension in Ben’s body, the way his muscles were coiled, ready for action at any moment. But there was something else too—something softer. Something more vulnerable. He turned to look at me, his expression unreadable in the dim light, but his eyes wer
Last Updated : 2024-10-31The Burning 21
The radio felt like a lead weight in my hands. My mind raced, piecing together the implications. Someone had been listening in on us—tracking our every conversation, our every move. For how long? I glanced up at Ben, who was staring at the radio with the same horrified realization. "Shit," he muttered, running a hand through his hair. "How the hell did we miss this?" I didn't have an answer. I felt sick, a cold knot forming in my stomach as I thought about all the things we'd said, all the plans we'd made—thinking we were safe, thinking we were alone. But we weren't. Someone had been watching. Listening. Sarah came back into the room just then, her brow furrowed with concern as she noticed the tension in the air. "What's going on?" she asked, her voice low. I held up the radio. "We found this," I said, my voice tight. "Someone’s been spying on us." Sarah's eyes widened, her face going pale. "What? How— ?" "I don't know," I cut her off, my mind still reeling. "But we need t
Last Updated : 2024-10-31
Latest chapter
The Burning 79
As we ate in the flickering firelight, I couldn't help but marvel at how normal it all felt. Almost like the world hadn't ended, like we were just travelers stopping at a kind stranger's house for the night. But as the evening wore on, I noticed a change in Eli's demeanor. He became quieter, more thoughtful, his gaze lingering on us in a way that made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. "You two've been through a lot," he said finally, breaking the comfortable silence that had settled over us. It wasn't a question. "We've seen our share," Ben replied carefully, his spoon pausing halfway to his mouth. Eli nodded, leaning back in his creaking chair. "I've seen a lot too. More than I'd like, truth be told." He paused, seeming to wrestle with something internal. "I wasn't always a farmer, you know. Before The Burning, I worked for them. The government. I was part of something... something I'm not proud of." My heart stuttered in my chest, and I felt Ben go still beside me. We'd
The Burning 78
As we got closer, the outline of a small farmstead came into view. It was nestled against the edge of a narrow stream— miraculously still running —and surrounded by a patch of what looked like actual crops. Corn, maybe, or something that used to be corn before the world ended. The sight of growing things, of life persisting despite everything, made my throat tight with emotion."Look at that" I whispered, almost afraid to speak too loudly and break whatever spell was keeping this place alive. "Actual plants. Growing. How is this possible??"Ben shot me a cautious look, ever the pragmatist. "Could be a trap. You know how some groups operate. Make something look too good to be true, wait for desperate people to come running.""It could be," I admitted, remembering all too well the stories we'd heard about such things. "But I don't think we have much choice. We need water, and this place looks like it has it. Besides, if it were raiders, they'd probably have worse security. This place
The Burning 77
The wasteland stretched out before us, endless and desolate, a s ea of cracked earth and skeletal trees marking the landscape as a constant reminder of the world we had lost. Despite the harshness of it all, there was something oddly freeing about being out here, away from the settlement and the ghosts of the past that haunted its walls. Out here, it was just Ben and me, two souls trying to carve out something new in the ruins of what had been.Our footsteps crunched against the dry dirt as we walked, the horizon shimmering with heat in the distance. The sun hung high and merciless in the cloudless sky, and the only sound was the wind cutting across the plains, whipping at the tattered edges of our clothes. My muscles screamed with each step, my throat parched and raw, but there was a strange kind of peace in the rhythm of walking. One foot in front of the other. Keep moving. That was the only way to survive in this broken world.I glanced over at Ben, studying his profile as he wa
The Burning 76
He hesitated, his brow furrowing as if he were trying to find the right words. “There’s something I need to tell you. Something I should have told you a long time ago.” My stomach tightened. I didn’t like the sound of this. "Ben..." He stopped walking, turning to face me fully, his expression serious. "I knew about Chloe." The air seemed to leave my lungs all at once. "What....?" "I knew about her involvement in The Burning." he said, his voice steady but heavy with regret. "I....I knew before we ever got to the settlement. Before we ever found those documents." I stared at him, my mind racing. "You knew? ...how?" He sighed, running a hand through his hair. “It’s a long story, but... back when we were with that other group, before we got separated, I came across some intel. I didn’t understand all of it at the time, but Chloe’s name was there, tied to Project Inferno. I didn’t know the full extent of her involvement, but I knew enough to realize she wasn’t just some random survi
The Burning 75
I packed the last of my things into a worn canvas bag. The light was soft, almost golden, but it felt like a lie. There was nothing soft about the world we lived in now. Nothing golden about the reality we faced.I tightened the strap on my bag, my hands trembling slightly. It wasn't the weight of the bag that made me shake. It was the weight of the decision I'd made. After everything— after uncovering the truth about The Burning, after confronting Wells, after the chaos of the past few weeks— I was leaving.I couldn't stay here anymore. The settlement wasn't my home; it never had been. I had only stayed because I thought I could help. Thought I could make things right. But the more I tried, the more I realized that the answers I was searching for weren't here. They were out there, somewhere beyond the borders of this broken place.Ben was waiting for me by the gate, his silhouette dark against the pale sky. He had packed light, just like me. Neither of us had much to take. The wo
The Burning 74
Wells' jaw tightened. “We weren’t going to let the government cover it up. My unit was sent to investigate, yes, but we weren’t loyal to the people who caused this. We wanted to expose them. To bring the truth to light.” I laughed bitterly, the sound hollow in the small room. “The truth? You think exposing the truth is going to fix any of this? It’ll destroy what little we have left. People will lose whatever faith they have in rebuilding. Civilization will collapse all over again.” Wells didn’t flinch. “People deserve to know the truth, Maya. They deserve to know what was done to them.” I shook my head, the anger giving way to exhaustion. “And what happens when they find out? What happens when they realize that their own government burned them alive, that Chloe —someone they trusted —was part of it? What do you think that’ll do to them? To us?” Wells stepped closer, her voice calm but insistent. “It’s not about what it’ll do to us. It’s about justice. About holding the people res
The Burning 73
I slowly made my way to Captain Wells’ command post. My hands were still shaking, the weight of the documents I had found in the bunker pressing down on me like a physical burden. I couldn't stop thinking about what I had uncovered —about Chloe, about Luther, about the lies that had been woven into the very fabric of the world since The Burning. It felt like the ground beneath my feet had shifted, leaving me standing on the edge of a cliff, staring into a truth I wasn't ready to face. But I had to. I couldn't keep this to myself. The soldiers standing guard at the entrance to the command post nodded as I approached, their expressions neutral, but I could feel their eyes on me as I passed. They knew who I was. They knew I was the one people were looking to, whether I wanted it or not. Word traveled fast in the settlement, especially now that the survivors were clinging to anything that resembled stability. I had to admit, Wells had done a decent job keeping the peace. For al
The Burning 72
Project Inferno had been a government initiative, a secret project designed to develop a new kind of weapon —something that could burn entire landscapes in a matter of hours. Wildfire, but faster. Hotter. More destructive. And Chloe… I froze, my eyes locking onto a familiar name. Chloe's name. She... She had been involved. She had been part of the team. My stomach churned, nausea rising as I stared at the words in front of me. Chloe had known. She had been part of the project that had unleashed this hell on the world. "This can't be real." I whispered, my voice shaking. "She wouldn’t have—" “Maya,” Daniel interrupted, his voice tight. “There’s more.” I looked up, and he handed me another file. This one was thicker, the pages dog-eared and stained with something I didn’t want to think about. I opened it, and the first thing I saw was a map—our region, marked with red X's. Target zones. “I think this is where The Burning started.” Daniel said, pointing to the ma
The Burning 71
Morning came. I'd spent another sleepless night thinking about Wells' offer, the weight of the settlement’s future pressing down on me like a boulder. But instead of making any decisions, I'd buried myself in work— cleaning wounds, rationing supplies, and helping rebuild what little we could. It was all I could do to keep the guilt and grief at bay, to keep *her* voice from creeping into my mind. Chloe's voice. It had been days since Wells had offered me the leadership of the settlement. Days of watching the survivors look to me with those tired, hopeful eyes. Days of pretending I had the answers when, in truth, I was just as lost as they were. I kept telling myself I was just a healer. That leading was for someone stronger, someone who didn’t wake up every morning with the weight of a sister’s death on their conscience. But no matter how much I tried to push it away, I couldn’t ignore Wells’ words. Or Ben’s. They believed in me, even if I didn’t believe in myself. And
