Contents(58)
Chapter 1
IRIS Silence. THE WORLD had turned into a deafening silence of danger and uncertainty. And in the darkness where sadness and horror lingered. The night fell. It was time for me to move. The desolated pet shop had been my shelter for the past few days and the safest place so far as no one who would think of getting pets nowadays. A d...
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Chapter 2
IRIS What happened? WHERE AM I? The smell of soap tickled my nose. I tried hard to tune in my other senses, but all I could hear was my own breathing. The comfy feeling against my head and my back made me want to fall asleep cocooned in this warm blanket. I opened my eyes and wandered around the wooden-walled room. At least two bunk beds...
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Chapter 3
COLT I BARELY slept after leaving the guard post. Now, I wanted booze, but nowadays you felt like a goddamn billionaire if you had a bottle of a cheap whiskey at your disposal. Frost pissed me off. He could have put the group in danger by bringing a stranger to our camp. That woman could be dangerous no matter how weak she might look.&n...
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Chapter 4
COLT Unbelievable! “Jesus, Gael. Did you check her arms? She has bruises and needle pricks.” I pointed at her. “This woman is a drug addict.” “What?” The woman spoke, lifting her chin. Her gaze directly met mine. Her surreal blue eyes widened in shock. I felt an odd sense down my spine. My heart started to beat faster th...
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Chapter 5
IRIS IT HAD been a week since the incident at Gael’s office, and I hadn’t seen Colt around. Lois once mentioned of the guards and Colt happened to choose the night shift, so he’d been sleeping at day time. I shared lunch with the group every day and been able to meet some of them; Darick, a wounded Asian guy. He questioned his val...
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Chapter 6
IRIS I MUST have fallen asleep until a soft hand nudged me on my shoulder. “Iris, wake up.” I stretched and instantly stilled, blinking as my pupils assaulted by the halogen lamp. “Oh, we have electricity?” She laughed softly. “You sleep for the whole day. Again. And you missed your lunch and dinner.” “And you’...
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Chapter 7
COLT “WHAT’S GOING on?” I was the last one to enter since I was a watcher last night. Now, it made me scowl upon seeing the familiar faces at Gael’s office, and something didn’t add up. “Morning, Colt.” Cora greeted. “Morning.” I gestured to everyone to start telling me, and my scowl deepened when I couldn’t fin...
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Chapter 8
COLT “YOU WERE the one who suggested to not let her stay, so what changed your mind? And don’t give me shit it’s because she’d grown on Lois.” “I don’t know,” I said truthfully. “You also don’t seem to care about other people we encountered during the run, so what did you see in her that you want her to stay for as l...
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Chapter 9
IRIS 20:00 “YOU’RE LATE!” “You’re early,” I said as I wandered around the small armory room. They had a good supply of guns for a small group; automatic guns like AK-47, two sniper rifles, handguns, knives, boxes of ammunition, had several explosives like hand grenades and putty. I thanked my brother who introduced ...
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Chapter 10
IRIS MY HEART started to race. This was my first time to be with him for a long night. I honestly didn’t know how to act or react because something between me and Colt that was hard to explain. Every time we looked at each other, it took longer than necessary—it was like we saw our emotions, our fears, our deepest emotive shades. And there was...
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Chapter 11
COLT I KNEW it! I fucking know it! In a flash, Iris raised her hands, eyes filled with fear. “Whoa! Colton, what are you doing?” “It’s time to talk, woman. Who sent you?” I aimed at her head, and if she moved, I would not hesitate to pull the trigger. She couldn’t take the rifle if she would ever think of shoo...
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Chapter 12
COLT IRIS LEANED her back against the wall as if she lost her strength. She kept on wiping her tears, but they kept flowing. “We reached the outpost after we walked for the whole day. It was too late—everyone was dead except my brother’s friends; Donovan and Simmons who locked themselves inside the interrogation room. They h...
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Chapter 13
IRIS I STAYED at the watchtower when Colt left. I formed into a ball, crying my eyes out for as long as I could, hoping to ease away my pain. It was hard to recall the things I’d seen and experienced. I’d never expected I would survive, but I held on to the thought of my brother’s last words, and that gave me hope somehow. I never...
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Chapter 14
IRIS “PUT ME down. I’ll follow the trail. I know now how to get back to the road.” It was a complete lie because I didn’t have a map and no idea where I was heading. Since I stayed with them, I didn’t get a chance to survey the area. “You’re not going anywhere. Iris. Gael is waiting for you at the camp.” He put me down on my f...
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Chapter 15
COLT IRIS ARRIVED with her skinny jeans that fitted her sexy long legs perfectly. My brother’s gray shirt layered over the top of dark blue long sleeves and a scarf snaked around her neck. She was also wearing a remarkable smile on her radiant face. I didn’t miss the curves she gained for over a couple of weeks. She got her shape ba...
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Chapter 16
COLT MY HEART ached. Defeated, I shifted back and looked at the endless road ahead of us. Frost tuned the radio in, finding an active frequency, but it was just a buzz and nothing it could grasp. “Turn the shit off. It gives me a headache.” “You mean heartache?” I glared at him. ”Shut the fuck up, will you?” I...
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Chapter 17
IRIS “HOLY CRAP!” Lois gushed. “Look what you have there.” “I did the same as Dr. Hull’s, by cutting empty bottled waters in half, poked tiny holes, and filled them with soil,” I said enthusiastically. Not in a million years, I thought of cultivating flowers or plants, yet here I was. I felt it was a huge fulfillment on my ...
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Chapter 18
IRIS“OH, YOU made a plan already. Go ahead and hunt a frigging gorilla!” He swore behind my back while Frost was laughing his ass out. The thuds of his heavy footsteps signified he was following me. He then grabbed my arm. In a swift motion, I was facing him, and my breathing caught under my throat as his sheer size made me small an...
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Chapter 19
COLT FROST DUCKED and crawled down the moment we spotted the campers’ location. He took off the nocs to scout the distance. The stream water in a slow current that separated us from them. A few trees hanging out over the water that blocked mostly the views of the other side. Tension rode in me as I positioned myself and rested the muz...
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Chapter 20
COLT MY SHOULDERS stiffened. “What the fuck is she doing here?” I hissed in anger. Cora got inside the tent, two white men about our age followed. They didn’t look like military, but they had handguns on their sides. Everyone had it nowadays, and it was not a shock anymore. “Why do I feel like she’s using herse...
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Chapter 21
IRIS
What was that all about?
I COULDN’T look at him without thinking of that kiss. I could still feel the firmness and softness of his lips. I could still taste him and feel his touch that stirred something inside me.
How could I stop when all I could think was how good that kiss was? The synchronizing of our lips, the heat radiating between us, and ...
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Chapter 22
IRIS
OH GOD! How the hell did I become so straightforward? My face heated.
“No!” His eyes grew big, mouth suddenly fell open.
“No?” I was shocked too.
“Shit.” He laughed. “I should stop talking. I mean I would love to, but what I mean is, I don’t want that that’s the only thing we should share together. This world is falling piece by p...
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Chapter 23
COLT
“I COULDN’T believe she did this?” Frost shook his head after seeing the aftermath of what Cora had done to the garden.
“Remind me again how old is she. A preschooler?” Darick started picking the remnants of the plants. “Tsk tsk. Pretty much nothing left to fix. I wonder how long did it take for her to destroy these.”
Iris was pretty ...
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Chapter 24
COLT
HALFWAY TO the stream, a dark smoke soared the sky. If my calculation was right, it came from the campers.
And I was damn right as we reached closer.
“They’re gone, burned the tents down to clear their trail,” Frost declared.
“Let’s cross. We might find something to help us locate Cora.”
We crossed path the water, just ankle-deep. Gae...
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Chapter 25
IRIS
Cora is dead.
Cora was killed.
I WAS still shivering. A sudden coldness hit my core upon hearing the news. I wrapped my arms around my body, berating if I should blame myself or not.
Its just...it was even harder to believe when she was just standing right in front of me as I made her admit her mistake, then all of a sudden, she was gone.
She died b...
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Chapter 26
IRIS
DID I just say that? I blinked rapidly, feeling my face heated some more.
“Please.” He gestured like a gentleman.
The moment the door shut behind us, my breathing quickened. My muscle quivered. Gooseflesh erupted all over my skin when I felt his breath warming the skin of my neck.
In a split second, I was pressed against the wall as h...
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Chapter 27
COLT
Of course, she left!
SHE COULDN’T just wait until I woke up, could she?
How dumbass of me to believe she enjoyed what we shared last night? I thought it was amazing—like brain-plaguing-mind-blowing amazing.
Iris’ warm body sprawled around me, her hair spread all over my pillow with her breath tickling my neck, and my arm wrapped over the cur...
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Chapter 28
COLT
IRIS TURNED the page again, and that annoyed me. Her head rested on my arm. Our legs tangled together, and my free arm draped around her tiny naked body. She completely forgot my existence and was hooked with the book of Elizabeth Hand. I read it and I knew it was good. It was a story of a guy named James Cole who used a time machine to stop the virus ...
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Chapter 29
IRIS
FOR HOURS, the tension rose thicker and thicker in the air.
Colt’s knuckles remained white as he gripped the steering wheel throughout the ride, glaring toward the road, and his jaw muscles were clenching most of the time.
They were both tensed.
Silence lingered on Gael—if he was not to check his watch, he tapped his fingers against his knees....
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Chapter 30
IRIS
COLT RUSHED toward Gael and pressed his gun against his forehead. “I swear to God,” he hissed.
“Colton, don’t!” I grabbed him on his shoulder, but he didn’t even budge. His arm contracted and his veins protruded against his forehead. “Please, it doesn’t have to be this way.”
“You will thank me later—”
Colt cut him off. “Fu...
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Chapter 31
COLT
AROUND HUNDREDS of vehicle, including bikes, four-wheeler trucks parked in the area of Greenebach, and probably thousands of people inside the parameter.
It reminded me of a 90’s Woodstock Concert my dad used to tell me about.
“Wow! I never thought Greenebach would be like this.” Iris got her head out of the car window. “This is unbelievabl...
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Chapter 32
COLT
“JESUS CHRIST.” I strode to follow her who just thrown up. “Are you okay?” I rubbed her back as she wiped her mouth clean.
She grabbed a bottle of water I offered, emptying it. She then held up. “A roasted dog, seriously? Poor dog. And lizards?”
“A few people from the Middle East eat Uromastyx lizards.”
“Really? How about rats, a...
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Chapter 33
IRIS
“WHY THE fuck did you just run away without telling me? How many times did I tell you to stay with me all the time? But you couldn’t just do it, could you? You’re hard-headed and stubborn, and you have to defy me!” Colt’s voice roared like thunder.
I stayed still, guilty, and unable to say a word because I forgot everything the moment I ...
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Chapter 34
IRIS
MY HEART was pounding.
My body ached everywhere. My head. Oh, my god! It felt like it split in half or cracked into tiny pieces, and my brain was crashing and bled out. Warm liquid rolled down my eyebrow into my eye, blurring my sight. Then the car descended with a loud splash. Into the water.
I watched the car submerge deep, and I couldn’t move. I...
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Chapter 35
COLT
“YOU OKAY in there?” I checked them since they suddenly went silent.
Earlier, Iris gulped when I pointed at the dirtbike. She said she rode a bicycle when she was a kid, but never on a motorcycle. We didn’t have a choice—either we walk or ride using this thing—and this was a matter of life and death. The longer we stayed here, the closer t...
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Chapter 36
COLTI WAS beyond shock. Like the puzzle with missing pieces, I could see it now the whole picture as everything was clicking back together—that was their message that they would kill as many as they wanted just to get to Iris. They didn’t care how many lives they took, and I felt the sick in my stomach at that thought.
I gritted out curses, but it didn...
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Chapter 37
IRIS
It’s selfish. BUT IF I had to turn myself in for their own good, I would do it.
I knew Colt was angry that I had to decide on my own without asking his opinion, but I would not think twice for as long as he and my friends were safe out there.
It was also hard for me. I cared about them, and it broke my heart that I had to leave them this way—at...
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Chapter 38
IRIS
I SHOOK my head. “If I know, they’re on their way here. I can’t risk your life again, all of you, you deserve better than just running and looking over your shoulders every day. You know for a fact that they won’t stop looking for me until they have my head.” I looked at Colt who was glaring with a clenched jaw. “I’m sorry, Colton.”
C...
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Chapter 39
IRIS
MY HEART hammered in my chest a mile in a minute. I was a few yards away from running away to save them and at the same time a few yards closer.
The car was still parked at the same spot, patiently waiting for me.
“I mean it, Iris! Start walking back,” Lois said firmly.
My mind wanted to protest, but my heart said the opposite. Maybe working t...
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Chapter 40
IRIS
“YOU DON’T have to apologize. I would do the same thing if I was in your position. Knowing that they died because of me, I felt the guilt is eating me up every second and I couldn’t help to not blame myself. It kills me if something bad will happen to all of you, you know. That’s why I wanted to turn myself in.”
“You don’t have to shoul...
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Chapter 41
COLT
I HAD to take deep breaths and not to think of Iris’ moan just to calm my aching and raging hard-on when I made my way outside.
Frost, Darick, and Gael were still there watching out the parameters. We were all exhausted and wanted to get some rest, but I could take a nap later, so I planned something that would work out for all of us.
“Iris is ...
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Chapter 42
COLT
OUR BREAKFAST consisted of protein bars and coffee. I didn’t know if we could call it coffee because it didn’t taste like even the worse coffee I tasted.
“I think the owner doesn’t drink coffee.” Lois grimaced.
We found the corpse of the old man at the back of the cabin, but he didn’t die from the virus. Someone might have come and raide...
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Chapter 43
COLT
THE TENSION on my shoulders worsened the knots.
“There she is,” Otis sang proudly and mockingly.
“If you lay a hand on him, you have to kill us all. And if you’re intelligent enough like you said you were, you wouldn’t dare hurt him because you know I am not alone. You may survive, but some of your men will die with me!” Iris yelled fr...
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Chapter 44
IRIS
“IRIS, STAY focus.” Gael cupped my head, forcing me to look at him. “This is our only chance. If we fail, then we’re all dead.”
I stared at the pools of sadness and frightened eyes as I gulped and nodded repeatedly as if I understood everything.
Chills ran down my spine in horror. I was trembling, but Gael kept squeezing my hands, saying ...
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Chapter 45
IRIS
“WHY THE fuck did you shoot her?” Colt’s angry voice irritated my ears.
“Twig. Twig, please? Look at me. Don’t die. Don’t fucking die! Please.” I was held tighter into his arms. His body was shaking. He was sobbing, kissing my head, my face, then he pressed his head against mine.
He was rocking me back and forth in his arms. “I didn...
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Chapter 46
IRIS
I PARKED the car at the top of the hill—a park and a perfect place for a short hike for couples. Right now the beautiful scenic landscape decayed and abandoned. The twinkling city lights that supposed to be breathtaking were gone and nothing but a gray and dusty dead city from the top.
The chains of the tree swing set creaked and sounded like in a...
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Chapter 47
IRIS
MAX WAS inside the room with his mask on.
“I’m getting inside the room, and I want you to come outside that door once it’s locked. I need your help.”
“Okay.”
A single light in the hallway illuminated around in a white glow. Max must have flicked it on.
At the operating room, a surgical bed at the center, lamp, medical equipment, machin...
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Chapter 48
IRIS
THE YOUNG girl was trapped inside the glass-walled room. When her body began to tremor. She wrapped her arms around herself as she spun around looking for an exit, but there wasn’t any that her unique blue eyes could find.
“M-mom?” Her voice was shaking. “Mom, I’m s-scared. Can you please come and get me out of here?” she pleaded and cri...
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Chapter 49
IRIS
I PURSED my lips to stop from bubbling.
“It’s been a day and Colt had not moved a muscle. We transferred you to another room, away from him just in case, you know, and here he is. His fever drops down a little bit.”
“I’ve never been scared like that. He started deteriorating, and I couldn’t think of anything when I was seemed fine.” I ...
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Chapter 50
IRIS
IT HAD been four days—Four. Damn. Days!
It was hard to wait for the inevitable, and my hope was slowly wearing thin. Colt had not wakened up. Not even moved a finger.
Dr. Hull had hope and never gave up, and so as everyone. But what if he would never wake up? My heart and every fiber in my body ached no matter how I tried to hold onto that hope.
...
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Chapter 51
COLT
I HAD never been terrified in my entire life knowing that I was going to die—of what to come after death. Was there really an afterlife? Like Heaven or hell?
I believed in God, but I was not a religious person. I remembered God during the happiest and toughest moments, but that was all.
Before I bled out, I begged for forgiveness. I begged Him to...
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Chapter 52
COLT
“I THOUGHT you’re dead, man. And finally, I can have Iris all to myself.” Frost wiggled his brows.
Iris and Lois stared at him in disgust.
I snorted and gave him a brotherly hug. “I hate to break it to you, man, but you’re not her type. So, don’t let your hopes high.”
“Burn,” Darick reacted.
“Ah, Darick. You don’t understand...
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Chapter 53
COLT
“NO, IT’S NOT. It has no scent, and it’s empty?” She wasn’t sure about her answer anymore. This conversation affected, and again, it was because of me.
“It looks like a Lapis lazuli.”
“A Lapis what?” Gael asked.
“A deep blue rock. A long time ago, this rock is expensive than gold. A Tsarevich egg is made of this stone for Empress...
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Chapter 54
COLT
Sixteen hours later...
“ARE YOU sure you wanna do this?” For the umpteenth times, Frost asked Iris behind the wheels. “Just so you know, I don’t like your idea, but I respect everyone’s decision that’s why I am here.”
“Yes. And I understand. This is the only way I can sleep at night and probably the only way to get answers on why I ...
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Chapter 55
COLT
SHE WAS turned on, her eyes were filled with lust. She then lied down without hesitation, and I pulled the jeans off of her legs.
I stood up and looked at her up and down, admiring her nakedness. My heart was beating so fast as it was too much for me to bear that I was still alive and got a chance to feel her again.
My body was burning and vibrating...
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Chapter 56
COLT
“DARICK, STOP the car,” Gael ordered as he raised the radio. He hopped down from the passenger seat as soon as the car halted, and we followed suit.
“If anyone out there can hear me, please, spread this message by posting flyers, writing on every wall you see, or tell everyone to come to us. On behalf of the Center for Disease Control, I am Dr...
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Chapter 57
IRIS
I LISTENED attentively as he explained how he met Iris’ real parents and how they ended up with the breakthrough.
“So, my parents were forced to work with the pharmaceutical company owned by a Russian billionaire?”
“Let me guess, it has something to do with a biological weapon.”
“Yes. That’s what we thought. They found a primordial v...
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Epilogue
COLT
Three months later...
I LAZILY draped my arm around Iris’ shoulder as our group drove through the endless wide road.
It was a beautiful day. We thought we could have a little adventure as we were headed to one of the Frost mansions.
The sky was clear and the sun was striking hot, yet nobody cared.
“How much longer to your place?” Lois asked...
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