#Chapter 534: The Final Ones

Nina The thick veil of mist hung heavy in the air, enveloping our makeshift camp in a shroud of eerie stillness. The acrid stench of smoke still clung to our clothes and hair, a lingering reminder of the inferno we had barely escaped with our lives. Two days. We had spent two days traveling, and I hadn’t seen or heard from my friends or my husband all that time. I was beginning to lose hope. Finally, we had managed to make our way out of the burnt portion of the forest, although the place we found was still trampled by animals trying to get away from the hot blaze. We found a spot near a running stream, and set up camp there. As I hammered another tent stake into the damp earth, my muscles ached with exhaustion, but I refused to rest. Not until we had some semblance of shelter, some fragile sense of safety amidst the chaos that had consumed the world. And after all, this had been my fault. I had failed; I had let things get out of control. And now, innocent people wer