Back From The Dead: My Apocalypse Level-up System novel · Chapter 24 of 24
Chapter 24: The Gate
Devon's POV
I didn't answer him on the loading dock.
I looked at his shaking hands, and the cold coffee, and the sun on the yard, and I said, "Ask me again tomorrow, at the gate."
He didn't argue.
He nodded once and went to check the trucks.
The valley gate stood at the old county bridge, where the river ran slow and brown under the road.
It was nothing grand.
Two steel panels Hattie had welded in a week, a guard shack built from pallets, and a hand-painted sign.
BRING WHAT YOU CAN. TELL THE TRUTH. VOTE ON JOBS.
By nine in the morning the whole valley had gathered on our side of the bridge.
The farrier had brought his wife and a pot of coffee.
The nurse stood with the three doctors from Fort Haven, who had arrived on Tuesday and already looked tired.
The sheriff leaned on the shack with his mug.
The boy from the gold sedan sat on the bridge rail beside Hattie's niece and nephew, swinging his legs, and he waved at me with his whole arm.
I waved back.
"You're going to do a speech," Hattie said, at my elbow.
"I'm not."
"You've got a speech face."
"I don't have a speech."
"Good. Nobody wants one."
She was grinning, and her eyes were wet.
"Any word on those two?" I asked her.
I didn't need to say which.
"Went out the camp gate separate," Hattie said. "A man on the road saw the scarred one go north on foot, begging at every fence. The other one went west. Nobody's opened to either."
Keep reading free with an account. Start Back From The Dead: My Apocalypse Level-up System from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.
Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend