Back From The Dead: My Apocalypse Level-up System novel · Chapter 22 of 24
Chapter 22: The Valley's Queen
They held the vote in the grain co-op yard, three days later, on a clear afternoon with the wind coming off the fields.
Four hundred people stood in the dust.
The sheriff was there with his mug, and the depot boss with his daughter on his shoulders.
The farrier, the nurse, and the gray-dress woman from the camp stood in a row at the front, and she had cut the numbered tag off her wrist.
I stood on a flatbed with the iron ring of keys in my hands and did not know where to look.
"Somebody say it," Hattie called from the crowd. "Before she faints."
"Queen," the farrier said.
It rolled across the yard and came back louder.
"Queen of the valley."
"Queen Devon of the Potatoes," Hattie shouted, and half the crowd laughed.
I raised my hand.
They went quiet, slowly.
"No," I said.
Nobody breathed.
"I won't wear a crown," I said. "I've spent two months learning what happens to a place when one person decides everything. There's a camp ten miles from here where that happened."
Heads nodded.
"So here's what I'll take. One seat on a council of nine. One vote, same as anybody. And the gate."
"Which gate?" the sheriff asked.
"The valley gate, at the bridge. The one everyone comes through. I'll hold the key, and the rule that goes with it."
"What rule?"
"Whoever comes brings what they can, tells the truth about it, and gets a vote on their job."
"That's the rule you made in the cellar," the nurse said.
"It still works."
I climbed down off the flatbed and went from face to face with the ring in my hands.
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.
← Chapter 21 · All chapters · Chapter 23 →
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