Extra's Guide To Surviving The Apocalypse

Chapter 92: Chapter 91: The Story She Remembered.

The forest cast longer shadows across the paths, and the dark stone walls began to catch the fading light.

People slowly started returning to their homes.

Some headed toward the dormitories.

Others disappeared into the Garden Villas.

A few remained outside, still talking and working.

Nina stood there for a moment, watching them.

She had no idea what tomorrow would bring.

None of them did.

But for the first time since the apocalypse began, she wasn’t afraid of finding out.

She turned toward the others.

"Let’s go."

Kyle looked at her.

"Where?"

Nina glanced toward the Garden Villas.

"To find out if we can afford that house you already decided belongs to you."

Kyle grinned.

"I knew you’d come around."

Edwin laughed.

Kai shook his head.

The group started walking.

Iris watched them leave before turning toward Velaris.

The territory was still far from complete.

There were still countless things to build, resources to gather, people to organize, and problems waiting somewhere beyond the walls.

But none of that needed to happen today.

Today, people had arrived.

They had found shelter.

They had found work to look forward to.

They had found choices.

And slowly, almost without anyone noticing, Velaris was becoming a place where people could imagine tomorrow.

Iris looked toward the setting sun.

Then she smiled.

There was still a long way to go.

But they had finally begun.

The sun disappeared completely beyond the horizon.

Iris remained where she was for a few moments, watching the last traces of light fade from the sky.

Around her, Velaris slowly settled into the quiet of evening.

The sounds of conversation became softer as people returned to their homes. Doors opened and closed. Footsteps passed along the paths before disappearing into the buildings. Somewhere in the distance, someone laughed.

It was strangely peaceful.

Iris turned away from the setting sun.

She had been so busy since arriving in Velaris that she had barely given herself time to think.

There had always been something to do.

Something to build.

Something to protect.

Someone to save.

Now, for the first time in a while, there was nothing immediately demanding her attention.

Iris walked away from the main path.

She followed one of the quieter trails until the sounds of the settlement became distant. Trees surrounded her on both sides, their leaves rustling softly in the evening breeze.

Eventually, she stopped beneath a large tree.

Iris leaned against the trunk and looked through the branches toward the darkening sky.

She let out a slow breath.

So much had changed.

More than she had ever expected.

When she first arrived in this world, she hadn’t understood what was happening.

She had thought she had simply been given another life.

A strange second chance.

It wasn’t until she returned to school and saw Seraphina that everything finally made sense.

That moment.

That realization.

The sudden understanding that the world around her wasn’t simply familiar.

It was a story.

A story she had read.

A story that was never supposed to become her reality.

Iris closed her eyes.

She still remembered the feeling she had when she first realized it.

The disbelief.

The fear.

And then the desperate need to remember everything she could.

She had thought knowing the story would be enough.

If she knew what was going to happen, she could prepare.

If she knew which dangers were coming, she could avoid them.

If she knew which people were going to die, she could save them.

At least, that was what she had believed.

A faint smile appeared on her face.

How naive she had been.

Iris opened her eyes again.

She looked toward the distant lights of Velaris.

The territory was nothing like the world she remembered from the novel.

And perhaps the clearest proof of that was Caleb.

In the story she had read, Caleb was supposed to die.

Iris remembered it clearly.

She remembered the scene.

The place.

The moment when his life was supposed to end.

But he was alive.

He was probably somewhere inside Velaris right now, complaining about something ridiculous or bothering someone who had the misfortune of being nearby.

Iris almost laughed.

She had changed that part of the story.

Not through some grand plan.

Not because she had known exactly what would happen.

She had simply refused to let him die.

And that one decision had already changed everything.

Iris looked down at her hands.

That was the problem.

She had spent so long thinking about the novel as though it were a map.

A guide to everything that would happen.

But reality had already begun moving in a direction she didn’t recognize.

She had saved Caleb.

She had brought her family together.

They had established Velaris.

They had survived Eldilon.

And now strangers were living inside the territory.

None of that had existed in the story.

Iris slowly straightened.

There was something else she hadn’t allowed herself to think about for a long time.

The rest of the story.

The part she had actually read.

The part she remembered.

She had never finished the novel.

That fact had always been there, sitting quietly at the back of her mind.

She had read a significant portion of Queen Rose Rules the Apocalypse, enough to remember the major events and enough to know how badly things were supposed to go.

But she hadn’t reached the ending.

There were gaps.

Things she didn’t know.

People whose futures she couldn’t predict.

And now that reality had already diverged so far from the original story, even the things she remembered could no longer be trusted completely.

Iris looked toward the dark forest.

Still, there were things she remembered.

Things she wished she didn’t.

Her expression slowly faded.

Because before Velaris...

Before Eldilon...

Before Caleb survived...

There had been another version of her family.

A version that had never made it this far.

Iris closed her eyes.

And for the first time in a long time, she allowed herself to remember what had happened in the novel.

It had started with the Hale family.

At least, that was where her memories always seemed to return.

Before the apocalypse, the Hales had been wealthy, powerful, and almost untouchable. They had lived in a mansion large enough to shelter everyone they cared about, surrounded by security and enough resources to make most people think they could survive anything.

But the apocalypse had never cared about wealth.

It had arrived without warning.

The world had changed overnight.

People awakened strange abilities. Monsters appeared. Cities fell apart. Communication became unreliable, supplies disappeared, and the things people once considered ordinary became luxuries.

The Hale family had tried to survive together.

They had done what any wealthy family with enough resources would have done.

They protected what they could.

They gathered supplies.

They relied on their connections.

And when remaining at the mansion became impossible, they eventually left in search of a safer shelter.

That was where everything had started falling apart.

Iris remembered the story in fragments.

Not every detail.

Not every conversation.

But enough.

Enough to remember Caleb.

Enough to remember Veronica.

Enough to remember Henry.

Enough to remember Benjamin.

And enough to remember the fate waiting for each of them.

Her fingers slowly curled against the bark of the tree.

In the novel, Caleb had died.

Iris remembered that much with painful clarity.

She had already changed that part of the story.

He was alive now.

He was somewhere behind those walls.

And that single difference still felt almost impossible whenever she thought about it.

But Caleb had not been the only one.

Veronica had survived longer.

Long enough to watch everything around her disappear.

Her children.

Her husband.

Her family.

One loss after another.

And by the time Iris had reached the part of the story she remembered, Veronica was barely holding herself together.

Iris swallowed.

She remembered reading those Chapters late at night as a college student, telling herself she would stop after one more Chapter.

She never had.

She had kept reading because she wanted to know what happened.

Now she wished she had never known.

Because the people she had once read about as fictional characters were real.

They had faces.

Voices.

Memories.

They could laugh.

They could bleed.

They could die.

Iris opened her eyes.

That was what made remembering the novel so different now.

Back then, their deaths had been words on a screen.

Now they were possibilities she could still prevent.

And perhaps that was the only reason she could bear remembering them at all.

She looked toward the distant lights of Velaris.

For once, she wasn’t trying to remember what came next.

She was remembering what was supposed to have happened.

And the difference between those two things had become the strangest proof that the story was no longer in control.

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A/N: Thank you so much everyone for reading and supporting my story. Seriously, every single read, comment, power stone, and golden ticket means more to me than you probably realize. 🥹🫶🏽

And a special thank you to everyone who pointed out the mistake in the previous Chapter with the duplicated content. I genuinely appreciate you taking the time to let me know. I’ve fixed it, and I’ll definitely be more careful going forward.

We’re getting deeper into the story now, and there’s still so much waiting for Iris, Velaris, and everyone else. I hope you’ll continue this journey with me and keep showing the story some love.

If you’re enjoying the novel, please don’t forget to leave your Power Stones and Golden Tickets when you can. Every bit of support helps the story grow and motivates me to keep writing. ❤️

Thank you for being here, for reading, for commenting, and for sticking with Iris this far.

Love you all. 🫶🏽❤️

Now, let’s keep going. There’s still a long way to go. 😭🫶🏽

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