Chapter 12: The Quiet Harvest Before the Fire
They worked through the night.
Selene never once questioned the plan.
She just made it move faster.
While the world locked its doors and waited for answers from a government that had already stopped answering, they collected. Silently. Methodically.
Weapons first—blades, compact guns, ammunition. Not enough to arm a militia, but enough to keep a promise.
Selene taught Aria how to hold a knife.
Not the way self-defense books said. The way that meant you wanted someone not to get back up.
"Where did you learn that?" Aria asked.
Selene didn't look up. "You taught me."
⸻
Water and food came next—Selene knew exactly which hidden stores hadn't been touched. They raided basements, sealed crates in old military surplus depots, and a closed-down farm market where Selene stole a moment to quietly stare at sunflowers on the wall.
"You okay?" Aria asked.
Selene blinked. "I hate this place."
"Why?"
"I don't remember."
⸻
They found a used RV in a broken-down dealer's yard. The key was still in the sun visor, untouched.
Selene hot-wired the gate open.
"Why not take a house?" Aria asked.
"Too easy to trap."
Then, after a moment: "We'll need to move. When they start experimenting again."
Aria froze. "Who?"
Selene didn't answer.
⸻
By the time they found the yacht—tied off near an abandoned pier, sleek and untouched—the sky was red.
Not from sunset.
From smoke.
Fires had started in the next district. Some from rioters. Some… not explained.
"We can't save everyone," Selene said as she checked the engines.
Aria looked back at the rising smoke. "I don't want to be someone who only saves herself."
"You weren't."
"What?"
Selene shook her head. "Nothing."
⸻
They packed the storage again that night—stocking her space with gasoline tanks, compact weapons, medical kits, a generator, seeds, crates of dried grains, waterproof matches, even battery-powered heaters.
Aria stumbled as she pushed the last box in. "It's getting harder."
"Your space is growing."
"It's heavy now."
"That means it's real."
⸻
When they lay down to sleep, it was in the RV, parked behind a gas station that had long gone quiet.
Aria curled up against the cushions. Selene stayed awake.
Her eyes flicked to the cracked ceiling above them.
Three years. That's all she had last time.
Not enough to tell her everything. Not enough to save her.
But this time…
This time she had more.
She turned her gaze to Aria.
Soft breaths.
Hands curled like petals in sleep.
Unscarred. Unburned. Unbroken.
Not yet, Selene thought.
I'll give her more than three years maybe.