Logan looked at Damon with steady, unwavering eyes, and Damon stared right back at him with the same intensity.
The bond between everyone in their special forces squad ran deeper than most people could understand.
Before the apocalypse, they’d been the elite team in their entire military district, taking on the most dangerous missions imaginable. Border defense operations, overseas rescue missions, tactical strikes in enemy territory, you name it.
Damon had been their captain through all of it, leading them through countless life–or–death situations as they defended their country. He’d also led every single one of them to the highest honors any unit could achieve.
The whole squad saw Damon as the most reliable leader they’d ever had. They followed him without question, trusted him completely, and knew he’d never abandon any of them no matter what happened.
But now, things were different.
“Are you absolutely sure about this?” Damon asked after a long moment of silence.
“Yes, sir!”
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< Chapter 51 New Beginnings
outstretched hand. “I’ll hold onto this for you. When you want to come back, the door’s always open.”
Logan’s eyes flickered with emotion for just a second, but his determination never wavered. “Take care of yourself, Captain!”
Iris watched the whole goodbye scene play out in front of her. She rolled her eyes and lazily opened the gate to let them through.
Each of them hugged Logan on their way out like they were never going to see each other again. In the apocalypse, that was entirely possible.
Nobody knew what tomorrow would bring anymore. Once you said goodbye, it might be permanent.
Derek stopped at the gate and looked back at Iris. “Alright, I’m heading out. Don’t give Logan too hard of a time.”
Iris let out a sneer. “I’m gonna feed him steak and lobster every single night until he’s sick of it, then throw out the leftovers!”
Derek just stared at her. Forget it. He shouldn’t have said anything.
Brett walked over next. “Ms. Hale, guess this is goodbye.”
“Get the hell out of here before I change my mind and make 2/6
you stay as permanent labor!”
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< Chapter 51 New Beginnings
Tyler, Blake, and Connor didn’t say much to Iris. They just nodded at her, but they spent a good while saying goodbye to the dogs.
Over the past few days, they’d been the ones taking care of Summer and the pack, bathing them, feeding them, cleaning up after them. They’d gotten attached without even realizing it.
“Bye guys, we’re leaving now.”
Summer started barking the second he saw them leaving and came charging over, still barking like crazy.
Summer led the whole pack of dogs in circles around them, clearly confused about where these people were going. Weren’t they part of the group now? Why were they leaving?
Summer and the dogs started running after them down the path.
“Come back here!”
Iris called them back and they all obediently returned. The sun was setting as the squad headed down the mountain, and Iris didn’t hesitate for a second before closing the gate and going
inside to eat dinner.
Everyone had their own path to follow. No point forcing it.
3/54
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< Chapter 51 New Beginnings
normal rhythm. With the special ops team gone, she had one very capable new helper on a permanent basis.
Logan started getting up two hours before her every morning to clean the entire area around the bunker and harvest the vegetables. She finally didn’t have to do everything herself anymore.
Even better news was that her goats had fully matured. Over the past couple of days, she’d noticed the two goats had successfully paired up, which meant fresh goat milk would be available soon.
Then every morning, Sophie would come by to deliver the daily output from the residents. Iris‘ stockpile kept growing bigger and bigger.
Because of this, she’d granted Logan a new privilege. Given his loyalty, she’d given him access to one of her warehouses so he could store all the daily supplies there himself.
Iris currently had three full warehouses plus her massive system storage space. Most of the food stayed in her system space, while the bunker warehouses held production materials and backup inventory.
“Ms. Hale! These are the strawberries my dad grew from the seeds you gave us last time!”
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Iris eyes lit up when she saw the small container of bright red
< Chapter 51 New Beginnings
actually managed to grow them successfully.
Iris was very pleased with this development. She pulled out a packet of wheat seeds and handed them to Sophie, along with an extra bag of sugar as a bonus. “Take these back to your dad and tell him to keep planting. If he does well, there’ll be more rewards. This sugar is your reward for now!”
“Yes! Thank you, Ms. Hale!” Sophie had been eating meat and drinking milk regularly lately, and she looked completely different from when Iris first met her. She had gotten so much prettier.
She took the items Iris gave her and turned to leave, but then remembered something and turned back around. “Ms. Hale, my dad wanted to know if you have any salt. We’d like to trade for some.”
Iris went back inside and came out with a bag of salt and a printed sheet. The paper listed all kinds of common items like cooking oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar, shampoo, soap, eggs, chicken, and so on.
Each item had a price listed next to it in points. A one–pound bag of salt cost 1 point, a gallon of cooking oil was 10 points, a bottle of shampoo was 10 points, and one egg was 1 point. Points could be earned by trading food.
Iris wanted Nathan to focus on maximum production. For 5/6
23:20
every pound of crops he produced, he’d earn one point. She
<Chapter 51 New Beginnings
The points system Iris set up was seriously motivating. The moment Nathan saw it, he kicked into high gear. He and his wife started expanding their fields and planting like crazy to earn enough points to trade for supplies.
With her only resident household taken care of, Iris left Summer and a few dogs to guard the base. Today she was heading out with Logan and the rest of the dogs to expand her territory and collect more supplies.
“Iris, that highway we went to yesterday still has tons of stuff. Looks like there was a major pileup up ahead and all the vehicles are just sitting there.”
“Perfect. Let’s head there and claim another section.”
Iris climbed into her armored vehicle and had Logan drive straight to the area they’d scouted yesterday. An hour and a half later, they arrived at a massive highway.
Sure enough, the place was loaded with supplies.
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Sara Lili is a daring romance writer who turns icy landscapes into scenes of fiery passion. She loves crafting hot love stories while embracing the chill of Iceland’s breathtaking cold.
