LIVING MY BEST LIFE

Read Part 1

Part 2 . . .

The wind howled through the cracked tunnels, carrying with it the faint stench of decay. Elara sat near the back of their hideout, her knees pulled to her chest. The remains of the canned beans still in her hand. The others had already eaten and drifted into uneasy sleep, huddled together for warmth in the damp underground. But Elara remained awake, her ears attuned to the distant hum above ground—the telltale sign that the Apex still prowled.

Sleep didn’t come easily these days. Every night she dreamt of the past, of the world before the rise of the insects. Cities teeming with life, children playing in the streets, fresh food, and clean air. Now, survival was measured in minutes. Every second spent outside the tunnels meant risking everything.

She ran her fingers over the worn blade of her machete. It had saved her life more times than she could count. But lately, it felt like a relic of a lost era—a weapon for a battle humanity had already lost.

A rustle at the far end of the tunnel caught her attention. She stood, heart pounding, gripping the machete. In the darkness, a shadow moved—too fast, too quiet. Her instincts took over.

“Elara, it’s me,” whispered a voice.

She exhaled, lowering her blade as Kian stepped out of the shadows, his face pale but determined. He was younger than her by a few years, but the brutal reality of their world had aged them both. His once-boyish face was now hardened by the constant struggle for survival.

“Where have you been?” she hissed, her voice barely above a whisper. “You were supposed to be back hours ago.”

Kian glanced over his shoulder, his eyes wide with fear. “I found something,” he whispered, stepping closer. “Something…big.”

Elara frowned, her grip tightening on the machete again. “Big? You better not be talking about one of those monsters.”

He shook his head. “No, it’s something else. Something human.”

The word felt foreign to her, like a dream half-remembered. Human. There were so few of them left. Her mind flashed back to the early days of the collapse. The mass die-offs, the panicked screams as the first swarms descended on cities like biblical plagues. The insects had taken over swiftly, their evolution driven by the same climate catastrophe that had crippled humanity.

“What did you find, Kian?”

“There’s a group,” he said, leaning in close. “A settlement outside the city ruins. Bigger than ours. They have supplies, Elara. Real supplies—solar panels, water purifiers, weapons. And they have a plan.”

“A plan for what?”

“To fight back.”

Her stomach twisted at the thought. Fight back. Against the Apex? It was suicide. They had seen what happened to the other survivors who tried to reclaim the world from the insects. They were nothing but bones now, picked clean by beetles and flies.

“Kian, we can’t risk it,” she said, shaking her head. “We’re barely surviving as it is. Going out there, it’s—”

“They have drones,” Kian interrupted, his voice urgent. “Old military models. They’re using them to map out the Apex nests, studying their behavior. They think they’ve found a weakness.”

Elara stared at him in disbelief. Drones. The very idea of technology felt distant and impossible now. It seemed like something from a story told around the fire to give hope to the desperate.

“And you believe them?” she asked quietly.

Kian nodded. “They’ve been surviving longer than us, Elara. They have numbers, and they’re organized. They said they could use more people—people like you.”

“Like me?”

“You’re a fighter. You’ve kept us alive this long. They need leaders, not just people hiding in the dark.”

Elara looked around the tunnel, at the small group of survivors who had come to rely on her. They were fragile, yes, but they were her responsibility. And yet, the idea of a larger settlement . . . of a group with the means to push back against the insects, tugged at something deep inside her. Hope was a dangerous thing, but it was also the only thing that had kept them going.

“How far?” she asked.

“Two days’ walk, maybe three,” Kian said. “We’ll need to be careful, move at night. The Apex are getting more active during the day.”

Elara weighed the decision carefully. Leaving the safety of the tunnel meant risking not just her life, but the lives of everyone who followed her. But staying here, waiting for the insects to eventually find them, didn’t feel like much of a choice either.

“I’ll think about it,” she said finally, turning away.

Kian grabbed her arm, his grip firm. “We don’t have time to think, Elara. They’re moving soon. If we don’t go now, we’ll lose our chance.”

She stared at him, seeing the desperation in his eyes. He was right. There were no guarantees in this world, no promises of tomorrow. Every decision was a gamble.

Elara sighed and pulled her arm free. “Get some rest. We’ll move at first light.”

Kian nodded, relief flooding his face, and disappeared back into the shadows. Elara remained standing for a moment longer, listening to the faint hum of the insects above. She couldn’t shake the feeling that this decision would change everything—one way or another.

As she lay down next to the others, she couldn’t help but think about what lay ahead. The idea of fighting back felt like madness. But in a world where everything had been taken from them, maybe madness was the only choice left.

Tomorrow, they would leave the safety of the tunnels behind. And if Kian was right, they would march toward something new. Toward hope.

Or toward extinction.

The Apex would not give up their reign easily.

to be continued . . .