In Search Of The Neon City

EPILOUGE - Tristan

The air inside the small room was cool and pleasant and I could not help but smile when I smelled breakfast from our little kitchen.

"Good morning!"

His voice had been so full of life and joy ever since we were reunited with his family. And I loved it, his light-hearted mood was so contagious and a wonderful warmth had begun to spread within me, his love displaced all memories of blood and death that otherwise used to drag me down into the darkness.

"Good morning" I chuckled and sat up in bed "have you been awake for long?"

"For a while," he replied with a shrug, "it's a big day today!"

I got out of bed to kiss his forehead and grab a ration from the frying pan he was holding in his hands.

But before I managed to take another bite the front door flew open as Hannes stormed into the bunker "They're here!" He yelled excitedly.

"Already?" Lo laughed in surprise and looked out the window.

I pulled on a pair of pants and grabbed another protein cake from the pan before I opened the door and went outside, closely followed by Lo and Hannes.

The sun burned as usual against my skin and I smiled at Lo who pulled the hat a little further down over his forehead.

How he could put up with the thick yarn on his head was beyond me, but I didn't  regret taking the detour to get it for him that day when I managed to escape from ORION.

I looked up at Nate, who was waving from the roof of the third bunker that was already in place. We owed our lives to that man, and I would never thank him enough for choosing my side instead of ORIONS.

In front of us was Sofia's newly built crane that was just about to lift the last part of our new residential complex from the truck to the spot that we had worked on and prepared for several months.

"We have a fucking tank," Hannes grinned, "your guys were right, the arsenal was full of stuff."

"Hope we don't have to use them" I sighed but felt relieved.

"But we can defend our home now, Tristan," he said with a smile, "not everyone can say the same."

"I know" I replied and put a hand on his shoulder "and you won't need to have guardduty every night."

"Three new families came last night" said a voice behind us and I turned my head and nodded a good morning to Jonna who came walking towards us.

"So the signal is still going!" Lo exclaimed excitedly and hugged my arm, while Hannes rolled his eyes at his little brother. "I still don't  understand that so many found us!" He continued.

"Maybe you can take a look at the water tank Tristan? Now that there are more of us, we'd need a bigger one. I nodded to her and gave Lo a light kiss on the lips before I started walking through the camp.

I felt a huge pride in me when I saw the mix of my old friends from Vegas who stood shoulder to shoulder with the people they once hunted, building a future for all of us.

Together with Carl, I had helped to find the perfect place, far away from Harrows and Vegas, far outside the Wilderness border.

With the risk that they would understand what we were doing, we had decided to take our chances to search for the remaining working bunkers. And with the help of Sofia and Lo, we had managed to create a water purification system and electricity for the entire small village that we had built.

A hand patted me hard in the back and a dark voice interrupted my thoughts "it looks good!"

I met Carl's happy eyes with a smile and agreed "it's perfect."

It hit my heart when Nate's words came to mind. That we all were going to die, that the end of the world was coming.

I may have been the most selfish person in the world who decided to keep Lo to myself, but if the downfall of humanity was on its way, did we not deserve to enjoy our last days with those we love?

"Jonna wanted us to take a look at the water tank."

Carl laughed and started walking "best we speed up then, I want to stay on good terms with that woman. I'm damn tired of constantly sleeping on the couch."

A/N

This is the end of this book, it's an open ending, I know, and I know you have a lot of questions ^^ so feel free to ask them!

I really enjoyed writing this story, and drawing the characters. And for once I think I wrote quite the happy ending ;)

Thanks for the reads, votes and comments guys, I really appreciate every singel one of you!

❤️ / Ian