Rebirth: 100 Days Before Doomsday

"Congratulations on successfully establishing the very first alliance of Greenstone." Kevin said as he approached Grace who was standing all alone in one of the corners of the room.

Despite the achievement, she was carrying an unreadable and serious expression on her face. While the others weren’t aware of what was going on inside her head, three particular men in the room could tell that she was thinking about something.

"Thank you, Kevin. You played a great role in this one. Good job." She made sure to praise him since he was the one who put in the most efforts in successfully sealing the first ever alliance of Greenstone.

Earlier that morning, they finalized their alliance with Blood Vultures. It was an alliance made on equal benefits on both sides - Greenstone would provide them assistance with supplies every once in four months, and they would provide Greenstone with help whenever required or called upon.

The good thing about this alliance being made with Blood Vultures was that this survival group was located the closest to Greenstone. Being located in the high-end area, Greenstone was far away from the main city area of Sunspire. Hence, most of the crowd was far away from this residential area.

In this case, an alliance with any other group wouldn’t be able to help them as much as one with Blood Vultures. This particular group needed about ten minutes to reach Greenstone if done by vehicles.

In this way, Greenstone could count on this alliance in times of need.

Of course, there were some who worried about the possibility of Blood Vultures abandoning them in the time of need. But Grace assured them that if something like that indeed happened, she would make sure that the betrayers would pay heavily.

Besides, having an alliance was only a backup plan incase Grace and her team would fail to arrive on time to help Greenstone in future. In such cases, the alliance group’s support would be able to earn them some time.

Overall, this alliance was a good step in the long journey of making Greenstone one of the most powerful survival fraction in the upcoming years of the post-apocalyptic world.

"What are you thinking about?" Dr. Kian’s familiar voice pulled Grace out of the depths of her thoughts. Only then did she realize that Kevin had already left to join Aleena and others.

She turned to face her boyfriend and slolwy shook her head with a smile already spreading across her lips at his presence.

"Nothing much. Just about the alliance." She wasn’t really lying as she did thought about the newly established alliance when she praised Kevin.

But as she watched Dr. Kian arching his eyebrows high in question at her lie, a sigh escaped her lips. It was becoming almost impossible for her to lie to these men.

"I was thinking about Spirit Stones." Her voice was merely above a whisper as she confessed.

They were into a year and half into apocalypse, and it had been nearly five months since she started looking for Spirit Stones. But even after all this time, she had been able to secure only ten such stones, and except for the green one at level six, all the others had been red or yellow at levels lower than five.

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"Instead of looking at this in a negative way, you can think of the positive side. Since even you are having such a hard time in finding these stones, the other might be struggling too if they had already come across it."

She chuckled after hearing his words. He had a unique way of making her feel comfortable about the worst of situations.

Nodding her head in agreement, she replied, "You are right. I should be looking at the bright side."

The more time was passing, the less news they were being able to hear from the government.

At this point, there was barely any new information except for the repeats of the fake promises the government kept making to fool the general public. @@novelbin@@

And even with their secret sources within the government, they had heard nothing about them finding the existence of the Spirit Stones.

"Here. Enjoy some good wine and relax." Dr. Kian offered her a glass of red wine.

Grace accepted it, joining the team along with Dr. Kian. While they all enjoyed the wine and the delicious meal, they also discussed the list of works for upcoming days.

* * *

With so many months gone since Grace first started expanding Greenstone, the results were now undeniable.

The once small settlement had grown into a fortified stronghold, housing over 400 survivors. Every individual had been trained to contribute in some way - whether in defense, agriculture, construction, research, or any other ways.

The security teams had doubled, food supplies had increased, and Greenstone’s influence had spread beyond just being a safe zone. Other survivor groups now respected them, while some were even seeking to ally with them.

But Grace knew one undeniable truth.

Peace never lasts.

It started subtly - small tremors beneath the ground, barely noticeable at first.

Then, one night, the real warning came. The ground began shaking.

It wasn’t a simple vibration. It was a deep, rumbling force that sent shudders through several cities across Starship Country. Buildings rattled, trees swayed, and for a few terrifying seconds, it felt as if the earth itself was about to split apart.

Then, just as suddenly as it started, it stopped.

People looked around in fear, some whispering amongst themselves, others frozen in place, waiting to see if another tremor would follow.

But as night turned to morning and then mid-day, nothing happened. The tremors didn’t return, letting people calm down and continue with their lived.

While earthquakes weren’t unheard of, Grace couldn’t help but feel that something about this one seemed different. It could be the timing, or something else, but she had a feeling that it was just the beginning of something far worse.

And if things indeed started turning for worse all over again, not only would it hinder Greenstone’s progress, but it might also cause damage to the Veil.