I dropped onto the new sectional and kicked my feet up without thinking about it.

The cushions were still uncomfortably firm, and it didn’t give the way the old one had when I settled into it.

The old couch had been broken in, shaped by use, comfortable in a way that only a good butt grove could make. This one would get there eventually, but for now, it was clean, intact, and free of anything bodily fluids I didn’t want to think about.

That was enough.

The TV was already on, filling the room with noise that didn’t require attention. I didn’t remember turning it on, but that didn’t matter. It was background, something steady that made the room feel occupied without needing conversation.

I reached for the snacks on the table without looking, grabbing whatever was closest and eating out of habit more than anything else.

Upstairs, Meilan and her group moved around longer than necessary. Doors opened, closed, footsteps shifted from room to room like they were deciding what belonged to them and what didn’t.

I ignored it. As long as they stayed up there, I didn’t care what they thought they were doing. Besides I hadn’t managed to decontaminate it from the last time she was here. I wasn’t touching anything upstairs until that happened.

So until then, down here was mine.

The men were quiet as they got themselves comfortable.

Chenghai stretched out on one of the chairs they had brought from a different wing of the house and he was already asleep before the show even cut to commercials.

Lingyun dropped onto the floor with a complaint that couldn’t even be finished before he passed out, his voice cutting off mid-sentence as exhaustion took over.

Zhenlan stayed upright longer than the other two, watching the screen without really watching it, his focus was fading fast until his head tipped back and his breathing evened out.

Yuche lasted longer than the rest, his gaze never leaving my face for a long time. "You know we need to talk, right?" he murmured softly. "Like how you knew what to do today."

"I hate to say it, but I didn’t do anything," I replied waving my hand in the air. "I was just doing a play by play of the Avatar anime and it happened to work. Not my fault I’ve watched more cartoons than you have. If you want, I can give you a list of dramas and anime that might be useful to you in the future?"

He didn’t bother to reply, and I didn’t say any more.

When his eyes finally closed as he got comfortable on the other end of the sectional, I continued to stay awake for a few more minutes.

I pulled a bag of cheezies out of my space, placed an ice cold cream soda beside it, and let out a long sigh. My vine slowly untangled from my wrist and moved up my arm to my shoulder and started rubbing my cheek as if it was trying to reassure me that everything would be okay.

Without realizing it, my eyes started to close and I didn’t bother to keep fighting it.

The room settled immediately and I let myself drift off into sleep.

I don’t know how much time had passed. It could have been a minute maybe a few hours but suddenly I was sitting bolt upright on the couch, my eyes wide with panic as my heart pounded in my chest.

I looked around the darkened room, finding each one of the four men still sleeping peacefully.

Letting out a long breath, I turned to the window as I tried to figure out what had terrified me.

------

Meilan sat bolt upright in bed.

Her body moved first, sharp and immediate, like someone had dragged her upright by the shoulders, her heart pounding in fear.

Her eyes flew open a second later, narrowing as her head snapped toward the window. The room around her stayed still, her men spread out where they had settled. Not one of them was moving, and not one of them reacted to her fear.

She didn’t speak.

She was completely incapable of producing sound at that moment, the words dying in her dry mouth before her mind could even start working.

She continued to stare out the window at the pitch black sky. Not even the moon was out, probably hiding behind the clouds like it, too, was scared.

-------

I was staring out the window like my life depended on it.

Every nerve in my body was screaming in warning, every instinct that I possessed told me that what would happen next would change everything.

And yet, the room didn’t change. The men didn’t move. And even the air stayed the same.

Then the sound hit.

A deep crack rolled through the ground first, heavy enough that I felt it through the floor before I heard it properly. The impact followed a second later, sharper and more defined, and the entire house shifted under it.

Not enough to throw anything loose, but it was strong enough to register as a major earthquake. 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

My vine shot down the front of my shirt, curling around my arm like it was trying to hide from whatever was happened.

The shockwaves from the earthquake carried through the floor and into my legs, settling there before fading out. The walls held. The windows didn’t rattle. Nothing broke.

And the men didn’t wake up.

Not one of them moved.

"It’s too soon," I murmured to myself, my face going pale. "It wasn’t supposed to come for another two years." The words came out flat, as I tried to make sense of what was going on.

The timing was wrong.

The meteor wasn’t supposed to hit yet.

But this? This changed everything.

The pounding rain started immediately after.

It came down hard enough to drown out everything else, striking the windows so hard that it sounded like zombies were pounding on the windows.

Only I knew that wasn’t the case.

Even the zombies would be impacted by the meteor.

Water ran down the glass in thick sheets, as the ground, plants, and any unsuspecting creature was contaminated by the rain.

I got to my feet and walked toward the window. I remember when I had been caught outside. Not because I wanted to be, but because I didn’t have anywhere to go to get away from it.

I shivered as I felt the ghost of ice cold rain beating against my already battered body.

Most who feel asleep that night never woke up again.

I had an important decision to make right now. One that might either make the men gods or ghosts.

My hand reached out and opened the window just a sliver. Cold air pushed in with the rain, and my vine quickly untangled itself from my arm and darted out into the night like an arrow.

I could feel its happiness down to my bones, but I couldn’t share in its joy. It was made for the rain. I wasn’t.

There was two paths that I could take right now.

I could wake the guys, push them outside into the rain, a hope that they lived.

Or I can let them keep sleeping, never really knowing what they gave up.

One way kept them safe right now. The other would keep them alive longer

I heard movement behind me and I went tense as two arms wrapped around me from behind.

They guys had gotten really touchy-feely since the supply run... but I would be lying if I said I didn’t like it.

Leaning back, I closed my eyes and took in a deep breath.

It was Chenghai.

"It’ll be fine, Princess," he said, his voice low and rough from sleep. I froze for a second. He hadn’t called me that since before everything started.

I let myself settle back into him even more, enjoying his firm hold as I continued to stare out into the night sky.

"You have us," he continued quietly. "We won’t let anything happen to you. In the morning, we’ll kick her and Li out and make sure they never come again."

I watched the rain run faster now, deeper, pulling everything down with it.

"By the morning," I said, my voice even, "Meilan and Commander Li are going to be the least of our worries."