She is Fatal to Death (Standalone Story)

Chapter 45 (sleeping beauties)

Rocio

"Honey, are you sure?" Diamond asked once again. She'd lost track how many times that cursed question had pierced the air.

Rocio sighed and just kept walking, her heavy boots crunching against the ground. Her prosthetic limb, crafted carefully from wood and metal, made a slight creaking noise with each step. It was clearly in need of some maintenance. As soon as they got back from the bunker, she'd do just that.

But Rocio wouldn't rest until they checked the bunker, where they'd first left over fifteen years ago at this point. Having just made it into her forties, with Diamond not far behind, she'd become her town's lead builder.

Anything that had to do with architecture, Rocio was the one to go to. She currently had three journeymen and five apprentices she was in charge of. Their town depended on Rocio's knowledge and Diamond's charming little general store. Despite their ingrained roles in a crazy time such as this one, Rocio insisted they check on the bunker.

She just needed to know.

She still couldn't believe it. The most recent blast felt around the world happened only yesterday. Immediately, reports flew across the radiowaves. Stragglers turning to dust. Undying becoming human. No more vampires anywhere. A blast ripped the world apart, and a blast seemingly put it back together.

Many hoped those who'd vanished the first time would return, but they did not.

Rocio needed to know, would die if she couldn't see with her eyes that maybe, just maybe, her sister had returned.

"Your stitches are fresh," Diamond persisted. "We should wait."

Finally, Rocio stopped in her tracks to look at her wife in disbelief. "We're going. My stitches," she gestured to the fresh wound above her brow, "are fine." She'd taken a nasty tumble during the blast, having been on a ladder changing a lightbulb. "I can feel it in my gut. She did it, she saved us."

Diamond, still as beautiful as the day they'd met, didn't bother to hide her fear and doubt. "What if she's not there?" She ran her hands through her short black bob. Her tan skin glistened with the thinnest layer of sweat.

Rocio went over to her and took her into a tight embrace. "My love, my Blue, it's going to be okay." They shared a soft, aching kiss. "And the better question is, what if she is there?"

Diamond closed her brown eyes briefly. "You're right. It's just been so long. We're not the same. And if she has returned...she won't be the same, will she?"

Rocio had those very same fears. "Either way, we need to know. Fifteen years. Fifteen years. We deserve to know."

Diamond took in another deep breath. "Let's go. She's waiting for us."

Rocio smiled. "That's right."

**********

They're maybe five miles out when Rocio looked up. Among the tall trees and clear blue, there was a thick trail of smoke rushing toward the sky. "Do you see that?" She said breathlessly.

Diamond looked up toward the same direction, and her eyes went wide. This area in particular was known to just be abandoned wilderness. "It's her. It has to be."