One Bad Week

It was a few bad days—

each worse than the last.

Now I’m home, and somehow, it’s worse here.

My wife is baking cookies.

The solar power’s on.

The kids are smiling like nothing’s wrong.

But the neighbors are dead.

The girl I rescued isn’t who I thought she was.

And someone—somewhere—is coming for her.

I didn’t ask for this.

Didn’t plan to carry a secret child across a burning country.

But she’s mine now. Whether I like it or not.

And this week?

I fight. I stay.

And I protect what’s left of the people I love.

Even if it kills me.

For readers who felt the heartbreak of The Road, the slow-burn dread of The Last of Us, and the quiet resilience of a man who keeps going—because he has to.