Evergreen

Evergreen

Excerpt from Rediscovered

By Denise Cooper

I heard that, before the Starfall, Evergreen wasn't really a town at all. It was a lavish golf resort built by wealthy Blackfell Oil Fields magnates—big enough to have its own water and power systems. People eventually just got used to calling it Evergreen. In the first few years after the Starfall, it was still a safe stronghold. Its rich owners sealed off the roads, turning their holiday retreat into a private bunker. They didn't just survive; they kept reliving their old glories—throwing parties, sampling fine wines, and inviting Rosetta's elites over, as if the world hadn't collapsed and nothing had changed. That didn't last, though. When the first Deviant showed up in Evergreen, the contamination spread uncontrollably. The Rosetta officials who'd promised protection were gone at the first sign of danger, without a single warning. And now, as we approached Evergreen, we saw it blanketed under a twisted, dark-green film. The whole town looked suspended in time, frozen in the moment before collapse: rooftops, walls, streetlamps, even cars on the curb were covered by some alien stardust deposit. It wasn't just normal rubble—it was like a diseased crust, born of stardust, cutting the town off from reality. I used to think we could still find a cozy patch of greenery in this ruined world. Silly me.