"You're late again."The words struck Jack Harper before he had even stepped fully into the conference room.Every head turned toward him. Some faces showed annoyance, others amusement, but most people simply looked eager to see what would happen next.Jack stood frozen in the doorway as rainwater dripped from his jacket onto the polished floor. His chest rose and fell heavily because he had run six blocks to get there.He had not been late because he overslept.He had not been late because he was careless.He was late because an elderly woman had slipped on an icy sidewalk and cracked her head against the pavement. Nobody else had stopped to help her. People had walked around her as though she were invisible, but Jack could not bring himself to do the same.Now he was paying the price."I know I'm late," he said carefully. "There was an accident outside""Save it."His manager, Daniel Reeves, did not even look up from his tablet.The dismissive response triggered laughter from severa

The power failed before Jack could even lock his apartment door. The lights flickered once, then a second time, before darkness swallowed the entire room. "Dammit."He dropped the grocery bags and rushed toward the window. Outside, entire sections of the city were losing power. One building went dark, then another, then several more.Within seconds, huge portions of the skyline vanished into blackness. Only a handful of emergency lights remained visible in the distance.The sight sent a chill through him that had nothing to do with the rapidly falling temperature.A modern city was not supposed to go dark like this. It certainly was not supposed to happen in the middle of the day in one of the most developed nations in the world.A notification suddenly appeared on his phone.NO SIGNALJack's stomach tightened. He immediately opened several apps, but nothing loaded. He tried messaging services. Nothing happened. He opened news websites. Nothing. Social media platforms refused to load

The monster was coming. Jack's apartment key slipped from his numb fingers and clattered onto the floor.The metallic sound echoed through the hallway, sounding far louder than it should have in the oppressive silence.His heart nearly stopped. At the far end of the corridor, the ice wolf froze in place. Its glowing blue eyes narrowed. Then its massive head slowly tilted. The creature was listening, watching, and Hunting."Damn it..." Jack dropped to one knee and snatched up the key.Beside him, the young woman he had dragged up the stairs trembled uncontrollably. Every trace of color had vanished from her face.The monster took another step forward. A sharp crunch echoed through the corridor as ice spread beneath its claws. The temperature in the hallway seemed to drop instantly.Jack finally managed to force the key into the lock. "Get inside!"The woman didn't move. Fear had rooted her to the spot. The monster lunged Jack reacted on instinct.He grabbed her arm and threw both of th

The first conflict came from hunger, not monsters, not the cold. Hunger: It was the kind of hunger that made people irrational, dangerous, and desperate.Jack sat at the kitchen table, staring at the three remaining cans of food lined up in front of him. Three cans. That was all he had left, aside from the mysterious Imperial Glacier Spring Water.Three cans against an apocalypse. Three cans against starvation. Three cans against an uncertain future. Outside, the snowstorm continued to rage.The wind battered the apartment building like an angry beast trying to tear its way inside. Somehow, the temperature had fallen even further during the night. Ice completely covered the windows now, and the city beyond had vanished beneath a curtain of white death.Across from him, Evelyn sat wrapped in several blankets.Her condition had improved significantly after drinking the special water. Color had returned to her cheeks, and the violent trembling had mostly subsided.Even so, she still look