"Half a block isn't a math problem, Dimas, it's a starvation sentence," Alina said, stepping between Siti and the counter, her eyes flashing with sudden fury. "Look at the boy. He's freezing. Calories turn into body heat. If you lock down the rations so tight we die of hypothermia first, your precious code is just a suicide pact with extra steps.""It's about sustainability, Alina, not cruelty!" Dimas snapped back, his hands slamming flat onto the counter, rattling the empty tin cans lined up like bleak little soldiers. "If we run out of food on day four, nobody survives to see day five! Do you want me to write that down on the board too?""Stop shouting!" Siti hissed, pulling her crying toddler violently against her chest, her voice pitching up into a raw, frantic register that cut through the cramped kitchen air. "You're both screaming like we're still safe in the world outside! If the things in the hallway hear us fighting over noodles, we won't have to worry about starvation becau

"The periscope, Dimas. Now," Alina whispered, ignoring his attempt to pivot back to the rules. She shoved the broken compact mirror and the length of corrugated plastic pipe into his chest. "We need to know what's waiting by the door before it decides to knock."Dimas caught the glass before it slipped, his jaw tightening. "If I slide this through the mail slot, the noise might draw it closer.""And if you don't, it walks right through the wood while we're arguing about calories," Alina shot back, her dark eyes flashing in the dim, grey-tinted gloom. "Stop playing tactical commander for five seconds and look through the gap."Dimas swore under his breath, dropping to one knee against the frozen linoleum. The floorboards beneath him groaned, a sickly, wet sound that reminded him uncomfortably of the rotted timber near the bathroom. He shoved the plastic pipe through the narrow mail slot of the front door, angling the mirrored fragment upward."See anything?" Siti asked from the kitchen

"Stop him! Cover his mouth!" Alina hissed, lunging forward and dropping hard onto her knees beside Siti.Siti’s hands were already clamped over the toddler’s face, her knuckles bruised and white, her own breathing choked off as she muffled the sharp, rhythmic hacking. The boy’s chest heaved desperately against her palms, his tear-stained cheeks flushed bright red with fever.Through the thick wood of the front door, the scraping sound instantly ceased."He can't breathe if you squeeze like that!" Dimas barked, his voice dropping to a harsh, controlled whisper as he scrambled back from the door. He grabbed a damp dish towel from the counter, shoving it toward Siti. "Press that loosely over his nose. Let him exhale into the fabric, not open air."Siti nodded frantically, tears spilling over her lashes as she swapped her hands for the cloth, smothering the dangerous acoustic signature before it could ring through the hallway once more.They all froze, holding their collective breath, lis

"You had a second escape route this entire time?" Alina whispered, holding up the heavy brass key ring she’d just pulled from the bottom of Dimas's desk drawer. Her voice was sharp enough to cut glass. "You barricaded us into a box while you kept a private backdoor to the utility shaft in your pocket?""It’s not a backdoor, it's a death chute," Dimas snapped, lunging forward to snatch the keys back, his face flushing hot in the freezing room. "The utility shaft connects straight down to the basement crawlspace where the fog pools heaviest. I didn't mention it because looking at another way out doesn't magically make it safe!""You hoarded information, Dimas. Exactly like you hoard the noodles," Alina shot back, refusing to back down, her fingers curling into fists at her sides. "You're treating survival like a single-player game where you're the only one allowed to know the map layout!""Enough! Both of you!" Siti hissed from the corner, her voice trembling as she rocked her feverish

Dimas dropped the charred edge of his old college textbook into the battered metal cooking pot. The dry paper caught the flicking flame of a lighter with a sudden, angry hiss, casting long, jittery shadows across the cracked kitchen tiles."Is that the last of the math binders?" Alina asked, her voice flat as she huddled closer to the meager warmth, rubbing her gloved hands together."No, that was the advanced calculus," Dimas muttered, staring down at the curling pages of integration formulas turning to ash. "I’ve still got the history notes from freshman year. Those burn slower. Dense text.""Save them," Pak Joko rasped from the corner, his breathing coming in shallow, wheezing hitches. The old man was wrapped in three layers of mismatched wool sweaters, his face pale and pinched by the relentless indoor frost. "We’re going to need every page before the sun comes up. If it ever comes up.""We're running out of fuel either way," Siti said, her voice deadened by exhaustion as she rock