Chapter 1: DeathdayEthan Cole could barely stand.Blood ran down his forehead, blurring his vision as he stumbled through the abandoned street. His right leg dragged behind him, and every breath he took was sending a sharp pain through his chest. The backpack hanging from his shoulders weighed him down but he had to keep walking. .He had three bottles of water left, half a pack of crackers, and a knife with a broken handle.That was all he had after spending the last two days searching for supplies for his pregnant wife.Victoria had been waiting for him at their shelter, worried about the baby and complaining about how little food they had left. Before he left two days ago , Ethan had promised to return with enough supplies to last them several days.A low growl came from behind him.Ethan turned and saw three creatures crawling over the wreckage of a car. Their gray skin stretched over twisted bodies, and their long claws scraped against the metal as they climbed down.His stomach

Chapter 3: The First InvestmentEthan sat at the dining table with his laptop open, a notebook beside him, and his phone in his hand.Six days and twenty hours.That was how much time he had before the first catastrophic event.He needed money, supplies, weapons, and somewhere safe to stay when the world collapsed. He also needed to think beyond the first few days. In his previous life, the people who survived the longest were not necessarily the strongest. They were the ones who prepared early and understood what was coming.He opened his banking application and checked his balance.It was less than he wanted.He had some savings, but not enough to buy everything he would need. His salary would not solve the problem either, and he couldn’t waste time waiting for money that might arrive too late.“Let’s see what I can work with.”He wrote down his available cash, his savings, and the money he could withdraw without raising unnecessary questions. Then he opened his cryptocurrency accou

Chapter 5: The First Hidden ResourceEthan had barely driven out of his neighborhood when the Archive appeared.[NEW OBJECTIVE AVAILABLE.]He glanced at the blue display hovering above his dashboard.“What now?”[HIDDEN RESOURCE DETECTED.][LOCATION: OLD NEWTON WATER TREATMENT FACILITY.][RESOURCE VALUE: EXTREMELY HIGH.][ACQUISITION WINDOW: LIMITED.]Ethan frowned.The old water treatment facility?He remembered the place. It had been abandoned years ago after a newer facility was built outside the city. The buildings were still standing, but the surrounding area had become overgrown, and very few people had any reason to visit.In his previous life, the facility had become important during the early stages of the apocalypse. Clean water was one of the first things people struggled to obtain once the city’s infrastructure began to fail.But the Archive was pointing him toward something more specific.“What resource am I looking for?”[RESOURCE IDENTIFICATION: RESTRICTED.]Ethan tight