2026-08-27 19:54:18
Previous Chapter
Latest Chapter
CHAPTER 35 PART 2
Victor did not reply. The chat went silent.Sean closed the app and finished his coffee. He was rinsing the cup in the sink when Danny's walkie talkie crackled from the living room."Sean, Jessica is in the stairwell. Fourteenth floor, heading up. She's alone." Danny's voice was low and watchful."Let her come." Sean dried his hands and walked to the front door.He opened it and stepped into the corridor just as Jessica emerged from the stairwell. She looked worse than the last time he had seen her. Her coat was stained, her hair matted, her cheekbones so sharp they cast shadows on her own face. She had lost at least fifteen pounds since the freeze began, and her eyes had the glassy, desperate shine of a person running on fumes."Sean." Jessica stopped six feet from him, her hands raised slightly, showing empty palms. "I'm not here to fight. I'm not here to trick you. I'm just hungry. We're all hungry.""I posted my terms in the chat, Jessica. You read them." Sean leaned against the d
CHAPTER 35 PART 1
Sean typed the message into the Ridgewood community group chat at exactly 6 AM, when he knew the maximum number of freezing, starving residents would be awake and staring at their dying phone screens with nothing else to do."Attention Ridgewood residents. I am willing to trade basic food provisions on a case by case basis. Terms are non-negotiable. Payment accepted in jade, gemstones, or gold. Minimum trade value: $10,000 per transaction. No credit, no IOUs, no sob stories. First come, first served. Message me directly to arrange."The chat exploded within thirty seconds."$10,000 for food? People are starving and you want JEWELRY?""This man is profiteering off a disaster! Someone report him!""I'd rather eat my shoes than give this psychopath my grandmother's ring.""He's worse than the looters on Via Prenestina. At least they don't ask you to pay."Victor Hale's response appeared four minutes later, carefully composed, dripping with the manufactured concern of a man who had spent
CHAPTER 34 PART 3
"Margaret, sweetheart. You look cold. Let me warm you up." Sean closed the distance in four strides. Margaret raised both hands in front of her face, her fingers trembling, her lips moving in a prayer that wasn't going to be answered tonight.The bat came around in a short, controlled arc and connected with the side of her head just hard enough to switch her lights off. She dropped to the floor in a heap of curtain fabric and tangled scarves, unconscious before she hit the ground.George had pulled himself to his feet against the wall, his chest heaving, his eyes wild. He swung his right fist at Sean's face with the desperate strength of a man who had nothing left to lose.Sean caught the fist in his left hand and squeezed. The bones in George's wrist ground against each other, then cracked. George's knees buckled and a howl ripped out of his throat that sounded like an animal caught in a trap."Six years you called me a cockroach, George. Six years you told me I was less than a stray
CHAPTER 34 PART 2
At 7:55 PM, Sean sat at his kitchen counter with the laptop open, all three corridor cameras feeding live to his screen. The hallway was dark except for the faint emergency strip lighting, but the cameras had infrared capability and painted everything in sharp green and white detail.He watched Jessica appear from the stairwell door. She was wearing her nicest surviving coat, her hair brushed, her face carrying an expression of soft vulnerability that she had practiced in every mirror she had ever owned. She walked slowly down the corridor toward his door, her hands visible, her body language open and unthreatening.Behind her, on camera two, George's figure crept along the left wall of the corridor, pressing himself flat against the concrete, his breath fogging the frozen air in thick white clouds. On camera three, Tyler limped along the right wall, hunched and slow, carrying a length of metal pipe that he held low against his leg.Sean smiled. He closed the laptop, stood up, and walk
CHAPTER 34 PART 1
Sean was sitting in his armchair beside the fireplace, eating reheated lobster from the spatial dimension, when his phone buzzed with a message from Jessica. He almost didn't open it. Almost."Hey Sean. I know things have been really bad between us, and I know I've said things I shouldn't have. But I've been thinking a lot lately, especially with everything happening outside. I miss what we had. I miss talking to you. Can I come up tonight? Just to talk. Just us. I promise."Sean read the message twice. Then he laughed. A real, genuine, full chested laugh that made Danny look up from the couch where he was cleaning the Glock."What's so funny?" Danny set down the cleaning rod."Jessica wants to come visit. Says she misses me. Wants to talk about our relationship." Sean turned the phone screen toward Danny.Danny read the message and his face went flat. "That woman hasn't missed you a single day in her entire life. She misses your fireplace.""Obviously. But the question is what she's b
Chapter 33 PART 3
The second impact drove the I beam two inches into the concrete, creating a visible crater in Sean's wall. One more hit would breach it.Sean did not wait for the third hit. He dropped to one knee, aimed the crossbow at the weakened section of wall, and calculated the trajectory through the thin remaining concrete. His perception radius showed him exactly where the men were standing on the other side. Clustered. Packed tight. Holding the beam at chest height.The third impact came. The concrete crumbled inward, and a jagged hole the size of a basketball opened in Sean's wall. Through the hole, he could see yellow raincoats, heaving breath, and the dull gleam of the steel beam being pulled back for another swing.Sean fired the first bolt through the hole. It punched through the gap and buried itself in the thigh of the man holding the front end of the beam. The man screamed and dropped his end, the beam crashing to the floor with a thunderclap that shook the entire apartment.He loaded
You may also like
White Alchemist
David Ogiriki 22.8K viewsMy Sniper System
kuhaku_sora25.4K viewsFrom A Useless Cripple To An Almighty Boss
Sweet savage41.3K viewsRise Of The Powerful Husband
Dark Crafter27.3K viewsDeath's Ultimate Upgrade
Archi Bayanaka136 viewsBelittle Me Now And Cry Later
DiamondWrite 188 viewsApocalypse System: The Disabled Doctor
Orion315 viewsREBORN WITH THE GOD-LEVEL CASH SYSTEM
Wednesday Adaire128 views