Ninety Days Before The Apocalypse

The Frozen Nightmare

"My toes are white, Yan," Su Ming whimpered, rubbing his bare ankles beneath a thin pile of cotton quilts. "Look at them. I cannot feel my big toe at all."

"Stop complaining and keep the blanket pulled up," Su Yan said. Her lips were blue, her chin trembling so hard her teeth made a wet, rhythmic clicking sound. "Mother, is there any hot water left in the thermos?"

Mother Su sat huddled in the corner of the sofa, wrapped in three old winter coats, her hands stuffed deep into her armpits. "The pipes froze two hours ago. I tried to turn on the tap, and a chunk of yellow ice popped out and broke my mug."

A sharp, rifle-like crack echoed through the living room.

Su Yan jumped, letting out a short scream. On the far wall, a wide diagonal fracture split the double-pane balcony window. A razor-thin hiss of freezing air whistled through the gap, turning the indoor humidity into a tiny, floating dust cloud of ice crystals.

"The window is giving out!" Su Ming yelled, scrambling backward on his hands and knees. "We are going to freeze to death in here! We need to go down to the basement!"

"The basement is flooded with frozen sewage," Mother Su spat, her breath rising in a thick grey plume. She turned her sharp, sunken eyes toward Su Yan. "Where did Lin Feng go? That penthouse he bought... North Star Plaza, right?"

"North Star Plaza is three miles away, Mother," Su Yan said, hugging her elbows tightly. "The snow outside is up to my knees. The streetlights are completely dead."

"He has heating there!" Mother Su shouted, her voice breaking into a dry cough. "I saw the renovation receipts in his desk drawer before he moved out. He spent millions on private diesel generators and thermal insulation! He is sitting in a warm room right now while we sit here like stray dogs!"

"He blocked my number," Su Yan whispered, staring down at her black phone screen. "He blocked all of us."

"Then we walk there," Mother Su said, pushing herself off the sofa with a grunt. She grabbed a heavy wooden broom handle from the corner. "He is still your husband legally. The civil affairs office was closed before you signed the final paper. Half of that penthouse belongs to you by law! Let us see if he dares leave his mother-in-law out in the snow."

The trek through the city was a nightmare of white noise and blinding wind. Abandoned cars sat buried under heavy snowdrifts along the avenue, their alarm systems long silenced by dead batteries. The temperature display outside the banking center read minus forty-two degrees.

By the time the Su family stumbled into the dark, echoing lobby of North Star Plaza, Su Ming was weeping openly, his breath ragged and shallow. They dragged themselves up thirty flights of dark concrete stairs, using the beam of a dying plastic flashlight to guide their steps.

When they finally reached the landing of the thirtieth floor, they did not find a wooden door or a standard apartment lock.

Standing before them was a massive, seamless plate of dark, cold forged steel. Three heavy mechanical deadbolt casings jutted from the frame like iron rivets, completely sealing off the hallway.

Su Yan collapsed against the cold steel plate, beating her knuckles against the metal until her skin split.

"Lin Feng!" Su Yan screamed, her voice echoing down the empty stairwell. "Lin Feng, open the door! It is me! It is Yan!"

Inside the apartment, the air was a comfortable twenty-four degrees.

Lin Feng sat in a plush leather chair in front of his wall monitor, wearing a light cotton shirt. On the low table beside him sat a broad ceramic bowl filled with steaming beef noodle soup, the rich aroma of braised brisket, star anise, and chili oil filling the clean room. He picked up his chopsticks, lifted a tangle of hot noodles, and blew gently on them while watching the infrared camera feed.

On the screen, three red, shivering human shapes stood outside his threshold.

Lin Feng took a slow bite of the beef, chewing calmly as he listened to the faint, muffled thumping on his vault door.

"Lin Feng, please!" Su Yan's voice came through the external security speaker, distorted by static. "We know you are in there! Mother is sick! Xiao Ming cannot walk! I know you are angry about the money, but we can talk about it! I was wrong, okay? I will not ask you for money anymore! Just open the door!"

Lin Feng reached for his cup of warm barley tea, taking a small sip. He did not press the intercom button. He simply watched.

"He is ignoring us," Mother Su rasped, leaning her forehead against the freezing metal frame. "The ungrateful bastard is sitting inside drinking tea while we die out here!"

"Step aside," Su Ming growled.

He leaned against the concrete wall, his face twisted in a mask of violent rage. Near the emergency fire hose cabinet on the wall, a heavy steel contractor axe lay abandoned on a pile of frozen plaster bags. Su Ming stumbled over, picked up the axe with both hands, and spat on his palm.

"Xiao Ming, what are you doing?" Su Yan asked, backing away.

"I am breaking the frame!" Su Ming yelled, raising the heavy axe over his right shoulder. "If he will not open the door, I will chop his steel hinges off!"

"Xiao Ming, wait!" Mother Su called out.

Su Ming did not listen. Driven by a mix of freezing misery and pure humiliation, he stepped forward and swung the heavy steel blade with all his strength, aiming directly at the narrow gap between the steel door frame and the concrete wall.

*CLANG!*

The heavy steel axe blade sliced through the thin layer of decorative drywall, striking directly into a thick, uninsulated copper conduit hidden beneath the frame.

A blinding, violet electric arc exploded from the wall with a deafening bang.

Twelve thousand volts of continuous current, fed directly from Lin Feng's private capacitor bank, surged through the metal axe blade and shot straight into Su Ming's hands.

"AGGGHHH!"

Su Ming's body went completely rigid, his arms locking in mid-air as white sparks crackled across his jacket sleeves. The smell of scorched nylon and burning hair instantly filled the narrow corridor. The force of the electrical discharge threw him backward like a ragdoll, slamming his back against the opposite concrete wall before he dropped face-down onto the icy floorboards.

The axe fell to the floor with a dull clatter, its wooden handle charred black.

"Xiao Ming!" Mother Su shrieked, falling to her knees beside her son.

Su Ming lay on his side, curling into a tight ball, his hands tucked against his chest. The skin on his palms was black and blistered, his fingers twitching violently as he let out a high-pitched, breathless scream of agony. "My hands! Mother, my hands!"

Su Yan backed away from the steel door, her eyes wide with terror, her lower lip trembling uncontrollably as she looked at the hidden copper wires glowing faint red beneath the damaged plaster.

Inside the quiet living room, Lin Feng set his ceramic bowl down on the table. He leaned forward in his leather chair, looking at the screen with cold, steady eyes.

He reached out his hand, pressed a button on his control panel, and activated the external speaker for the very first time.

"You have four minutes to clear the hallway," Lin Feng's voice boomed through the corridor, flat, loud, and completely devoid of warmth. "Before the automated gas vents turn on."