2025-07-29 00:08:29Jared sat alone in the Bai family’s garage, his hands black with grease, hunched over the engine of a forgotten SUV. The thing hadn’t run in years, but he remembered it vividly—an old model the Bai family deemed too ugly for their polished image. That was fine. He didn’t need pretty. He needed functional. Strong. Durable. He needed an escape vehicle.
The system’s timer hovered faintly in his mind’s eye:
[Time Remaining: 71 hrs 03 mins]
[Mission: Secure a Safe House]
There was no more time to play the fool.
His shirt clung to his back, sweat soaking through the thin fabric as the heat rose—part from the weather, part from the thickening dread outside. The smoke was creeping closer. Reports were trickling in: riots downtown, a strange virus spreading, people tearing each other apart in traffic jams and supermarkets.
It wasn’t panic anymore. It was desperation. The first taste of collapse.
But inside this garage, there was only the sound of clinking metal and Jared’s even breathing.
“Hey.”
He didn’t turn.
“I said hey, Jared.” A pause. “You got a second?”
Jared slowly turned his head. A tall, broad-shouldered man stood in the doorway, hair slicked back, wearing a sharp suit that looked out of place in this new world unraveling by the second.
A world where clean suits meant nothing.
“Vin,” Jared said, standing upright and wiping his hands on a rag. “Didn’t think I’d see you again so soon.”
Vincent Wang.
His old college buddy. Once his closest friend. Now the CEO of Eastern Pharmaceuticals—a company built, in part, on Jared’s stolen research. In the old timeline, Vin had become a warlord in the new world, hoarding medicine and selling hope to the highest bidder. Jared remembered watching him on a rooftop as fire rained down from the sky, his friend-turned-tyrant laughing while cities burned.
But here he was again. Clean. Polished. Still pretending this was a world that could be saved with charm and a Rolex.
Vin smiled, though it didn’t reach his eyes. “I was in the neighborhood. Heard about the fire, thought I’d check in. You okay?”
Jared narrowed his eyes. “You came here to check on me?”
Vin chuckled, stepping into the garage. “Well, no. Not really. I came to talk to Mr. Bai, but he’s in full meltdown mode upstairs. Something about losing contact with his warehouses. Figured I’d kill time with an old friend.”
“Friend,” Jared echoed.
He didn’t forget. Not the betrayal. Not the lies. Not the last time he saw Vin holding a gun to his back.
“You’re quiet,” Vin said. “Did I offend you?”
“No,” Jared said. “I’m just deciding whether or not to punch you.”
Vin gave a low laugh. “Still got that temper, huh? That’s good. Means you haven’t totally given up.”
Jared went back to the car. “What do you want, really?”
Vin leaned against the wall, arms folded. “I want information. You’re not acting like the loser son-in-law you used to be. People are talking. You’re calm when everyone else is losing their minds. That usually means one thing.”
“And what’s that?”
“You know something.”
Jared said nothing.
Vin continued, “You always had that brain. You see things others don’t. Hell, you warned me about that virus theory back in school, remember? The one that mutated under radiation stress? You called it ‘Phase Z’.”
Jared froze.
Vin grinned. “Yeah. That one. The same strain some news outlet just mentioned five minutes ago. You told me it was theoretical. Funny how it suddenly isn’t.”
“You’re reaching,” Jared muttered.
“Am I?” Vin stepped forward. “I think you know what’s coming. And I think you’re planning something. Stockpiling. Hiding. Escaping.”
Jared kept his expression unreadable.
Vin’s voice dropped. “I want in.”
Jared looked up slowly. “You?”
“Yeah. You’re not the only one who sees the writing on the wall. Whatever you’re building, I want to be part of it. No strings. Just survival.”
There it was. The same snake charming his way into safety. But Jared wasn’t the same fool who once trusted him.
“You’ll betray me the second it benefits you,” Jared said.
Vin didn’t deny it. “Maybe. But right now, I’m useful. I’ve got contacts, warehouses, tech. You’re going to need people like me.”
“I don’t need rats.”
“You’ll need allies,” Vin said, stepping closer. “And trust me, when society collapses, the only people still breathing are the ones who knew how to play dirty.”
Jared met his gaze. And for a moment, it was like looking back through time—at the man he once admired. Before the power. Before the greed.
“Here’s what I need,” Jared said, tossing a wrench onto the workbench. “Three crates of antivirals. Two satellite phones. One secure truck with an armored chassis.”
Vin blinked. “That’s a tall order.”
“Consider it your buy-in.”
Vin’s mouth twitched into a half-smile. “You drive a hard bargain.”
“I’m not bargaining,” Jared said. “I’m building a future. Either you help me or get the hell out of my way.”
Vin stepped back, clearly weighing his options. Then he nodded once. “Alright. Give me twelve hours.”
“Eight,” Jared said.
Vin arched a brow. “That’s not enough time—”
“You said you’re useful,” Jared interrupted. “Prove it.”
They stared at each other for a long second. Then Vin smiled again, this time more genuinely.
“You’ve changed,” he said. “I almost forgot what you were capable of.”
Jared didn’t answer.
Vin turned and walked out, disappearing into the thick heat of the late afternoon. The smoke was thicker now. Sirens had stopped. The city was falling silent in the worst way.
And Jared?
He tightened the last bolt on the engine and closed the hood.
The old SUV roared to life.
One step closer.
The countdown ticked on.
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Chapter 67- The Thing About Freedom
POV: JaredJared does not tell Emma where he is going.Not because he wants to hide it from her, but because he knows she would come if he asked. And this is something he needs to face without her steadying the ground beneath his feet.The imprint waits where she found it.It does not look dangerous. That is its trick.The place feels quieter than the rest of the world, like sound itself is holding its breath. The air has a faint pressure to it, the kind you feel before rain, before something gives way. The ground here does not quite commit to being solid. It remembers something else.Jared steps closer.The imprint stirs.It recognizes him immediately.Not with words. With knowing.The world tilts, gently, and then the visions begin.Not explosions. Not triumph. No glory.Relief.He sees Emma sitting beside the river, whole in a way that makes his chest ache. Her breath steady. Her gaze clear. No pauses. No flickers. No fear hiding behind her eyes. She laughs without checking herself
Chapter 66- What He Would Erase
POV: EmmaThe question slips out of her before she can stop it.They are not arguing. That is the worst part. There is no raised voice to blame it on. No sharp edge to pretend caused the damage.They are sitting near the river where the water moves slow and patient, like it has nowhere else it needs to be. Jared is skipping stones, not very well. Each one either sinks immediately or hits the surface wrong and dies with a sad sound.Emma watches his hands. Strong. Scarred now. Real.She tells herself not to ask.She asks anyway.“If you could change one thing,” she says quietly, staring at the water instead of him, “would it be me?”The world does not react.The river keeps moving. A bird calls somewhere far off. The question does not echo or shatter anything. It just exists.Jared’s hand stills.He does not throw the stone.He does not answer.That pause stretches, thin and unbearable.Emma feels it inside her chest like pressure building behind glass.She should not have asked. She k
Chapter 65- The Weight of Knowing
POV: JaredJared notices it in the pauses.Emma still walks beside him. Still listens. Still answers when he speaks. But the spaces between her words have grown careful, like she is choosing where not to step.She laughs less. When she does, it comes late, like an echo that almost didn’t bother returning.That night, the fire burns low. Not dying. Just contained. Jared feeds it small sticks, one at a time, watching the way the flames respond immediately now. No correction. No delay. Cause and effect, clean and honest.Emma sits across from him, knees pulled in, arms looped loosely around them. She is staring into the fire but not really seeing it.He does not say her name at first.He waits.The waiting stretches. Too long.“Okay,” he says finally, keeping his voice light on purpose. “You’ve been doing that thing.”She blinks. “What thing?”“The quiet one,” he replies. “The one where you think if you don’t move too much, the world won’t notice you’re there.”Her mouth curves slightly.
Chapter 64- The Imprint
POV: EmmaEmma notices it because the birds stop mid-sound.Not silence. Worse than silence. The echo of a sound that forgets how to finish.She is standing near the riverbank, rinsing dirt from her hands, when the water ripples wrong. Not outward. Inward. Like the surface hesitates, then resumes pretending nothing happened.Her breath catches.She does not call for Jared.Instinct tells her this is not for both of them.She steps closer. The ground feels normal under her boots until it does not. One step is solid, the next sinks a fraction too deep, then snaps back like it regrets allowing her weight. Her head pulses faintly, not pain, just pressure behind the eyes.The world here stutters.She kneels slowly and presses her palm to the earth.It is warm.Not sunlight warm. Active warm.Her glasses are gone. Her tools are gone. But her mind still knows how to listen. She closes her eyes and lets the feeling rise instead of fighting it.Something answers.Not a voice. Not code. A prese
Chapter 63- Something That Lasts a Night
POV: JaredBy the time the light starts to tilt, Jared realizes they have been walking in loose circles.Not lost. Just not going anywhere on purpose.The world here does not rush them. Shadows stretch slowly. The air cools without warning. When the sun lowers, it does not feel like a threat, but it does feel like a question.He stops near a cluster of trees and looks around.“This is as good as anywhere,” he says.Emma nods. She looks tired in a way that has nothing to do with weakness. More like she is learning how to exist inside a body again. She lowers herself onto a rock and watches him.“So,” she says lightly. “What’s the plan?”Jared stares at the trees.He has led evacuations. Built fortresses underground. Optimized supply chains while cities burned. But right now, all he sees is wood and uneven ground and the fact that night is coming whether he is ready or not.“We build something,” he says.She raises an eyebrow. “Something permanent?”He lets out a short breath. “Somethin
Chapter 62- Emma Forgets
POV: EmmaIt happens in the middle of a sentence.Emma is talking about the river. About how the water sounds different here, like it knows where it is going. She is explaining it badly, she knows she is, using her hands too much, trying to describe something that feels more than it sounds.Then she is sitting down.The ground is cool against her palms. Her breath is wrong, too fast, like she has been running. Her heart stutters once, then starts again, hard and uneven.She blinks.Jared is crouched in front of her.Not rushing. Not shouting her name. Just there, steady, eyes sharp, like he has already measured the situation and decided not to be afraid.That scares her more than panic would have.“How long?” she asks.Jared tilts his head slightly. “A few seconds.”Her mouth feels dry. “I was standing.”“You were,” he says.“And talking.”“You were doing that too.”She presses her fingers into the dirt, grounding herself in the pressure. The world feels intact. Too intact. That makes
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