2025-07-29 00:11:53The SUV’s engine rumbled low and steady like a warning growl. Jared stood beside it for a moment, listening, testing—every gear, every turn, every tremor in the machine. It wasn’t perfect. It wouldn’t outrun an explosion. But it would move, and in the days ahead, that was enough.
He wiped his hands clean, though the grease clung to his fingers like guilt. The garage lights flickered. Another surge. The city’s power grid was failing in waves now, and no one was fixing it.
[Time Remaining: 68 hrs 42 mins]
[Objective Update: Gather Med Supplies – In Progress]
The system had gone quiet after that, no new prompts. No help. Just a countdown.
He turned back toward the house.
A sharp voice echoed through the halls upstairs—Mrs. Bai, again, her shrill tone cutting through silence like shattered glass.
“You’re saying we can’t get through to the warehouse? What do you mean gone dark? Are you telling me the entire eastern district shut down and no one knows why?”
Jared climbed the steps slowly, each footfall careful and quiet.
He reached the top landing and saw chaos in motion.
Mr. Bai stood near the window, phone pressed to his ear, face pale as ash. Beside him, his wife paced with fury in her heels, clutching her tablet like it held answers. Mei sat on the couch, biting her thumbnail, her eyes darting from screen to screen on the TV.
News reports played on a loop.
Riot in Port Harrow.
Supermarket looted in broad daylight.
A man attacking paramedics on Main Street.
No motive. No warning.
Just… rage.
“What’s happening to people?” Mei whispered.
Jared watched her for a second longer than he should’ve. Her soft voice didn’t match the fear in her eyes. This wasn’t the world she was raised in. The ivory tower was crumbling—and she had no idea how to breathe in the dust.
Mrs. Bai finally turned, catching sight of him. “You.”
Jared raised a brow. “Me?”
“You fixed the garage car, right? I want it moved into the covered port. It’s not going to sit outside in that filth.”
“I’ll get to it,” Jared said, voice flat.
“Now,” she snapped.
“Sure. Right after you all stop ignoring the fact that this city’s falling apart.”
That made the room pause.
Mr. Bai looked up from his call. Mei slowly turned toward him. Even the television anchor seemed to hold his breath.
“What did you just say?” Mrs. Bai asked, her voice sharp with disbelief.
“I said you’re pretending this is just a bad news cycle. But it’s not. This isn’t a riot. This isn’t a protest. It’s collapse,” Jared said evenly. “The supply chains are gone. Communications are failing. People are panicking. And in about three days, the real violence starts.”
Silence.
Then Mrs. Bai scoffed. “And what—now you’re some kind of expert? Please. You’re a mechanic, Jared. An unemployed son-in-law we dragged in from the streets out of pity.”
“Enough,” Mr. Bai barked, but his voice lacked bite.
Jared ignored her. His eyes went to Mei. “You saw it. You’ve been watching. You feel it in your chest, don’t you? That sense that something’s wrong—not just wrong, but different.”
Mei didn’t speak. But she didn’t look away either.
“Listen to me,” Jared continued, tone low. Measured. “In less than three days, whatever’s spreading will reach this neighborhood. And once it’s here, your gates and bodyguards won’t mean a thing.”
“We have a panic room,” Mr. Bai muttered, as if repeating a prayer.
Jared nodded slowly. “Sure. You do. But it’s stocked for maybe a week. After that? You’ll need fuel. Food. Water. And good luck finding it when the whole city’s tearing itself apart.”
“You sound insane,” Mrs. Bai spat.
He turned to her now. Fully. Calm, but firm.
“I sound prepared. You’ve spent years treating me like a ghost in this house. Useless. Weak. Like I belonged beneath your heels,” Jared said. “But here’s what’s going to happen. In about sixty-eight hours, those same heels will be soaked in blood, and you’ll realize the world doesn’t care how rich you were. It only cares how fast you ran and who you stepped on to survive.”
Mrs. Bai opened her mouth, but no sound came out.
Jared took a slow breath, then turned to Mei again. “You still have time. If you want to come with me when I leave, I’ll keep you safe. But I won’t ask twice.”
Mei stared at him like she didn’t know who he was. And maybe she didn’t. Not this version. Not the one who wasn’t afraid anymore.
Jared turned and walked out without waiting for a response.
Outside, the sky had turned gray.
Thick smoke crept in from the northern districts, and sirens had given way to silence. The kind of silence that rang too loud. That hinted at something breathing in the dark.
He stepped into the SUV and closed the door.
There was a knock on the window. He looked up—and saw her.
Mei.
She stood stiffly, arms crossed, hugging herself. Her voice muffled through the glass.
“Where would we even go?”
He rolled the window down halfway. “Out of the city. Into the hills. I know a place.”
She hesitated. “And my parents?”
Jared’s jaw clenched. “You know they won’t come. Not until it’s too late.”
She didn’t answer right away. Then nodded once. “I’ll pack.”
He watched her turn and hurry inside, and for the first time in hours, something shifted inside him. Not relief. Not comfort. But resolve.
He wasn’t just surviving anymore. He was choosing who to save.
[System Update: Companion Acquired – Mei Bai]
[Survival Bonus Activated: +15% Resource Luck]
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Episode 12: Storm Roads
The rain started two hours after they left the bunker. It wasn’t gentle or forgiving—it came down in sheets, pounding against the broken asphalt of the highway like the sky itself was trying to scrub the world clean.Jared gripped the handlebars of the old military bike they’d found in an abandoned checkpoint shed. It roared down the cracked road, tires skimming puddles, engine groaning from years of disuse. Mei sat behind him, arms wrapped tightly around his waist, face pressed to his back to shield against the cold wind.They hadn’t said much since escaping the bunker. There was nothing to say. Every second counted now.“We’ll need fuel in the next twenty miles,” Jared shouted over the storm.Mei nodded, wiping water from her eyes. “How do you even know this bike will make it?”“I don’t,” he replied flatly. “But it’s faster than walking.”The sky above them flashed—lightning streaked jagged through the clouds, illuminating the skeletal remains of a once-bustling town. The buildings
Episode 11: Beneath the Surface
The entrance to the uplink bunker was buried beneath layers of moss, rotting leaves, and a collapsed thicket of tree limbs. No one would have known it was there unless they were looking. And even then, it took Jared nearly twenty minutes to uncover the old steel hatch hidden beneath a camouflaged tarp coated in decades of forest debris.Mei knelt beside him, shivering from the cold sweat that came with fear. She held the rifle tightly, even though she hadn’t fired it once yet. Her hands trembled, but her stance didn’t break.“This is it?” she asked quietly.Jared gave a slight nod. “Used to be a failsafe command post. Remote systems control. It was taken offline before the Collapse.”“Why would they hide it way out here?”“Because it wasn’t meant to be found. Not by the public.”The badge Finn gave him still felt warm in his hand. Like it carried the weight of all the ghosts it had passed through before reaching him. He slid it into the scanner beside the hatch. There was a long silen
Episode 10: The Ones Who Wait in the Fog
The fog hadn’t lifted by sunrise. If anything, it had grown thicker—so dense Jared could barely see past the tree line without straining. Nature didn’t move like this unless something unnatural had disturbed it.He was already dressed in full tactical gear, rifle strapped tight across his chest, boots laced up to the shin. His breath was slow, even, but everything about his body was alert. Primed.Mei stood on the porch in his old hoodie and jeans that didn’t quite fit, trying to shake the cold out of her limbs. She looked at the treeline and then at him.“You’re going out there, aren’t you?”Jared nodded once. “North Ridge sector. Something pinged the motion sensors.”“Could it be an animal?”He strapped on his knife. “Not unless it knew how to disable the backup camera first.”Her mouth parted slightly. “Someone’s watching us.”“They’ve probably been watching for days.”She took a breath, trying not to panic. “Let me come with you.”“No.”“I’m not staying behind while you walk into
Episode 9: Shadows in Echo Ridge
They reached Echo Ridge just before sunset. The cabin sat at the top of a narrow gravel road, shrouded by thick pine trees and jagged cliffs on either side. To Mei, it looked like something out of a forgotten survival manual—modest, solid, a little crooked with age, but hidden well.Jared cut the engine and sat still for a second. His eyes swept the treeline like they always had before he approached any shelter—measured, alert. You didn’t survive as long as he had by assuming any place was truly empty.Mei leaned forward. “This is yours?”He nodded. “I built it after I left the service. Never brought anyone here.”“Why not?”“Because this was the only place in the world that was mine.”The wind picked up. It carried the faint scent of pine needles and distant smoke. Mei wrapped her arms around herself as they stepped out of the SUV. The air felt colder here—sharper.Jared led the way to the front door, keys already in hand. He paused as he reached for the knob.The door was slightly a
Episode 8: Fire on the Horizon
Jared didn’t waste time watching Mei pack. He knew the moment she walked back into that house, she’d feel the pull of comfort again. The luxury. The lie. If he gave her too long, she might stay.He loaded the SUV with what little gear he had—his old rucksack, a folded camp stove, a water filter he hadn’t touched in months. There was a sidearm buried in a lockbox under the driver’s seat. He checked it now, loading each bullet with mechanical precision.[Time Remaining: 66 hrs 03 mins][Objective: Evacuate Safe Zone]The system’s calm tone was beginning to unnerve him. Like a god whispering in a burning temple—offering guidance just moments before everything crumbled.Mei came back out fifteen minutes later, wearing a dark hoodie and jeans, a duffel bag slung over her shoulder. She looked different. Smaller. Like the world had finally reached her skin.“I didn’t bring much,” she murmured.“Good,” Jared said. “We’ll need room for supplies.”She climbed into the passenger seat without ano
Episode 7: The Tipping Point
The SUV’s engine rumbled low and steady like a warning growl. Jared stood beside it for a moment, listening, testing—every gear, every turn, every tremor in the machine. It wasn’t perfect. It wouldn’t outrun an explosion. But it would move, and in the days ahead, that was enough.He wiped his hands clean, though the grease clung to his fingers like guilt. The garage lights flickered. Another surge. The city’s power grid was failing in waves now, and no one was fixing it.[Time Remaining: 68 hrs 42 mins][Objective Update: Gather Med Supplies – In Progress]The system had gone quiet after that, no new prompts. No help. Just a countdown.He turned back toward the house.A sharp voice echoed through the halls upstairs—Mrs. Bai, again, her shrill tone cutting through silence like shattered glass.“You’re saying we can’t get through to the warehouse? What do you mean gone dark? Are you telling me the entire eastern district shut down and no one knows why?”Jared climbed the steps slowly, e
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