2025-07-29 00:13:16Jared 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 another word. When she reached for the seatbelt, her hands trembled. He noticed. Didn’t comment.
He started the engine.
The gate slid open slower than usual, its motors straining. As they rolled out into the neighborhood, Jared couldn’t help but glance in the rearview mirror. The Bai mansion sat tall and gleaming, like it still believed the world owed it protection.
It didn’t.
They were six blocks away when Mei broke the silence.
“Why are you helping me?”
Jared kept his eyes on the road. “Because you’re the only one who ever looked at me like I mattered. Even when your parents treated me like I was invisible, you didn’t. You just never said anything.”
She swallowed. “I didn’t know how.”
“I get it,” he said. “But this isn’t about guilt, Mei. It’s about surviving.”
They passed by a pharmacy. The glass front had been smashed in. Shelves picked clean. The street was littered with empty boxes, crushed pill bottles, wrappers. A man sat on the curb, cradling a plastic bag like it was gold.
“This started fast,” she said, voice small.
“It didn’t,” Jared replied. “It just went unnoticed.”
They reached the outer district checkpoint—a set of concrete barricades manned by two soldiers. Young. Nervous. Sweat clung to their foreheads despite the cool morning air.
Jared slowed down, rolled his window down halfway.
The taller soldier raised a hand. “ID?”
“Evacuating,” Jared said calmly. “Heading north.”
The second soldier peered into the SUV, eyes lingering on Mei. “That your sister?”
Jared smiled. “Wife.”
The soldier’s eyebrows lifted slightly, but he didn’t question it. “You’ve got thirty minutes. After that, we’re locking this checkpoint.”
“Understood.”
He nodded them through.
As the SUV pulled away, Mei exhaled slowly. “You’re good at lying.”
“I’m good at surviving.”
They drove for ten more minutes before the skyline behind them lit up.
A column of fire shot into the air—an explosion somewhere in the city core. The kind of fireball that didn’t just light up windows, but shook them.
Mei gasped, turning around in her seat. “That was downtown—Jared, my father’s office—”
“Don’t,” he said quietly. “Don’t look back.”
She didn’t answer. But she stopped turning.
They reached the first fuel point—a small service station Jared remembered from back when he did odd delivery runs. It was shuttered, but the side entrance had been broken open. Inside, two people were already raiding the place—a woman with wild eyes and a man clutching a tire iron like it was a sword.
Jared parked on the far side, grabbed his gun, and turned to Mei.
“Stay inside. Lock the doors. Don’t open them unless it’s me.”
She nodded, wide-eyed.
Jared stepped out, slow and steady. The gravel crunched under his boots.
The man saw him first. “Hey—back off, man. This one’s ours!”
Jared didn’t raise the gun, but he didn’t hide it either. “Relax. I just need a few supplies. You take what you need, I’ll take what I need. No fights.”
The woman hissed. “There’s no sharing anymore!”
“I’m not asking permission.”
The man stepped forward—too fast.
Jared moved faster.
In one clean motion, he slammed the butt of the gun into the man’s wrist, knocking the iron bar loose. A second step and his knee met ribs. The guy went down hard, gasping.
The woman screamed, reaching for her bag.
Jared didn’t fire. He simply stepped back, gun aimed now.
“Don’t. This isn’t worth dying for.”
The woman froze.
“Take your guy. Go.”
She didn’t argue. She dragged the man to his feet and stumbled out the door, cursing as she went.
Jared exhaled once, then turned and began moving through the shelves. He grabbed bottled water, a few remaining protein bars, two packs of bandages, painkillers. Not much. But enough.
Back in the SUV, Mei looked at him like he’d walked out of a warzone.
“You didn’t shoot them.”
“I didn’t need to.”
“They would’ve hurt you.”
He gave her a tired smile. “A lot of people will try in the days ahead. Doesn’t mean they’ll succeed.”
They kept driving.
The roads became narrower. Less paved. Nature crept in through cracks and curbs. Civilization started thinning out.
Mei turned toward him again. “Where are we really going?”
Jared looked ahead, his voice low. “A place I found years ago. Before I met your family. I used to live off the grid for a while, after the military.”
“You were in the military?” she asked, surprised.
“Special unit. Got out when things turned ugly.”
“You never told anyone.”
“No one ever asked.”
They crossed a bridge. Below, the river had already begun to fill with drifting wreckage—pieces of cities, of lives.
A second explosion rang out in the distance.
Jared didn’t flinch. Mei did.
She reached for his hand without thinking. He let her.
“Will we make it?” she asked quietly.
He glanced at her, and this time, his answer wasn’t hardened by experience or burdened by doubt. It was clear. Certain.
“Yes.”
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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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