Zero days left.
The sky didn’t just break. It shattered.
Inside the armored SUV, Catrin grabbed the handle above her window as a deafening, bone-rattling BOOM echoed across the mountain range. It sounded like the atmosphere itself was tearing in half.
"Drive, Graves! Floor it!" Catrin yelled over the noise.
Graves slammed his foot on the gas. The heavy SUV barreled down the winding dirt road, tires kicking up rocks and mud.
In the back seat, Quinn was pressed against the window, her pale face completely drained of blood. She was staring up at the bruised purple sky.
"They aren’t just rocks," Quinn whispered, her voice trembling. "Catrin... look at them. They’re glowing."
Catrin looked out the windshield. Her blood ran cold.
Plummeting through the thick, violet fog were massive, jagged meteorites. But they weren’t burning orange or red like normal space debris. They were engulfed in a blinding, toxic purple fire. They trailed thick clouds of spore-dust behind them like cosmic poison.
Six days, Catrin thought wildly, her mind racing. We were supposed to have six days. But as she watched the sky burn, the terrifying reality clicked into place. The Butterfly Effect. By forcefully absorbing the Ark’s quantum core into her spatial dimension a week ago, she hadn’t just shortened the timeline. She had broken the clock entirely. The sudden burst of quantum energy had acted like a massive gravitational magnet, pulling the meteorites into Earth’s atmosphere instantly.
The universe wasn’t ticking down anymore. The dam had just burst.
One of the smaller meteorites slammed into a distant peak miles away. The shockwave hit the SUV a second later, violently shoving the three-ton vehicle toward the edge of the cliff.
Graves wrestled the steering wheel, cursing loudly as he kept them on the road.
"We’re a mile out!" Graves shouted, sweat pouring down his scarred face. "The radio is completely dead! I can’t reach Jax!"
"Don’t bother! Just get us to the gates!" Catrin ordered.
The temperature outside was dropping rapidly. Frost began to spiderweb across the edges of the windshield. The world was ending, and it was happening fast.
Through the thick, swirling fog, the towering black titanium walls of the Ark finally came into view.
Outside the barricades, it was absolute chaos, but it was controlled chaos. Commander Jax and his fifty mercenaries weren’t running blind. They were falling back to the outer rings of the fortress, dragging the heavy military artillery Catrin had bought them. Automated laser turrets on the Ark’s roof were already whirring to life, firing bright red beams into the sky to blast smaller debris out of the air before it could strike the compound.
"Open the gates!" Catrin commanded her watch.
The massive titanium doors of the main entrance hissed and slid apart. Graves didn’t even tap the brakes. He drove the SUV straight up the reinforced loading ramp and right into the brightly lit garage bay of the Ark.
The second the rear bumper cleared the threshold, Catrin hit the override.
"Lockdown. Maximum seal," she ordered.
[Command accepted. Initiating absolute lockdown.]
The heavy titanium doors slammed shut with a final, deafening CLANG. A series of heavy deadbolts engaged, vibrating through the floor. The hissing sound of the air-pressurization system kicked in, completely sealing the interior off from the toxic atmosphere outside.
Suddenly, the roaring wind, the crashing meteorites, and the end of the world... vanished.
Inside the garage, it was dead silent. The air was warm. It smelled faintly of vanilla and ozone.
Graves rested his forehead against the steering wheel, gasping for air. His hands were shaking so violently he could barely put the car in park.
Catrin unbuckled her seatbelt. She wasn’t shaking. Her heart was beating fast, but her mind was crystal clear. She had made it. She had beaten the broken clock.
She turned around to look at Quinn.
The sniper was completely frozen. She slowly opened her car door and stepped out onto the polished steel floor. She looked around the pristine, brightly lit garage. She looked at the racks of high-tech gear, the spotless walls, and the perfect climate control.
"You weren’t lying," Quinn choked out, dropping her ratty duffel bag.
"I don’t lie," Catrin said smoothly, stepping out of the SUV. "Welcome to the Ark, Quinn. Let’s go upstairs."
Catrin led them out of the garage and into the main elevator. She pressed the button for the second floor. Soft, generic elevator music played quietly through the speakers.
Quinn stared at the ceiling speaker, completely baffled. "Is that jazz?"
"Smooth jazz," Catrin corrected. "It helps keep morale up."
The elevator doors pinged open.
They stepped into the massive, open-concept living room. It looked like a penthouse suite. Plush leather couches, a massive flat-screen TV, a crackling electric fireplace, and a kitchen that belonged in a luxury magazine.
Sitting on the rug in the center of the room was Nico. He was happily stacking brightly colored blocks, humming a cartoon theme song.
Elias was sitting on the couch nearby, nervously biting his nails while staring at a tablet.
"Mommy!" Nico cheered, dropping his blocks. He ran across the room and threw his arms around Catrin’s legs.
Catrin smiled, a genuine, warm expression that completely melted her cold exterior. She scooped him up, burying her face in his neck.
"Hi, sweetie. Were you a good boy for Uncle Elias?" she asked.
"Yeah! We ate strawberries!" Nico beamed. He looked over Catrin’s shoulder and pointed at the dirt-covered sniper. "Who is that?"
"This is Quinn," Catrin said. "She’s going to help keep the bad doggies away."
Quinn just stood there, staring at the little boy with reddish-brown hair. She had spent the last week freezing in a wooden tower, watching mutants tear animals apart. Now, she was standing in a billionaire’s living room watching a toddler play with blocks. The contrast was so sharp it gave her whiplash.
"Boss," Elias interrupted, standing up from the couch. He looked extremely pale. "You need to see the external cameras."
Catrin set Nico down. "Go play with your blocks, baby."
She walked over to the security console on the wall. Elias tapped the screen, pulling up the drone feeds from the roof of the Ark.
Catrin, Graves, and Quinn gathered around the monitor.
Outside, the world was burning.
Massive craters scarred the mountain range. The purple fog had thickened into a heavy, suffocating smog that blocked out the sun entirely. Down in the valley, the distant city skyline was engulfed in flames.
"The global grid just went offline," Elias said quietly. "Two minutes ago. The internet is gone. Cell towers are down. The military emergency broadcasts cut to static. It’s... it’s all gone, Catrin. Society just turned off."
Graves swore under his breath, stepping back from the screen. "Julian Vance... the feds... the cities..."
"They’re burning," Catrin said flatly.
She felt no pity. She remembered what the freezing concrete felt like. She remembered starving. She remembered Julian looking her in the eye and doing the math. They had their chance to prepare, and they spent it fighting over useless paper money.
"What about Jax and the men?" Catrin asked, looking at the internal monitors.
Elias switched the feed to the outer ring barracks.
The fifty mercenaries were safe inside the armored deployment bays. They had stripped off their tactical gear and were sitting in the mess hall. The heavy artillery they had dragged inside was stacked neatly against the walls. Some of the men were staring blankly at the metal tables. Others were holding their heads in their hands. They were tough men, but watching the world end took a toll on everyone.
"They’re secure," Elias confirmed. "The outer rings are fully pressurized. The air scrubbers are keeping the spores out."
"Good," Catrin said.
She turned away from the monitors and looked at her team.
Graves, the scarred getaway driver. Elias, the manic genius. Quinn, the starving ghost.
"Listen to me," Catrin said, her voice commanding absolute attention. "The world we knew yesterday is dead. Money, laws, and governments do not exist anymore. Out there, the only rule is survival."
She paced slowly across the room, her green eyes locking onto each of them.
"But inside this fortress, my rules are the law," Catrin continued. "As long as you follow my orders and protect my son, you will never go hungry. You will never freeze. You will survive this apocalypse in absolute luxury. Are we clear?"
Elias nodded vigorously. "Crystal clear, boss."
"Yes, ma’am," Graves said, standing a little taller.
Catrin looked at Quinn. The sniper was still staring at the pristine kitchen, as if expecting it to disappear.
"Quinn?" Catrin asked softly.
Quinn blinked, snapping out of her daze. She looked at Catrin.
"I’ll sit on the roof for the rest of my life if you keep feeding me pizza," Quinn said, completely deadpan.
Catrin smirked. "Elias, show Quinn to her room. Give her a fresh set of clothes from the inventory and show her how the hot water works."
"You got it. Right this way, sniper," Elias motioned down the hall.
As they walked away, Catrin walked over to the reinforced, one-way mirrored window in the living room. She placed her hand against the cool glass.
Outside, the purple fog swirled violently against the titanium hull. Monsters were already crawling out of the craters, hunting for survivors. The apocalypse had officially begun.
But Catrin just smiled, turning her back on the end of the world.
She walked into her spotless kitchen, opened a pristine stainless-steel fridge, and poured herself a glass of iced tea.
Let them burn, she thought. I have groceries to unpack.