Six days left.
The purple fog rolled down the mountain like a thick, toxic ocean. It wasn’t just a weather anomaly anymore; the air itself looked bruised and heavy, suffocating the daylight.
Inside the Ark, however, the climate control was set to a perfect seventy-two degrees. Catrin sat at her polished marble kitchen island, smoothly slicing a fresh, perfectly ripe strawberry.
"More, please!" Nico cheered, kicking his little light-up sneakers against his high chair.
"Say ’thank you,’ Elias," Catrin smiled, sliding the plate toward him.
Elias, who was currently sprawled on the luxury leather sofa with a cup of coffee resting on his chest, gave a weak, sleep-deprived thumbs-up. "You’re welcome, little man. I grew those with science and excessive paranoia."
The intercom on the wall buzzed.
["Boss. We have a logistical problem,"] Commander Jax’s voice echoed into the room. He sounded frustrated.
Catrin wiped her hands on a towel and walked over to the security monitors. "Report, Commander."
["It’s this damn fog,"] Jax grunted. On the screen, the drone feeds of the two-mile barricade were completely obscured by the swirling violet mist. ["Visibility is down to fifteen feet. The thermal scopes are glitching because of the atmospheric pressure. But that’s not the only issue. We have a stalker."]
Catrin’s expression didn’t change. She just leaned closer to the microphone. "Go on."
["There’s an abandoned ranger watchtower about three miles north, higher up the peak,"] Jax explained. ["I’ve seen the glint of a sniper scope up there twice today. Someone is watching the fortress. Give me the word, Boss, and I’ll send Briggs and a heavy assault squad up there to clear them out."]
Catrin smirked. It was a cold, perfectly calculated smile.
"Stand down, Commander," Catrin ordered smoothly. "She isn’t a squatter. And if you send Briggs up there, she will put a bullet through his eye before he makes it halfway up the trail."
["Boss?"] Jax sounded entirely confused. ["You know who is up there?"]
"I know exactly who is up there," Catrin said. "She’s the reason I bought this specific mountain in the first place."
Elias sat up on the couch, almost spilling his coffee. "Wait, you knew there was a sniper in the woods before we even got here?"
Catrin ignored him, grabbing her sleek black tactical jacket from the coat rack. "Hold your fire, Jax. Our new overwatch is just a little hungry. I’ll go collect her. Graves! Start the SUV."
"Mommy?" Nico asked, a half-eaten strawberry in his hand. "Going bye-bye?"
Catrin walked over and kissed the top of his head. "Mommy is just going to pick up a new friend, baby. Stay inside with Uncle Elias. Do not open the doors."
"Okay!"
The drive up the mountain was terrifying.
Graves gripped the steering wheel with white knuckles. The armored SUV crawled up the winding, unpaved logging road. The purple fog was so thick the headlights barely cut through the gloom.
"Briar, I can’t see the edge of the cliff," Graves muttered, his eyes wide. "If a mutant jumps out right now, we’re going straight over the side."
"Keep driving. We’re almost at the elevation line," Catrin said calmly, checking her expensive watch.
Ten minutes later, the fog began to thin as they climbed above the thickest part of the atmospheric pressure zone. The abandoned ranger watchtower loomed ahead, a rickety wooden structure perched precariously on the edge of a massive drop.
"Park here," Catrin ordered.
"I’ll come with you," Graves said, reaching for his sidearm.
"No. You stay in the car and keep your hands on the wheel," Catrin instructed. "If you step out with a gun, she’ll drop you."
Catrin stepped out of the SUV. The wind up here was freezing, biting through her jacket. The sky above was a terrifying, violent swirl of cosmic purple and black.
She walked slowly toward the base of the wooden tower. She didn’t sneak. She wanted to be seen.
"I’m unarmed," Catrin called out, her voice echoing into the quiet mountain air.
Silence. Just the howling of the wind.
Then, a red laser dot appeared directly in the center of Catrin’s chest.
"Take one more step, and I’ll drop you," a sharp, raspy female voice called down from the shadows of the tower’s balcony. "Turn the car around."
Catrin didn’t flinch. She didn’t look down at the laser. She just crossed her arms and looked up at the shadows.
"You’re late on your trigger pull, Quinn," Catrin said smoothly.
A sharp intake of breath came from the tower.
"How do you know my name?" the voice snapped. The red laser trembled slightly, betraying her shock.
"I know a lot of things. I know they call you the Ghost of Blackwood," Catrin replied, projecting her voice effortlessly. "I know you don’t use thermal scopes because you hunt by reading the wind. And I know you haven’t eaten a hot meal in five days."
A tense silence followed.
Slowly, a figure stepped out of the shadows and leaned over the wooden railing.
It was a young woman, maybe twenty-five. She was incredibly pale, with choppy black hair and dark, exhausted circles under her eyes. She wore layered, ratty military surplus gear. She held a massive, heavily modified sniper rifle with terrifying ease.
"Who are you?" Quinn demanded, her eyes narrowed in deep suspicion.
"I’m the billionaire who bought out Aegis Security. And I’m the owner of the black fortress three miles south of here," Catrin said.
"Jax is a meathead," Quinn scoffed, though she didn’t lower the rifle. "His guys are loud. I could have wiped out half his squad yesterday from this tower, and they wouldn’t have even known where it came from."
"I know," Catrin smiled slightly. "That’s why I told him not to shoot you. Jax is a hammer. I need a ghost."
Quinn let out a harsh, dry laugh. "I don’t work for rich people. You all turn on each other the second the lights go out. I survive alone."
"You’re a brilliant sniper, Quinn, but your logistics are terrible," Catrin countered easily. "I bought this specific mountain because I knew you were up here. I dropped a heated, impenetrable, three-billion-dollar fortress directly in your line of sight. And then, I waited."
Quinn froze. "You... waited?"
"I waited five days for your hunting snares to turn up empty because the wildlife is mutating. I waited for the temperature to drop and your rations to run out," Catrin said, her green eyes locking onto the sniper. "You are the best shot on this continent, but right now, you are starving. I am offering you the roof of my bunker."
Quinn’s jaw tightened. She looked up at the swirling purple sky, her grip on the rifle shifting nervously. She knew Catrin was right. She had been watching the purple fog roll in for days, terrified out of her mind but too stubborn to abandon her post.
"What do I get out of it?" Quinn asked defensively.
Catrin didn’t answer right away. She casually slipped her bare hand into her coat pocket, quietly accessing her Infinite Spatial Dimension.
She bypassed the billions of dollars in gold bullion, the luxury cars, and the weapons. She went straight to the hot food zone.
Catrin pulled her hand out of her pocket.
Resting on her palm was a pristine, steaming-hot slice of New York-style pepperoni pizza on a paper plate. The cheese was literally bubbling in the freezing mountain air.
Quinn stared at the pizza. Her eyes widened so drastically they almost popped out of her head.
"How..." Quinn choked out, dropping her sniper rifle to her side. "Where did you get that? It’s steaming. We are on top of a mountain!"
"I have a fully automated fortress, unlimited hot water, and a lifetime supply of fresh food," Catrin said, taking a deliberate bite of the pizza. It crunched perfectly. "And I don’t micromanage."
Quinn swallowed so loudly Catrin could hear it from the ground. The tough, lone-wolf exterior completely shattered in the face of hot, melted cheese.
"Does... does the fortress have hot showers?" Quinn asked, her voice cracking.
"The water pressure is incredible," Catrin promised.
Quinn didn’t hesitate for another second. She slung her rifle over her back, grabbed her worn-out duffel bag, and practically vaulted over the railing, scrambling down the tower ladder.
She landed in the dirt, snatched the pizza slice out of Catrin’s hand, and took a massive bite. She let out a groan of absolute, starving bliss.
"I’ll shoot whoever you want," Quinn mumbled around a mouthful of crust. "Just point."
Catrin smiled. Her trap had snapped shut flawlessly. She had her ghost.
"Get in the car," Catrin said.
As they drove back down the mountain, Quinn happily devouring a second slice of pizza Catrin had "found" in her pocket, the radio in the SUV suddenly let out a deafening burst of static.
Graves flinched, trying to turn the dial, but every station was dead.
Then, the global emergency broadcast system triggered. A harsh, robotic voice filled the car, overriding the static.
["THIS IS A GLOBAL EMERGENCY BROADCAST. ALL CITIZENS ARE ORDERED TO SEEK IMMEDIATE UNDERGROUND SHELTER. THE COSMIC ANOMALY IS ACCELERATING. IMPACT IS IMMINENT."]
Catrin looked at her phone. There was no signal. The internet was gone. The global grid was starting to fall.
The countdown hadn’t just dropped. It had shattered completely.
Catrin looked out the window at the suffocating purple fog. In her past life, she had been screaming in a concrete hallway when this broadcast played. Now, she was sitting in a heated leather seat, perfectly untouched.
"Impact is imminent."
The meteorites were here.