Watch "Ashes to Empire" Full Movie (English Dubbed).
From the burning ruins of his past, a terrifying new king rises.
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#Synopsis:
His family was brutally massacred, and his legacy was reduced to ashes by the city's four most powerful syndicates. Barely surviving the inferno, he spent ten grueling years in exile, forging himself into a weapon of absolute destruction. Now, he returns to the city not as the helpless heir they once knew, but as the supreme ruler of a global, untouchable empire. Hiding his true power, he systematically dismantles the syndicates, turning their own greed against them. As his enemies realize that the man they threw into the fire has become the inferno itself, they can do nothing but fall to their knees and watch their own empires turn to dust.
#Hashtags:
#MegashortDrama #AshesToEmpire #EnglishDubbed #Revenge #ReturnOfTheKing #HiddenIdentity #ActionDrama #ChineseDrama #FullMovie
From the burning ruins of his past, a terrifying new king rises.
📺 Welcome to Mega short Drama!
Your destination for the best Short Dramas and emotional storytelling.
👉 Subscribe for more daily updates: [Dán Link Kênh Của Bạn Vào Đây]
👍 Like and Share to support Mega short Drama!
-----------------------------------
#Synopsis:
His family was brutally massacred, and his legacy was reduced to ashes by the city's four most powerful syndicates. Barely surviving the inferno, he spent ten grueling years in exile, forging himself into a weapon of absolute destruction. Now, he returns to the city not as the helpless heir they once knew, but as the supreme ruler of a global, untouchable empire. Hiding his true power, he systematically dismantles the syndicates, turning their own greed against them. As his enemies realize that the man they threw into the fire has become the inferno itself, they can do nothing but fall to their knees and watch their own empires turn to dust.
#Hashtags:
#MegashortDrama #AshesToEmpire #EnglishDubbed #Revenge #ReturnOfTheKing #HiddenIdentity #ActionDrama #ChineseDrama #FullMovie
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Short filmTranscript
00:00When that rusty boning knife sliced open my wrist artery, I didn't even feel pain, just relief.
00:05Year 3 of the sportswear of Apocalypse, pants locked in at 149 degrees Fahrenheit every single day.
00:08I was too flashy back then and my whole stash got raided on day one.
00:11Then my husband Blake and his ex Vanessa basically kept me as livestock.
00:14See, I have typo blood and in a world dying of dehydration, my blood was their fancy kombucha.
00:19Blake chubbed the warm liquid straight from my wrist, then slid the other half bowl to Nessa with those soft,
00:24loving eyes.
00:25Nessa, drink up. This is the last of it.
00:28Once you do, we'll have enough strength to get out of here.
00:30I just lay there on the cracked floor, watching these two parasites live their best lives off my blood.
00:34Last time around I was Blake's ride-or-die wife, sitting on dividends from two publicly traded companies.
00:38Yet somehow in the apocalypse I ranked below a stray dog.
00:40As my consciousness faded, I heard the scorching wind howling outside, like the universe was laughing at what a sucker
00:44I've been.
00:44Then I opened my eyes again, an AC vent hit me and I literally shivered.
00:47And instead of corpses, I was back at that same mahogany negotiating table.
00:50Blake slapped a divorce agreement in front of me, totally checked out.
00:54Ivy, don't push your luck.
00:56The Riverview penthouse goes to me, that dirt plot, goes to you.
00:59Final offer. Keep it up, and Nessa's gonna lose her patience.
01:02I glanced at my phone.
01:03June 1st, 2026.
01:04Exactly one month before the sun became the Grim Reaper.
01:07I pushed down the rage boiling in my chest and took a good look at his so-called luxury penthouse.
01:10Priciest development in the city.
01:12Full glass curtain walls, killer views.
01:14But in the apocalypse, it's just a 360-degree solar oven with zero blind spots.
01:17Anyone inside would be beef jerky within half a day.
01:19And that dirt plot Blake mentioned, an abandoned civil defense bunker way out in the suburban hills.
01:23Sure, nothing grew on top and people swore it was haunted, but underneath is 20 meters of solid underground space.
01:28I took a slow, deep breath.
01:29Pulled out my best, completely losing it.
01:31Performance.
01:31Picked up the pen with a trembling hand.
01:33Fine, I'll sign.
01:34And done.
01:34I'm heading to the mountains to grow vegetables.
01:36And I never want to see either of you again.
01:38Blake and Nessa exchanged a look.
01:40Couldn't hide the glee.
01:41As far as they were concerned, I'd finally lost the plot.
01:44Trading a $27.4 million penthouse for a pile of dirt.
01:46The second I signed, Nessa swooped in with that fake sweet smile.
01:49Ivy, don't be mad at Blake.
01:50Sure, the plot's in the middle of nowhere, but hey, peace and quiet.
01:53Living solo could be really good for you.
01:54The sarcasm was practically dripping off her face.
01:56I didn't even look at her.
01:57Grabbed my piece and walked.
01:59Stepped out of the law firm into noon sun.
02:00That felt like a personal attack on my eyeballs.
02:02Not this time.
02:03No more playing dumb.
02:04First order of business.
02:05Not shopping.
02:06Money.
02:07But I couldn't touch my main accounts.
02:08Blake was still watching every transaction.
02:10And that greedy man would have swooped in the second anything moved.
02:14So I drove straight to the biggest luxury resale shop in the city.
02:17My trunk was packed, Hermes bags, limited edition watches, and all the jewelry I used to treat
02:21like it was irreplaceable.
02:22The owner watched me dump tens of thousands of dollars worth of bags on his counter.
02:25Like I was tossing out trash and just-
02:27Mrs. Donovan, are you-
02:28I cut him off, ice cold.
02:29Not a Donovan anymore.
02:30Cash for everything.
02:31No wire transfers.
02:32You can knock off 20%, but I walk out with the money within the hour.
02:35And you don't breathe a word.
02:36Smart guy.
02:37He flipped the sign and got to counting.
02:39Two hours later, I walked out with two black garbage bags that used to hold cat food.
02:42Now stuffed with $690,000 cash.
02:44Not a fortune, but for bulk basic supplies, more than enough.
02:48Skipped going home, went straight to a rental place instead, and picked up a beat-up, mud-splattered
02:53minivan that had seen better decades.
02:54Ditched the heels, threw on some $20 work boots and a pair of tough jeans.
02:58Looking at my bare face in the mirror, I finally felt safe for the first time.
03:01In the hell that's coming, beauty is a liability.
03:04Blending in is the only armor that matters.
03:05Next up, time to claim my fortress.
03:07That haunted garbage dump everyone rode off.
03:09Three hours of bumping down the dirt road, and we finally arrived at the base of a barren mountain.
03:14Desolate was an understatement.
03:15Weeds and rocks are everywhere.
03:16Halfway up the slope sat a rusty iron gate.
03:18The bunker entrance.
03:19I shoved open that heavy door and got hit with a wave of moles and damp.
03:23Also rat.
03:24Lots of panicked rats.
03:25Inside was pitch black, flooded, trashed, with mystery spider webs covering every single corner.
03:29In normal times, you couldn't pay a homeless guy to sleep here.
03:32But to me, this was the arc.
03:33I flipped on my flashlight and pushed deeper, gagging the whole way.
03:37Built in the 1960s.
03:38Reinforced concrete frame.
03:40Sitting 20 meters underground.
03:42At least 10 degrees cooler than outside.
03:44When the heat wave hits and surface temps spiked to 158 degrees Fahrenheit.
03:47This place becomes a natural AC unit.
03:49Current condition though, raw.
03:50Ventilation shafts completely blocked.
03:51All wiring dead.
03:52And the well I remembered from last time had zero water.
03:55Just dried up sludge.
03:56Turning this into a safe house met one hard rule.
03:57No contractors.
03:58Blake had connections everywhere.
03:59One piece of heavy machinery rolling into these hills and he'd know by lunch.
04:02I had to do this and style.
04:03One grain of sand at a time.
04:04I made a list.
04:06Clear the sludge.
04:06Reinforce the gate.
04:07Fix ventilation.
04:08Stoppile supplies.
04:09Every single item.
04:09Pure manual labor.
04:10First move.
04:11I drove the car inside and shut the gate.
04:13Home for the next few days.
04:14That night, I slept across the back seat.
04:15Eating stale bread that could have doubled as drywall.
04:17Then Blake's social media popped up on my phone.
04:19There he was.
04:19Him and Nessa.
04:20Wine glasses raged.
04:21Floor to ceiling windows behind them.
04:23Finally gave the love of my life a real home.
04:25I chewed my bread and laughed.
04:26Cold and quiet.
04:27Enjoy it.
04:27That giant window is gonna be your personal death trap.
04:31So you'll be on your knees, begging for shade and a single drop of water.
04:34First thing next morning, priority one, water.
04:37The apocalypse doesn't kill you with heat, it kills you with thirst.
04:40Last life I watched people do the unthinkable fork.
04:42Half the cup of mud water.
04:43Deep in the bunker sat in the abandoned mechanical well.
04:46I tied a rope around my waist, clipped on a headlamp, and lowered myself down.
04:49Bottom of the well.
04:50Black sludge.
04:51Full stench.
04:52Wrath skeletons.
04:53The smell nearly evicted my last meal on the spot.
04:55No crew.
04:55No shortcuts.
04:56Just me and a tiny bucket doing sad little laps.
04:58Scoop mud.
04:58Climb up.
04:59Dump.
04:59Repeat.
04:59Three straight days.
05:00Cume shovel.
05:01Zero benefits.
05:01Black sludge from head to toe.
05:03Snap nails.
05:04Palms bubbling with blisters.
05:05Every roll call felt like my arms were going to broke.
05:07But I couldn't stop.
05:08Because I still remembered what it felt like when your throat turns to dust and your blood
05:11goes thick.
05:12Fourth day.
05:13Just afternoon.
05:13One shovel strike and cold liquid exploded straight into my face.
05:17Ground water.
05:18Muddy as hell, but alive.
05:20I sat at the bottom watching the water rise past my ankles.
05:23Cold soaking through skin, all the way to bone.
05:25I scoop up two hands of ground water and just lost it laughing.
05:27And then somewhere in the laughing, the client showed up uninvited.
05:29This well was my ticket.
05:30My whole plan hinged on it.
05:32I climbed out and drove straight to the hardware.
05:34District.
05:35No rest.
05:35Gift to every legit store.
05:37Beeline for the sketchy little shops on the city's outskirts.
05:39Needed the best submersible pump available.
05:40Plus bulk activated carbon, quartz sand, and PP cotton filter cartridges.
05:44Spread the purchases across a dozen shops to stay invisible.
05:47Pulled each one I was buying for a fish farm out in the sticks.
05:49On top of all that, 50 giant plastic water storage tanks.
05:52The well was great, but groundwater drops in late-stage heat events.
05:55So I needed three years worth stored up.
05:57Starting now.
05:57Water done.
05:58Next up, not getting baked a light.
06:00On the ground stays cool, but extreme surface heat conducts right down.
06:04Can't insulate the whole hillside.
06:06Way too obvious.
06:07So I went with the dumbest.
06:09Sneaky's plan.
06:10Land inside.
06:10Drove the van to every building supply market nearby.
06:13And cleared out three shops of thermal wall pool.
06:15And full of bubble wrap.
06:16Cheap.
06:17Light.
06:17Takes up the space of a small country.
06:19Light maxed out fast.
06:20So I just kept making trips.
06:21Those days I was a machine.
06:22A very bruised machine.
06:24Hoaring by day.
06:25Setting foam on walls by night.
06:26No crew.
06:27Built my own scaffolding.
06:285-meter ceiling.
06:29Bell off twice.
06:30Likes were more than a project of hooses.
06:32Hundreds of tops of industrial tissues.
06:34Hands so corroded they shed a full layer of skin.
06:36But watching those molding walls vanish on the silver foil.
06:38One sheet at a time.
06:40Was every blister.
06:41It's not just walls.
06:42It's a shield between me and the end of the world.
06:44Outside camouflage mattered even more.
06:45The ventilation shafts were halfway up the slope.
06:47To hide any signs someone lived here.
06:49I transplanted dead grass and scrub brush.
06:51Over every shaft opening.
06:53Then staged the premium garbage pile by the entrance.
06:56Busted furniture.
06:57Clothes that had given up on life.
06:58I need to make every passer back.
07:00Gag and walk faster.
07:02Because when it all hits the fan.
07:03Nobody's playing nice.
07:03Right in the middle of all this.
07:05Nessa called.
07:06Ivy.
07:07Heard you've been collecting junk.
07:08Blake and I are worried obviously.
07:10So we saved you a housewarming invite.
07:12You have to come.
07:14Blake laughed in the background.
07:16Actually don't.
07:16You'll track poverty all over the new floors.
07:19I looked at the tub of wet concrete in my hands.
07:21And kept it short.
07:22Congrats.
07:22Hope you have kids soon.
07:24You won't have long to enjoy it anyway.
07:26Two weeks left.
07:27Infrastructure done.
07:28Time to fill the pantry.
07:30Still had around 138k cash left.
07:32No supermarket runs.
07:33Those flagged the algorithm.
07:35Drove hundreds of miles to farming regions.
07:37I bought it straight from growers.
07:38H rice.
07:38Brown rice.
07:39A husk grin.
07:40Stuff city people won't touch.
07:41Cheap stores forever.
07:42Perfect.
07:42Cash only.
07:43200 tons per farm.
07:44Plans suspension.
07:45Formally larger than complete.
07:46Mung beans.
07:47Soy beans.
07:47Red beans.
07:48Not just food either.
07:49Sprout them when desperate.
07:50And boom.
07:51Vitamins.
07:52Beyond grains.
07:53Salt and sugar.
07:54Non-negotiable.
07:54A full metric ton of coarse salt.
07:56Spread across dozens of small shops.
07:57Extreme heat.
07:58Means constant sweating.
07:59No salt.
08:00Means electrolyte crash.
08:01Means dead.
08:02Meat.
08:02Skipped fresh entirely.
08:04Power hog.
08:05Hard to store.
08:05Went with thousands of canned one-chamid tins.
08:07And the saddest, densest compressed biscuits.
08:09Not optimizing for taste.
08:10Calories only.
08:11Every run was a full-body workout.
08:12Did not sign up for 50-pound rice bags.
08:1520 at a time into the bunker.
08:16Shoulders.
08:17Raw.
08:18Scab.
08:18Raw again.
08:19But watching those empty shelves fill up.
08:20Bag by bag.
08:21Better than every Hermes I ever owned.
08:24Laszlo done.
08:25I passed the pharmacy.
08:27Remembered Nessa losing it over a scratch last time.
08:30Then gilting Blake into cutting my flesh so she could heal.
08:32I walked in stone-faced.
08:33And cleared the shelf.
08:34I done.
08:34Antibiotics.
08:35Anti-inflammatories.
08:36Painkillers.
08:36All of it.
08:37Cashier stared.
08:38I didn't blink.
08:39Stalking a construction site.
08:40Stalking out.
08:41Lightning stirred the sky.
08:42Thunder.
08:43Low and wrong.
08:44Air gone thick and electric.
08:45The opening act had begun.
08:46Three days out.
08:48Weather Bureau slapped a red heat alert on everything.
08:51Experts on TV calling it a temporary El Mignon.
08:53Just stay calm.
08:54Only I knew the temperature was never coming back down.
08:57Drill the van to the deepest part of the bunker.
09:00Pulled the battery.
09:01That thing was my backup storage unit now.
09:02On the final lockdown.
09:04Rubber steel plates over every side entrance.
09:06Left only the most hidden main door.
09:08Sui layer defense on the main entry.
09:10Layer 1.
09:10The garbage pile out front.
09:12Layer 2.
09:12A door that looks wooden.
09:14Armored with bulletproof steel plate.
09:15Layer 3.
09:16The original half meter thick reinforced blast door that came with the place.
09:19Added a manual mechanical lock.
09:20No power needed.
09:21Brute force proof.
09:22Done.
09:23Checked every ventilation shaft.
09:24That's where the activated carbon earned its keep.
09:26Packed every duct with filter layers against outside toxins and airborne disease.
09:30Finally, fired up the modified diesel generator.
09:33Ran attached on the deep well pump.
09:35Hmm.
09:35Low mechanical growl and clean groundwater started flowing into the tanks.
09:40Watched the gauge climb.
09:41Felt my shoulders drop for the first time in weeks.
09:42Powered off my phone.
09:43Pulled the SIM card.
09:45From this moment, Ivy Caldwell was officially off the grid.
09:48Coiled a pot of noodles.
09:50Two eggs on top.
09:51Eat every bite.
09:52Then, patched out on the moisture barrier mat.
09:53Listening to the wind pick up outside.
09:55Tomorrow, the sun shows its teeth.
09:57And I'm ready.
09:59June 30th.
09:596 a.m.
10:01Shoop in the cool morning.
10:02Outdoor temp.
10:02113 degrees Fahrenheit before breakfast.
10:04By noon.
10:05Surface temp hit 140 degrees Fahrenheit.
10:07Asphalt started melting.
10:08Roads turned into slow motion tar pits.
10:09Roadside trees yellowed.
10:11Curled.
10:12Then just caught fire.
10:13Ambulance sirens everywhere.
10:15Until the ambulance tires blew out.
10:1720 meters underground.
10:19I watched it all on my monitors.
10:20Solar cameras.
10:21Mountain peak.
10:22Very sneaky.
10:23The footage looked like someone slapped a red filter on reality itself.
10:27Even down here I felt a faint warmth.
10:29My thermostat said 79 degrees.
10:31I was in pajamas.
10:32Biting into a fresh radish I just pulled.
10:35Crisp.
10:35Juicy.
10:36Magnificent.
10:37That crunch.
10:37Priceless in the apocalypse.
10:39I audibly sighed with contentment.
10:40Pulled out the backup phone.
10:41Caught a weak satellite signal.
10:42Social media had fully lost the plot.
10:44Blake's feed was still updating.
10:46Different vibe though.
10:47Yesterday.
10:48Steak and wine.
10:49Today.
10:50Why is this AC so useless?
10:51Someone call the building manager.
10:52Photo attached.
10:52His prize four to ceiling windows.
10:53Now wallpapered in newspaper and bag sheets for shade.
10:56That all glass penthouse was now premium human easy bake oven.
10:59Even with curtains.
11:00Indotents had to be pushing 122 degrees Fahrenheit.
11:02I pictured Nessa's surgery enhanced face slowly warping in the heat.
11:06And felt absolutely nothing.
11:07A1.
11:07The main event hadn't even started.
11:09Day 3 of the heat.
11:10City power grid.
11:11Deceased.
11:12Transformers exploding all night.
11:14Honestly a great light show.
11:16No power meant no water pumps.
11:18For anyone living in a high rise.
11:20This was game over.
11:21Blake called 17 times.
11:22I powered up my old number and picked up.
11:25Baby.
11:25Where are you?
11:26Does that plot have water?
11:28Nessa's shrieking in the background.
11:30I'm dying.
11:31I need water.
11:32Blake do something.
11:33I took a long slow sip of my ice cold mint water.
11:35And put on my best barely alive voice.
11:37I'm not doing great either.
11:38Rats everywhere.
11:39Hot.
11:39Smells terrible.
11:40So thirsty.
11:41Blake heard I was worse off.
11:42And immediately pivoted.
11:43Useless.
11:44Should have kept the place.
11:45At least I could have sold it for water money.
11:47Click.
11:48Gone.
11:48And I monitored I could see the base of Blake's building.
11:51Had people smashing windows.
11:52And looting already.
11:53The penthouse kept them safe for now.
11:55But not elevator means climbing down 50 floors.
11:57Means dying of dehydration.
11:58I looked over at my hydroponic vegetable rack.
12:00Lettuce growing under the LED grow lights.
12:03Almost aggressively green.
12:04Auto drip system delivering nutrients every 10 minutes.
12:06Like clockwork.
12:07Drip.
12:07Down here in the quiet.
12:08That sound was basically a symphony.
12:09No rush.
12:10I'd wait.
12:11However long it took for them to go from people to monsters.
12:13Two weeks gone.
12:14Everything on the surface.
12:15Charcoal.
12:16The mountains in the distance had gone full Grim Reaper aesthetic.
12:18Except for my spot.
12:20I've been careful.
12:21Almost perfect.
12:21The ventilation shafts.
12:22Were covered in dead blood.
12:24Where all that underground moisture kept pumping up.
12:26And the supposedly dead weeds on top had gone.
12:27And sprouted back green.
12:29In the landscape of total black death.
12:31That tiny patch of green was basically a neon sign.
12:332pm.
12:34Security alert.
12:35A civilian drone.
12:36Wobbling up from the base of the mount.
12:38Moving slow.
12:39Operator clearly running on film.
12:41The camera circled a few times.
12:43It locked onto that little green patch.
12:46Then the drone dropped altitude.
12:48My stomach dropped with it.
12:49Busted.
12:50Not by Blake.
12:51By whatever survivors were still crawling around out there.
12:53Because in the apocalypse.
12:54Green means water below.
12:55Green means livable temperature.
12:57I watched the monitor.
12:58And reached under my pillow.
12:59Custom compound crossbow.
13:00Homemade.
13:00Very effective.
13:01If I couldn't hide it anymore.
13:02The next best option was permanent silence.
13:04On screen.
13:04The drone suddenly spun around and bolted back down the mountain.
13:07Which meant one thing.
13:09They were coming.
13:09All of them.
13:10For the only green thing left on earth.
13:11On the monitors.
13:12Two sketchy figures crept up from the mountain base.
13:15Local village deadbeats.
13:16One tall.
13:17One short.
13:17Carry machetes that had seen better days.
13:19Following the drone's GPS trail.
13:20Straight toward me.
13:21Planning to keep this jackpot all to themselves.
13:23I zoomed in on the camera.
13:24Got a good look at the naked grid in their eyes.
13:27Bro.
13:27What could even be out here?
13:29Shut up.
13:29The drone caught green grass means there's water down there.
13:32Water means we run this whole area.
13:34I sat in my climate controlled monitoring room.
13:37Ice cold coke in hand.
13:38Condensation drooping down the glass onto my fingers.
13:41Outside surface temp was pushing 131 degrees Fahrenheit.
13:43Every step they took was drawing down their life meter.
13:45I shook my head and set down the coke.
13:47In the apocalypse.
13:48Anyone who steps into my territory is a threat.
13:50Custom barred steel bolts.
13:51Can punch through a wild boar's skull.
13:53You came all this way.
13:53Might as well stay.
13:54Consider it a housewarming gift for my fortress.
13:56They finally dragged themselves halfway up the hill.
13:58And found the vent shaft I camouflaged under dead grass and trash.
14:00Bro.
14:01Air.
14:02Cold air.
14:03That chill creeping up from underground.
14:04Absolutely lethal temptation.
14:06They went feral on the iron grate.
14:07Practically trying to bend steel bars with their hands.
14:09I wasn't about to give them the chance.
14:11I was already posted behind the gun cord on the inside.
14:13Cross hairs lopped steady on the fat one's femoral artery.
14:16The bolt punched clean through his thigh.
14:18Tip coming out the other side.
14:19His screams sent a flock of half dead crows scattering.
14:22Before he even processed it, I reloaded.
14:24The second bolt went through his shoulder and pinned him to the scorching rock.
14:27They dropped.
14:28The blood evaporated off the ground almost instantly.
14:30Out here, wounded and immobile, is just a slower way of saying dead.
14:33I didn't finish them off.
14:34Just watched the monitors.
14:34Cold as ice.
14:35Tracked them from thrashing to stilted two dried out husks.
14:38That was my first lesson after coming back.
14:40Mercy for intruders is just cruelty to yourself.
14:423 a.m. is the coolest part of the day.
14:44And it's still 113 degrees Fahrenheit.
14:46I suited up in my anti-stab gear.
14:47Grabbed an entrenching tool.
14:48And pushed open the heavy blast door.
14:50Both bodies had gone fully rigid.
14:52Yaking of that burnt, sour stench.
14:54No sympathy, not even a little.
14:55I grabbed them by the ankles.
14:56And dumped them into a deep ravine on the shaded side of the mountain.
14:58The heat and the scavengers would take care of the rest.
15:00Searching them, I found the drone remote controller.
15:02The drone itself was a nice surprise.
15:04Top shelf DJI.
15:05With that thing, I could cover a 5 kilometer radius around the base.
15:08Back inside, I wiped down the controller with alcohol.
15:11Crisis handled.
15:12But that flash of green had been way too visible to those two bodies though.
15:15Best warning sign I could have put up.
15:17Done swatting flies outside.
15:18You turned my attention back to the city.
15:19Through the back door I planted in their system months ago,
15:21I tapped into the security cameras of Blake's building.
15:24Day 7 without water or power.
15:25Through those massive floor to ceiling windows,
15:27the scene inside was rough.
15:28That so-called Riverview luxury penthouse, all glass walls,
15:30had become a giant convection oven.
15:32Not a single angle safe from direct sunlight all day long.
15:34Vanessa was slumped on the floor.
15:35Her once pampered skin caked in dried sweat.
15:37Her designer pajamas crusted over with a white layer of salt.
15:40And the filler in her face had warped from the heat.
15:42The vase on the table was knocked over.
15:44The stale water inside licked clean.
15:46Blake was hunched over an empty water bottle,
15:48trying to collect his own pee.
15:49But hesitated, hands shaking.
15:51But the thirst had stripped away every last shred of dignity.
15:53This was the penthouse they took from me.
15:54It had become an actual hell on earth.
15:56I was watering the lettuce on my hydroponic rack,
15:58just enjoying the satisfying little drip of water.
16:00When the phone I'd silenced so nobody could bother me lit up.
16:03Two words on the screen.
16:04Blake Donovan.
16:05I took my sweet time washing my hands,
16:07dried them all, picked up, and hit speaker while I was at it.
16:09Ivy. Ivy, please help me.
16:11Blake's voice was wrecked, like sandpaper dragged across concrete.
16:13I know. You have a way. You had to. Have stopped water.
16:15We were married. Doesn't that count? For anything?
16:17In the background, Vanessa's weak little sobs filtered through.
16:20Ivy, I was wrong. Just one sip of water, please.
16:22I'll do anything for you after this.
16:23Listening to these two absolutely lose it. I felt nothing.
16:26Just the clean, satisfying rush of a long overdue win.
16:28I picked up the scissors and snipped the dead leaf off the lettuce.
16:30And said, real casual.
16:31Oh, you're thirsty? Since you're that desperate.
16:34Remember that jade necklace you took from me?
16:36That was a family heirloom.
16:37If you two swallow it, I'll think about getting you a bottle of water.
16:40Silence on the other end for a few seconds.
16:42Like they genuinely couldn't process.
16:43I'd ask.
16:44I thought it was just trash talk.
16:45Turns out when survival's on the line,
16:47people will hit rock bottom fast.
16:48Went through the phone, came a full-on brawl.
16:50And the woman screaming.
16:52Blake, are you insane?
16:53That's a rock. I'll choke.
16:55You swallow it.
16:55She said she'd give water.
16:57You want to die of thirst?
16:58You are the one who said you'd do anything.
17:00Then came the sound of something heavy hitting the floor.
17:01And Vanessa shrieking like she was being strangled.
17:04Blake was actually pinning Vanessa down.
17:05Forcing her to swallow that cold, hard jade necklace.
17:07I watched the blurry shadows on the security feed.
17:09Two people who once swore they'd love each other forever.
17:11Now going at it like feral animals.
17:13So this is true love?
17:14One half bottle of water and it's worth absolutely nothing.
17:17I got bored of the whole circus and just hung up.
17:19I knew they weren't gonna die.
17:20The human survival instinct is a terrifying thing.
17:22And this was only the beginning.
17:23No water, no food, and they still had energy to fight each other.
17:26Meaning they weren't desperate enough yet.
17:27I'd wait until they were drowning in their own mess.
17:29Begging on their knees like the worms they were.
17:31Outside, the world was basically a functioning hell.
17:34Surface temps had long past 140 degrees Fahrenheit.
17:36But down near 20 meters underground.
17:38The thermostat read a cozy 75 degrees Fahrenheit.
17:40The ventilation system hummed at its lowest setting.
17:42Just enough white noise to actually feel calming.
17:45To celebrate successfully flushing, all two spies today.
17:48And to celebrate Blake finally showing his true colors.
17:50I decided I absolutely deserved a treat.
17:52I swung open the heavy sealed door of the cold storage.
17:54And the chill hit me instantly.
17:55Picked out a prime M9 grade Australian white uribeye.
17:58Fought.
17:58Then just a little flake sea salt and fresh cracked black pepper.
18:01Cast iron screaming hot.
18:02Butter melting in.
18:03That sizzle echoing through the quiet dining room.
18:05Like the Maillard reaction was personally healing my soul.
18:06The smell of seared beef hit the whole room.
18:08I took a 1982 Lafitte off the rack.
18:11Let it breathe for 30 minutes.
18:12Deep red swirling in the crystal glass.
18:14Warm amber mood gliding all around.
18:16I sliced into the perfectly seared, juicy beef.
18:19And put it in my mouth.
18:19The fat just melted on my tongue.
18:21And the satisfaction hit my whole body at once.
18:22But now I wasn't just eating steak.
18:24I was.
18:24Having my dignity back.
18:26The contrast was everything.
18:27Chilled chaos outside.
18:28Chilled level peace inside.
18:29And it locked in one belief for me.
18:31Nobody gets to wreck my life.
18:33Not this time.
18:34You reach for my plate.
18:35I cut off your hand.
18:36No hesitation.
18:37Fat and satisfied.
18:38I patched into the spotty local network.
18:40To see just how far gone the outside world was.
18:42The residence group chat for Blake's building.
18:44Had completely imploded.
18:45All that civilized, polite society energy.
18:46Gone.
18:47Morals.
18:47Laws.
18:47Social contract.
18:48All of it.
18:48Torch.
18:49Someone started organizing a so-called mutual aid squad.
18:50Which was just a fancy name for an armed robbery crew.
18:52It targeted single women and elderly folks.
18:53And were openly discussing which doors were easiest to break into.
18:55And right there.
18:56In the latest member list.
18:57Blake's name.
18:58For survival.
18:58For self-preservation.
19:00This guy who used to walk around calling himself an elite.
19:02Always preaching ethics.
19:02Had finally ripped off the mask.
19:04Then someone in the chat dropped a bombshell.
19:05Blake.
19:05As his entry fee to the crew.
19:06Had ratted out Mrs. Bennet next door.
19:07Who lived alone.
19:08He told them she had two.
19:09Pieces of water her son had sent her.
19:10Her lifeline.
19:11Reading through the chat logs.
19:12I felt physically sick.
19:13Mrs. Bennet had always been good to him.
19:15Brought him fruit all the time.
19:16This was Blake.
19:17Last life he sold me out to Nessa for half a bottle of water.
19:20So selling out a neighbor.
19:21Barely a warm up.
19:22He wasn't human anymore.
19:23He was a pure monster.
19:24First thing the next morning I got back on.
19:26The Paggie local network.
19:27And saw Blake had posted something.
19:29And he hadn't blocked me.
19:30The photo was clearly posed for maximum impact.
19:32Who was gripping a baseball bat with dark red stains on it.
19:34Two unopened cases of water sitting at his feet.
19:37His eyes had this unhinged.
19:38Feral looked to them.
19:39Those were his trophies.
19:40From robbing Mrs. Bennet.
19:40Two cases of water paid for with one person's life.
19:42Word was that a sweet, gentle old woman.
19:44Had been shot down the stairs by Blake when she tried to fight back.
19:46Blake didn't have an ounce of guilt.
19:48He was actually proud of it.
19:49People were heading him up as a tough guy.
19:50And someone even nominated him to be four captain.
19:52Really all that praise on the screen.
19:54I let out a cold laugh.
19:55Blake fought he'd become a warlord.
19:56He was just a short-sighted idiot.
19:58Two cases of water in this kind of heat.
20:00How long does that buy you?
20:01Three days.
20:02Five?
20:02In an apocalypse where productivity has hit absolute zero.
20:04Burning through your stash is inevitable.
20:05And he was out here loudly showing off his violence and his supplies.
20:08Basically lighting a torch in the middle of a pitch black forest.
20:10His little power trip was just a dying flicker before the end.
20:13Tall puppies get cut those desperate people out.
20:15They would be at his door.
20:16I was about to close my laptop and hit the gym.
20:19When the pinned post on the local survival forum.
20:21Caught my eye like a knife.
20:24The title was bold, red and screaming.
20:27In the world where rats were starving.
20:29Ten boxes of instant noodles was basically a winning lottery ticket.
20:32I traced the poster's IP in about three seconds.
20:34And shocker.
20:35It was Blake's neighborhood.
20:36My stomach dropped.
20:37And something cold and sharp took its place.
20:39So they burned through those two stolen water cases.
20:41Or that glass greenhouse finally cooked them a lot.
20:44Blake suddenly remembered.
20:46The worthless dirt plot he so generously dumped on.
20:48Last life he robbed me straight up.
20:50This time he got clever.
20:51Using the internet and human greed as his weapon.
20:53The replies were already dripping with desperation and hunger.
20:56Classic Blake.
20:56Getting other people to do his dirty work.
20:58Trouble was coming.
20:59Big trouble.
20:59I stared at the screen.
21:00And a slow, ugly smile crept across my face.
21:02My fingers tapped the desk quiet and steady.
21:04Oh, you wanna come?
21:05Come on then.
21:06You're walking into this with your eyes open.
21:07So don't cry when I turn this place into your graveyard.
21:09My trap grid has been sitting there.
21:10Bored and hungry.
21:11Just waiting for some greedy idiots to feed it.
21:13The riots had totally spiraled out of control.
21:16With gunshots, explosions and screaming stitching together a death soundtrack every night.
21:19Blake and Nessa finally figured out the glass penthouse.
21:22Wasn't livable anymore.
21:23They any longer.
21:24And.
21:24You're either roasted or eaten by a mob.
21:26Through the last working traffic cam at the intersection, I caught their whole escape prep on camera.
21:30The Range Rover was packed.
21:31To the roof.
21:33And Blake, genius that he is, threw in one spare gas can.
21:35But multiple cases of red wine in the trunk.
21:36Gotta keep the vibes right, even during the apocalypse.
21:38Nessa tossed Blake's entire box of books out one by one.
21:41And swapped them for a stab of limited edition Hermes bags.
21:44And a few oak couture gowns.
21:46That would cause heat stroke.
21:47She clearly thought this was a vacation.
21:49Or maybe she was.
21:50Already planning my funeral.
21:51Watching her kick those books off the car with a look of pure contempt.
21:54I actually laughed out loud.
21:55In this world a book can start a fire, wipe your ass, or block the wind.
21:59What a silk gown is literally only good as kindling.
22:02These two absolute idiots, even with a hundred reincarnations, couldn't fix the factory defect inside their skulls.
22:06Their escape went sideways faster than expected, not even 12 miles out.
22:10The tires blew on the melting asphalt.
22:12The road had literally liquefied.
22:14Ground temp hitting 176 degrees Fahrenheit.
22:15Hot enough to fry an egg on the sidewalk.
22:17No check.
22:17No spare.
22:18No one coming to help.
22:19They had to ditch the car and walk.
22:20Through the scattered public cans still running.
22:22I watched the whole disaster unfold.
22:24Death race on above.
22:25Tar pit below.
22:26Every single step was a full body effort.
22:28Just to peel their shoes free.
22:30Souls literally smoking.
22:31The roadside was lined with heat mummified bodies.
22:33Some still half alive.
22:34Moaning, reaching out like dried twigs.
22:36Begging for help.
22:37Blake kept his eyes forward and dragged Nessa along.
22:39Refusing to look.
22:39Nessa's pricey surgically enhanced face was already peeling under the UV assault.
22:43Bright red and bubbling with blisters.
22:45She was sobbing, screaming she wanted to go home.
22:47And Blake, out of patience, slapped her hard.
22:50She bled from the lip.
22:51He said, shut up or stay here and feed the dogs.
22:53A two hour drive took them two full days on.
22:56Heading back down after setting the traps.
22:58I heard fate whimpering from a patch of dead grass.
23:00Pushed to the side.
23:01Found a massive Tibetan mastiff.
23:03Skin and bones.
23:04Broken chains still around its neck.
23:06Fur rotting where the metal had dug in.
23:08Clearly dumped by owners who bail.
23:10Barely alive.
23:11Couldn't even lift its head.
23:12In a world where people eat each other.
23:13Humans are scarier than any beast.
23:15Animals are way more loyal.
23:16Something in me cracked a little.
23:17I mixed a bowl of porridge with water and antibiotics and set it down.
23:20It lapped it up like its life depended on it.
23:21Tongue chasing every single grain of rice.
23:23Then actual tears rolled out of its eyes.
23:25Didn't expect that to be a whole rescue operation.
23:27Three days later, it stood up.
23:28Still shaky.
23:29But that black coat had a shine to it now.
23:31And the build?
23:31Absolutely intimidating.
23:32It followed me everywhere.
23:33Totally devoted.
23:34Anyone who can near.
23:35You got a deep, slow growl from the chest.
23:37I named him Onyx.
23:38My first line of biological defense.
23:40His nose beats any security camera.
23:42His teeth beat any trap.
23:43In this apocalypse, he's the only one I trust to watch my back.
23:46They five knew the air itself was basically on fire.
23:49Blake and Nessa finally showed up at the base of the mountain.
23:51Their designer outfits had become glorified rags.
23:54Kicked in dirt and dry blood.
23:55Lits cracked like old bark.
23:57Eyes completely vacant.
23:58But then, they looked up and spotted the bunker entrance.
24:01Eye disguised as a trash heap.
24:02And their eyes lit up like feral animals.
24:05They caught that tiny leak of cool air drifting out.
24:08Ivy, Ivy, Blake.
24:10Screamed.
24:10Flawing his way up on all fours.
24:12Fingers digging into the dirt.
24:13I'm your husband, I'm here for you.
24:15We're family, open up.
24:16I need to talk to you.
24:18His voice bounced around the empty valley, sharp and gross.
24:21He was testing me, psyching himself up, trying to pull rank using our old dynamic.
24:24I stood at my hidden lookout, cold coconut water in hand.
24:27Straw in it and everything.
24:28Just watching them come to get me.
24:29More like, come to take me out and steal my spot.
24:32Genuinely nauseating.
24:34You charged up the hill, zero hesitation.
24:35Totally clueless about what was hiding in that dead grass.
24:37Nessa was first.
24:38Done with the heat.
24:39Done with running.
24:40She wanted first dits on that cool air.
24:42Snap.
24:43That crisp, metallic click rang out across the hillside.
24:46Followed immediately by a blood-curdling scream.
24:48Ah, my leg.
24:49My leg is broken.
24:51Nessa hit the ground hard.
24:52Right leg locked in a giant bear trap.
24:54Rusty teeth sank straight to the bone.
24:56Blood everywhere instantly.
24:57She was riding in the dirt.
24:58Wound getting filthier by the second.
25:00Blake, right behind her, froze.
25:01His first move wasn't to help.
25:03It was to scramble backwards two steps, so he wouldn't be next.
25:06True love.
25:07Everybody.
25:08Real ride or die stuff.
25:09I picked up the mic connected to the external speakers.
25:11Voice ice cold across the valley.
25:12Private property.
25:13Trespassers get deleted.
25:14Take one more step forward, and the next trap won't catch your life.
25:17It'll catch your throat.
25:18I watched them freak out down there.
25:19It took a long sip of coconut water.
25:21Ice cold.
25:22Absolutely perfect.
25:23Only after checking there were no more traps, did Blake finally stop.
25:26He looked at Nessa bleeding out, and rolling in pain.
25:28Then at the sealed iron door.
25:30And figured brute force wasn't gonna cut it.
25:31Then he dropped to his knees on the scorching gravel with a thud, and started kowtowing.
25:35Forehead hitting the ground until it bled, mixing with sweat.
25:38Ivy.
25:38Babe.
25:39I know you're in there.
25:40We were married.
25:41That's gotta count for something.
25:42Even if I messed up, Nessa's innocent.
25:44She's just a helpless woman.
25:45Her leg is broken.
25:46She'll get infected and die without treatment.
25:47You've gotta have medicine in there.
25:48Please, just open up and give us a little.
25:50Even just some water.
25:50Full tears.
25:51Full snot.
25:51Oscar worthy.
25:52Performance.
25:52Honestly.
25:53Like he was the victim, and I was some cold-blooded executioner.
25:56He was banking on guilt.
25:57Betting I.
25:58Still had feelings.
25:59Betting I'd go soft.
26:00Bad bet.
26:01Last life when they slit my wrist and drain me dry.
26:03Whatever conscience I had left drained out with it.
26:05I watched his little show with zero emotion.
26:07Just disgust.
26:07Oh, now we're invoking marriage.
26:09When you were chugging my blood, did you think of me as your wife then?
26:12When you left me on that balcony to die, where was all that love?
26:14Watching them nearly dehydrate was fun, but I decided to upgrade the experience a little.
26:18I ran the pipe out through the top ventilation shaft, and aimed it right at their spot.
26:22Turned the valve.
26:23Crystal clear water can pour in doubt.
26:25A gorgeous shunling curtain writing front of them.
26:27It hit the scorching rocks with a satisfying hiss.
26:30A little cloud of steam rising up instantly.
26:31The smell of wet earth drifting through the air.
26:34For two people basically mummifying alive.
26:36This wasn't torture.
26:37It was psychological slow death.
26:39Blake and Nessa's eyes went completely blank.
26:41Mouths open.
26:41Desperately lapping at muddy water off the ground.
26:43Nessa didn't even register her leg anymore.
26:45Dragging the trap behind her.
26:47Tongue pressed against burning rock.
26:49Chasing every last drop.
26:50I shut the valve.
26:51Water stopped.
26:52Dead silence.
26:53One song.
26:53My voice came through the speaker.
26:55Dripping with amusement.
26:57Both of them nodding frantically.
26:58Pure desperation in their eyes.
26:59Then let's play a game.
27:00Slap each other.
27:01Wow this slap wins a cup of water.
27:03Ready?
27:03Go.
27:04One second of silence.
27:05Just the hot wind.
27:06Smack.
27:07Blake didn't hesitate.
27:08Wound up his whole arm.
27:09And cracked Nessa clean across the face.
27:11Nessa hit the ground.
27:12Blood at the corner of her mouth.
27:14Totally stunned.
27:15The cheek swelling up in real time.
27:16You actually hit me.
27:17Nessa shrieked.
27:18All that love in her eyes.
27:19Curdling into pure venom.
27:21Crack.
27:21She clawed back.
27:22Nails dragging three deep bloody lines.
27:24Down Blake's face.
27:26You absolute bitch.
27:26If you hadn't thrown out my books.
27:28Would we even be in this mess?
27:29This is all on you.
27:30You're just useless.
27:31Couldn't find supplies to save your life.
27:33If I were you I'd just die already.
27:34They weren't at it.
27:35Everything landing solid.
27:36Blake had the weight.
27:37Advantage.
27:38Pinned her down.
27:38And punched.
27:40Nessa went for the eyes.
27:41And bit his ear.
27:42I filmed the whole thing on my phone.
27:44Have a cup of water.
27:46And the great love story just dissolved.
27:47Every ugly thing underneath finally showing.
27:49Ten minutes later.
27:49They were both racked.
27:50Flat on the ground.
27:51Gasping.
27:52I kept my word.
27:52And tossed something out the window.
27:54An expired bottle of medicated oil.
27:55Drink up.
27:56Clears the head right up.
27:57Good stuff.
27:58Don't waste.
27:58Blake picked up that rolling bottle.
28:00With shaking hands.
28:01Cracked it open.
28:02One sniff.
28:03And yeah.
28:04He knew.
28:04He looked up.
28:05Eyes gone cold and calculating.
28:07He'd been played.
28:08Didn't matter how much he begged or bled.
28:10That door was never opening.
28:11Rush it.
28:12He glanced at the bear trap.
28:13Still locked around Nessa's leg.
28:14Nope.
28:15Not that brave.
28:15So he pried the trap off with both hands.
28:17Face like a thundercloud.
28:18Ignore every scream.
28:20Grab Nessa.
28:21And lent the both of them back down to the base.
28:22There was an abandoned mine shack down there.
28:25Dark.
28:25Damp.
28:25Full of bat droppings.
28:26But just enough shade to not die instantly.
28:28They didn't leave.
28:28Blake stopped at the entrance.
28:30And looked back up at me.
28:31No more begging.
28:32Just cold.
28:33Calculating malice.
28:34He was waiting for an opening.
28:35Or backup.
28:36That look said he'd burn everything down.
28:37Just to take me with him.
28:38Classic.
28:39If he can't have it.
28:40Nobody can't.
28:40I knew this wasn't over.
28:41We were barely past the opening credits.
28:43Didn't care.
28:44In this fortress I built from scratch.
28:45I'm the final boss.
28:46You want to play?
28:47Let's go.
28:48I'll see how long you last.
28:49In a cave with no food and nothing but despair.
28:51I knew Blake couldn't be trusted.
28:53That look he gave wasn't just for show.
28:55Next evening.
28:56The infrared alarm tripped.
28:58On the monitors.
28:59A thick black smold column rose from the base of the mountain.
29:01Cutting straight up into the still air.
29:03Signal fire.
29:04He was calling for backup.
29:05Sure enough.
29:06A crew showed up.
29:07Armed with machetes and shotguns.
29:09The one leading them had a scar across his face.
29:12Built like a wall.
29:12Eyes like a shark.
29:13Gnome raiders.
29:14The nastiest crew operating in the area.
29:16Blake glint out to meet them.
29:17Leg wound and all.
29:18Pointing up at my mountain.
29:20That gross little smile plastered on his face.
29:22One look at Scar's expression.
29:23And you could fill in the pitch yourself.
29:24Supplies up there.
29:25Unlimited water.
29:26Lone woman living solo.
29:27Blake didn't hesitate for a second.
29:29Sold me out completely to settle the score.
29:30He wanted this place turned into a slaughterhouse.
29:32Me as the main event.
29:33Classic Blake.
29:34Honestly.
29:35When survival's on the line, everyone else is expendable.
29:38This crew was different though.
29:39Not the average desperate stragglers.
29:40These guys came prepared.
29:41Scar was careful.
29:42Pulled a black waterproof bag from his pack.
29:44Heavy.
29:45Landed with a dull thud.
29:46From my stocking up days I knew immediately.
29:49Either homemade explosives.
29:50Or detonators.
29:52My stomach dropped.
29:53Pongs went cold.
29:54My blast door is solid.
29:55Could take a truck at full speed.
29:57But directional charges.
29:58Different story.
29:59And the vents were the real weak point.
30:00One detonation or a smoke funnel.
30:02In there and I'm cooked.
30:04Can't just sit here playing defense.
30:05That's a losing strategy.
30:06I watch them huddle at the base running their plan.
30:09Blake pointing around like a tour guide.
30:11Sketching out the vents.
30:12The entry points.
30:13All of it.
30:13I tighten my grip on the remote.
30:15Knuckles going white.
30:16Let me roll out the welcome back.
30:17Bye.
30:18You're wanting so bad.
30:18This is my turf.
30:20My rules.
30:20Time to show them.
30:21That some doors aren't entrances.
30:23They're a one-way trip.
30:25Bold plan.
30:26Borderline insane.
30:28I suited up in full insulated gear.
30:30Strapped on the gas mask.
30:31Took a breath.
30:32And hit the remote myself.
30:33Here's grinding.
30:35The disguise trash heap door rolled open.
30:38And they're in the buffer zone.
30:39Exactly what I'd staged.
30:41Neat stacks of cardboard boxes.
30:42A few slashed rice.
30:44Bags stealing white grain across the floor.
30:46In that golden hour light.
30:47It looked like the promised land.
30:49The boxes were packed with rocks for weight.
30:52The rice was moldy months ago.
30:54But from out there.
30:55That was hope.
30:56That was worth dying for.
30:58Once it was set.
30:58I slicked back behind the second glass door.
31:00And watched through one-way bulletproof glass.
31:02Meanwhile.
31:03I flicked on the corridor systems.
31:05Who are already sold in lubricant oil.
31:06Their wires on both walls now live at 380 volts.
31:10I live a welcome corridor.
31:11Direct express to the afterlife.
31:13The door's open.
31:14It's open.
31:15Must be a power failure.
31:16Systems down.
31:17Blake screamed.
31:17Voice cracking with excitement.
31:19Pointing at the supplies.
31:20Eyes basically leading his skull.
31:22Scar blinked.
31:23Then lit up completely.
31:24Last shred of caution dissolved by pure greed.
31:26Boys.
31:27God just handed us dinner.
31:28Move.
31:29Grab everything.
31:30Woman's mine.
31:31Supplies split even.
31:32The whole crew howled and charged up the hill.
31:34Blake was first.
31:36Limping on that wrecked leg and still leading the pack.
31:39He hit the corridor first.
31:40Hand almost reaching that steeled rice on the ground.
31:43Then his foot slipped.
31:44He went down hard.
31:45Completely lost it.
31:46And rolled all the way to the drainage pit at the end of the corridor.
31:49Pit I pre-dug.
31:50Bottom line with rusty irons.
31:52The scream was genuinely horrific.
31:54But it barely carried before the mob flooding in behind him drowned it out.
31:57The five raiders right behind Blake didn't fare much better.
32:00They piled up on the slick floor in a human heap.
32:04Weapons flying everywhere.
32:05Cursing.
32:06Scrambling to get up.
32:07Palms and bodies hitting the electrified walls and floor grid.
32:10That's when I calmly.
32:11Pulled the red switch.
32:13Biz sit.
32:14Blue arcs crackled through the narrow corridor.
32:16Bodies convulsing.
32:17Foaming.
32:18Eyes rolling back.
32:19Skin visibly blackening and charring by the second.
32:22Burnt hair and ozone filling the air.
32:24Industrial voltage.
32:25Not messing around.
32:26Scar at the back reacted fast.
32:28Slammed the brakes.
32:28Even grabbed the guy next to him as a human shield.
32:31Still caught the edge of the arc.
32:33Got launched backwards.
32:34Slammed into the ground outside.
32:36Hair standing straight up.
32:37Pull back.
32:37Now.
32:38It's a trap.
32:39Electric.
32:40He screamed in full panic.
32:41Crawling out on all fours.
32:43Scar made it out alive.
32:44But lost more than half his crew.
32:46Humiliation plus fear plus rage.
32:48Brain fully offline.
32:50Nessa.
32:50Leg wrecked.
32:51Was at last.
32:51Dragging herself along.
32:52Catching her breath against a rock.
32:54Scar grabbed her by the hair and yanked.
32:56Donked her in front of whatever was left of this guy.
32:57You think you can trap me?
32:59This is your great spot?
33:01My brothers are dead because of you.
33:03Boys.
33:03She's yours.
33:04Make it hurt.
33:05For the ones we lost.
33:06Nessa screamed.
33:07Fought back.
33:08Nothing working.
33:09Screaming Blake's name over and over.
33:10Against a bunch of guys.
33:12Who'd lost everything.
33:13She had zero leverage.
33:13I muted that feed.
33:15Just watched the screen.
33:16Cold.
33:17Meanwhile in the spike pit.
33:18Blake was in the corner.
33:19Hand clamped over his own mouth.
33:21Curled into a ball.
33:22Not making a sound.
33:23To survive.
33:23He threw Nessa away.
33:24Again.
33:25Again.
33:25The survivors weren't ready to quit.
33:26Too proud to walk away empty.
33:29Detried lighting.
33:30Wet grass and half burnt branches.
33:31Smoke rolling in.
33:32Their plan.
33:33Choked me out.
33:34My internal air circulation.
33:35System had been running for hours.
33:36Nice try.
33:36Night fell.
33:37I strapped on.
33:38Military IR night vision.
33:39Everything went that creepy glowing green.
33:41Reached into the cabinet for my personal collection of Molotov cocktails.
33:43Custom batch.
33:44High proof liquor.
33:45Gasoline.
33:45Dissolve foam.
33:46I climbed silently to the top hidden observation point.
33:48And watched through the firing slit.
33:50You guys love fire so much.
33:52Let me upgrade that for you.
33:53I zeroed in on the center of their little campfire huddle.
33:55And through the first bottle hard.
33:56It cut a clean arc through the dark.
34:00Crack.
34:00Glass shattering into the silence.
34:02Like a gunshot.
34:04Apocalypse heat means everything.
34:05Around us was basically kindling.
34:07Where dry as a bone.
34:08Molotov cocktails with a perfect match.
34:09Fire swallowed their camp hole.
34:12Corpses and all.
34:13Fire.
34:14We're on fire.
34:15Some of them became human torches.
34:17Sprinting through the flames.
34:19Screaming.
34:20Slapping themselves.
34:21Just spreading it further.
34:22Scar fully ablaze.
34:23Something clicked.
34:24And he made a.
34:25Desperate run for the water pipe.
34:26He remembered the water.
34:28Only way out.
34:29Hands shaking.
34:29Twisted the valve open.
34:31Aimed it at himself.
34:32Praying it would put him out.
34:33What came out wasn't water.
34:35It was high octane gasoline.
34:37I pumped in under pressure.
34:38Boom.
34:39Fuel hits open flame.
34:40Instant flashover.
34:41Scar became a fireball.
34:42The explosion swallowed his scream whole.
34:45He hit the ground rolling.
34:46Went still slowly.
34:47Turned to char.
34:48Nothing left.
34:49But the sound of fat crackling.
34:50The whole base of the mountain was a sea of fire.
34:52Lighting up the pitch black sky.
34:53The fire burned all night.
34:55Gying out just around dawn.
34:57Air thick with gasoline.
34:58Char.
34:59And dead body smell.
35:01Raiders.
35:02Gone.
35:02Nessa.
35:03Nowhere.
35:03I suited up in full heavy gear.
35:05Dry powder extinguisher in one hand.
35:07Long handle tongs in the other.
35:09Time to clean up.
35:09When I got to the spike pit.
35:12I noticed something.
35:13Moving under the pile of charred bodies.
35:15I raised an eyebrow.
35:16Nudged the top layer of crispy raiders aside.
35:18Blake.
35:19This cockroach actually survived.
35:21A puddle at the pit bottom broke his fall.
35:23Lucky him.
35:23Not a single patch of skin intact.
35:25One eye swollen to a slit.
35:27He heard my footsteps and forced his head up.
35:30Staring at me through that one cloudy eye.
35:32Making this low rattling noise in his throat.
35:33Nothing in that look but pure bottomless hatred.
35:36Ivy.
35:36I'm going to kill you.
35:37I didn't kill Blake.
35:39One clean cut.
35:39Way too easy.
35:40I dragged him out of a body pile.
35:42His red form leaving a dark green streak across the ground.
35:45Used the same heavy chain that used to hold onyx.
35:47Locked it around his neck.
35:48The cold metal making him flint.
35:50I set him up in the buffer zone.
35:52Between door one and the blast door.
35:54No sun.
35:55No rain.
35:55But also no exit.
35:57Every day.
35:58One bowl of sour slop.
35:59The occasional moldy bread crust.
36:00I needed him alive.
36:01Watching me eat well and thrive.
36:03Every second a reminder of exactly how badly he lost.
36:07Also, his face is the best alarm system.
36:09Anyone dumb enough to break him gets him as their welcome gift first.
36:12Welcome to your new position.
36:13My guard dog.
36:14I patted his head.
36:15Turn and shut the blast door behind me.
36:17Sealing the light and every last bit of hope on my side.
36:19All those tid.
36:20And the apocalypse stopped pretending.
36:22Temps blew past anything humans were built for.
36:24Toppy out have 167 degrees Fahrenheit.
36:25Even cacti gave up and turned to ash.
36:28Asphalt didn't just melt.
36:29It started off gassing toxic black smoke.
36:31The indoor thermometer crept up past 82 degrees Fahrenheit.
36:35And then, the ground water started dropping.
36:37Miserably.
36:38Tabs running thinner.
36:40Pump straining with that dry wine.
36:41I had to fire up the expensive closed loop water filtration system.
36:44Starting now.
36:45Shower water.
36:46Vegetable rinse water.
36:47All of it gets recycled.
36:48Every drop worth more than gold.
36:50Zero waste.
36:51Meanwhile, wait outside.
36:52Hand had water in two days.
36:53On the monitor, I watched him flat on the concrete floor.
36:56Dehydration had stripped out whatever was left of his humanity.
36:59Body shaking.
37:00Blackened.
37:00Swollen tongue out.
37:01Licking his own urine off the ground.
37:03To stay alive.
37:04Even one more second.
37:05He'd let go of every last shred of dignity.
37:07And gone full animal.
37:08On top of the heat that could cook you.
37:10Plague showed up too.
37:11The city below was stacked with uncleared bodies.
37:14At these temperatures.
37:15With everything baking and evaporating.
37:16The whole city became one massive petri dish.
37:18Ancient and mutated viruses.
37:19And bacteria going absolutely wild.
37:21He stroked.
37:21Cholera.
37:22Plague.
37:22Death in every cubic inch of air.
37:24Even from kilometers away.
37:26That distinctive sweet rot stench of decomposing bodies.
37:28Drifted up the mountain on the hot wind.
37:30Seeping into every crack in the rock.
37:32One whiff and your stomach turns itself inside out.
37:35I sealed every external vent immediately.
37:37Not a single gap left open.
37:39Then kicked on the backup internal oxygen loop.
37:41And the industrial great air purifier at max setting.
37:43Ushinari Hami.
37:44And the air inside went clean again.
37:46From here on out.
37:47This fortress is.
37:48A fully sealed independent ecosystem.
37:50Cut off from everything.
37:51Outside isn't just a heat apocalypse anymore.
37:53It's a bio one two.
37:54Anyone out there who dares pull.
37:56Off their mask for one breath gets those pathogens straight into their lungs.
37:59Slow and painful exit guaranteed.
38:00Just when I thought NASA was ash.
38:03She came back.
38:04But what showed up on the security feed.
38:05Was not a person.
38:06This was something that crawled out of how.
38:08Most of her skin had carbonized.
38:10Hair completely gone.
38:12She somehow survived the fire.
38:14And now ran truly on one setting.
38:16Hunt.
38:17She clawed her way back up.
38:18The mountain and into the buffer zone.
38:20Those cloudy.
38:21Inside out eyes.
38:22Locked onto Blake.
38:24Chained in the corner.
38:25Pure starvation had wiped her mind clean.
38:27Just a low growl in her throat.
38:28She did a red mice.
38:29Her beloved.
38:30Just saw fresh meat.
38:31She lunged.
38:32Shockingly fast.
38:33And bit a chunk clean out of Blake's thigh.
38:36His scream punched straight through the blast door.
38:39Echoing underground.
38:40He stared at this reeking thing in front of him.
38:42Unable to connect her to that precious.
38:44Delicate.
38:44Girl he'd once put on a pedestal.
38:46He simply could not process it.
38:47I was parked in front of the security monitor.
38:49Fresh ground coffee in hand.
38:50Still steaming.
38:51Watching this horror show unfold.
38:52And I laughed.
38:53Like.
38:54Actually cried laughing.
38:55Comma Scott incredible timing.
38:57Last life.
38:58I was their personal blood bag.
38:59Caged up.
39:00Kept alive just to fuel them.
39:02This life roles reversed.
39:03Blake became Nessa's meal.
39:04Getting mauled by the woman.
39:06He once would've died for.
39:08Watching Blake thrash on the ground.
39:09Trying to kick off a feral Nessa.
39:11Dark green fluid spreading across the floor.
39:13I set down my coffee.
39:14Walked over to the feeding slot in the inner door.
39:15Clank.
39:16I tossed in a rusty serrated boning knife.
39:19The one I used to use on expired meat.
39:21Want to live?
39:21I said.
39:22Through the interpump.
39:23That flat.
39:24Zero warmth in my voice.
39:25Simple rules.
39:26Whoever kills the other one.
39:27Gets a cold can of coke.
39:29One can.
39:30Winner drinks.
39:31Both of them froze mid-struggle.
39:33They looked up at that dark little slot.
39:36And in their heads.
39:37That coke.
39:38Was the holiest thing on earth.
39:39Not a second of hesitation.
39:41Zero.
39:42Blake grabbed the boning knife off the ground.
39:44Didn't even flinch.
39:45When the blade sliced his palm open.
39:46Nessa threw herself at his throat.
39:48Fingernails digging deep into his flesh.
39:50Thud.
39:50The dull sound of steel finding meat.
39:52Blake put everything he had left into driving the knife into Nessa's chest.
39:56Once.
39:57Twice.
39:57Three times.
39:58Dark green splattered across his face.
40:00But he did not stop.
40:00Not until Nessa went completely still.
40:02Those venom filled eyes frozen open.
40:03Staring straight through him.
40:04Blake shoved the body off and crawled to the gate.
40:06Face soaked in blood.
40:07Those charred hands locked around the iron bars.
40:09Eyes blazing with something feral and unhinged.
40:12Coke.
40:12Give me the coke.
40:13I killed her.
40:14I won.
40:14I pulled out an open can.
40:16And right in front of him.
40:17Slowly poured it onto the concrete.
40:18Maybe three inches from the bars.
40:19Dark liquid bubbling on the ground.
40:21Sweet smell drifting up.
40:22Lick it clean.
40:23Blake pressed his face to the floor.
40:24Dust and dark green fluid and all.
40:27Frantically lapping up that gritty cola.
40:29Letting out the satisfied.
40:29Broken whimper.
40:30That's when the old radio.
40:32Nothing but static for weeks.
40:34Crackled to life with a human voice.
40:36This is coalition government.
40:37Shelter number seven.
40:38All survivors please note.
40:39Proceed immediately to the west side of the city.
40:41Large underground shelter.
40:42We will provide food and water.
40:44So the government finally showed up.
40:45Two months into the apocalypse.
40:46They converted existing civil defense tunnels into one big shelter.
40:49But I knew exactly what that meant.
40:51I've been to a place like that in my last life.
40:53Hundreds of thousands crammed together.
40:55Strict hierarchy.
40:56Resources locked up top.
40:58Regular people shoved into the bottom bunks.
41:00It was a slave camp with better branding.
41:01Easy to get in.
41:02Nearly impossible to leave.
41:03I turned off the radio without expression.
41:05Cutting off that very tempting voice.
41:07I had my own kingdom.
41:08I wasn't about to be anyone's bottom bunk.
41:10And I definitely wasn't taking handouts.
41:11A group of survivors passed by the mountain base.
41:13Loaded down.
41:14Half-starred clothes basically dissolving off their bodies.
41:16Creely headed for the government shelter.
41:18After hearing the broadcast.
41:19A few of them spotted the hint of green up the slope.
41:22And got ideas.
41:23Armed with sticks and rocks.
41:25They crept up to the first gate.
41:27But the second they looked through the bars at what was inside.
41:29Every single one of them lost it.
41:31There was a creature covered in dark green fluid.
41:33Skin charred and rotting.
41:34Face down on the ground.
41:35Gnawing on a decomposing corpse.
41:37It heard them.
41:37Blake's head snapped up.
41:39That one eye blazing.
41:40A guttural growl rising from his chest.
41:42Monster.
41:43There's a monster eating people.
41:44Run.
41:44He screamed.
41:45Tricked over each other.
41:46And fled down the mountain.
41:47Without looking back once.
41:48Blake's horror show just handled.
41:50A whole security threat for me.
41:52And that is his only.
41:53Remaining purpose.
41:54Scarecrow.
41:55Outside.
41:56People were starving.
41:57Treating kids for food like it was normal.
41:58Meanwhile my underground farm.
42:00Bathing in purple girl lights.
42:01Was hitting its first real harvest.
42:03Climate control.
42:03Custom nutrient solution.
42:04The whole set up.
42:06And the sweet potato song.
42:07The hydroponic racks were absolutely thriving.
42:09I pulled all my cotton gloves.
42:11And carefully dug out a pile of fist sized sweet potato.
42:13Red skin.
42:14Yellow flesh.
42:15Still damp with soil.
42:16Smelling like actual earth.
42:18Which I hadn't smelled in forever.
42:18In this apocalypse.
42:19This pile could start a 100% riot.
42:22That night I air fried two of them.
42:24Then slow cooked the thick sweet potato congee.
42:25I even tried fermenting the leftover.
42:27Start into a jar of homemade wine.
42:29Low proof.
42:30But actual grain alcohol.
42:32Peeled back the crispy skin to reveal soft steaming golden flesh inside.
42:35Caramel juice running down my fingers.
42:37One bite.
42:38Straight up sweet.
42:39That deep.
42:39Carb loaded satisfaction.
42:41Hitting in a way no synthetic food ever could.
42:43I mixed onix a bowl with mashed sweet potato and canned one-cham meat.
42:46Fancy.
42:46One human.
42:47One dog.
42:48Deep underground.
42:48Listening to the wind how outside.
42:50Living our absolute best lives.
42:52Turns out.
42:53Heavy enough food.
42:54Doesn't fix to avoid eating a brain.
42:56Weeks of isolation.
42:57Zero human contact.
42:59No social media noise.
43:00Just silence so thick it had weight.
43:02I started feeling this deep, bone-level loneliness.
43:05Sometimes it hit harder than hunger.
43:07I catch myself talking to the mirror, repeating random sentences over and over.
43:11Just to confirm I still could.
43:13I'd stare at the ceiling for hours.
43:14Completely zoned out.
43:16No idea if it was day or night.
43:17Mental health, I realized, was just as critical as physical.
43:20If my mind went, the bunker meant nothing.
43:21I'd crack before the heat got me.
43:23So I forced myself onto a schedule.
43:26Few hours of working out every day.
43:28Full sweat.
43:29Dopamine vs. Depression.
43:30Round 1.
43:30I dug out the box of books Blake had tossed away.
43:32Read every word out loud.
43:33One by one.
43:34I started talking to Onix like a person.
43:36Named every lettuce.
43:37Every potato.
43:38Little green grew a centimeter today.
43:40That's my boy.
43:41Onix.
43:41This book is genuinely terrible.
43:43The author has never seen apocalypse in their life.
43:44I'm not just surviving.
43:46I'm staying sane while doing it.
43:48In this war against loneliness, I refused to lose.
43:50Blake finally gave out.
43:52The burns alone had wrecked his body.
43:54Then the infected wounds.
43:56Then eating Nessa's rotten flesh.
43:57His fever spiked hard.
43:58He lay on the cold concrete in the buffer zone.
44:00Body convulsing every few minutes.
44:01Breathing barely there.
44:03Right before the end.
44:04He had a moment of clarity.
44:06He lifted his head toward the security camera on the inner door.
44:09One eye leaking cloudy tears.
44:11I thought he was going to confess.
44:12Apologize.
44:13He didn't.
44:13In that ragged, barely there voice.
44:15Wait.
44:16Ivy.
44:16I regret it.
44:17If only I hadn't.
44:18If I hadn't divorced you.
44:18Hadn't given you this land.
44:19This place would have been mine.
44:21I could have ruled this whole area.
44:22Had everyone kneeling at my feet.
44:23I would have been king.
44:24Even dying.
44:25His last thought isn't what he owed me.
44:27It was power.
44:28It was greed.
44:29What a pathetic, ridiculous, infuriating man.
44:31One last exhale.
44:32And his head dropped.
44:34Dead inside his own delusion.
44:36Done.
44:36Every shred of love and hate.
44:38Burned to nothing in the heat.
44:40No grief in my chest.
44:41Just the clean feeling of taking out the trash.
44:43Three days after Blake died.
44:44The sword of Damocles finally dropped.
44:47The big one hit right on schedule.
44:48Months of heat and drought.
44:50Had turned the whole city into one giant tinderbox.
44:53The air itself was basically lighter fluid.
44:55One spark.
44:56Maybe dry lightning.
44:57Maybe arson.
44:58Who knows.
44:59And it set off the most insane wildfire anyone had ever seen.
45:02The wind carried it at terrifying speed.
45:03Swallowing the surrounding mountains whole.
45:05On the security monitor.
45:06The pitch black sky.
45:07Had turned solid red.
45:09A sea of fire in every direction.
45:11Flames licking the clouds.
45:12My bunker became a lone island.
45:13In an endless ocean of fire.
45:15Flames went to town on the rock surface.
45:17The outer blast door glowed red hot.
45:19Groaning as the metal warped.
45:21Even through meters of concrete and rock.
45:22I could hear the trees exploding outside.
45:25The sound of a world burning alive.
45:26Blake's body.
45:27Along with the remains of every thug.
45:29Who'd come before him.
45:30Got swallowed up instantly.
45:31No crematorium needed.
45:32The fire would handle it.
45:33Clean and thorough.
45:34Ash to ash.
45:35The fire didn't just bring heat.
45:37The scarier part was it was eating all the oxygen.
45:40I'd sealed every vent in advance.
45:41But hours of intense burning had turned the whole area into a low pressure dead zone.
45:45The oxygen monitor started freaking out.
45:47Alarm blaring nonstop.
45:48Beep.
45:49Warning.
45:49Oxygen level below 18%.
45:51A heavy suffocating pressure hit me.
45:53Chest tight.
45:53Couldn't get a full breath.
45:54Temples pounding.
45:55Dark spots creeping into my vision.
45:57Onyx had gone flat on the floor too.
45:59Tongue hanging out.
45:59Heaving hard with every breath.
46:01Eyes glassy and scared.
46:02Not messing around with this one.
46:04I cracked open the last five emergency oxygen canisters.
46:06Strapped a rick up mask onto Onyx.
46:08Hauled a heavy tank onto my own back.
46:10And we pushed deeper into the bunker.
46:12Back near the reservoir.
46:13High humidity.
46:14And the best air reserve in the whole place.
46:17We huddled in the dark.
46:18Listening to the roar outside.
46:19A total coin flip.
46:20Either my oxygen runs out first.
46:21Or the fire burns itself out first.
46:24Every second felt like a year.
46:26Even with meters of rock and custom heat insulation panels.
46:29At several thousand degrees sustained.
46:32Heat finds a way.
46:33The thermometer inside declined fast and blew past 104 degrees Fahrenheit.
46:37Walls were hot to the touch.
46:38Air thick and scorching.
46:40Every breath felt like inhaling a hairdryer.
46:42I held every single ice block out of the cold storage.
46:44Piled them around the reservoir.
46:45Desperate DIY coolant cyst.
46:47They melted embarrassingly fast.
46:48Water spreading across the floor.
46:49I was soaked head to toe.
46:51I couldn't tell if it was sweat or melt water.
46:53Running on empty.
46:54A straight up endurance race against death.
46:56I wiped Onyx down to keep his tab manageable.
46:57While keeping my eyes locked on the thermometer.
46:59If it climbed any higher.
47:00The electronics and circuit systems would start shutting down.
47:03And then I'd be blind and deaf.
47:04Buried alive in an underground cough.
47:06But panicking wasn't an option.
47:07I drank salted ice water.
47:08And forced myself to stay loved.
47:10Compared to everything outside.
47:11Getting tarbonized instantly.
47:12This was practically a spa day.
47:13Just had to outlast it.
47:14That's the whole game plan.
47:15Just when I thought I'd hit my limit.
47:17And was ready to play dead to save energy.
47:19The outer door took a massive hit.
47:24The whole bunker shook.
47:26Dozen chunks of rock running down from the ceiling.
47:28Monitors showed the giant mutant boar.
47:30Charred black all over.
47:32Skin peeling off in strips.
47:33The fire had driven it completely feral.
47:35And dying.
47:35It caught a whiff of cool air.
47:37Desperately hunting for.
47:38Somewhere to escape the flames.
47:39It smashed through the.
47:40Already wrecked decoy cover.
47:41And blew past the first door.
47:42Charging straight into the buffer zone.
47:43It had by the blitz carbonized skeleton clean across the room.
47:45Stomped it to powder.
47:46Then started going absolutely berserk on the blast door.
47:48That door was solid.
47:49But even it wasn't built for a dying monster running on pure rage.
47:52The frame let out a metallic shriek.
47:54Concrete cracking at the joint.
47:56That door cannot go down.
47:57If it breaks.
47:58The fire.
47:58The toxic air.
47:59The heat all flood in.
48:00Everything I've built means nothing.
48:02And both Onix and I are done.
48:04I dragged my oxygen deprived.
48:06Heat wrecked body off the floor.
48:08Made it to the firing port on the inner door.
48:09Through the observation window.
48:10I could see the boar's bloodshot eyes.
48:12The massive tusks.
48:14Face twisted in pure agony.
48:15I pulled out the tricked out.
48:16Heavy duty industrial nail gun.
48:18Loaded up the extended steel nails.
48:20Held it steady with both hands.
48:21You're for renovations.
48:22Now doing.
48:23Very different work.
48:24The boar was still going full sen.
48:26Had no idea what was coming.
48:28Deep breath of oxygen.
48:29Held it.
48:30Aimed straight at the ice socket.
48:31One muffled shot echoed through the tight space.
48:34The nail punched clean through the eye.
48:36Straight into the brain.
48:37Central nervous system.
48:38Offline.
48:39The boar let out one horrible shriek.
48:41That massive body just collapsed.
48:42Like spasming hard a few times.
48:44Then nothing.
48:45Crisis over.
48:45I slumped to the floor.
48:47Gulping oxygen through the mask.
48:48Sweat dripping off my face.
48:50Looking at that enormous carcass.
48:51I actually laughed.
48:52Almost killed me.
48:53But honest.
48:54Best parting gift nature could have sent.
48:56We're having barbie two tonight.
48:57The fire raged for three full days and nights.
48:59Like it had a personal grudge against everything.
49:00That ever existed.
49:02Oxygen reserves inside were nearly gone.
49:04I watched the pressured beige creeping toward the red.
49:06And just as I was about to risk cracking open the backup vent.
49:09A thunder clap hit like the sky was splitting in half.
49:12Boom.
49:12The whole underground structure shook.
49:14Then came the sound of heavy, relentless pattering.
49:16Rain.
49:17It was rain.
49:18Sure.
49:18I knew it was acid rain.
49:19Grossive as hell.
49:20But right now it was the most beautiful thing I ever heard.
49:22Water hit fire.
49:23And the whole mountain disappeared in white steam.
49:25It killed the blaze.
49:25Pulled the temperature.
49:26Back down from nightmare levels.
49:27The thermometer inside started a slow descent.
49:30And that red alarm light finally went dark.
49:32I collapsed on the floor and just held onyx.
49:34Tears coming whether I wanted them to or not.
49:36Made it.
49:36Beat death one more time.
49:38My home standing.
49:39Day after the rain stopped.
49:40Temps dropped to around 104 degrees Fahrenheit.
49:42Still brutal.
49:43But survivable.
49:44I suited up in full acid rain gear.
49:46Grabbed the detector.
49:47And cracked open that long sealed door.
49:49Hit immediately by a wall of burned.
49:51Chemical stank.
49:52Outside was pure scorched earth.
49:54Nothing left.
49:54Every tree reduced to black charcoal.
49:56Their rock where the mountains used to have a face.
49:58Lake.
49:59Nessa.
50:00The boar.
50:01All unrecognizable after the fire and acid rain.
50:04Officially part of the soil now.
50:05Didn't give them a second look.
50:06What caught my eye was a tiny flash of green in the rock cracks below.
50:09In the middle of all that blackened nothing.
50:11One stubborn little weed was pushing through the ash.
50:13Droplets on its leaves catching the sunlight like tiny diamonds.
50:17Life finding a way.
50:18Also a pretty good omen.
50:19As long as the roots hold fire and rain can't finish the job.
50:22Green will come back to this wasteland eventually.
50:24Sing goes for me.
50:25Knocked out.
50:25Repeatedly.
50:26Still here.
50:26Humans are that fast.
50:27It's honestly impressive.
50:28Once tents hit 104 degrees Fahrenheit.
50:30Survivors started crawling out from underground.
50:31I loaded up the modded off-roader.
50:33Threw onyx in.
50:34Headed down to the city.
50:35The thriving metropolis was now one massive ruin.
50:38Collapsed buildings.
50:38Burned out car skeletons.
50:40Shriveled bodies everywhere.
50:42Streets completely empty.
50:43Just wind moaning.
50:44Shrew the wreckage.
50:45Going off memory.
50:46I found what used to be Blake's so-called luxury complex.
50:48That all-glass tower was now a blackened skeleton.
50:51Every paint shattered or melted.
50:52Frozen midrip.
50:52Like metal tears.
50:53Stuck through the rubble for a while.
50:54Finally found the warp, fire-damaged safe.
50:56And inside, the half-gold.
50:57Barb Lake had fought tooth and nail for the last life.
50:59And secretly stashed like a treasure.
51:00This time around, the gold had melted and re-solidified into a twisted lump.
51:03Looked like scrap metal.
51:05Coated in black ash.
51:06Holding that heavy little chunk.
51:07I couldn't help but laugh.
51:08He wrecked his life.
51:09Sold his soul.
51:10Betrayed everyone for this thing.
51:12Now it's just sitting quietly in the ashes.
51:14Worth less than a potato in my pocket.
51:16The apocalypse's greatest irony.
51:17And his most brutal punchline.
51:19Back on the mountain.
51:20The official shelter broadcast kept moving the recruitment pitch.
51:22Didn't move me an inch.
51:23I had crystal clear well water.
51:25More food than I could eat.
51:27A fortress.
51:28And most importantly, total autonomy.
51:31But I couldn't sit on this gold mine alone.
51:33Used the surplus supplies as fate.
51:34And screened a few.
51:35Wonders passing through.
51:36The base of the mountain.
51:37Most had families in tow.
51:39Honest eyes.
51:39Edges worn smooth by the apocalypse.
51:41I didn't need slaves.
51:42Revolt.
51:43I needed people with skin.
51:45In the game.
51:45I offered clean drinking water and a daily ration of sweet potatoes and rice.
51:49Which to them was basically 5 star treatment.
51:51In exchange.
51:52They cleared farmland at the base.
51:54Packed shot the fire damage out of defenses.
51:56And built greenhouse frame.
51:57I was the only.
51:58Authority here.
51:59The one who made the rules.
52:00They called me Miss Caldwell.
52:01Eyes full of respect and genuine gratitude.
52:03Because here.
52:03Work equals food.
52:05And in a world full of starving people.
52:06That's basically a miracle.
52:08On this wasteland I built my own.
52:09Micro civilization.
52:11No brute looting.
52:12No pointless killing.
52:13Just leverage.
52:14Resources.
52:15And the grip on what keeps people alive.
52:16My rules.
52:17My patch of order carved out of hell.
52:19And this patch.
52:19It belongs to ID Caldwell.
52:20The year.
52:212027.
52:21New year's day.
52:22First light of morning broke through the clouds.
52:23And hit the mountaintop.
52:24Yielding the whole wasteland in gold.
52:26I was in the rocking chair by the bunker entrance.
52:28Light blanket across my lap.
52:29Onyx was at my feet.
52:31Bigger than ever.
52:32Soaking up the sun.
52:33You're twitching now and then.
52:34Hot tea in hand.
52:35Steam curling up lazy and slow.
52:37I looked out at the valley below.
52:38Terraced green farmland where there used to be nothing.
52:40Workers moving through the rows.
52:41Their laughter and the sound of kids playing drifting up faintly.
52:44The world was still brutal.
52:46Still full of unknowns.
52:48Maybe a deep freeze next.
52:49Maybe earthquakes.
52:50But right now.
52:50I was alive.
52:51And doing it with dignity and on my own terms.
52:53Blake.
52:54Nessa.
52:54And every single person who'd ever come for me.
52:56All just us now.
52:57Swept away without a trace.
52:59And me.
53:00Ivy called wow.
53:02I made something of myself in the apocalypse.
53:04On the map full of dead, gray silence.
53:06This mountain burns with the light of civilization and hope.
53:08And it doesn't go out.
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