as thick, heavy,

side of a glass skyscraper flas

soft under regular shoes, and waves of heat

ity were breaking down one by

ed in sweat, complaining lo

ck cap and sunglasses, walking purposefully through the

ist in her hand, her eyes sc

iss?" the warehouse manager asked, w

hands, then looked back at Elena

ually only sell these quantities to comm

everything delivered to the address I provided by this afternoon. I wi

xtra money. "Well, if you're paying, I guess

gan loading heavy wooden pallets into the b

ing her newly secured bank account to buy ever

didn't buy the cheap plastic pit

able of purifying thousands of gallons of stagnant, contaminate

monocrystalline panels that could fold up into tactical backpacks,

non-hybrid, heirloom seeds, tomatoes, potatoes, wheat, and leafy greens that co

egally buy bulk quantities of essential antibiotics, heavy-duty painkiller

a simple infected cut could be

quipment: sub-zero sleeping bags, heavy tactical tents that could

diesel generators, accompanied by ten heavy steel barrels of

eral high-end commercial drones equipped with thermal

enemy camps or zombie hordes from miles a

t toward food. Pallet after pallet of premium

bags with a shelf life of twenty-five years. It was enough food to fee

and laughed quietly among them

ther, chuckling loudly. "She must think t

the other agreed, shaking his head. "She

ing to her. In ninety days, these very same men would be fightin

it to a secluded, windowless storage facility

ely deserted before backing the tr

lf, using every ounce of strength

the ceiling, she closed the metal

from the bottom of the door. Elena stepped up to the m

rage," sh

blue light flas

ctivated. Current capaci

ontact with the host... Would

ing," she comm

e, the massive stacks of freeze-dried food, the heavy fuel barrels,

ompletely empty, leaving nothing

her internal

tems successfully stored.

er her chest. "With this, I am already a hundr

e to rest, pulling her phone out of

edia feed, a specific notification

public post, and it was spreading qu

post fr

sent him, detailing how Elena was spending hundreds of thousands of

ver our breakup that she's buying enough canned food and tents to survive a zombie apocalypse. Gue

e comment section. The to

us! Is she going to go live in a cave like a wild animal? Someone should call a

mocking memes, and laughing emojis, all making fun of

xpression entirely blank. She did

r defend herself. She just felt a profound,

he thought, her eyes na

hrough your locked doors, you will remember this post. You will remember the food and the medicine I bought. And yo

one, completely cutting off the final digital link

f regular citizens laughing at the extreme heatwave online, the

vily fortified, soundproof bunker hidden mi

aggressively, struggling t

top military generals, and elite scientists s

om was suffocatingly ten

k, red folder marked, TOP SECRE

l reports of human cellular mutations, and heavily classified footage of quarantine

ummer," the general said, his voice

imal behavior was just the first phase. We have less tha

hands, his skin pale. "God help us. Start shifting the military s

ncy meetings, frantically trying to

blind, but the wheels of the a

ne crazy. But she was the onl