Four

CHAPTER FOUR: I BUY MY FUTURE

I should have been terrified by the message. Instead, I felt a sharp, satisfying thrill. In my first life, Mara had controlled every room she entered. She had persuaded the council to condemn my father, convinced Kael that the evidence was genuine, and watched the city collapse from behind locked doors.

Now she knew I was coming for her.

Good.

I left the military compound at dawn with Rowan’s escort and headed to the bank. The investment I remembered was already climbing. I sold the shares at the peak I knew was coming, paid off my overdue bills, and bought emergency supplies with the profit. It wasn’t a fortune, but it was the first money I had earned in this life without begging anyone for help.

I bought bottled water, dry food, a compact first-aid kit, batteries, a radio, and a sturdy backpack. I stored the most valuable supplies in the system’s inventory, keeping only what I could plausibly carry. The inventory had limits, and every slot mattered.

At the supply store, a man tried to charge me triple for a generator. I recognised him as the vendor who would later abandon his shop during the first evacuation.

“You’ll be selling these for half this price next week,” I told him.

He scoffed. “You don’t know anything about the market.”

“I know you’re hiding six more generators in the storeroom.”

His smile vanished.

I offered cash for all six at the posted price. He refused. I walked away, then called a competing supplier and bought their entire remaining stock. By noon, the first vendor was calling me back, suddenly willing to negotiate.

I did not gloat. I simply paid the price I had offered and loaded the equipment. It felt wonderful to win without having to convince anyone that I deserved to be taken seriously.

My father was waiting at home when I arrived. He looked tired, his glasses slipping down his nose, but he was alive. I hugged him so tightly he laughed in surprise.

“Serena, what happened?”

I wanted to tell him everything: that I had watched him die, that I had died too, and that I had returned with thirty days to stop the world from ending. But the truth sounded impossible even inside my own head.

So I showed him the shipment records.

His smile disappeared as he examined them. “These are my containment codes. I thought the files had been sealed.”

“Who had access?”

“Mara, the council, and Commander Draven.”

I flinched at Kael’s name. My father noticed.

“Serena, what is this really about?”

I sat across from him. “I know Mara will betray you. I know the containment project will fail. And I know the council will blame you.”

He stared at me for a long moment. “How could you know that?”

“Because I’ve seen what happens when nobody listens.”

He reached across the table and took my hand. “Then we’ll make them listen this time.”

The words nearly broke me. I squeezed his fingers and promised myself I would not let him stand alone again.

My phone rang. Kael.

“We found the driver,” he said. “He claims Mara’s people hired him to move the containers. He’s agreed to identify the storage site.”

“Then move now. She’ll clear it as soon as she knows he’s caught.”

“We’re already mobilising.”

“Take the north road. The main bridge will be closed for maintenance.”

There was a pause. “How do you know?”

“Because the city has a terrible habit of announcing road closures after the traffic has already stopped.”

“Serena.”

“Take the north road, Kael.”

He did. Later, Rowan confirmed that the main bridge had been blocked by a multi-vehicle crash. The detour saved the team almost an hour.

When Kael called back, his voice was quieter. “Your information saved my men time.”

“Then use it.”

“I intend to.”

For a moment, neither of us spoke. I could hear distant orders and the click of his radio. I imagined him in his uniform, focused and severe, and hated that I wondered whether he had eaten.

“I’m not your friend,” I said.

“I didn’t say you were.”

“And I haven’t forgiven you.”

“I know.”

“Then don’t mistake my help for anything else.”

“I won’t.”

His answer was so simple that I had nothing to fight. I ended the call first.

That afternoon, my father and I copied his research to three separate drives. He explained that the containment project was designed to neutralise a rapidly mutating pathogen, but the latest test showed the compound was accelerating infection in some subjects. Mara had hidden the results to keep funding.

“We need proof that the samples were altered,” he said.

“I’ll get it.”

“You’re not going alone.”

“I’m not asking permission, Dad.”

He frowned, but there was pride beneath his worry. “You sound like your mother.”

I smiled for the first time that day.

Then the system flashed a red alert.

[URGENT MISSION: PREVENT THE FIRST TEST SUBJECT FROM ESCAPING.]

[LOCATION: NORTH RESEARCH FACILITY.]

[TIME REMAINING: 00:41:00.]

I grabbed my backpack. The apocalypse had just moved closer, and I intended to reach the facility before Mara’s experiment reached the streets.

At the port, the manager tried to deny that the shipment existed. I showed him the tracking number and the purchase confirmation, then told him the containers would be worth ten times more once the roads closed. He stopped arguing when I offered to pay for the loading crew myself. By the time I left, the supplies were secured under my name, and the manager was asking how soon he could invest with me. I didn’t promise him anything. I had learned that a second chance was valuable only if I used it for myself as well as everyone else.

Before I left the port, I bought a cheap lock and sealed the supplies in a rented storage unit under a name Mara would not recognise. The key went into my pocket, and the location went into my memory. I was no longer the woman who waited for rescue. I was building the future with my own hands.