Chapter 2 This Time, I Choose Myself

"Scarlett?"

Adrian's voice pulled me back to the present."Are you listening?""Yes."

I leaned against the edge of my desk.

My fingers tightened around the phone.

"What do you need?"He laughed."I knew I could count on you."

That sentence almost made me laugh.

In my previous life, those words had been enough to make me feel important.Now they only made me sick.

"I need you to transfer some money to my mother's account," Adrian said. "She wants to pay for some renovations at the house."

I closed my eyes.There it was.vThe same request. The same amount.

I remembered what happened next in my first life.I had transferred the money without asking questions.

Then another request came.

Then another.

Before long, I was paying for almost everything.Adrian's mother's medical bills.

His brother's car.Their vacations.Their groceries.

Even the expensive furniture they bought for their house.

I had never complained.I thought we were family.I had been an idiot.

"How much?" I asked."About twenty thousand."Twenty thousand.I almost laughed.

In sixty days, twenty thousand dollars wouldn't buy a loaf of bread.

But Adrian didn't know that.Neither did anyone else.

"Sure," I said.

There was a brief silence."Really?""Yes."

His voice immediately became cheerful.

"I knew you wouldn't refuse."I smiled coldly."Send me the account details."

"I'll send them now."

"Good."I ended the call before he could say anything else.A message arrived almost immediately.

I looked at the account number.Then I opened my banking application.

My thumb hovered over the transfer button.Twenty thousand dollars.

In my previous life, I would have sent it without hesitation.This time, I transferred exactly one dollar.

Then I put my phone down.Let him wait.I had more important things to do.

I opened my notebook again.At the top of the page, I wrote:

SURVIVAL PLAN.

Underneath it, I divided everything into categories.

Food.

Water.

Medicine.

Power.

Transportation.

Security.

Shelter.

Communication.

I had learned painful lessons in my first life.

Food was the first thing people fought over.

Water was worse.Medicine became more valuable than gold.Fuel disappeared almost immediately.

And electricity?

Once the power stations failed, the entire world changed.People who had never worried about darkness suddenly feared the night.

I remembered walking through streets filled with abandoned cars.I remembered people fighting over generators.

I remembered the sound of someone screaming from an apartment building after the lights went out.I remembered the infected moving through the darkness.

I shuddered.

No.I wasn't going through that again.My eyes landed on one word.

Shelter.

That was my first priority.I needed somewhere remote.Somewhere with water.Somewhere far from major cities.Somewhere difficult to reach.

Most importantly, somewhere nobody would think to look.I already knew where.

Three hours outside the city was an abandoned property that had belonged to an old businessman. In my previous life, I had heard rumors that the place had been taken over by survivors.

They had lasted almost two years.Two years.

That meant the location was defensible.It also had underground storage.I grabbed my laptop.I searched for the property.The listing appeared.My heart skipped.

It was still available.

I stared at the screen."Perfect."I picked up my phone and called the estate lawyer.

Richard answered on the third ring.

"Miss Vale?""I need you to find me a property."

"Of course.""I'll send you the location."

There was a pause.

"Are you purchasing another property already?""Yes."

"May I ask what you're planning?"

"No."

He laughed nervously.

"Fair enough."I ended the call.Then I started researching suppliers.I didn't want to buy everything from one place.

That would attract attention.I would spread the purchases across different cities and companies.

I would pay cash when possible.I would use different delivery addresses.

And I would never let anyone know the full scale of what I was doing.

In my previous life, I had made one terrible mistake.I had trusted people with information they didn't need.

That mistake had cost me my life.This time, my plans would stay inside my head.

A knock came at the door.

I froze.

"Scarlett?"

My heart tightened.

Adrian.

Already?

I quickly closed my laptop.

"Come in."

The door opened.

Adrian stepped inside.For a moment, I couldn't breathe.

Seeing him alive was still strange.He looked exactly as I remembered.

Dark hair.

Sharp jaw.Those calm eyes that had once made me feel safe.

I remembered another image.His back disappearing into the evacuation vehicle.

Leaving me behind.My fingers curled into my palm."What's wrong?" he asked.

"Nothing."

He told me."You look different.""I just woke up."

"No."

He stepped closer.

"Something happened."I forced a smile.

"Maybe I'm finally tired of being taken for granted."His expression changed."What does that mean?"

I walked past him.

"Your twenty thousand dollars."

"What about it?""I transferred one dollar."

He stared at me.

"One dollar?""Yes."

"Scarlett, I thought you said you'd help.""I did."

He frowned.

"That's not funny.""I'm not joking."

He followed me.

"Why are you suddenly acting like this?"I turned around.

Because I had died.

Because your family left me outside a shelter.

Because I watched you drive away while I begged you to come back.

Because in sixty days, the world would end.

But I couldn't say any of that.

So I gave him the only answer I could."Because I'm tired."

"Tired of what?""Being your family's bank account."

His face hardened."That's unfair."

"Is it?"I stared directly into his eyes.

"Tell me one thing, Adrian. When was the last time your family did something for me without expecting something in return?"He opened his mouth.

Nothing came out.

Exactly.I walked toward the door.

"I'm going out."

"Where?""Shopping.""For what?"

I smiled."Things that matter."

I left before he could ask another question.

Outside, I sat inside my car and took a deep breath.My hands were shaking.Not because I was afraid.Because I had finally done it.For the first time, I had said no.

It felt strangely good.

I drove to the bank.There was something else I needed to do.My joint account with Adrian.

In my previous life, I had kept almost all my money there.I trusted him completely.

That money had eventually been used against me.

Not anymore.I walked into the bank and requested a private meeting.

The process took nearly an hour.When I finally walked out, every account was separated.

My money was mine.

My investments were mine.

My inheritance would be mine.

Nobody would touch it.I sat inside my car and stared at the city.

People were walking along the sidewalks.A couple was laughing outside a restaurant.Children were playing near a fountain.

A bus passed by.Everything looked normal.That was the terrifying part.

Nobody knew.Nobody could see what was coming.I started the engine.My phone buzzed.

A message from Richard.

The property has been secured.

I smiled.

Then another message arrived.This one was from an unknown number.I opened it.

There was no text.Only a photograph.

I stared at the image.

My blood turned cold.It showed a large building surrounded by security fences.

I recognized it immediately.The pharmaceutical company from my previous life.But that wasn't what frightened me.It was the date printed in the corner of the photograph.

June 21.

Three days ago.

I zoomed in.Several men in protective suits were carrying something into the building.

Something covered by a white sheet.My heart began pounding.Then another message appeared.

Don't buy your supplies from the usual stores.

I stared at the screen.A second message followed.

You'll need them sooner than you think.

My breathing stopped.

Someone knew.Someone else knew the apocalypse was coming.I looked around the parking lot.My fingers hovered over the keyboard.

I typed one question.

Who are you?

The reply came less than ten seconds later.

Someone who remembers what happens.

I stopped breathing.

Then the phone screen went black.