Seven Days Until doomsday

RAYNA

I stared at the red warning on my phone, reading the words again and again until the meaning finally settled inside my head. Seven days until the temperature collapsed, seven days until the power grid failed and the roads disappeared beneath ice, seven days until the world I remembered from my previous life returned.

I tightened my grip around the phone and forced myself to breathe. There was no time to panic. I had spent the first three days preparing for twenty-eight days, and now I had only one week left. I turned around and walked back into the villa, heading straight for the basement. The contractors were already moving the first steel beams into position, and the moment they saw me, the foreman hurried over with his helmet tucked beneath one arm.

“Mrs. Rayna, the insulation crew needs another six hours to finish the inner walls,” he said. “The storage vault can be sealed tomorrow if everything goes according to plan.”

“Tomorrow is too late,” I replied, looking at the half-finished walls. “I want this section completed tonight. Pay the workers double and bring in another crew if you have to. I don't care how many people you need. This basement must be sealed before morning.” The foreman nodded quickly. “Yes, ma'am. We'll do everything we can.”

“Don't do everything you can. Do whatever is necessary.”

I walked farther inside, checking the steel supports, ventilation ducts, thermal panels, and electrical lines one by one while the workers continued around me. The basement was already beginning to look less like part of a luxury villa and more like the fortress I had imagined, but I knew appearances meant nothing if the systems failed when the cold arrived.

“Mike,” I called as soon as I stepped back into the hallway, pulling out my phone and dialing his number.

He answered before the second ring. “Boss?”

“The timeline changed and we have seven days.”

There was silence on the line. “Seven days?” he repeated.

“Yes. I just received an official warning from the Global Meteorological Association. I need every order accelerated immediately… Food, medicine, fuel, generators, batteries, water tanks, thermal clothing, everything. If a supplier says delivery will take three days, pay for same-day delivery.”

“I'll make the calls right now.”

“And Mike?”

“Yes?”

“Cancel every unnecessary expense. I want all available cash moved into the emergency accounts. We don't have time to waste.”

“I understand.”

I ended the call and walked upstairs to Sera's room. My daughter was sitting on the carpet surrounded by colorful building blocks, carefully trying to balance a small plastic house on top of a tower. When she saw me, her face immediately brightened.

“Mummy!”

She jumped to her feet and ran into my arms. I caught her and lifted her against my chest, holding her tightly while she wrapped both arms around my neck.

“Why are you squeezing me so hard?” she asked, giggling.

“Because I missed you.”

“But you saw me this morning.”

“I know but I still missed you.”

She laughed and buried her face against my shoulder, and I closed my eyes for a moment, feeling the warmth of her little body against mine. In my previous life, I had lost this child because I trusted the wrong people. I would never make that mistake again.

“Mummy, can we go outside?”

“Not today, sweetheart.”

“Why?”

“Because the weather is going to become very cold soon.”

She looked toward the window. “Like winter?”

“Much colder than winter.”

Her small face became serious. “Will I be cold?”

I kissed her forehead. “No. Mommy won't let that happen.”

I carried her downstairs and took her into the kitchen, where one of the cooks was preparing lunch. I watched Sera eat while I checked the updated inventory list on my tablet, making sure every item had a delivery date. Rice, beans, canned meat, flour, oil, bottled water, medicine, batteries, fuel, blankets, thermal boots. The list was long, but seeing the numbers rise gave me a strange sense of calm.

Then my phone rang again.

It was Mike.

“Boss, we have a problem.”

My fingers stopped moving across the screen. “What happened?”

“Several suppliers are refusing to release their emergency stocks. The news about the weather warning has already leaked. People are buying everything they can find, and the warehouses are being emptied.”

“How many orders are affected?”

“Almost forty percent.”

I looked across the kitchen at Sera, who was happily eating her lunch without knowing that the entire world outside was beginning to change.

“Then buy the warehouses,” I said.

Mike went silent… “All of them?”

“All of them,” I answered. “If they refuse to sell individual supplies, offer to purchase the entire remaining inventory. Whatever price they demand, pay it.”

“Boss, that could cost millions.”

“I don't care.”

I ended the call and looked toward the windows. Outside, the autumn sunlight was still bright, the mountains still green, and the city below still looked completely normal… that was what frightened me most. The world still looked peaceful but I knew exactly what was coming. By tomorrow, people would begin to panic and when they did, money would no longer be enough to buy safety.

I called the security supervisor next and ordered him to double the guards around every entrance. “Nobody enters the estate without my permission,” I told him. “Not contractors, not delivery drivers, nobody. Check every vehicle twice before it crosses the gate.”

“Yes, ma'am.”

“And increase the night patrols. I don't want a single blind spot.”

After I hung up, I looked at Sera again. She was now asking the cook for another piece of chicken, completely unaware of the danger approaching us. I smiled at her and reached across the table to smooth her hair.

Whatever happened outside those walls, I would make sure she remained warm, fed, and safe. I had failed her once, I would not fail her again. Not this time, not ever again. I would protect her with everything I had.