CHAPTER 02

Natalie's pov

"List my house," I said.

The real estate agent looked up from her papers. "Sure. What price are you thinking?"

"One hundred and fifty thousand below market value."

She dropped her pen. "One hundred and fifty thousand under? Natalie, that is a steal. It will sell in hours."

"Good. I want a wire transfer by tomorrow morning. No exceptions."

"But you could get so much more if you wait a few weeks."

"I do not have a few weeks."

She stared at me like I had lost my mind. Then she picked up her pen and started writing.

In a few weeks, money would mean nothing. In a hundred days, nobody would care about houses. They would care about food, clean water, and a dry place to sleep.

I walked out of her office and into the heat. Houston in spring felt like an oven.

Then I heard a girl's voice near my car.

"Look at this monster, guys!"

A young woman with long pink nails was holding her phone up to my car window. She was filming Thunder.

"Some crazy person left this illegal breed in a hot car," she said to her phone. "Should I call animal control and have it put down? Comment below!"

I had left the windows down and the air running. Thunder was fine. But this girl did not care. She grabbed my door handle and pulled.

"Get your hands off my car," I said. "Now."

She turned around. "Oh, look, the owner is here." She pointed her phone at my face. "Say hi to my two million followers. You know, keeping a weapon like this in the city is a crime, sweetheart."

"He is a dog. Not a weapon."

"Same thing." She yanked the door open. "I am taking him."

Thunder jumped out.

He did not bark. He did not bite her face. He caught her wrist in his mouth and pulled her down to the ground in one smooth move. Her phone went flying.

"Get it off! Get it off me! It is killing me!"

A police officer ran across the street. "Ma'am! Call your dog off!"

"Thunder, heel," I said.

Thunder let go at once. He walked back and sat beside my leg like nothing had happened.

The girl rolled on the ground, holding her wrist. There was no blood. Not even a scratch.

The officer looked at her arm. Then he looked at Thunder. His eyes went wide.

"That hold he did," he said. "That was a restraint move. He did not hurt her at all. That is military training."

"He is a retired police dog," I said.

Another officer came over. He bent down and looked at Thunder's face. "Oh my God. That is Thunder!"

"You know him?"

"Everybody knows him! He saved the officers at the bank robbery in Pasadena last month. He took a knife to the back for them." He reached out to touch Thunder's head, then stopped. "Can I?"

Thunder let him.

The pink-nail girl sat up. "Excuse me! I am the victim here! That dog attacked me!"

"You opened her car door," the first officer said. "We saw it."

"Do you know who I am? I have a lot of connections. My father is the mayor's best friend."

"Then your father can pick you up from the station," the officer said. "You were trying to steal private property."

Her face turned white. "What? No! I was just making a video!"

They walked her to the police car. She was still yelling about her followers when the door shut.

The second officer turned to me. "Keep him close, ma'am. He is a hero. A national treasure."

"I will," I said.

I knelt down and hugged Thunder's big neck. "Good boy. You did good."

He licked my ear.

After that, I drove to a camping supply shop near the highway. I needed tents, gas stoves, and water filters. Lots of them.

The owner was a skinny man with a gray beard. When I put my list on his counter, he whistled.

"Lady, you are buying half my store."

"Can you have it ready by tonight?"

"For this kind of money? I will have it ready in two hours."

While he packed the boxes, I looked around his counter. Next to the cash register sat a small glass bowl. Inside it was a gray stone.

It looked just like mine.

My heart started to pound. "What is this?"

"Oh, that?" He shrugged. "Just a souvenir from Eagle Peak. I hiked up there last summer. Found it on the trail."

"Can I hold it?"

"You want it? Take it. You just bought out half my inventory anyway."

I picked it up. It was warm. Warmer than a stone should be.

I paid for everything and drove home with my trunk full. As soon as I locked my front door, I pulled the black stone from under my shirt.

I held the gray stone next to it.

The two stones began to glow. Then the gray one melted like ice and sank into the black one.

"What the…"

A soft voice spoke inside my head.

"Upgrade complete. Storage space expanded. Owner may now enter in body."

I almost dropped it. "Enter? Enter where?"

"The space. Only one living soul at a time."

I closed my eyes and thought about going inside.

When I opened them, I was standing in a huge empty room. The floor was smooth and white. There were no walls I could see. Just space going on and on.

The air was cool. It was quiet.

I could hide here. I could sleep here. Nobody could ever stab me in the back here.

I thought about going home, and I was back in my living room. Thunder was barking at the spot where I had just been standing.

"It is okay, boy. I am here."

Only one living soul at a time. So I could not bring Thunder in with me. I would have to keep that in mind.

I tested the space for hours. Food stayed hot. Ice stayed frozen. Nothing ever changed once I put it in there.

That gave me an idea.

I called the best restaurant in the city.

"Good evening, how may I help you?"

"I want to place a takeout order. Twenty chicken pot pies and twenty cheesecakes."

"Twenty? Ma'am, is this for a party?"

"Something like that."

An hour later, a delivery man knocked on my door with a tall stack of boxes.

"Sign here, please."

I signed. He left. I touched each box, and one by one, they vanished into the stone.

Hot, fresh food, waiting for me in the middle of the end of the world.

I sat on the floor and pulled Thunder into my lap. Well, half of him. He was too big for all of him.

I looked at the calendar on my phone.

"Eighty days left, boy," I said. "Let's make every second count.”