CHAPTER FOUR

DECEMBER 31ST, 2026 (PREVIOUS TIMELINE)

The kitchen smelled delicious, the aroma of roasted rosemary chicken and garlic butter made Madison’s mouth water.

From beyond the big glass windows of the luxury estate house, a creepy fog started to creep up on their manicured lawns, blurring the streetlights, but inside everything was warm, safe and domestic.

Humming along, Madison was cutting vegetables near her best friend Ann Fletcher, who was laughing and leaning against the countertop with a glass of white wine in her hands, as if she was her supporting sisterly confidante.

Madison felt no trace of suspicion; Ann was her best friend for over a decade, the only one whom she told her deepest secrets.

In the living room, Belle, her four-year-old child, was sitting on the floor coloring the picture book with crayons while cartoons were playing quietly on the television.

Down the hall, Carter and his good friend Reed Parker were drinking some scotch, chatting about their business and laughing about sports.

"Seriously, Maddy, you spoil this man," Ann teased, nudging Madison’s shoulder playfully. "Carter doesn't know how lucky he is to have a nurse and a master chef in one."

"Well, he certainly eats well," Madison smiled.

Dinner was festive and lively. They all were sitting around the dining table, drinking and clinking glasses while waiting for midnight to come. They had decided to celebrate the new year’s eve together.

Reed Parker was making some jokes about Carter's latest corporate deals, Ann was adding some witty remarks, while Madison was laughing, totally oblivious to the undercurrents around.

After they were done with dinner, Madison tried to grab some plates, but Ann put her hand on hers.

"Nope, you are not," Ann insisted with a warm smile. "You cooked everything today, let me and Reed clean up."

"Yeah, Maddy, go relax with Belle. Ann and I make a great cleanup crew anyway," Reed Parker grinned and took all the remaining bottles of wine and silverware.

Grateful for the help, Madison went to the dining table to clean it up and rearrange the chairs. For some minutes the silence of their house was interrupted by the background noise of cartoons on the television and clattering of dishes in the kitchen.

Wanting to ask Carter about their plans for the midnight champagne, Madison turned to the hallway.

The door of the kitchen was slightly opened. Pushing the door gently, Madison froze.

The words died in her throat instantly.

Reed Parker was leaning carelessly against the kitchen island, holding a glass of wine, acting as a cool looker-out. In front of him, Carter and Ann were in the middle of a heated kiss, Carter's hands were firmly holding Ann's butt, while Ann's arms were entangled with Carter's neck.

They kissed with a fierce practiced hunger.

Not looking the least bit surprised, Reed took a sip of his wine and watched them with a lazy smirk. “You both look perfect together,” he whispered.

All the air was suddenly sucked out of the room.

Madison’s next breath got terribly heavy, the horrifying reality crashing into her chest with full force. They weren't just having an affair, Reed knew it. They were all laughing at her, keeping her in the dark, and they had the right to do it under her own roof.

Before Madison's trembling lips could form a single word of absolute betrayal, a piping-clear voice chimed from the hallway.

"Mommy! Daddy!" Four-year-old Belle was running down the corridor, holding a picture she colored with an excited smile. "Look what I made for New Year, Mommy! The TV says it's almost twelve, we have to count down!"

The spell was broken. Carter and Ann jumped apart with panic-stricken faces while Reed choked on his wine.

Frozen, Madison felt how the warmth of the kitchen drained away completely, being replaced with suffocating cold dread.

The sudden interruption from little Belle shattered the awkward silence in the kitchen. Carter and Ann jumped apart, looking like children who had been caught with their hand dipped in a jar of honey, while Reed was awkwardly clearing his throat and staring down into his wineglass.

Madison stood frozen, violently rejecting the horrifying reality.

Before Madison had any chance to vent out her anger and frustration, Belle tugged gently at the hem of her apron. "Mommy, come on. Everyone is on the terrace to count down, it's almost midnight!"

For Belle's sake, for the sweet, innocent face of her four-year-old child who deserved to welcome the new year with a smile, Madison had to push every ounce of her broken heart inside the box and put a hollow robotic smile on her face. "Right, sweetheart. Let's go."

On the wide, glass-panelled terrace of the suburban estate house, the night air was biting.

The atmosphere between adults was stifling.

Carter was avoiding Madison's eyes and adjusting his cuffs nervously, while Ann kept her eyes fixed at the horizon where the heavy wall of the strange fog was creeping from the lowlands. Reed was awkwardly standing by the railing and stirring the drink.

"Ten... nine... eight..." the neighbors across the street shouted faintly through the chilly night air, their voices echoing in the quiet neighborhood

Belle jumped up and down, holding Madison's and Carter's hands. "Come on, daddy! Count with us, mommy!"

"Seven… six… five…" Carter forced himself to grin at his daughter and join in with her with a strained voice. "Four… three… two… one…"

Just when the last number echoed from inside the television and the digital clock on the wall struck 00:00 of January 1st, 2027, there were no fireworks.

Instead, every single light in the house flickered and died instantly.

TV cut to static with a screeching sound before turning off. The heating system hummed and sputtered before going down. Outside, street lights in the gated community died in unison, plunging the whole neighborhood into absolute darkness.

"What the hell?" Reed muttered, trying to unlock his phone. "There's no signal, cell towers are completely down."

Before they had a chance to comprehend the complete failure of the power grid and communication services, a strange hiss echoed from the air.

Through the terrace glass, they watched horror-stricken how the low-lying fog creeping from the lowlands turned instantly into opaque, poisonous rust-colored fog that hissed softly as it scorched the green grass brown within seconds.

Madison's medical knowledge and instincts kicked in instantly. She rushed to the terrace door, locking it and checking the seals. "Don't open the doors! Look at the air, that's not the fog. It's airborne pathogens, if you inhale them far too long, your lungs will dissolve."

This horrifying realization became the beginning of their hell on Earth trapped in the same house for four months.

In the first days, the luxury estate became a trap.

The outside world fell into chaos and the spore-infested wasteland, leaving them cut off, stepping outside meant infection with the Ash Rot, the deadly respiratory disease that caused black-blood hemorrhaging.

At first, there was a fragile and paranoid truce. But the mask slipped with each passing week. Carter and Ann stopped pretending to be hiding their affair.

Stripped of corporate statuses and societal distractions, they turned into selfish predators who openly flaunted their relationship in front of Madison. kissing in the hallways, whispering behind the closed doors and, eventually, having intimacy in Madison and Carter's marital bedroom.

Despising and not wanting to share living space with her traitors, Madison had to pack her things and move permanently into Belle's bedroom, locking herself in the night to protect her daughter from the toxic atmosphere.

Food supplies inside the house started to run out.

The pantry was rationed and though Madison was the one who carefully portioned the remaining grain and canned foods to stretch them for more time, Carter and Ann were hoarding the best parts for themselves.

The tension was increasing everyday, intensified with the cabin fever and the terrifying reality of the dying world outside.

Four months into the apocalypse, when the food supplies ran critically low, Ann cornered Carter in the kitchen while Madison was taking care of Belle down the hall.

"We are running out of food, Carter," Ann hissed, her voice dripping of venom while she glared at the hall. "And Madison is just another mouth that eats our food. She doesn't do anything to deserve her shares. If we throw her out, we double our supply overnight."

Carter hesitated for a split second, not because of any decency, but out of fear. "She is still a nurse. What if we get sick?"

"With what?" Ann snorted. "We've been surviving four months already. I am also a Nurse and She is a useless dead weight. If she stays, we all will die of starvation. Push her out."

Cruelty prevailed.

Without any warning, Carter and Reed ambushed Madison in the hallway, holding her arms while Ann was unlocking the heavy front door.

"What are you doing?!" Madison shouted, struggling furiously as they pulled her towards the threshold.

"You are draining us, Maddy," Carter snarled, his face distorting with cold malice. "Consider this your contribution to our survival."

With a savage shove, they threw her out on the freezing concrete porch. Ann slammed the heavy iron front doors and bolted them shut, locking her outside in the lethal fog.

"Mommy!"

Through the reinforced glass of the front door, four-year-old Belle was pressing her little hands, screaming hysterically through the tears. She was hitting desperately at the glass and crying for her mommy, while Carter was dragging her away and silencing her cries.

Left outside unprotected, Madison gasped desperately for breath.

Within seconds, microscopic spores of Ash Rot attacked her respiratory tract, causing immediate, intense pain, it felt like swallowing burning glass.

Gasping, Madison was collapsing onto the cold concrete porch and started coughing up the black blood while the freezing winter air was whipping around her.

Trying to fight every breath and seeing clearly how helpless her daughter was inside with the monsters, Madison suffered two days of torturous suffering before her lungs were irreparably damaged.

The moment her physical body died, her consciousness didn't fade into nothingness. Instead, she was ripped upward, transformed into a helpless, invisible specter bound to the upper estate.