CHAPTER ONE

The unbearable stench of death, chemicals, and ash scalded the back of Madison Will's throat… or would have, if she still had lungs.

One year, one month and two days of torture, pain, and sorrow passed since the moment Madison ceased being a living human. Since that moment, she became a ghost, a helpless spirit trapped within the abandoned ruins of the upper estate, watching the apocalypse devour the world.

As a mere specter, Madison had no voice, no hands, and no body; she had no power whatsoever. All she could do was watch in horror as the pandemic called Ash Rot ravaged the world.

However, it wasn't the collapse that broke her spirit. It was the way her daughter, Belle, suffered at the hands of her ex-husband and his mistress, who happened to be her own best friend and colleague when she was dead.

At the very beginning of the end of the world, it was famine, and in the first chaotic months of starvation, Madison had managed to take care of herself and her daughter.

Months later, she died, and she had to watch her daughter suffer because there was no food and there was Ash Rot. Then she managed to burn through the last remnants of her spiritual tether to manifest small miracles, a bottle of water, and a cozy blanket to protect her from the cold wind.

However, with each new miracle, the vultures started swooping.

Madison helplessly watched as her ex-husband, Carter Will, and his disgusting mistress, Ann Fletcher, descended upon her helpless daughter. They took away the food right from Belle's trembling hands; they ate it right in front of her eyes while Carter's obnoxious buddy, Reed Parker, mocked Belle and her cries.

Ann would sneer, telling little Belle that she should be grateful that her father even lets her sleep in the garage.

Belle was nothing but a little girl, a six-year-old princess.

Madison had screamed until her spiritual throat bled, raging against the cosmic laws that bound her. What sort of mother am I if I cannot protect my child in times like this? She had wept into the empty void. If the heavens have any mercy, let me tear down every single person who starved my baby. Let me build an iron fortress where they crawl outside my gates like dogs, and I watch them starve!

The universe must have heard her fury.

Gasp!

Madison jerked awake with a start, staring at the oxygen-rich air filling her burning lungs. The smell of antiseptics, the sound of the air conditioner, and the soft glow of her bedroom ceiling replaced the gray skies of the desert wasteland.

Madison quickly looked down at her hands; they were warm, real, and alive. Her heart was pounding in her chest.

No.

No, this wasn’t the reality.

She looked around; she was in her old bedroom, and her gaze fell on her stud earrings on the bedside beside her old cell phone. She picked the earring and pricked herself in her thighs, and blood came out.

No way!

There was no way ghosts have blood.

Madison grabbed her cell phone off her nightstand with shaking hands. The screen flashed before her with the digital clock.

OCTOBER 3rd, 2026

07:15 AM

The world had ended while they were counting down to January 1st, 2027.

Ninety days left.

The timeline had thrown her ninety days before the official destruction of the global grid because of famine and Ash Rot.

In this world, the pandemic hadn't happened yet. She hadn’t caught Carter and Ann on New Year's Eve; she hadn’t been stuck at home with both Reed, Ann, and her husband when the world ended, and they hadn’t brutally pushed her out four months into the apocalypse when the world was already burning, locking her outside in the toxic red fog to save their own skins.

Ann Fletcher was still playing the role of the best friend while secretly betraying her behind her back and seducing Carter. And her sweet daughter, Belle, was currently asleep down the hall, completely ignorant of the hell waiting ahead.

She remembered dying on the cold concrete outside, coughing up black blood while little Belle cried at the reinforced glass.

A bitter, cold smile appeared on Madison's face as the sorrow and grief from the previous timeline turned to solid, icy resolve.

"Carter...Ann...Reed," Madison whispered darkly as she got out of the bed. "In my past life, you feigned innocence while starving my child. This time, I’m coming for everything you own, and when the world burns, don't expect a single crumb from my table."

She didn't want to waste even a second on getting over the shock of the situation. Every second is precious.

Stepping out of her bedroom, Madison hurried down the hallway of their luxurious estate home, one of the most expensive suburban homes of their gated community in the city. Once, it seemed like a crown of success for her. Now, Madison knew it was a trap.

When the food chains break, the rich people who can't cook and boil water will turn on each other like wolves.

Madison heard the soft sounds of her six-year-old daughter waking up in her bedroom, and her heart clenched in a protective rage. Belle...Mommy is here. And nobody will ever touch you.

No, four years old.

At this current timeline, Belle was four.

There were two things to do first: divorce from her deadweight husband and become financially independent to achieve her ultimate goal. She wasn't just going to hide herself in a bunker; she wanted to create a high-end Quarantine Haven and Hospital Empire.

Madison needed the permits from the medical community, the commercial real estate zoning within the estate perimeter, the massive scale of the supply chain, and a loyal team starting with a brilliant, uncorrupted doctor who would stand by her side through the coming fire.

Stepping into the kitchen, Madison found her mother preparing the breakfast.

"Good morning, Maddy," her mother smiled warmly, turning around. "I see you look well-rested today. Big shift at the clinic?"

"Good morning, Mom," Madison replied, walking over to hug her mother tightly, enjoying her familiar scent. Her mother died from the preventable respiratory infection because medicines were being hoarded by the elites in the first timeline. It won't happen again. "No, Mom. I'm resigning today from the public hospital."

Her mother blinked in surprise, dropping her spatula. "Resign? But Maddy, you love nursing! And what about Carter? Does he know?"

Madison's eyes flashed. "Carter doesn't need to know anything. As for nursing, Mom...I'm opening my own hospital. And we will own this entire estate before you know it."

Before her mother could process that news, Madison's cell phone buzzed aggressively from the kitchen counter. Madison looked at the screen.

Incoming call: Carter Will.

He had definitely left for work early, or he hadn’t come home; she couldn’t remember which was it.

Madison stared at the name, feeling the ghost of her past sorrow vanishing under the wave of lethal anticipation. She quickly accepted the call, her voice dripping with artificial sweetness.

"Good morning, honey," Madison purred, her brain working fast to figure out how to take the first step towards stripping him blind. "You'll never guess what I'm going to do."

Madison's transformation from the tired, insignificant nurse into the absolute titan of survival had officially begun.