Chapter 1

A sharp, metallic ringing pierced her ears, accompanied by a blinding headache. Joanna Harington forced her eyes open. She was staring at her own ceiling.

Was that all a dream?

She snatched her phone from the nightstand. The glowing screen left her utterly confused. She distinctly remembered climbing into bed on Sunday night with a slight fever. Now, the lock screen read Wednesday. Had she really slept for three days in a bizarre, comatose dream state?

It felt far too real. In that dream, she had survived a brutal zombie apocalypse for five long years, clawing her way through endless disasters. She had dragged her family along, keeping them safe at all costs, only for her mother and stepsister to betray her. They had sold her to an enemy base to be experimented on for her space-storage ability.

Alice, her stepsister, had been the mastermind. She wanted Joanna out of the picture to claim the base commander, Drew, for herself.

"You just wouldn't die," Alice’s voice echoed in Joanna's memory, chillingly vivid. "So I had to invite Elliot here to pick you up."

In the dream, Alice had switched on Joanna’s walkie-talkie to radio the base. "Drew, I found Joanna’s comm, but she is nowhere to be found. It looks like there are signs of an attack. I am heading back now."

Smiling a sickening smile, Alice had sliced into Joanna’s arms and legs. "Either the zombies will get you, or Nightshade Base will. Either way, I want you too weak to run."

Then, the door had swung open in the dream. "Alice, is it done yet?"

It was Gwen—Joanna’s mother. Weakened and bleeding, Joanna had cried out, "Mom, help me!"

But Gwen had only sneered. She walked over and delivered a hard slap that knocked Joanna to the ground. "Don’t ever call me mom again, you ungrateful brat! You turned into a freak with powers and still wouldn’t help your sister out. After all the food and clothing I gave you, this is how you repay me? You were never worthy of being my daughter! You got a storage ability and barely keep anything in it. If Alice had that power, we would have never kept you around."

Gwen had delivered two sharp kicks, shattering Joanna’s ribs.

As Joanna coughed up blood and slipped into unconsciousness in the dream, a wave of bitter regret had washed over her. She regretted protecting her family. She regretted fighting bloody battles to feed them while she starved on their scraps.

After that, the memory fractured into hazy, agonizing images: meeting Elliot, the ruthless leader of Nightshade Base, and undergoing horrific experiments in a darkened basement. Trying to remember anything beyond that made her head throb violently.

Sitting up, Joanna found herself drenched in sweat. Was it truly just a nightmare, or was it a premonition? The trauma felt too tangible to ignore. If she didn't act, she knew this future would become her reality.

She looked at her phone again. Today was Wednesday, May 23rd.

That meant she was exactly six months away from the apocalypse. In her dream, the virus had crippled the world during Thanksgiving weekend. She also remembered that Alice’s birthday was just a week away.

In her past life—or the dream—Joanna had gifted Alice her inheritance: millions of dollars in company shares left to her by their grandfather. Alice had immediately liquidated them to buy massive stockpiles of food for the early days of the collapse. Yet, Gwen and Alice had refused to share a single bite. They wasted most of it when the power grid failed a month into the apocalypse, then forced Joanna to scavenge in the dead zones to feed them.

Not this time, Joanna thought, her jaw tightening. This time, I will sell my shares first. I will hoard the supplies.

She threw off the covers and hurried into the bathroom. Splashing cold water on her face, she looked into the mirror. There were no scars, no grime, no hollow cheeks. Just a healthy, beautiful young woman staring back at her.

I hardly remember looking like this, she thought, tracing her jawline. Where did my muscles go?

A cold determination settled in her chest. She needed to start working out immediately. She had exactly six months to build a fortress, hoard supplies, and turn her body into a weapon.

A bone-deep certainty settled in her chest: she had either seen the future, or she had truly lived through that nightmare. Either way, she knew she had been given a second chance to survive the coming collapse.

Stepping into the shower, she realized just how weak and depleted her body felt. Step one, she thought. Get takeout and hydrate.

Clean water and fresh food were luxuries that vanished almost immediately after the virus hit. Even later, when plant-based superhumans evolved, any cabbage or fresh green Joanna managed to get her hands on was immediately stolen by Gwen and Alice. Not this time, Joanna vowed, scrubbing the phantom grime from her skin. This time, she would be the one eating fresh greens while they starved.

After placing a delivery order from the restaurant down the street, she grabbed her phone to check her notifications. There were a handful of messages from classmates. A few friends asked if she was coming back for the fall semester, while others were simply text-messaging their final goodbyes for the summer.

In her dream—or her past life—Joanna never made it back for the fall term. Gwen had demanded she come home to take care of the house. That same summer, Joanna had signed over her grandfather’s company shares to Alice for her birthday. Both Gwen and Alice had promised that once the inheritance was transferred, they would pay for Joanna to finish college.