Chapter 6: Six Days Early

POV: Avery

"Give me your hand," Elliot said, kneeling beside me. "You can't stand up alone." He pulled me up from the snow before I could answer.

My legs were shaking, and the shock marks on my ribs burned with every move. I leaned on the steel door and looked at the keypad. The red light was still blinking.

"The lock is stuck," I said. "It stays closed for five minutes after wrong codes."

"Then we wait here?" Elliot asked. He looked around the dark parking lot with his gun still in his hand.

A pair of headlights moved slowly at the end of the road. Elliot pulled me down behind a stack of old pallets and covered my mouth with his hand. The car turned the corner and left, and neither of us moved for a full minute.

"That could be Vanessa's friends," he whispered when we stood up. I counted the seconds in my head until the light turned green. Then I typed my real code and pressed my thumb on the pad, and the door clicked open.

Inside, the warehouse was warm. The new heater hummed in the corner, and I almost cried from the feeling on my skin. Elliot closed the door behind us and locked it twice.

I dropped on the bed and pulled up my shirt. The skin on my ribs was red and swollen with two round burns. Elliot took the medical kit from the shelf and knelt in front of me.

He cleaned the burns with cold hands, and I held my breath. He didn't flinch when I hissed in pain.

I wondered how many wounds he had treated before. "Why did you save me?" I asked.

"I need a place to hide when the cold comes," Elliot said, wrapping a bandage around my ribs. "In exchange, I will help you survive it."

"Help me how?" I asked. "You saved my life, but I don't know anything about you."

"I will help you understand the apocalypse system," Elliot said. He tied the bandage and sat back.

"What system?" I asked. "There was no system in my last life."

"Not now," Elliot said. "If I tell you everything today, you won't believe me."

"That's not an answer," I said. "You can't ask for my help and keep secrets."

"I'm not asking for your trust," Elliot said. "I'm asking for a door."

I wanted to throw him out, but he had shot Vanessa without blinking. He had also cut my ropes with careful hands. Finally, I pointed to the corner by the shelves.

"Stay there," I said. "And don't touch anything."

Elliot didn't stay there. He walked around the warehouse and checked every door, window and camera. He knew exactly where to look, like he had done this many times before.

"Your back door has no camera," he said from the far wall. "Anybody can come through there."

"How do you know so much about cameras?" I asked.

"I worked in security," Elliot said, and he looked away.

I noticed the way he looked away. It was the same look Damien used to give me when I asked about his phone.

My phone buzzed on the desk, and Elliot's phone buzzed too. The alert said a severe winter storm was coming and everyone must seek shelter now. It was sent only seconds ago.

Before I could speak, the lights flickered. Then they went out, and the generator in the corner roared to life. I could hear the wind outside, even through a foot of concrete.

I breathed out and saw white smoke come from my mouth. The heater was on, but the cold was already coming through the walls. In minutes it had dropped like someone opened a freezer.

"It's starting," I whispered. "But it's six days early."

In my last life, the cold came slowly over many days. Now it was hitting all at once, and my stomach turned cold. I had planned for a slow freeze, not this.

Elliot didn't look surprised. He walked to the small window and watched the snow fall. "Then it will be worse than I thought," he said quietly.

"Worse than you thought?" I turned to him. "You knew something about today?"

"I knew it was close," Elliot said. "Not this close."

Then a loud bang hit the front door. Then another and another. Someone was pounding on it with both hands.

I ran to the security monitor with my hand on my ribs. Four people were standing in the snow in front of the camera, shaking. I knew every one of them.

Victor, the older man who drove the van. Helen, the woman who tried to stop Vanessa. Tyler, who tied my wrists, and Nathan, who held my legs.

"Avery, please open the door!" Helen cried through the door. "We're freezing out here!"

"We're sorry for what we did," Victor shouted. "Please, we will die out here!"

"I'll do anything you want!" Tyler screamed. His face was blue, and his hands were already shaking.

"Please, Avery! My feet are freezing!" Nathan cried, hitting the door with his fist.

I looked at the screen, then at the keypad. These were the people who tied me up and shocked me. But in my last life, I was the one begging outside a door.

Behind me, Elliot said nothing, but I could feel him watching me. My finger stayed frozen in the air above the keypad.