Chapter 4

Christy didn't bother with the things normal people rushed to pick; she knew they would become useless once the power went out.

She moved through the aisle, filling the cart with canned food, rice, pasta, and other things her children would actually eat. When she passed the battery section, she stopped. Batteries had been impossible to find after the first month. She grabbed several packs. Then she remembered the radios. She went back and picked the most ancient ones, those that even the owners of the supermarket had thought would never get sold.

There had been no means of communication; only those who had knowledge about engineering could contact the government in the first few weeks. If her plans went as planned, she wouldn't need to call the government. But only if.

She remembered how she had ended up in that hole. She had followed the government military men who said they were sent to aid civilians. Even they had lost their lives to those monsters.

Christy shook her head, pushing back those memories.

She was focused on searching for more items and hadn't seen a man standing in front of her with his back to her. Her cart hit him.

"I'm sorry," Christy apologized.

She raised her head and was stunned to see her friend. She hadn't seen him at the hospital today. Shedrack had gone to the same high school as her, and they had grown up together in Central City. While she had gone to nursing school, he had attended an all pure science school, but they ended up working at the same hospital, which strengthened their friendship even more.

"Christiana," he said, his lips curving into a bright smile.

"My God, Shedrack. I didn't see you at work today," Christy said.

"I was at the lab. Did you look for me?" he asked with an arched brow.

He rode his cart close to her, his face now very close to Christy's.

"I did." She felt his breath fanning her face, and Christy stepped back, her cheeks burning with embarrassment. He noticed it but quickly picked something from her hair and showed it to her.

"This," he said, casually flicking away the stick-like thing he had found in her hair. Shedrack continued as if nothing had happened. "Why was Central City's most reputable nurse looking for me? Don't tell me you're tripping for me."

Christy rolled her eyes, pulling her cart away.

"The hospital was full today. Lily said something unexplainable happened. Have you been working on any new—"

"There's our curious nurse," he teased, cutting Christy off. "I can't tell you anything, Christy."

Fuck. She had wanted to ask if he had been working on any new project regarding the cause of the patients' deaths.

"C'mon, I really need to know," Christy insisted.

"No. Why do you want to know?"

"Because…" Christy bit her lips so hard.

"Because the world is coming to an end?" Shedrack said. His words made Christy stop in her tracks, cold traveling all over her body.

"What?"

"The world is coming to an end," he repeated.

Christy remembered telling him those same words. She had gotten to work one morning, and her sleep paralysis had been so bad that she had serious dark circles. That was because of her nightmares about the end of the world. Even before those monsters came, she had seen them in shadows in her dreams, and the nightmares deprived her of sleep, leading to severe anxiety and sleep depression. During those times, she would tell anyone who cared to listen that the world was coming to an end.

Now that she thought about it, she had never seen Shedrack during the apocalypse, or their paths hadn't really crossed. Had he died?

"Earth to Christy," he said, tapping her shoulder, his stoic expression replaced with a smiling one.

"Sorry, you said?" Christy asked.

"That was what you said the last time. Remember?"

Christy scoffed. "Don't tell me you believed that?"

"Well, who knows." He shrugged, his face telling her he knew more than he let on.

Some minutes later, Christy was done with her shopping, and Shedrack helped her push her loaded cart to her car. He had a questioning look on his face but didn't say anything.

"So you're seriously not going to tell me? I'm a nurse, and my concern has everything to do with saving my patients," Christy said, trying to convince him.

He smiled, dropping down Christy's car boot, then gripped her by the shoulder and walked her to the front seat.

"Don't worry. In a week's time, Dr Reg will hold a conference, and you will get all the information you need."

"But…"

He spun her around and placed his hands on her lips. "Get in the car, Christiana Knox," Shedrack said. His face told her he wouldn't take no for an answer.

Christy nodded and got in her car. She frowned at him, intentionally trying to make him feel guilty, but Shedrack only waved goodbye, watching her till her car drove out of the parking lot.

At 4:20, Christy got home and took her shower once she had settled down.

"Open system," she said.

The floating board appeared, and on it were profiles of people she had met today, even those she hadn't taken the time to look at. In total, there were fifty-two profiles.

"How many are Ru-Zero carriers?" she asked.

[Number of Ru-Zero patients detected: 30]

[Possible Death Date: February 16th]

"What the actual fuck," she exclaimed.

Christy's face contorted into a frown. Thirty patients with Ru-Zero was crazy, considering the fact that in her previous timeline, people had started dying from Ru-Zero in March.

Christy paced her bedroom. This meant the coming of the apocalypse was closer than she thought.

"Did I miss something?" she asked.

Christy navigated through the system. She remembered her profile had [saved person-0]. Was she supposed to save those people?

"Am I required to find solutions to Ru-Zero?"

[You are not required to find a solution to Ru-Zero.]

[Whether you choose to find one is up to you.]

"I knew you were going to say that, fuck!" Christy hit the bed frame with her foot.

Her body was tired from her shift, and her eyelids were tired from staying awake all through it. If the system wouldn't help her, then she would find solutions herself.

She pulled up her tablet and went through the applications for the job she had posted—more than forty applicants. She felt some sense of relief. Christy immediately set up interviews. By 2:25 AM, she was done with the series of interviews and had employed roughly ten people. They agreed to start work on the 17th. She glanced at the time. Sleep could wait. Going by the system's estimated date of the apocalypse, she had 56 days left.

She took a bath and made a small breakfast with coffee. The hot shower and caffeine helped chase away some of the exhaustion.

She would start with Shedrack. Her instincts told her he was hiding something, something related to Ru-Zero, and she was going to find out whatever it was.