Chapter 6

Nicole never expected the new resident of 1801 to be the same young man who had helped her at the courier station.

He looked mildly surprised, too. He nodded once at her, then went back to work.

Up close, he was striking in a cold, sharp way. He was tall and lean, with broad shoulders and clean lines under his clothes that hinted at strength ready to explode at any moment.

Nicole felt a prickle at the back of her scalp. She exchanged a brief greeting and quickly retreated into her apartment.

This life was already different.

The typhoon had arrived early. And now, there was a new neighbor. What kind of normal person would install three stainless steel doors in a row?

Peaceful coexistence would be ideal, but caution was nonnegotiable.

Saving someone didn't mean much once the disasters dragged on. When order collapsed, who could promise anyone would stay the same?

Nicole locked her door, brushed her teeth, washed up, and ate breakfast. The sky outside was a little brighter, but still pressed low and dark.

Standing on the balcony, she watched the screaming typhoon slam into the building. Rain battered the blast-resistant glass nonstop. Just overnight, streets had turned into rivers. Cars were half-submerged. In low-lying areas, entire vehicles were swept away.

Rain blurred everything. The distance was gray and indistinct. The sky sank lower and lower, like invisible hands squeezing the city in a crushing grip.

Nicole raised her binoculars.

From above, the roads were drowned. Clouds hung frighteningly low. A twisting funnel connected sky and ground, spinning fast, sucking in rain, trees, cars, everything in its path.

A tornado.

Nicole's breath caught as she watched it tear through an elevated roadway. Lightning struck trees and sparked fires, only for the rain to smother them seconds later.

Had there been tornadoes in her last life?

She couldn't remember.

Too many things were different now, and all of them felt worse.

Her phone kept buzzing. Irritated, she disconnected from the internet and went into the kitchen, washing and chopping without stopping.

She blanched frozen beef brisket and beef shank to clear out the impurities, then pulled out an assortment of spices to start the braise. Cleaning organ meats took time and patience.

After hours in the smoke, her appetite disappeared. For lunch, she made a simple bowl of chicken noodle soup.

As she turned off the exhaust fan, she thought she heard a child crying.

At first, Nicole ignored it. She bagged the trash and stepped outside, but the crying came again, clearer this time. From next door.

She had only studied medicine for a year and had barely scratched the surface. Still, she knew enough to recognize when a child's cry wasn't normal.

After a moment of hesitation, she knocked on the door of 1801.

"Poppy?" she called.

The triple-layer stainless steel door was thick. Nicole knocked for a long time with no response. Just as she turned to leave, there was a click.

After a lot of fumbling inside, the door finally opened.

Poppy stood there, eyes swollen and red, tear tracks streaking her face. Dried vomit clung to the corner of her mouth. Her cheeks were flushed in a way that felt wrong.

"Why are you crying?" Nicole asked.

Nicole reached out and touched Poppy's forehead. It was alarmingly hot. Her nose ran clear and nonstop.

A cold with a high fever.

"Where's your dad?" Nicole asked.

"My brother, you mean? He's gone." Poppy's voice was hoarse from crying. She rubbed her eyes over and over. "He's left me, too…"

Too?

So the girl had been left behind before.

Nicole glanced at the fortress of doors behind her, then gently rubbed the girl's head.

"He probably just stepped out. He'll be back. Do you want to come to my place for a bit?"

A sick five-year-old would understandably be scared if she were invited to a stranger's house, but Poppy remembered Nicole. After a moment, she nodded.

Nicole brought Poppy inside and checked her temperature. It was over 103°F. Nicole found children's cold medicine with fever reducers and carefully fed Poppy a dose.

Worried Poppy's brother might panic, Nicole wrote a note and stuck it on the door of 1801.

Listening to the storm raging outside, Nicole couldn't help wondering what kind of person would go out in weather like this. It was practically suicide,

Thunder cracked again and again. The TV had no signal.

Poppy curled up on the couch, trembling, fear written all over her.

Nicole was suddenly pulled back to her own childhood. She had been like this once; she had watched other kids get comforted by their parents while she lay sick alone, hugging a pillow, convinced the whole world had abandoned her.

She didn't know how to take care of kids. All she could do was pull out a tablet and put on a cartoon she had downloaded earlier.

It worked.

Poppy's attention slowly shifted to the screen, her breathing easing.

Nicole sat beside Poppy and checked her phone. Several profile pictures lit up. Edward was one of them.

[I didn't mean to be harsh yesterday. Don't be mad. I was really looking forward to you coming to my birthday. When you didn't, I felt pretty down.]

He looked decent enough on the outside. Turned out, he folded fast.

But it wasn't surprising. There were probably still seven or eight people at his place. Birthday parties meant chips, beer, and cake. No one cooked, so they didn't have any real food stored.

Even if they had instant noodles or crackers, they wouldn't last with that many mouths.

Nicole checked the timestamp. The texts were sent an hour ago.

Right on schedule. Edward was hungry.

Several friend requests came in after his messages. She ignored them all.

Two tutoring parents messaged Nicole, thanking her for the warning. They had managed to buy food just in time. Otherwise, their families would've gone hungry.

One even sent money as a thank-you gift.

Nicole didn't accept it. Even if she did, there was nothing left to spend money on.

She kept scrolling through group chats.

People showing off seafood feasts. Others, bragging about camp stew and expensive wine while listening to the storm. Some opened their freezers wide to flaunt their stockpiles.

The comparisons escalated into games and message chains. No one seemed to realize what kind of price they would pay later.

There would be two weeks of nonstop rain and wind. Even if rescue teams tried, the environment wouldn't allow it. Once food ran out, these people would be the first targets.

For every person bragging, there were more begging.

Most of them were young adults who lived on takeout. They spent freely and never cooked. They had closets full of clothes and skincare products, but not a single meal at home.

[Went to the supermarket last night. Instant noodles were gone. Can anyone spare something?]

[I only managed to grab two bags of flour, but I have nothing to cook with.]

Once one person spoke up, others followed. Someone even invited women to come over for camp stew. Too bad they weren't in the same building.

Most people just watched. Real help was rare.

And then, someone suggested trading: five sheet masks for a pack of instant noodles. Someone replied almost immediately.

Messages flew past too fast. Nicole scrolled quickly and stopped on a forwarded video.

It showed a car swept into floodwaters. Firefighters fought through the storm to rescue the driver, only to be swallowed by a sudden surge from upstream.

There were many videos like it. Some ended in rescues, others with silence.

Nicole felt her chest tighten. She was about to close the app when Edward popped up again.