Chapter 3: The countdown

I stared out the window of my newly rented suburban compound, holding my breath as the screen in my vision flickered to life.

The property sat in an exclusive gated estate on the outer edge of the city, surrounded by reinforced concrete walls, a private backup generator, and direct access to two major highways. It was far enough from the dense city center to avoid immediate chaos, but close enough to let me run quick errands before everything fell apart.

A black map unfolded across my sight, pulsing with three distinct red dots. The system had unlocked the Blood Tracking Radar, linking directly to anyone bound to me by blood or marriage. Target one was my stepmother Evelyn, sitting at a luxury jewelry store. Target two was my stepsister Amy, lounging at a cafe. Target three was my husband Leo, his dot moving fast along the main ring road.

My phone vibrated in my palm. Leo's caller ID flashed on the glass.

I let it ring three times before sliding the bar to answer, keeping my voice small, breathy, and fragile. I needed him to hear the exact naive, fragile girl he believed he was tricking.

"Jade," I said softly.

"Jade! Where on earth have you been?" Leo's voice held a practiced blend of frustration and deep concern, the tone of a devoted husband carrying the weight of the entire family on his shoulders. "I have been worried sick about you! We waited at the bank for two hours. Your stepmother was in tears, and Amy was so stressed she could barely speak. I had to take them both to a hotel downtown to calm them down."

He had no idea I already knew about his affair with Amy. He thought he was playing the noble, protective son-in-law, keeping his secret hidden behind fake dutiful concern for my family.

"I am sorry, Leo," I lied, letting my voice tremble slightly. "My head has been so confused since Mom passed away. The doctor told me to stay away from any stressful business for a few weeks."

"A few weeks?" Leo sighed, heavy and patronizing, sounding like a tired father dealing with a difficult child. "Jade, honey, I know you are grieving, but you cannot just run away and leave me to handle your family alone. Your stepmother and Amy do not have a cent to their names right now because you locked the house accounts. I am trying my best to look after them for you, but I can only do so much without your help."

The hypocritical sweetness in his tone was sickening, but I kept my face perfectly still. In the past, I would have apologized for burdening him. Now, I simply watched his red dot on my screen, tracking his heart rate as it hovered at ninety-five beats per minute.

"The bank needs the paperwork settled," Leo continued, dropping his tone into a low, persuasive rhythm. "I am just trying to protect your mother's legacy, Jade. If you come down to the notary office tomorrow and sign the papers handing over management of the estate to me, I can handle the bankers and take care of your stepmother so you can just rest."

He was lying. The Blood Tracking Radar showed his pulse jump to one hundred ten beats per minute the moment he mentioned the paperwork. There was no pressure from the bank. He simply wanted legal control of my mother's land before I realized its true value.

"I cannot come down tomorrow, Leo," I said softly, playing along. "I am too weak. But I can send fifty thousand dollars from Mom's backup account to your name today so you can cover the hotel and take care of Evelyn and Amy."

Silence fell over the line. On the map in my sight, Leo's red dot pulled off the main road and stopped. His heart rate spiked again, driven by sudden greed.

"Fifty thousand?" The fake stress in his voice vanished, replaced by an eager, smooth warmth. "Well... yes, baby, that will help me settle things for your family for now. See? This is why you need to rely on me. You stay wherever you are and rest. I will handle your stepmother and Amy so you do not have to worry about a thing."

"I will send the bank numbers tonight," I said.

"Thank you, sweetie. Take all the time you need, I love you," he replied, his tone smooth and satisfied before he hung up.

I set the phone on the desk and opened the banking portal on my laptop. I did not send him cash. Instead, I routed a fake business loan through a dummy account set to expire and turn into a massive personal debt in twenty days. By accepting the transfer under his own name to "help the family," Leo was walking straight into a financial trap that would take weeks of legal meetings to clear up. He would be far too busy dealing with debt notices to investigate what I was really doing.

A quiet text notification appeared in the corner of my sight: Target Distracted. 21 Days, 14 Hours Remaining.

With Leo trapped in his own greed, the rest of my preparations moved into place. Earlier that morning, I had pawned my mother's watches and jewelry for two hundred and fifty thousand dollars in cash, using the funds to pay double the lease rate for this fortified suburban compound. Later, I cleared out a rented warehouse filled with supply sacks of rice, flour, canned meats, and water, pulling tons of food into my system space in seconds.

Six days passed while Leo remained tangled in his legal mess. On the sixth evening, a system alert flashed red at the edge of my field of view.

It was an intercepted report from Metro General Hospital. A patient admitted to the basement ward had died on the operating table, only to reanimate minutes later and attack the attending nurse. The directors were attempting to quiet the incident, filing it as a rare muscular spasm.

I read the report twice. The outbreak was no longer a distant countdown. It was already sitting in the lower levels of the city hospital, waiting.

I stepped onto the second-floor balcony, the cool evening air hitting my face as the city lights turned on below. Somewhere down there, Leo was probably at an expensive restaurant with Amy and Evelyn, pretending to be the devoted, caring husband while secretly spending the money he thought he had stolen from me.

I rested my hands against the concrete railing and looked out over the skyline. They still believed they were playing me, completely blind to the fact that their red dots were glowing like targets on my screen, and the world around them had already begun to end.