Home / Apocalypse / This Time I Keep the Keys / Chapter 31 - Chapter 40

All Chapters of This Time I Keep the Keys : Chapter 31 - Chapter 40

150 Chapters

Chapter 31 Ten Days

Ten days before the apocalypseThe website could take Nessa's payment in seconds. Its first confirmed delivery date was June fourth.She went back to the basket and removed the order.Outside, somebody was cutting grass. The sound rose and fell through the open kitchen window while Tamsin checked another carrier. Nessa counted the squares left on the calendar. Ten days. She could spend the whole morning repeating it and still have the same number when she finished.“Stock isn't the problem,” Tamsin said. “The loading windows are.”“What if I pay for a separate vehicle?”“The depot still has to release the goods. And you need someone available to drive it.”Nessa looked at the three remaining orders she'd hoped to combine. Extra insulated bedding. Replacement filter elements matched to the water installer's handover sheet. More of the large food containers she'd found useful after the dinner trial.There were already blankets on the beds and a working water installation downstairs. The

Last Updated : 2026-10-21

Chapter 32 What Stays Outside

The water installer put his tool bag down and asked where Nessa expected him to stand.She pointed toward the service panel.He pointed at the crates beside it.“With that open.”Nessa looked again. She'd kept the walking route clear. She hadn't left enough room for the panel to swing fully while someone worked in front of it.“Those can move.”“Then let's start there.”Tamsin took the other end of the first crate. Together, they moved the waiting goods into the marked storage space. The reusable unloading covers went onto their proper shelf. Nessa resisted putting them behind the installer where they'd become somebody else's obstacle.He opened the panel and began the agreed checks.The water installation had worked since April. Today's visit concerned what ordinary use and exposure had changed. Nessa followed his observations on her copy of the handover sheet. One outside protective cover had shifted. Debris had gathered near the drainage route she'd checked when the equipment was n

Last Updated : 2026-10-21

Chapter 33 The Last Routine Refill

Eight days before the apocalypse“The sandwiches go on top,” Owen said.Nessa moved the folder she'd put beside his bag. He settled the food in the cleared space, checked that Tamsin had finished answering her phone, and climbed into the van.“Everyone?” he asked.“Apparently you're in charge,” his sister said.“Of lunch. It's a considerable responsibility.”The clinic entrance was where he'd said it would be. Nessa passed the crowded first turning and used the approach she'd checked yesterday. She was still learning when driving around a problem was more sensible than proving she could squeeze through it.Inside, the waiting room was busy. A child watched a cartoon with the sound off. A man at reception wanted to know why being early hadn't made his appointment start early.Nothing had collapsed. People were tired of waiting in an ordinary way.Nessa took the seat Owen indicated and let him check himself in.Etta had coordinated the agreed records and collection arrangements through

Last Updated : 2026-10-22

Chapter 34 Seven Days

Seven days before the apocalypseNessa heard Leila's key turn in the lock and nearly hurried downstairs to open the door for her.Then she stopped.The key worked. Leila knew where she was going. Nessa could let her arrive.Ada came in first, carrying a blue suitcase that objected to every change in the floor. Her rabbit rode beneath one arm. Leila followed with two bags, a coat slipping from her shoulder, and the expression of someone who had already returned home once for a forgotten charger.“We're here,” she said.It sounded ordinary. Nessa had to swallow before she answered.“I'll take that one.”“Thank you. She packed the suitcase herself.”“It has essentials,” Ada said.They took it upstairs. The reading lamp waited beside the bed. Blue stars covered the pillow and quilt. Ada stopped in the doorway, then put the rabbit down carefully in the middle of the pillow.“He can see the whole room.”“Useful,” Leila said. “Can he unpack your clothes?”That exposed the first problem.The

Last Updated : 2026-10-22

Chapter 35 The Wedding That Isn't Coming

Six days before the apocalypseThe invoice had Adrian's name at the top and Celia's beneath it.Nessa checked the sender before opening the attachment. Adrian had forwarded the venue's payment request himself. Four thousand six hundred dollars outstanding on the replacement booking. The original cancellation and his new arrangements were shown separately.He had finally been sent the bill for the wedding he wanted.The room was the one Nessa had chosen. So was the package listed beneath it, down to the guest count they'd argued about over breakfast. He had changed the names and expected the arrangements to continue. Nessa could almost see him trying to explain the payment request away to Celia. The coordinator hadn't asked who was being unreasonable or whose feelings mattered more. There was a balance due, and his name was on it.His message was short.You kept the refund. I need this covered so they don't release the room. We can sort out the rest afterward.Nessa read the sentence a

Last Updated : 2026-10-22

Chapter 36 A Door for Everyone

Five days before the apocalypse“The stairs are gone,” Leila said.Nessa looked at the substantial flight beside her.“They've been here all morning.”“For this exercise. You can walk on level ground. You can't use either flight.”Gideon stood by the service door with the agreed practice sheet. Tamsin yawned before he finished explaining the first run. She'd worked all morning and spent part of lunch chasing the depot.“We've successfully arranged a tired adult,” she said.Owen took the observer's place beside Gideon. Ada waited with them where Leila could see her, her small bag on her back. The ordinary house power remained on. Nobody needed to create a real fault to practice using a torch and the manual releases.Nessa began in the garage-level utility area.The familiar route would take her up to the kitchen. She turned toward it automatically, then stopped at the first stair.Leila waited.Nessa looked toward the rear door instead.The keys were where they'd agreed to keep them. T

Last Updated : 2026-10-22

Chapter 37 Three Days

Three days before the apocalypseThe new warning included streets Nessa had driven along yesterday.She checked the issue time and the map. Low coastal approaches could close at short notice. Residents were being told to finish necessary journeys early and follow the updated restrictions. The supermarket still advertised its weekend offers beneath the notice.Nessa deleted two stops from her own list. The preferred tea could wait. So could taking the last packaging to the recycling center. She secured it with the other sorted material and kept it out of the passage.For a moment, she stood with nothing urgent to fetch.Leila came downstairs in uniform.“I wish you weren't going,” Nessa said.“I know.”The answer held no argument. That made the next words harder.“Can't someone cover the end?”“Someone is covering it. At the agreed handover.” Leila put her work bag down. “There are people waiting for us this morning. I won't leave my partner trying to cover two jobs because the weather

Last Updated : 2026-10-22

Chapter 38 Before the Rescue Boats

Two days before the apocalypseThe workshop's front shutter folded inward with a sound Nessa heard from the corner above it.She stopped where Gideon's crew had told her to wait.Leila was at Highwater with Ada. Nessa had come the short distance down the open upper street after Gideon asked for help clearing the workshop's side approach. Two workers were still inside. Emergency services had been called. The rain made the ordinary route through the yard unusable.She could hear someone shouting behind the damaged shutter.“Side door,” Gideon said. “We need the approach clear.”The site forewoman pointed along a covered alley crowded with empty delivery cages. Nessa recognized the nested frames. They looked like one object until someone tried to move the bottom one with the others leaning against it.“Are these all empty?” she asked.“Yes.”“I need two people.”The forewoman called staff over. Nessa helped separate the manageable frames and move them into the dry loading recess she indi

Last Updated : 2026-10-22

Chapter 39 The Price of Coming Back

One day before the apocalypseNessa answered because the carrier was due to call.The voice belonged to Adrian.“Don't hang up. This isn't about the wedding.”She stayed beside the kitchen table. Leila was upstairs with Ada. Rain tapped against the glass behind her.“What do you want?”“I need to know we're not going to be strangers if this gets bad.”Nessa looked at the delivery reference in front of her.“Make your arrangements now.”“I am. That's why I'm calling you.”He said it as if she'd overlooked the obvious. Six years had taught him which person would answer a practical problem, find an available vehicle, pay the difference, and call back after everyone else had stopped trying.“You always have a plan,” he said. “You don't have to tell me everything. I just need to know you won't shut me out.”There it was. He wasn't asking for her address yet. He wanted the right to ask later, once saying no had become harder.“I haven't reserved anything for you.”“Don't be like that.”“No

Last Updated : 2026-10-22

Chapter 40 The Last Dry Delivery

Six hours before the apocalypseAt twelve forty, Kit could still offer only an estimated arrival.Nessa looked at the kitchen clock while the driver described the permitted diversion. A road crew had cleared part of the upper route. Freight was moving slowly, with stops between sections.“We're going when they release us,” Kit said. “We won't make up the time by rushing.”“Don't try,” Nessa said.Gideon came on briefly. Rory and the crew were accounted for at the upper workshop. Kit had the final approach notes. They would call again above the bend.Nessa kept the clock to herself.Leila stayed with Ada while she checked the transfer plan. The van was ready. The emergency bag remained up front, and the load space was clear. At the garage, the screen, service panel, and supported exit still had the room they'd tested.She had wanted the truck to deliver everything straight to its shelf.She could manage something less convenient.The first afternoon call put them farther away than she'

Last Updated : 2026-10-22

1 2 3 4 5 6

...

SCAN CODE TO READ ON APP