All Chapters of They Left Us to Freeze: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

"Now what, Zara? Having second thoughts? Let me make this clear. The names have already been submitted. It's too late for you!"My parents exchanged irritated looks at Jayla's words, clearly unhappy that I was holding them up.I held out my hand toward her. "Give me the keys."Jayla's expression flickered with panic. She instinctively stepped back, shielding her pocket. "What keys?"I moved closer. "Since you're leaving, the basement keys belong to me. Did you plan to take them with you and lock me in here to starve to death? Or leave me unable to lock the door, so I'd freeze to death?"Jayla stubbornly continued denying that she had the keys.Dad finally lost his patience. "Enough! Jayla, give your sister the keys."Jayla looked indignant and opened her mouth to argue.Mom simply stepped forward and searched her pockets herself. "Come on! We're going to miss the evacuation vehicle if we waste any more time! It's just a stupid set of keys. Give them to her if she wants them!"

He raised his head and looked at me blankly. But this time, deep in his eyes, I saw something stirring. There was a kind of instinctive focus, as though something inside him had been awakened.We didn't waste any time. The basement was warmer than the outdoors, but the temperature had already dropped below freezing. Every extra minute we spent there was dangerous.According to the notebook, the key materials were in the old study in the attic.It contained many of Uncle Xavier's personal belongings and experimental equipment from before the accident. The family considered the place unlucky, so almost no one had gone up there since.I gathered every piece of equipment I could find: the half-bottle of water, the remaining ration bars, the alcohol, the first-aid kit, a fire axe, and Uncle Xavier's notebook.Using some old curtains and rope, I managed to fashion crude cold-weather face coverings and gloves for both of us.When I opened the basement door leading to the ground floor, a

Wasn't that the shelter my parents and Jayla had gone to?Apparently, the warm refuge they'd been counting on wasn't exactly paradise.I looked at Uncle Xavier. He was focused on recording data from the thermoelectric module, completely ignoring the desperate cries coming through the radio.The firelight illuminated his calm, concentrated face.One afternoon, during a brief break in the blizzard, we went out to look for sealing materials near the edge of the villa complex.That was when we spotted three figures staggering through the deep snow, looking as though they were on the verge of freezing to death.It was my parents and my sister, Jayla!Wrapped in every scrap of fabric they could find, their faces were blue with cold, their lips cracked and bleeding, and their eyes hollow with despair. They looked at least ten times worse than they had when they left.Jayla's expensive down jacket had several large tears, with feathers sticking out and dirty snow clinging to the fabric

The warmth inside the basement made all three of them sigh with relief.Jayla greedily inhaled the warm air, but her eyes kept drifting toward the corner.Uncle Xavier had his back to them. He was focused on adjusting several glass containers beside the stove, completely ignoring their presence."Start working." I pointed toward a pile of scrap wood we'd brought in from outside. "Split these into pieces small enough for the stove. Once you're done, each of you gets ten minutes by the fire."Mom's face flashed with reluctance, but when she looked toward the blizzard howling outside, she gritted her teeth and picked up the axe.Jayla muttered something about having to work in such freezing weather. I gave her a cold look, and she reluctantly got to work.For the first few days, they behaved themselves.Every day, they completed the tasks I assigned them: chopping firewood, cleaning, and organizing supplies.In exchange, they received basic warmth and food. Each person was allowed

In an instant, a blinding white flash erupted.The light poured through the ventilation openings and gaps around the door, creating a dazzling zone of intense glare inside the thick fog!"Ah! My eyes!""What the hell is that?!"Screams and frantic footsteps erupted outside.Uncle Xavier didn't stop. He gestured for me to pick up the makeshift loudspeaker he'd assembled from a car horn and a battery, then turn it up to maximum volume.He spoke into it in a deep, authoritative voice that had been electronically distorted: "Warning! You have entered a high-radiation contamination zone. Unauthorized life forms detected. Automatic defense systems activated. In thirty seconds, the infrasound weapons will be deployed. Countdown initiated: thirty, twenty-nine..."His voice boomed through the loudspeaker, echoing through the thick fog and blinding light with an inhuman, mechanical coldness.Chaos erupted outside."Radiation?!""Infrasound weapons?!""What the hell is this place?!""