11:30 PM. Unit 1419.
Jae-Min stood in front of her door.
The hallway was dead silent. No hum from the central AC. The building management had cut power to the non-essential corridors at ten to save money. Only the faint orange glow of the emergency exit signs lit the space.
It smelled like jasmine. And dust.
He raised his hand to knock. Stopped. His fist hovered in the air.
In his pocket, his fingers brushed the cold steel of a key. Alessia's spare key. She had given it to him three months ago. In case I lock myself out after a night shift, she had said.
He could just walk in. But he knocked.
Three raps. Quiet.
Footsteps inside. Soft. Hesitant.
The peephole darkened. She was looking out.
The door opened a crack. A chain lock held it in place. One blue eye peered through.
"Jae-Min?" Her voice was raspy. Sleepy. "It's midnight."
"I know. Can I come in?"
A pause. The eye studied his face. The dark circles. The hollow cheeks. The tight jaw.
The chain slid. The door opened.
Alessia stood in the doorway. White oversized t-shirt. Black shorts. Her indigo hair was loose. Falling over her shoulders. Messy. Beautiful.
She looked exactly like she did in the freezer aisle. Except there was no blood. No shattered skull. No teeth.
"I was sleeping," she said softly. "Is everything okay?"
"No."
Alessia frowned. Stepped aside. Let him in.
Unit 1419 was a mirror of his. But it wasn't a bunker. It was a home. Potted plants on the windowsill. Framed medical degrees on the wall. A wool blanket draped over the couch. The smell of lavender detergent and chamomile tea.
It felt warm. Safe. Human.
Jae-Min stood in the middle of the living room. Didn't sit. Didn't move.
Alessia closed the door. Walked past him. Sat on the edge of the couch. Tucked her legs under her.
"You're scaring me, Jae-min."
"I know."
"Is this about your family? The breakdown?"
"It's not a breakdown."
"Then what?"
Jae-Min looked at her. Those calm blue eyes. The indigo hair falling over her collarbone. The gentle rise and fall of her chest.
He memorized it.
"Alessia."
"Yes?"
"I need to tell you something. And after I tell you, you're going to think I'm insane. You might call the police. You might never speak to me again."
Alessia didn't move. Just watched him. Calm. Steady.
"Okay."
"I'm not going to explain why I know this. I'm just going to tell you. Can you do that?"
"Okay."
Jae-Min sat down across from her. On the wooden coffee table. Close enough to touch her knees.
"Twenty-three days from now," he said, "the temperature in Manila is going to drop to minus seventy degrees Celsius."
Alessia blinked. "What?"
"In the middle of summer. It will happen in less than four hours. The power grid will fail fourteen days later. The government will collapse. The military will fragment. Millions of people will freeze to death in the first week."
"Jae-min—"
"Billions will die. Globally. It won't stop. The cold won't stop. Ever."
Alessia stared at him. Her face was pale. But she didn't interrupt.
"I know this because I've already lived it."
Silence.
The clock on the wall ticked. Once. Twice.
"What do you mean, lived it?"
"I died, Alessia. I died forty-three days after the freeze. And then I woke up. Here. March sixteenth. Thirty days before it happens."
Alessia's mouth opened. Closed. Opened again.
"That's impossible."
"I know."
"You're talking about time travel."
"I know."
"Jae-min, that's not—"
"I was eaten alive, Alessia."
The words hit the room like a physical blow.
Alessia froze.
"Our neighbors. Unit 1412. The couple from the tenth floor. They broke into my apartment. Starving. Crazy. They ate me. I was alive when they did it."
Alessia's hand went to her mouth. Her eyes were wide. Shocked.
"But you're here. You're sitting right—"
"I came back. I don't know how. I don't know why. But I came back. And I remember everything. Every detail. Every death."
Jae-Min leaned forward. His eyes locked onto hers.
"I remember you."
Alessia went still.
"You died too, Alessia. In the hallway. Right outside my door."
"No..."
"You were trying to get to me. I don't know why. Maybe you heard the screaming. Maybe you were looking for help."
"Stop..."
"They got you first. The man from 1412. He knocked you down. Bit into your shoulder."
Alessia's breathing was fast. Shallow. Her knuckles were white against her mouth.
"Stop it. Please."
"They pinned you to the floor. They ate your legs. Right there on the tile."
Tears were streaming down Alessia's face. Silent. Fast.
"Jae-min, please stop..."
"I couldn't reach you." His voice cracked. The first emotion he had shown since he started. "I was ten feet away. My throat was already torn open. I was crawling. Trying to get to you. But they dragged me back."
Alessia was sobbing now. Her whole body shaking.
"He popped your eyes out with his thumbs."
"STOP!"
Alessia screamed. She stood up. Backed away. Hit the wall. Slid down to the floor. Curled into a ball. Crying. Loud. Ugly. The sound of a woman being told the exact details of her own murder.
Jae-Min didn't move. He sat on the coffee table. Watching. Letting it break her.
Because she needed to know. She needed to understand what was coming.
Five minutes. Ten.
The crying slowed. Turned into hitching breaths. Then silence.
Alessia lifted her head. Her eyes were red. Swollen. Her indigo hair was plastered to her wet cheeks.
But her eyes were clear. Sharp.
"The man from 1412," she whispered. "What's his name?"
"Mr. Reyes. Gilbert Reyes."
"How old?"
"Sixty-two. Retired postal worker."
"Who else was there?"
"Mrs. Dela Cruz. Tenth floor. Her son. Marco. Twenty-three."
Alessia wiped her face. Hard. Angry.
"You're not lying."
"No."
"Nobody could make that up. The details. The names. The apartment numbers." She took a shaky breath. "You actually lived it."
"Yes."
Alessia stared at him. The silence stretched.
Then she asked the question Jae-min had been dreading.
"Why are you telling me this?"
Jae-Min reached into his jacket. Pulled out a key. A heavy steel key. The spare key to Unit 1418.
He held it out to her.
"Because in twenty-three days, I want you behind my door."
Alessia looked at the key. Then at him.
"Your bunker."
"Yes."
"The steel door. The construction."
"Yes."
"You built all of that... because of this?"
"Yes."
Alessia reached out. Took the key. Her fingers brushed his. Cold. Trembling.
"Why me?"
Jae-min stood up. Looked down at her.
"Because I love you."
Alessia's breath caught.
"I loved you before I died. I loved you when I was crawling across that floor trying to reach you. And I love you now." His voice was flat. Honest. Stripped of everything. "I didn't tell you before because I was a coward. Because I wasted three years on a woman who didn't matter. And then you died without knowing."
Alessia stared up at him. Tears still on her cheeks. Blue eyes glistening.
"I'm not asking you to love me back," Jae-min said. "I'm asking you to survive. The key opens my door. When the temperature drops, you come to me. You don't look back. You don't pack. You just run."
"And if I say no?"
Jae-min reached into his other pocket. Pulled out a second key. The key to her white Golf GTI.
"Then you drive south. As far as you can. Away from the cities. The freeze will be worse in urban areas. Find a small town. Stock up on food. Wait it out."
"You'd let me go?"
"I'd let you live. That's all that matters."
Alessia looked at the two keys. One in each hand. The key to his bunker. The key to her car.
Escape. Or trust.
She looked up at him.
"The others in the building. My neighbors. My friends."
"Most of them will die."
"All of them?"
"The ones who panic will die first. The ones who prepare might last a few weeks. The ones who turn violent..." Jae-min paused. "I have guns, Alessia. And I will use them."
Alessia stared at him. The man she knew was gone. In his place sat something cold. Something forged in ice and blood.
But his eyes. His dark eyes were the same. Tired. Hurt. Alone.
"You've been carrying this alone," she whispered. "Since you woke up."
"Yes."
"That's why you look like you're dead inside."
"Yes."
Alessia stood up. Slowly. Her legs were shaky. She closed the distance between them. Stopped inches away. Looked up at him.
"I'm not going to run, Jae-min."
"You should."
"I'm not."
"Alessia—"
"I'm a doctor." Her voice was quiet. Steady. "I've spent my entire career keeping people alive. I'm not going to hide in some small town while people are freezing to death around me."
She held up the key to Unit 1418.
"I'll be at your door when it happens."
Jae-min stared at her. Something cracked inside his chest. Something small. Fragile.
"Okay."
"Okay."
Alessia turned the key over in her fingers. Looked at it.
"Jae-min?"
"Yeah?"
"The way I died." She paused. "Was it fast?"
Jae-min didn't blink.
"No."
"Good." Her jaw tightened. "Then I'll make sure it doesn't happen again."
She walked to the door. Opened it. Looked back at him.
"Get some sleep. You look like shit."
The door closed.
Jae-min stood in the empty apartment. The smell of lavender and chamomile. The wool blanket on the couch. The potted plants on the windowsill.
Alive.
He walked out. Crossed the hallway. Swiped the card. The steel bulkhead of Unit 1418 clicked open.
Inside, the bunker waited. Cold. Steel. Concrete.
But for the first time in twenty-three days, the cold didn't bother him.
His phone buzzed.
Unknown number.
"Interesting visit, Mr. Del Rosario. The doctor is quite beautiful. It would be a shame if something happened to her. - N"
Jae-min stared at the screen.
His blood turned to ice.
They were watching her too.