April 17th. 2:00 PM.
The chat had devolved into chaos.
[Anonymous]: SOMEONE IS SCREAMING ON THE 7TH FLOOR.
[Anonymous]: Unit 704. A man broke in. He had a hammer.
[Anonymous]: The woman who lived there stabbed him. In the neck.
[Anonymous]: GOOD.
[Anonymous]: She's freezing. The cut on her hand is infected.
[Anonymous]: Someone help her!
[Anonymous]: Nobody can open their doors. We're all trapped.
Jae-min scrolled past the panic. Looking for specific names.
[Kiara Valdez - Unit 1403]: Can someone tell me what's happening? My power is out. My water is frozen. I don't understand.
[Jennifer Avante - Unit 1407]: Kiara, are you okay? I tried calling you. No signal.
[Kiara Valdez - Unit 1403]: I'm fine. But I'm scared. My apartment is freezing. I can see my breath.
[Jennifer Avante - Unit 1407]: Stay inside. Don't open the door. I'm coming to you.
[Kiara Valdez - Unit 1403]: How? The hallway is frozen.
[Jennifer Avante - Unit 1407]: I'll figure it out. Just wait for me.
Unit 1403. 2:15 PM.
Kiara Valdez sat on her bed. Knees pulled to her chest. A down jacket zipped to her chin.
The apartment was freezing. Eight degrees inside. The walls were slick with frost. Ice crystals crawled across the windows like white spiderwebs.
She had no food. No water. No heat.
Just a closet full of designer clothes that wouldn't keep her warm and a phone with 3% battery.
Jae-min.
The name burned in her mind.
She had watched him for weeks. The loans. The restaurant. The bunker. The guns. She had mocked him. Told everyone he was crazy.
And now he was sitting in a warm apartment behind a steel door. While she was freezing to death.
A knock on the wall.
"Kiara! It's Jennifer!"
Kiara scrambled off the bed. Ran to the shared wall.
"Jennifer! I'm here!"
"I'm coming! I found a can of beans in the janitor's closet!"
Five minutes later. Jennifer stumbled inside.
She was wrapped in three jackets. A wool cap pulled low over her ears. Her hands were raw. Red. Bleeding.
"I slid down the fire escape railing," Jennifer gasped. Her teeth chattered violently. "Almost fell twice."
"How did you get the beans?"
"Picked the lock. Don't tell anyone."
Kiara grabbed the can. Pulled the tab. The smell of cold beans filled the frozen room.
They split it with a rusty spoon. Eating straight from the can. Not talking. Just chewing.
"This is disgusting," Jennifer muttered.
"It's food."
Jennifer took a bite. Swallowed.
"Where did Jae-min get his stuff?" Kiara asked. "The bunker. The construction. How did he know?"
"I don't know."
"He was right. He knew the world was going to end."
"He's crazy."
"He's not crazy. He was right. And we mocked him. We told everyone he was having a breakdown. We ruined his reputation."
Kiara set her spoon down. Stared at the frost-covered wall. The wall she shared with Unit 1418.
"He has Alessia in there," Kiara whispered.
Jennifer paused.
"What?"
"Alessia. The doctor. She moved into his bunker. She's in there right now. Warm. Safe. Fed."
"Kiara, that's her choice."
"Her choice?" Kiara's voice cracked. "She chose HIM over her own life? She moved into a bunker with a man she barely knows? While I freeze to death ten feet away?"
"You don't know what their relationship is."
"I know what MY relationship with him was. Three years. THREE YEARS. And he threw it away for a doctor he met six months ago."
"Maybe he threw it away because you cheated on him."
Kiara flinched. Like she had been slapped.
"It was one time."
"It was enough."
"Don't you dare judge me." Kiara stood up. Eyes wild. "You were right there with me. You laughed. You encouraged me. You said he was boring. You said he was too serious."
"I was wrong."
"Oh, so you're perfect now? You're the good friend? You're on his side?"
"No. I'm just a coward who was too weak to stand up to you."
Jennifer looked down at the cold beans. Her stomach turned.
He's right there. Ten feet away. Behind a steel door. Warm. Safe.
And I'm here. Freezing. Because I listened to her.
"I need to go," Jennifer said quietly.
"Where?"
"Back to my apartment."
"It's colder than here. You'll freeze."
"I know."
"Then stay."
"I can't."
"Why not?"
"Because every second I sit in this room. Listening to you talk about him. Watching you obsess over him. I want to scream."
Jennifer stood up. Walked to the door.
"Jennifer. Don't go."
"Why not?"
"Because you're all I have left. Everyone else has frozen or fled or died. You're the only one who knows me."
"I'm not your friend, Kiara. I never was. I was your accessory. The quiet one who laughed at your jokes. The shadow you stood in front of."
"That's not true."
"It's completely true. And you know it."
Jennifer opened the door. The cold hit her like a physical blow. The hallway was a tunnel of ice.
"Jennifer. Please."
"Goodbye, Kiara."
She stepped out. Closed the door behind her.
The lock was frozen. She couldn't secure it. Didn't bother.
She walked down the hall. Past Unit 1408. 1409. 1410.
She stopped at the intersection.
Left led to the stairwell. Down to the lower floors. The frozen bodies. The screaming.
Straight led to the fourteenth floor. To Unit 1418.
To Jae-min.
She looked down the hall.
The steel bulkhead was visible at the far end. A slab of gray metal in a hallway of ice.
She took a step forward.
Then another.
Her feet were numb. Her fingers were going blue.
She reached the door.
Raised her hand.
Stopped.
She couldn't knock. She couldn't ask to come in.
Because she had no right.
She was Kiara's friend. She had laughed at Jae-min behind his back. She had let Kiara mock him. She had done nothing while he built a fortress to save their lives.
And now she wanted to crawl to him for warmth?
Please. Please let me in. I know I was wrong. I know I was weak. Please.
She couldn't say it.
Her hand dropped to her side.
She stood there. In the freezing hallway. Ten feet from the steel door.
Close enough to feel the faint heat radiating through the concrete.
Too far away to ask for help.
She turned around. Walked back to her apartment. Closed the frozen door. Sat on the floor.
Wrapped herself in blankets.
Hugged her knees.
And cried.
Not because she was cold.
But because she was a coward.
And cowards don't get second chances.