~~~

  "Wait. Shit."

  Jin paused halfway to the living room, his pack shifting against his armored back.

  Amelia's room. I haven't checked Amelia's room.

  He'd been so focused on Uncle Marcus's military stash and his own paranoid preparations that he'd completely forgotten about his cousin's—no, his sister's—bedroom.

  Probably nothing useful in there. Teenage girl stuff. But... protocol says check everything.

  Jin backtracked down the hallway, stopping at the door decorated with an honestly embarrassing number of pop star posters and a sign that said "AMELIA'S SANCTUARY - NO BOYS ALLOWED (especially annoying cousins)."

  He pushed it open.

  "Jesus Christ, Amelia." The words came out as a breath. "Did a makeup store explode in here? And then did three clothing stores join in for good measure?"

  The room was chaos incarnate in teenage girl form.

  Clothes exploded from every surface like fabric confetti—thrown over chairs, draped across the desk, piled on the floor in what might have once been an organizational system before entropy won. The closet door hung open, revealing more clothes crammed inside with the density of a black hole.

  Makeup covered the vanity in a rainbow of expensive confusion that would make a peacock jealous. Eyeshadow palettes in every color imaginable. Lipsticks arranged by shade like some kind of cosmetic army preparing for the prettiest war in history. Brushes and applicators were scattered everywhere like the aftermath of a beauty supply store robbery.

  Stuffed animals occupied strategic positions across the unmade bed—a platoon of plush defenders arranged with what Jin could only assume was some kind of teenage logic he'd never understand.

  And sweets. Mountains of them.

  Candy wrappers littered the desk. A half-eaten bag of gummy bears sat open on the nightstand. Chocolate bars were tucked into drawers like contraband. Energy bars—the good expensive kind—were stacked in a pyramid on her bookshelf next to romance novels she probably shouldn't be reading at sixteen.

  "Seriously, did you rob a candy store?" Jin shook his head, grabbing a handful of the energy bars and shoving them into his pack.

  He moved through the room systematically, checking drawers and closets more out of thoroughness than actual hope of finding anything useful. Teenage girl concerns. Social media drama captured in printed photos stuck to a corkboard. Schoolwork scattered across the desk showed she was actually pretty smart when she bothered to apply herself. A diary locked with a tiny key that Jin didn't even consider touching because some boundaries were sacred even during an apocalypse.

  Jin backed out of the room and closed the door with unusual gentleness, like he was tucking in a sleeping child.

  "Stay safe, little sister." The words caught in his throat slightly. "Stay far away from Vienna until this nightmare is over. And if I don't make it through this..."

  This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

  At least someone in this family will remember what it was like before everything went to shit.

  …

  Ten minutes after the warning bells started ringing, Jin sat on the living room sofa with a cold beer sweating in his right hand.

  The enchanted sword lay across his knees, its weight both comforting and ominous. The gun rested in a shoulder holster beneath his armor, hidden but easily accessible. The healing potion created a small bulge in his chest pocket, promising salvation when everything went to hell.

  "Ahh... how I missed you, my old friend." Jin took a long sip, letting the alcohol burn down his throat and dull the sharp edges of his anxiety. "Ren would never let me drink in the hospital. Said it interfered with the chemo."

  Guess that's not a problem anymore. Wonder how is he… am I dead there or…

  The beer tasted like freedom. Like normalcy in a world that was about to become anything but normal. Like one last grasp at humanity before he had to become something else—survivor, fighter, maybe monster if that's what it took.

  Through the window, Vienna's beautiful skyline was being slowly consumed by darkness.

  "The city's starting to wake up," Jin muttered, watching shadows move past the window. "But it's too little, too late. The machinery of disaster is already in motion."

  In the novel, no one saw it coming until the veils were already locked in place. By then, it was just ninety-one days of pure hell before investigation teams could breach through and find nothing but corpses and nightmares.

  Jin raised the bottle toward the window in a mock toast.

  "Here's to Vienna. Four cities fell to establish the horror, like we're all just fucking background casualties in someone else's story." He took another long pull. "Why this city? Why these people? Just 'Vienna, Prague, Naples, and Istana vanished' and move on to the real plot?"

  Well, not anymore. I'm writing my own goddamn story now.

  His phone sat on the coffee table, screen dark but somehow accusatory. The signal bars showed full strength, but that could change at any moment once the veils locked into place.

  Should I call them?

  Uncle Marcus and Aunt Sarah should be enjoying their vacation right now. Somewhere safe. Somewhere far away from the death trap Vienna was about to become.

  What would I even say? 'Hey Uncle Marcus, remember me? Funny story—I'm having prophetic visions about Vienna becoming ground zero for a demonic invasion. Also, thanks for the enchanted pistol, it's really nice.'

  "They'd think I'd completely lost my mind," Jin muttered, taking another sip. The alcohol warmed his stomach but did nothing for the cold anxiety coiling in his chest.

  "But what if this is the last time I ever get to hear their voices?"

  The words came out quieter than he intended, carrying more weight than he wanted to acknowledge.

  It's scary how fast the original Jin's emotions are becoming mine. His memories, his love for this family... It's all bleeding into me like watercolors running together.

  Jin stared at the phone, thumb hovering over Uncle Marcus's contact.

  Do I warn them? Do I try to explain? Do I just... say goodbye?

  Before he could make a decision, the phone erupted in electronic noise.

  Ding ling Ding Ding~~

  The ringtone cut through the apartment's tense silence like a chainsaw through silk. Jin nearly dropped the beer, his other hand instinctively moving to the pistol's grip before his brain caught up with his reflexes.

  "Fuck!" He set the beer down with shaking hands, adrenaline flooding his system and making his heart hammer against his ribs. "Heart attack at Seventeen. That would be just my luck. Survive cancer, get reincarnated, die of cardiac arrest before the real nightmare even starts."

  The caller ID made his blood freeze solid.

  Amelia - Mobile

  "Oh no. No, no, no." His voice came out as a whisper. "I was just joking about calling."

  Please let this be her calling to whine about room service or something equally mundane.

  Jin's finger hovered over the answer button, trembling with indecision and growing dread.

  "Do I answer? Do I lie to her? Do I tell her the truth and sound completely insane?" His voice cracked slightly. "What if this is the last time I ever get to talk to her?"

  What if…

  The phone continued ringing, its shrill tone counting down the seconds until his decision would be made for him. Each ring felt like a hammer blow against his chest.

  Ring. Make a choice.

  Ring. Time's running out.

  Ring. Last chance.

  "Fuck it." Jin snatched up the phone, thumb stabbing the accept button before he could overthink it anymore.

  "Hello... sis?"

  ~~~

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