The Three Day Fake Apocalypse

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The apocalypse didnt arrive with a bang. It arrived with a suffocating, unnatural heat that turned the sky the color of a bruised plum.

My husband, Max, is a regressor. Or at least, he thinks he is.

He woke up before dawn today, gasping for air, clutching his chest as if hed just felt his own heart stop. He looked at me with eyes full of a frantic, ugly greed and told me the world was ending. He told me to go out and spend every cent we had on supplies.

"Jade, the car is packed to the roof. Can you come out and help me move this stuff?" I called out to him from the driveway.

The heat index was already hitting a hundred and forty degrees. The air felt like breathing liquid lead.

...

I had spent the morning at the wholesale club with our daughter, Hope. We bought everything: canned protein, gallons of water, medical kits, batteries. The SUV was sagging under the weight of it all.

When I called Max for help, his voice over the line was a jagged edge of impatience and mockery.

"Its just a few boxes, Jade. Stop being so pathetic," he snapped. "The world is falling apart today. The temperature is only going to climb, and resources are going to vanish. If you dont want to die on the pavement, get that shit inside now!"

Hearing those familiar, biting words, I didn't cry. I smiled.

I looked at Hope, who was clutching her stuffed rabbit, her face flushed red from the heat. Together, we didn't move the supplies into our house. We moved them into the villa next doorthe one I had secretly bought a month ago.

"Mommy," Hope whispered, "we only left a little bit for Daddy. Won't he be mad?"

I stroked her damp hair, my heart aching with a fierce, protective love. "No, baby. Because that's all Daddy needs for himself."

I tucked her into the reinforced safety of the new house and told her not to come out, no matter what. Then, I took the meager scraps Id set aside and brought them to Max.

Max thought he had the ultimate advantage. He thought he was the only one who had lived through the end once before. He had no idea that I was a regressor, too.

In my previous life, when the frost and the monsters came, Max didn't protect us. He brought his mistress, Chloe, into our home. They barricaded themselves in, stole the supplies I had nearly died to collect, and threw me out into the street.

I died screaming, watching through the glass as the shadows tore me apart, piece by piece.

Even after death, my soul lingered, a silent, grieving ghost. I saw them. I saw Max lock our daughter in a dark crawl space under the stairs so he could satisfy his lust with Chloe on our sofa without being disturbed. I watched them celebrate their survival with my wine, only to die in agony when the "apocalypse" took a turn they didn't expect.

And Hope... my sweet, brave girl. She starved to death in that dark hole, her last breaths spent whispering for me to come home. She died thinking I had abandoned her.

The rage of a thousand lifetimes burned in my spirit. When I opened my eyes again and saw the familiar floral wallpaper of our bedroom, I realized I had been sent back.

I had returned one month before the collapse. A full thirty days before Max "awakened."

This time, I wasn't just a wife or a victim. I was the architect of his ruin.

I found the deed to our villa. It was my pre-marital property, a gift from my parents. I listed it on a private platform for an emergency sale. To keep Max from noticing, I stipulated in the contract that the official handover wouldn't happen until after the date the "apocalypse" was supposed to end.

Then, I took every cent of our savings and bought the house next door. I hired three construction crews, paying them triple to work through the night. I reinforced the walls with steel, installed a military-grade filtration system, and turned it into a fortress.

Every dollar I spent was masked as "lifestyle expenses." I wiped my phone daily. When Max finally "woke up" and told me the end was nigh, I played the part of the dutiful, panicked wife. I "spent" the last of our liquid cash exactly as he ordered.

Max rummaged through the few bags I brought him, his face darkening with fury.

"That's it? Are you transitionally stupid? Do you want us all to starve?"

He snatched my phone, pulling up my banking apps. When he saw the zeros in every account, his eyes rolled back in frustration.

"Where is the money, Jade? You're hiding it, aren't you? You're holding out on me!"

I shrunk back, trembling, letting him toss the house. He found nothing.

Chloe, his "secretary," was already there, perched on our expensive rug. She saw the predatory lending apps Id conveniently left on the home screen and purred, leaning into Maxs side.

"Max, honey, why use your own money at this point? Just borrow. Borrow as much as you can. Once the world ends, debt is just a four-letter word that doesn't matter anymore."

Maxs eyes lit up. He grabbed his phone and started clicking.

Chloe had been Maxs shadow for years. Every "business trip" was just a cover for their trysts. She was all sugar and sighs, the kind of woman who knew exactly how to make a man feel like a king while she bled him dry. Max lived for it.

The moment Max "realized" the end was coming, his first instinct wasn't to secure his daughter. It was to call Chloe.

"Jade, its going to be a hard road ahead," he told me with a straight face. "I'm bringing Chloe here to help. You wouldn't want to be selfish, would you?"

In the last life, I had screamed. I had fought. Max had beaten me until my ribs cracked, then tied me to the gate outside for three hours to "get used to the cold" while the first wave of monsters circled. I had been forced to agree.

Once Chloe moved in, I became the help. Hope became her personal footstool. But if I threw them out then, Max would have killed me. I had to endure. And in the end, he still locked me out to watch the "show" of me being eaten.

I remember his face as I died. It wasn't even hateful. It was indifferent. Cold.

This time, I didn't stop Chloe from moving in. She was a catalyst. She was the one who would whisper in his ear, pushing him to commit more crimes, to dig his own grave deeper. I wanted to watch them fall.

They spent the day frantically messaging friends for "emergency loans," maxing out every credit card, and eventually moving on to the dark-web lendersthe kind of people who don't care about the apocalypse because they are the apocalypse.

I watched them, silent and invisible.

Because I knew something Max didnt. In my time as a ghost, I learned the truth. This "apocalypse" wasn't the end of the world. It was a three-day atmospheric anomaly caused by a passing celestial event.

In seventy-two hours, the sun would stabilize. The monstershallucinations caused by toxic spores in the airwould dissipate. Order would be restored.

And the debt collectors would come knocking.

The heat was unbearable. Max refused to leave the air conditioning. He handed me the "borrowed" cash and told me to go get more supplies, while he ordered a five-course feast from a high-end steakhouse that was still doing deliveries.

While I was "shopping," a courier arrived at the villa. Lobsters, wagyu beef, vintage wine. Fifty thousand dollars on a single meal.

"Once the world ends, this money is just toilet paper," Max boasted to Chloe, waving his hand like a titan of industry. "Let's live like gods while we can!"

I watched them through the hidden cameras Id installed, a cold smile touching my lips. I didn't leave them with nothing. I bought exactly three days' worth of basic rice, beans, and water. Enough so they wouldn't die of hunger before the law returned.

I spent the rest of his "loan" money on a non-refundable deposit for a million-dollar armored survival vehicle, scheduled for delivery in exactly three days. I could already see the look on his face when the truck arrived just as the police did.

When I got back, Max greeted me with a stinging slap across the face.

"Where the hell have you been? You were gone for hours and you come back with this?" He pointed at the modest grocery bags. "You're skimming, aren't you?"

I dropped to my knees, playing the broken woman. I pulled out the receipt for the armored truck. "Max, I thought... I thought we needed a way to get out safely. For you and Chloe. It's a fortress on wheels."

His anger vanished, replaced by a smug, oily grin. He grabbed the receipt, pulled Chloe onto his lap, and squeezed her. "See, baby? I told you she was useful for something. In two days, Im taking you out for a joyride through the wasteland."

Chloe looked at me, her eyes filled with the same venom I remembered from the night I died. Maxs gaze turned sharp and predatory.

"Now that the logistics are handled," Max whispered, "you aren't really necessary anymore, are you, Jade?"

"Honey, our supplies are so limited," he continued, his voice mock-sympathetic. "There's barely enough for me and Chloe. You understand, right? Someone has to make a sacrifice."

Night fell like a heavy shroud. Outside, the "monsters"the spore-driven hallucinationsbegan to wail.

Thump.

Thump-thump.

The sound of something heavy hitting the porch.

"MOMMY! HELP ME!"

Hopes scream shattered the silence.

I lunged for the window. There, in the middle of the yard, was a wooden stake. My daughterwho should have been safe in the house next doorwas tied to it, her face pale with terror.

The hallucinations were swarming the fence. To anyone breathing the air, they looked like rotting corpses with jagged teeth.

I tried to bolt for the door, but Max grabbed me by the hair, slamming me against the glass. He held my head there, forcing me to watch.

"Don't be so dramatic, Jade," he hissed. "I've never actually seen what they do to kids. Consider this a scientific observation."

I fought, I screamed, I begged.

Chloe stepped up and backhanded me. "Shut up. Its just an experiment. Youre so sensitive."

I knew this was her idea. Max was cruel, but Chloe was sadistic.

She grabbed my chin, forcing my eyes open. "Look, Jade. Watch closely. We don't know how strong those things are. Your daughter is the perfect test subject. Maybe they don't even like the taste of children. Maybe she'll be fine."

The rage finally broke the dam. I didn't beg anymore. I twisted my head and bit down on Chloes finger with everything I had. She shrieked, clawing at my face. Max let go of me in the chaos, and I bolted for the kitchen.

I had planned to play the long game, but they had touched my child.

In the last life, Max had locked Hope in the dark while he played house with Chloe. She had died apologizing for being a "bad girl" because she thought her crying was why I was locked out.

I wouldn't let her die again. Not for them.

Max charged into the kitchen, his face purple with rage. I grabbed a heavy blender and smashed it into his temple. He staggered, blood blooming across his skin.

CRASH.

The front gate gave way.

"Oh, look," Chloe laughed, oblivious to the blood. "The show is starting. I wonder if they'll start with her feet or her throat?"

I grabbed a butcher knife, my vision tunneling. "Max, I will kill you. I will carve you into pieces."

"You're crazy!" Max yelled, backing away as I slashed at him, catching his leg.

Outside, Hopes screams reached a fever pitch. The hallucinations were pressing against the stake. My heart was shattering.

Then, Max did something that froze my blood. He kicked open the cellar door.

"Look, you bitch! Look at what I have!"

The cellar was overflowing. Crates of water, mountain-dried food, medical supplies. It was the entire hoard I had hidden in the house next door.

My mind reeled. How? I had locked that house. I had the only key.

"Did you really think you were the only one who could play this game?" Max laughed. "I'll tell you why I have your stuff. It's because I"

I didn't wait to hear the rest. I gripped the knife and charged out the front door, into the toxic air.

Max and Chloe slammed the door behind me, locking the deadbolts.

A mothers strength isn't a metaphor. Its a physical force. I cut through the "monsters"which were nothing but panicked stray dogs and shadows in the mistand reached my daughter. I hacked through the ropes, gathered her into my arms, and ran.

When we reached the house next door, I was covered in scratches and sweat. The storage room was empty, save for a few cases of water I had hidden in a false wall.

I patched my wounds, my hands shaking. I looked out the top floor window. On the roof of our old villa, Max was standing with a megaphone. He held up two fingers, a hideous grin on his face.

"Jade! You didn't think I'd let you win, did you? I've lived this twice! I'm a double-regressor! And here's the best part... the apocalypse isn't ending in three days this time. Its forever!"