After leaving the hospital, I narrowed my eyes against the sun glare.

Julian had owned the penthouse before we got married, but my name had been added to the title. Before the transfer went through, I still had plenty of time to use that hole.

I contacted a loan broker who had spent years skirting the edge of the law.

Some time later, I met up with the broker. I slid a copy of the title across the table with a firm tone. "A 3,200-square-foot penthouse downtown, worth more than two million in the market. I only want eight hundred thousand, paid today."

The broker looked at me, his eyes lighting up. "You really are quite decisive. But the interest..."

"Use your highest rate. I don't care," I cut in.

Julian would be the one paying it back anyway. No matter how high the interest climbed, it had nothing to do with me.

Aside from mortgaging the penthouse, I maxed out every credit card in my name and borrowed the highest amount I could from dozens of online lenders.

In just a day and a half, I pulled together nearly one million in cash.

All those debts that would usually be enough to destroy families were left tied to the penthouse and Julian's name.

After I secured the funds, I found a top security company.

While Julian took Jessica to a high-end restaurant to celebrate his "freedom," I brought the workers into the penthouse. I said, "The main bedroom, living room, kitchen, hallway, and bathroom. Cover every blind spot."

I pointed to each corner and ordered them around.

The workers installed more than a dozen tiny pinhole cameras with backup power using "smart wiring maintenance" as an excuse. The cameras record in high-resolution, had access to night vision, and audio recording.

When the zombie apocalypse arrived, I wanted to watch every angle of that shameless couple's desperate struggle without missing a thing.

After taking care of that, I drove straight to the countryside.

In my previous life, I had heard about an underground air raid bunker halfway up a hill on the edge of the city. It had once belonged to a tycoon who had gone bankrupt. I spent a fortune to get the broker talking and signed a ten-year lease.

When I pushed open the bunker's heavy titanium reinforced blast door, my heart finally settled.

This place was practically built for the apocalypse.

It covered 5,400 square feet and had an independent ventilation system, a deep underground well, a large solar generator system, and even a temperature-controlled hydroponic greenhouse.

For the next forty-eight hours, I became a machine. I bought out the warehouses of three large supermarkets. Fifty bags of premium grains of all kinds, thirty bags of flour, two hundred cases of assorted canned meat, one hundred cases of dried vegetables, and fifty cases of high-calorie chocolate and emergency ration bars. For drinking water, I ordered five hundred jugs and had them moved into the bunker, along with ten high-powered water purifiers.

Aside from food, medicine would become the rarest hard currency in the zombie apocalypse. I cleaned out five pharmacies, buying antibiotics, anti-inflammatory medicine, fever medicine, painkillers, and all kinds of first-aid kits and surgical tools.

Finally, I made a trip to the black market and got three military-grade compound crossbows, several thousand steel bolts, two machetes, and a stab-resistant suit.

When the last batch of supplies had been moved into the bunker, the reinforced blast door slowly closed.

I collapsed onto the couch and let out a long sigh of relief. At that moment, the giant screen on the wall lit up.

On-screen, Julian and Jessica were carrying bags of luxuries into the penthouse, both of them smiling with satisfaction.

"Julian, that old woman is finally gone! This place is ours now!" Jessica threw herself into Julian's arms without the slightest shame as she giggled.

Julian wrapped an arm around her waist, his eyes full of greed and smugness. "That's because she's stupid. Once I sell this place, I'll take you overseas and get you a proper kidney. Then we can live a proper life together."

I sat safely in the bunker, casually wiping the cold, sharp blade of the machete in my hand. As I watched that shameless couple on-screen dreaming about the future, I could not help laughing out loud.

There were twelve hours left on the countdown.

The night before the apocalypse was so calm it felt suffocating.

I stood in front of the bunker's observation window made from bulletproof glass and watched dark red rain pour down outside. It was unusually thick with the metallic smell of blood.

The news kept cutting in with one grim emergency report after another. "Unexplained mutated rabies attacks have broken out across multiple parts of the city. Residents are advised to stay home and keep all doors and windows closed..."

The reporter's voice shook despite his effort to hide it, and faint, piercing screams came from somewhere behind him.

I turned to the screen on the wall that was connected to the security cameras back in the penthouse. Julian and Jessica had no idea what was happening outside. They were soaking in the oversized bathtub, rose petals floating on the water, drinking my prized Romanee-Conti and feeding each other peeled grapes.

"Looks like it's raining. Why is the sky so red?" Jessica glanced at the tall window and asked with little interest.

Julian lowered his head and kissed her neck, his hand moving under the water. "Who cares what kind of rain it is? No one can bother us now."

I watched coldly as I smiled mockingly. 'Enjoy it while you can. This is the last hot bath you will ever have in your life.'

Through the cameras outside the bunker, I saw the people drenched in blood rain begin to convulse. Their skin quickly turned gray, their bloodshot eyes bulged, and animal-like growls tore from their throats.

A man in a suit who had been sheltering from the rain suddenly lunged at the person beside him and bit through his neck. Blood sprayed across the storefront window like a fountain.

The street fell into chaos. Cars crashed into one another and burst into flames. Screams, sirens, and the sound of tearing flesh mixed together. Within just a few short hours, the city had completely collapsed.

Early the next morning, Julian was woken by the endless screams and the sounds of car alarms below. He rubbed his sleepy eyes as he walked to the tall window, cursing under his breath. Then he pulled the curtains open. "Why is it so loud this early..."

His voice was cut off.

On the screen back in the bunker, Julian's pupils widened. He froze as if someone had cast a curse on him.

The once-bustling downtown streets had become a hellscape.

Burning vehicle wrecks were everywhere. Torn flesh and innards littered the ground, and hundreds, maybe thousands, of bloodstained zombies staggered through the streets.

One zombie lay sprawled on the hood of a sedan, greedily gnawing on a human leg.

"Ah!" Julian's legs gave out as he screamed and he fell to the floor, scrambling backward in panic.

"Julian? What's going on?" Jessica woke up with a start and came out in a robe. When she followed Julian's gaze and looked out the window, she let out an even sharper scream.

Then something even worse happened.

As the city's power grid and water system collapsed, the lights in the penthouse flickered a few times before going out.

"Why is the power out?" Jessica ran to the kitchen in a panic and turned on the faucet.

A strange gurgling sound came from the pipe and a few drops of murky yellow water trickled out, then nothing.

No water, no power, and surrounded by zombies.

On the first morning of the zombie apocalypse, that two-million-dollar penthouse had become an inescapable steel prison.

I sat in the bunker's spacious, brightly lit dining room. The ventilation system sent in air that had been filtered several times, and the temperature held steady at a comfortable 75 degrees Fahrenheit.

I brought a sizzling premium steak to the table and poured a glass of wine I had let breathe. I looked up at the screen and watched Julian and Jessica stumble around in the dark like headless chicken, so frightened they could only huddle together and tremble.

I raised my glass and toasted at the screen from afar. "Good morning, Julian. Hell's free trial has only just begun!"