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"To our beautiful future," Victor shouted into the microphone. "And to leaving the trash exactly where it belongs."
The crowd of wealthy elites raised their crystal glasses to the dark sky. They cheered in unison.
"Brilliant speech Victor," Mr Sterling said. He wiped heavy sweat from his flushed forehead. "You humiliated him in front of the whole city."
"He deserved worse," Victor replied. He handed the microphone back to a waiting servant. "He overpaid for a concrete box. He bankrupted his entire life just to look tough in a boardroom."
Caroline looped her arm through Victor's tailored sleeve. She smiled at the gathered socialites.
"I spent three weeks watching him haul garbage into that hole," Caroline said. "He made me drag crates of water filters in this heat."
"Why would he buy water filters?" Mrs Sterling asked. She fanned herself with a damp silk napkin. "We have the best municipal water in the state."
"Because he is sick in the head," Caroline answered. "He liquidated three billion dollars for tactical gear and freeze dried food."
Edwin snorted into his champagne glass. "He is preparing for a war that will never happen. The man belongs in a state asylum."
"He will be begging us for a loan by next month," Victor boasted. "I might hire him to scrub my lobby toilets."
The socialites roared with laughter. They clinked their glasses together in the sweltering heat.
The temperature was ninety five degrees. Massive ice sculptures melted into wide puddles across the luxury tile floor.
"Victor my darling," Caroline said. She leaned her head against his shoulder. "When do we start building the nightclub?"
"I will send the demolition crews tomorrow morning," Victor promised. "We will tear his pathetic little bunker right out of the dirt."
A single white flake drifted down from the sky. It landed inside Victor's crystal champagne glass.
Victor frowned. He stared at the melting white speck floating in his drink.
"Is ash falling from the hotel incinerator?" Victor asked.
"That is not ash," Mr Sterling said. He pointed a trembling finger upward.
Victor looked up. The stars vanished. A massive black wall of clouds swallowed the moon.
"Victor, it is freezing," Caroline said. She rubbed her bare arms.
The temperature dropped from ninety five degrees to forty in ten seconds.
The heavy summer humidity turned into a thick and blinding fog.
"Get inside the hotel," Cynthia yelled. She dropped her wine glass. It shattered on the tiles.
The glass doors to the luxury penthouse slammed shut in the sudden wind. A terrifying howling sound ripped across the city skyline.
The temperature hit zero. Then it hit negative twenty.
"My chest hurts," Mr Sterling gasped. He clutched his tailored suit jacket.
He collapsed onto the patio. His lips turned blue.
"Help him up," Victor ordered. He grabbed his private security guard by the collar. "Do your job."
"I am not dying for you," the guard shouted.
The guard shoved Victor away. He ran for the emergency stairwell.
The power grid failed. The towering skyscrapers of Brighthaven went dark simultaneously.
The rooftop plunged into pitch black darkness. The unnatural blizzard hit them like a physical wall of ice.
"Victor," Caroline screamed over the roaring wind. "My hands are burning."
She looked down at her fingers. The flesh turned a sickening shade of bruised purple. Instant frostbite claimed her skin.
"Get to the elevators," Victor shouted.
"The power is dead," a woman screamed from the dark. "We are trapped."
Guests trampled each other in the blind panic. Women in thin designer dresses fell to the frozen tiles. They did not get back up.
The moisture inside their lungs crystallized. They suffocated on their own frozen breath.
"Do not leave me," Cynthia cried out. She reached for her daughter.
Victor grabbed Caroline by her ruined hair. He dragged her toward the VIP service stairwell.
"We need the cars," Victor yelled. "We have to get to my family estate."
"My mother is still out there," Caroline cried. She tried to pull away.
"Leave her," Victor snapped. "She is already dead."
They stumbled down the dark concrete stairwell. The cold chased them down every floor.
It reached negative eighty degrees outside. The concrete walls of the hotel cracked under the extreme thermal shock.
They burst into the underground parking garage. The air was still but just as deadly cold.
Victor ran to his custom European sports car. He ripped the door open and hit the ignition button.
The engine clicked once. A loud metallic snap echoed under the hood.
"Start," Victor screamed. He slammed his fists against the steering wheel.
The engine block cracked in half from the sudden freeze. The specialized summer coolant froze solid inside the pipes.
"It is dead," Victor gasped. His breath plumed in the freezing air.
Caroline huddled in the passenger seat. She wrapped her thin arms around her chest. Her teeth chattered.
"Why is the heater not working," Caroline demanded. She slapped the leather dashboard.
"The battery is dead," Victor yelled. "The cold killed the electrical systems."
"Use your phone," Caroline said. "Call your private helicopter pilot."
Victor pulled his phone from his pocket. The screen was cracked and black.
"It dead too" Victor said. He threw the useless device into the back seat. "We are cut off."
"We cannot stay in this garage," Caroline said. "We will freeze to death in ten minutes."
Victor looked through the windshield. The garage exit ramp faced the open street.
Across the dark and frozen asphalt sat the ugly concrete warehouse.
It was the only building in the city emitting light. Warm yellow light spilled from the reinforced security cameras mounted on the yard thick titanium gates.
Caroline stared at the glowing fortress. Her mind raced back through the last four weeks.
The rushed divorce. The massive fortune spent on military survival gear. The millions of tons of freeze dried food and water filtration systems.
He forced her to haul tactical winter coats into that bunker while she sweated in the summer heat.
The truth slammed into her with crushing force.
"He knew," Caroline whispered. Her voice trembled with horror.
"What are you saying?" Victor demanded. He shivered in his tailored suit.
"Malcolm knew this was going to happen," Caroline said. She pointed a frozen finger at the glowing warehouse. "He built a sanctuary to survive this exact night."
Victor stared at the massive titanium walls. His arrogant pride shattered into dust.
"He left us out here to die," Victor realized. "He planned this all along."
"We have to go over there," Caroline said. "He loved me once. He will let me in."
"Let us move," Victor said.
They scrambled out of the useless luxury car. They dragged their freezing bodies up the exit ramp and into the howling blizzard.
Inside the subterranean fortress the air was warm.
Malcolm sat in his reinforced command center. He wore a simple cotton t shirt and dark jeans.
The internal climate control hummed a steady rhythm. The thermostat read seventy two degrees.
He picked up a silver knife. He cut into a steaming slab of premium wagyu beef.
"Sir," the automated security system chimed through the overhead speakers. "Multiple thermal signatures detected at the main gate."
"Put it on the main monitor," Malcolm said.
He picked up a crystal glass filled with amber bourbon. He leaned back in his plush leather chair.
The massive screen on the wall flickered to life. It displayed a high definition night vision feed of the titanium exterior gates.
Victor and Caroline stood in the howling blizzard. They were covered in thick white frost.
Victor beat his bleeding fists against the impenetrable metal door.
"Malcolm, open the gate," Victor screamed into the camera. "I will give you anything. I will give you my company."
Caroline fell to her knees in the snow. She pressed her ruined face against the cold metal.
"Please let me in Malcolm," Caroline begged. She sobbed. "I am so sorry. I love you."
Malcolm watched them suffer. They looked exactly like he looked thirty days ago.
He pressed the intercom button on his desk. His voice broadcasted from the external speakers above the gate.
"You have nothing I want Victor," Malcolm said smoothly. "Your company is worthless paper."
Victor looked up at the camera in terror. "Please Malcolm. We will freeze."
"I know," Malcolm replied. He turned his attention to Caroline.
"You did excellent work hauling those winter coats Caroline," Malcolm said. "They are keeping me very warm right now."
Caroline wailed in agony. She clawed at the titanium plating.
"You are taking up valuable space outside my gate," Malcolm said. He repeated the exact words she texted him in his past life. "Thanks for the free labor. Die quietly."
Malcolm released the intercom button. He cut off their screams.
He took a slow sip of his bourbon. The rich liquid burned his throat with pleasant warmth.
He swallowed the drink and smiled. The apocalypse officially began.
- Writer
