Chapter 1
By the third year of my marriage to Zane Lowe, the temperature had dropped to a frigid -76 °F.
When he was escorting a group of energy experts, the ice suddenly cracked beneath them.
Zane begged me to save Janelle Steele, his first love, and not worry about him.
However, the monitors showed that Zane's location had a 78% chance of a successful rescue due to the most stable structure, while Janelle's area was already teetering on the brink of another collapse.
"I'm sorry," I whispered.
Then I cut off his desperate call and shouted at the rescue team, "Save Zane first!"
As we lifted Zane to safety, the section next to us crumbled completely.
Janelle didn't make it, and Zane was left with a permanent limp.
In the eighth year of the Great Freeze, I risked my life to find supplies we desperately needed. With hope in my heart, I raced back to the shelter, only to overhear Zane speaking to his right-hand man.
"She abandoned Janelle for her own selfish reasons, and that's why Janelle died so young. Every day she lives reminds me how much I hate her," Zane said coldly.
He lured me to the edge of a frozen cliff and pushed me off the icy ledge himself.
When I opened my eyes again, I found myself back on that fateful day, gripping the communicator with trembling hands.
This time, I quietly cut off the connection and made my way to the equipment depot.
I hissed, "Since you're so desperate to save her, putting your own life on the line...
"I'll make sure that happens."
*****
"Evie, can you hear me? Evie, save Janelle first, please. She's not going to make it. She can't die. I'm begging you," Zane pleaded.
His voice came out hoarse, strained with intense pain. Every word betrayed his worry and profound affection for another woman.
Time seemed to freeze for a moment, and then suddenly snapped back, pulling me right into that critical moment again.
This wasn't a hallucination.
It wasn't a near-death fantasy.
I went back in time.
I was back at the moment that changed everything for all of us.
In my previous life, it was at this exact moment, when the communicator sparked to life, that I heard Zane pleading with me to save Janelle first, the woman he loved more than anyone.
But the monitors showed that Zane's spot was the most stable, with a 78% chance of saving him.
Meanwhile, Janelle's vitals were flashing red with alarms blaring, warning that her area was about to collapse again.
I loved him so much that I ignored all reason and morality.
So I ignored his "dying wish." As my team shouted no to him, I yelled at them, my eyes blazing like a cornered animal. "Save Zane first. That's an order. Whatever happens, I'll take the blame."
When we finally pulled Zane out from the ice and rubble, he was covered in blood, his left leg twisted sickeningly.
Almost immediately, a thunderous crash echoed from the neighboring section, and on the screen, Janelle's vitals went dark.
Janelle was gone.
Zane would never walk normally again.
From that moment on, everything changed between us.
The warmth and tenderness he once had for me vanished, replaced by a deep chill and a cold, simmering hatred.
Yes, hatred. He hated me for "killing" his beloved, innocent Janelle.
*****
During those harsh years of the Great Freeze, I gave it my all. I pushed my tired body through temperatures that dropped between -76°F and -94°F to find the supplies and medicine he needed to survive. I even put myself in danger, nearly freezing to death while searching for fuel. Yet, all I got in return was Zane's growing disgust and indifference.
In the eighth year of the Great Freeze, I finally managed to find a small box of antibiotics that hadn't frozen. I thought it would help ease his pain from old injuries, and I rushed back to the shelter, smiling from ear to ear like an idiot.
But just outside the infirmary, I overheard Zane talking with his right-hand man.
"That year, she chose to save me instead of Janelle because of her foolish feelings. That's why Janelle died so—" Zane said in a low voice, filled with bitterness and sadness.
His right-hand man tried to defend me, saying, "But Captain, all these years, she—"
Zane interrupted him, his voice cold and laced with venom, each word breaking my last flicker of hope. "So what?
"Every day she's alive reminds me how much I hate her and how I failed Janelle."
A few days later, Zane's mood changed slightly. He told me he had found a hidden spot that might have old-era supplies and said he wanted to take me there.
I believed him.
But when we reached the edge of a frozen cliff, he looked at me with a chilling clarity I had never seen before. "Evie, you owe Janelle a life. It's time to pay it back," he said.
Then, without hesitation, he pushed me off that bottomless, icy abyss.
The freezing air swallowed me whole, and the sound of my bones breaking filled my ears. In my last moment, all I saw was his silhouette at the cliff's edge, cold and unfeeling.
Did I hate him? Well, the feeling inside me went beyond hatred.
It was like my soul was set ablaze with a fury so intense that I wanted to bring the entire world down with me.