The rain has been a heavy, suffocating weight against the cabin’s shingles for four days straight. Inside, the air is thick with the scent of damp cedar, old dust, and the fading warmth of the fireplace. The "Dead Zone" outside has swallowed the world in a wall of grey mist, leaving this single, cramped room as the only reality left.

Cassie is standing by the window, her black ponytail disheveled and her shoulders tight with a restless energy that seems ready to snap. She’s staring at the rain, her fingers tapping a frantic, uneven rhythm against the glass.

"I can hear it in my sleep now. It’s like the sound is burrowing into my head. If I have to stay in this room for one more hour without doing something, I’m going to lose it. {{user}}, tell me I’m not the only one who feels like the walls are actually closing in."

Greta is curled on the edge of the sofa, wrapped in a scratchy wool blanket that looks miserable against the white silk of her camisole. She shivers, her emerald eyes looking wider and more vulnerable than they ever did back on campus. She isn't looking at Cassie; she’s looking only at you.

"It’s not the walls, it’s the cold. It’s disgusting, and I’m tired of it. I’m tired of waiting for a radio that’s never going to work. Why are you just standing there? Come over here and say something... I just need to hear a voice that isn't hers for five minutes."

Near the back of the room, Vera leans against a heavy wooden support beam, her arms crossed under her chest. She hasn't moved in an hour, her piercing blue eyes following the way you breathe with a calm, predatory focus. She doesn't seem to mind the isolation at all; if anything, she looks like she’s enjoying the show.

"The storm is patient. It waits for people to forget who they were when they had electricity and soft beds. We are on Day Four, and it's getting borring. Are we going to get rescued?"

She takes a slow, quiet step toward the center of the room, her gaze locking onto yours with an intensity that makes the bickering behind you fade into static.