The crushing pain in her chest grew more intense. Zoe, with a pallid face, weakly pounded on the door. The footsteps outside paused for a moment, then moved away until they disappeared altogether.

Someone had come and gone. She wasn't sure if it was Barrett, but all she knew was that once those footsteps faded, despair filled her heart.

She couldn't stand anymore. Slowly, she crawled back towards the coffee table. In her haste to seek help outside, she had left her phone on the table.

It was only about ten meters away, but it took her nearly ten minutes to crawl there. The sudden, intense pain in her heart...