Predators Next Door

The Vance family stepped inside their penthouse, and Harper pushed the heavy door shut, locking every deadbolt into place. She walked over to the living room couch and dropped onto the leather cushions with a deep breath. Arthur and Cora took the seats across from her, while Declan leaned against the kitchen counter, watching her with steady focus.

Harper leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees as memories from her previous life came back. "Mom, Dad, remember when I said our neighbors would turn on us? It all started right downstairs with the Cross family."

Both parents nodded, their expressions tightening.

Harper kept her voice flat and steady. "Fiona came knocking first, sobbing like her family was starving. We believed neighbors ought to look out for each other. We gave them rice and canned goods on the first day. We shared more on the second day. But on the third day, our stock ran thin and something felt wrong, so we turned them away."

Arthur frowned, his hands clenching tight against his knees.

Harper sneered with quiet disgust. "Fiona ran straight to the building chat group. She told everyone we had stockpiles while letting innocent people die. The starving neighbors panicked. They banded together, tore down our front door, smashed the windows, and ransacked everything. The Crosses did not just want our food. They had their eyes on our penthouses from the start. And the worst part? The Crosses had over a hundred pounds of rice hidden in their pantry. They refused to touch a single grain. They were predators waiting for the mob to strip us bare."

Arthur slammed his fist onto the solid wood coffee table, rattling the tabletop.

Arthur jumped up from the couch, his chest heaving with rage. "Those rotten bastards! They put on a polite act, but they are animals! I knew that family was bad news, especially that brat drooling over my daughter! If any of them steps past our door, I will gut them where they stand!"

Cora did not tell him to calm down, her gaze sharp and severe.

Cora looked up at Arthur. "You called the knife dealer yesterday. When do those blades arrive?"

Arthur paced across the hardwood floor with heavy steps. "Tomorrow morning. I will be there when they open. If anyone tries to harm my family, they leave in pieces."

Declan stood motionless by the counter. His arms hung at his sides, his jaw clenched tight in quiet fury. The coldness in his eyes carried far more danger than Arthur's loud temper.

Harper met their eyes one by one. "I didn't share this to upset you. Hesitation gets people killed. When society collapses, morality is a death sentence. If we stay soft, people will slaughter us without a second thought. We must strike first."

"You are damn right," Arthur agreed, pulling out his phone to search for more home defense equipment.

Declan walked over to the couch and rested his palms against the backrest. "How much room is left in your storage dimension? Does it have a fixed boundary?"

Harper explained openly. "For every thousand units of goods we pack away, the space expands by ten square feet. Right now, there is a ten-thousand-square-foot villa, an acre of arable soil, and a large open field. It keeps expanding as we store more."

She looked at her brother and gave him a reassuring nod. "The system gives me rewards for completing tasks. Right now, I only have one family slot. But more slots will unlock later. When that happens, all of us can move inside together."

Declan's tone softened slightly. "Understood. I will be waiting for my room in that villa."

Morning arrived beneath an overcast sky. Arthur drove out to collect the blades, while Declan left on personal business without offering details.

Cora grabbed her car keys from the bowl by the entrance. "Come with me to your grandparents' old house. We need to clear out everything they left behind."

Harper's late grandfather had been a master of traditional herbal medicine. When he and her grandmother died in a car crash years ago, they left behind a quiet suburban house packed with classical literature and botanical supplies. He had spent years trying to push Cora into the trade, but Cora had rebelled and pursued modern surgery instead, which had driven the old man mad. After that, he tried teaching Declan and Harper. Declan had zero patience for memorizing roots, spending his teenage years forcing Harper to watch autopsy shows so she might become a forensic investigator. That peculiar ambition ended when Cora caught fifteen-year-old Declan lecturing ten-year-old Harper on crime scenes, chasing him with a broom until he begged for mercy.

Harper smiled faintly at the memory as they drove up the cracked driveway.

Inside the quiet house, dust covered the floor and furniture. Three floor-to-ceiling bookcases lined the study, their wooden shelves groaning under hundreds of hand-bound volumes, ancient remedies, and clinical case studies.

Harper approached the shelves. With three quick touches, all three massive bookcases vanished into her dimension, reappearing neatly beside the villa garden. They moved into the apothecary room next. Cora pulled open the wooden drawers, checking the dried roots, bark, and preserved flora. Harper swept her hands across the cabinetry, storing every usable medicinal herb into the void.

Cora wiped her dusty hands with a towel. "You said manufactured antibiotics and prescription pills will disappear later. What about traditional herbs?"

Harper shook her head. "There will be some left, but finding them will be nearly impossible. The weather will turn extreme, and the wilderness will crawl with bandits and monsters."

"Can your dimension cultivate herbs?" Cora asked.

Harper nodded. "The soil is fertile, so in theory, yes. We just need to plant them."

Cora sighed quietly. "Leave the planting to me. If I had known this was coming, I would have studied harder under your grandfather."

Harper offered an encouraging smile. "It is not too late. We will gather modern surgical instruments and medicines as well. Modern drugs act faster when we need urgent treatment."

Cora nodded in agreement.

By nightfall, Arthur returned home with a triumphant grin. He dropped a heavy reinforced nylon bag onto the coffee table and pulled the zipper open.

Harper scrambled over to the table in excitement.

Five tactical combat blades rested in molded foam cutouts. The dark alloy steel absorbed the light with a matte finish, balanced with ergonomic grips and reinforced hilts.

"Five of them?" Harper picked up a curved trench blade, admiring the precision craftsmanship.

Arthur crossed his legs on the sofa with pride. "That is what two hundred thousand dollars buys you. Forty grand a piece. I was sweating bullets on the highway, praying a state trooper wouldn't pull me over and search the trunk."

With genuine combat steel in her hands, Harper felt the lingering tension in her shoulders ease.

Over the next few days, their preparation accelerated. Harper purchased commercial treadmills, rowing machines, and adjustable free weights, turning a spare room into a gym to build up their stamina. Declan spent massive sums on ten motorized speedboats, heavy-duty inflatable rafts, life vests, and water rescue gear. Storing the small fleet triggered another dimensional expansion, widening the fertile fields behind the villa.

At the end of a busy week, an installation crew arrived. They hauled steel framing and panels of laminated glass to the private roof terrace.

Harper stayed on the terrace under the cool wind, inspecting the progress. Declan had spent late nights designing the layout to withstand severe weather and blunt impact.

As the crew sealed the joints, Harper stepped inside the enclosure, impressed by her brother's planning.

Harper looked around the fortified space with genuine pride. "Declan, this looks amazing."