Zero Days

Jack wakes in the cold cabin, and every part of her hurts. She gets up to use the bathroom, an outhouse that is even colder than the cabin, and considers calling Sunsmile Insurance to get information about Gabe’s policy. Her phone’s battery, though, is down to 8%. She tries to get the electricity to work but cannot. Jack messages Cole to ask for advice on the electricity, but she has to switch off her phone soon because of her limited battery.

Jack checks the phone every half hour to see if Cole has responded, but—a few hours later—there is still nothing, and her battery is dead. Sitting on the front porch, reading a book she found, Jack hears a car approaching. She ducks inside, grabs her bag, and runs behind the cabin into the sand dunes. She hides for some time, grateful for the coat that blends in with the sand, until she hears someone whistling a familiar tune. Jack recognizes the opening notes of the song she and Gabe first danced to at their wedding, and she knows it must be Cole. He had messaged her, but when she didn’t respond, he panicked and jumped in the car. He can’t get the electricity to work, but he brought a battery pack so Jack can charge her phone.

Jack expresses her concern that Cole should not have come as he could have been followed. He worries about her tired appearance and asks if she’s been eating. She had the pasta last night and a cereal bar for breakfast, but the pasta she tried to eat for lunch made her sick.

Cole cooks a dinner with food he brought while Jack sips wine. After dinner, Cole says he probably shouldn’t drive, and Jack tells him to stay there for the night. Jack tells Cole about Hel’s theory that Jeff killed Gabe, and Cole thinks Hel could be right. Jack says this isn’t something Jeff would do, despite being a horrible person, because it’s too complex: hiring a killer, setting up the insurance policy to frame Jack, and now the pretense of innocence. She looks at the insurance paperwork and sees that Gabe’s personal information is correct. Jeff couldn’t have known Gabe’s exact height and weight or his middle name. Cole embraces Jack and tells her it will all be okay, but she knows this isn’t a promise he can keep.

Cole suddenly kisses Jack, and she thinks at first that it is a show of compassion, accidentally landing on her mouth rather than her forehead. It becomes clear that this kiss is neither brotherly nor accidental. For a moment, she kisses him back before something within her revolts. She wants to be held and comforted, yes, but by Gabe and not Cole. She pushes Cole away and tries to brush the kiss off as a result of their drunkenness and grief. He unrolls her sleeping bag to go to sleep on the floor, and Jack tries to open the sleeper sofa, but the metal frame bumps her wound. The pain is so bad, she cannot speak. Blood starts to trickle down her torso, and she lets Cole remove the dressing and clean the wound. She needs stitches and antibiotics, but she cannot get those without going to a hospital and revealing her identity.

Jack reiterates to Cole that she cannot do anything until she finds out who killed Gabe, and she makes a silent plan to break into Sunsmile’s offices. She doesn’t have Gabe’s hacking skills, but she is good at getting into places she isn’t supposed to be. She almost tells Cole her plan but holds back; she isn’t sure why. He redresses the wound, and she feels a little better. Finally, they go to sleep, he on the floor and she on the sofa.