Chapter 1

• “Move, Jaze! They’re right behind us!”
• Yara’s voice cracked, but she kept limping forward, one arm clutching her ribs, the other waving me on.
• My lungs were burning, my thigh was a mess and every step sent fire shooting up my side. But the sound behind us was worse.
• That sound.
• It was not just shuffling or mindless groans. These ones ran and they thought like humans.
• I didn’t even have to look back to know their glowing eyes were locked on us, hungry and focused like wolves closing in.
• “Shit, shit, shit…” I muttered under my breath.
• We were supposed to have more time. I’d planned for more time.
• I gritted my teeth and shoved Yara forward. “Go!”
• She turned on me. “I’m not leaving you!”
• The growls got louder, and closer like they were everywhere at once. I could smell them now… that mix of rot and blood, sharp enough to make my stomach turn.
• I glanced down at my gun. I had one bullet left.
• Five years of fighting, of bleeding for scraps of food, of burying people I’d promised to protect… and now I had one goddamn bullet.
• Yara’s eyes caught mine, wide with fear but still clinging to hope.
• “Don’t stop,” I said, trying to sound like I still had control.
• We hit the corner, and that’s when the swarm came into view.
• Dozens of them, blocking the street. Their heads jerked in unnatural movements, mouths twitching. It was the new strain.
• I knew instantly we weren’t making it.
• Yara froze for half a second…long enough for the first one to lunge.
• “Down!” I shoved her aside and swung my arm, my elbow catching it in the jaw. It stumbled but didn’t go down. Another slammed into me from the side.
• I pulled the trigger without thinking.
• Bang.
• The nearest one’s skull cracked open, black sludge spraying across my jacket. The recoil jolted my injured leg so hard I almost went down right there.
• The gun clicked empty.
• Instantly, the next swarm of zombies rushed to me.
• Their hands, and claws gripped my arms and jacket. Their teeth sank into my side. One tore a chunk out of my shoulder. I screamed, the sound mixing with their snarls until I couldn’t tell where I ended and they began.
• The bat Yara had been carrying clattered to the ground. I saw her mouth open, shouting my name, but before she could reach me, three of them dragged her down.
• Her scream was the last human sound I heard.
• I fought until my vision went red, until the weight of them crushed me into the ground.
• Then, nothing.
• ****************
• My eyelids fluttered. Birds were chirping around me.
• That’s what I heard.
• Not screaming, gunfire or the wet tearing sound of teeth in flesh.
• Birdsong.
• I opened my eyes slowly, my body braced for pain. But there was nothing. No burning in my thigh, no bite in my side, no weight crushing my chest.
• I was lying in a bed.
• The ceiling above me was white, cracked in the corners but… familiar. The hum of an air conditioner filled the quiet.
• “What the hell…” My heart was still racing, pounding so hard it hurt. I felt like I was still in the fight, like any second I would have to run, swing, or die. I sat up quickly, my breath catching. My hands… both of them, were there, empty but whole. My shoulder was smooth, untouched. Even the old scar on my forearm, the deep one from that machete years ago, was gone. I kept hearing Yara’s scream in my head, kept seeing the alley, but when I looked around, the room was quiet. Too quiet. It didn’t feel real.
• I was in my old apartment, exactly how it had been before the world fell apart.
• A clock on the wall ticked in the same lazy rhythm I’d heard a thousand times before.
• 6:32 a.m.
• And the date beneath it made my stomach twist into a knot.
• July 2, 2030.
• My throat went dry.
• I stumbled to the window and yanked the curtains open. The street below was calm, wet from last night’s rain. A jogger passed by, earbuds in. A man in a suit hailed a cab. Across the road, the couple in 3B were arguing on their front steps, same as always.
• I knew every face. I knew how most of them died.
• Within forty-eight hours, this whole street would be crawling with infected.
• I pressed a hand to the glass. My reflection stared back at me… younger, less tired, eyes not yet hollowed by loss.
• That’s when I heard it.
• A voice erupted in my head, pain shooting through me. I fell to the ground, clutching my head and my vision blurring. The world spun around me as I tried to stand.
• > Welcome back, Survivor.
• Timeline reset confirmed.
• Main Functions unlocked: Status, Inventory, Crafting, Missions, Evolution Tree.
• The voice wasn’t in the room. It slid straight into my head.
• > Current objective: Survive.
• > Bonus objective: Change fate.