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.
• Ø Current objective: Survive.
• Ø Bonus objective: Change fate.