"Ohhh, you're still alive, hahahaha," said the man holding a baseball bat, grinning widely at Gab.
"You bastard! I thought you were a good person! You said you'd save people if they followed your rules but you cheated us!" Gab spat in the man's face.
The man only laughed. "Hahaha. I honored my word, didn't I? I let you and your family survive in our camp for the past six months." His grin darkened. "Now, you need to fulfill the reason we saved you. You're our emergency food."
The men around him burst into laughter.
"You fucker! I'll kill you!" Gab roared, straining against his chains.
A large man opened the door, carrying a woman over his shoulder.
"Boss, here's the woman you asked for."
Arnold smirked. "Good… she's beautiful. Let me take a look."
Gab's eyes widened. "Angela?!"
"Angela!" he shouted again. "Why is she unconscious? What did you do to her?!"
Arnold waved a hand. "Relax. She's still alive just sleeping." He reached under Angela's clothes, groping her.
Gab's eyes burned with rage and horror.
The other men jeered. "Hahahaha! Look at this fool squirm!"
"Stop! Please! Don't hurt her!" Gab begged. "Kill me instead! Eat me if you have to but spare her!"
Arnold grinned. "Ohhh, now we're talking."
One of his lackeys licked his lips. "Boss, you promised me she's mine after you're done."
Gab thrashed in his chains, veins bulging. "You bald bastard! Once I get out of here, I'll kill you! I'll beat you to death!"
Arnold sneered. "How can you kill me when you're chained like an animal? Did you forget I'm an Awakener? And you… you're an Awakener without any skills! Hahaha!"
He pressed harder against Angela. "Look at this, Gab. Your wife's body… her soft, voluptuous breasts in my hands. Her sweet scent is driving me insane." Arnold buried his face against her neck, sniffing.
Gab pulled at his chains with all his strength, muscles straining, but it was useless he was too weak.
"Robert, give her the cure for the sleeping pills," Arnold ordered.
Robert, his lackey, forced a small vial into Angela's mouth. Within seconds, she stirred awake.
"W-Where am I?" Angela blinked. Her eyes landed on Gab. "Gab?! Why are you in chains?! Arnold please, help him!"
Arnold only smirked.
Gab shouted, "Angela, run! Arnold is the enemy!"
Angela shook her head. "What are you saying? He's a kind man he helped us survive!"
Arnold leaned closer to her ear. "Yeah, I'm a good guy, right, Angela? So why don't you be good to me in return?" He tore at her shirt, exposing her.
"Kyaaaaah!" Angela screamed, struggling against his grip.
"Arnold, don't! Please!" Gab sobbed, thrashing violently.
Robert kicked Gab in the face, splitting his lip. Blood blurred his vision, but he forced himself to stay conscious.
The men laughed as Arnold stripped Angela, violating her while holding her down.
Gab's screams tore through the room. "You bastards! I'll kill you! I'll kill you all!"
But Arnold silenced him with a cold command. "Kill him."
One of the men plunged a blade into Gab's neck.
The horror in Angela's and Gab's eyes was indescribable. Betrayed by those they trusted, destroyed in the apocalypse they thought they'd endured together.
"Ahhhhhhhh !"
Gab jolted awake, panting, drenched in sweat. He looked around wildly.
"I'm alive…? Angela! Where's Angela?!"
His surroundings stopped him cold. This was… his house. Before the apocalypse.
Heart pounding, he turned to the calendar on the wall.
January 10, 2034.
Ten months before the zombie pandemic.
"Is this real…? Did I really turn back time?"
Angela is still alive.
My mom, my father, my brother, my sisters… they're all still alive.
Arnold, Robert, and everyone who wronged me this time, I'll kill all of you.
Suddenly, a sound echoed in his mind.
Ding!
Condition met.
A user's death has triggered the ability: Awakening.
Time Reversal: 1,000 days.
Ding!
Secondary Ability Unlocked: Unlimited Subspace.
User has officially become an Awakener.
Awakeners grow stronger by killing zombies and absorbing their essence.
Gab's eyes widened. "I… awakened?!"
He clenched his fists, trembling. "A subspace? That was my ability in the past life too… it was useless back then." His expression shifted. "No wait. It wasn't useless. Back then, I had nothing to store. But now… with unlimited inventory, I can stockpile everything."
A grin tugged at his lips. "This is interesting."
His gaze dropped to his body. Flabby arms. A soft belly.
"But first, I need to train. In the apocalypse, rule number one is simple: be physically fit to survive."
He tightened his jaw. "I only have ten months. I need to be vigilant. I need to be ready."
I only have Ten Months left because on November 2034.
The world began to crumble.
An asteroid struck California. Small in size, but carrying a virus that changed everything.
The infection spread instantly. The virus turned the living into the walking dead zombies.
But the impact did more than that.
The asteroid's strike shifted Earth's magnetic field. Seasons broke apart. Weather spun out of control. Drought consumed nations. Rivers dried. Even the oceans began to retreat, their waters vanishing into cracks in the seabed.
Drinking water became more precious than gold. Crops withered. Starvation spread faster than the virus itself.
And in the middle of that collapse the dead rose.
Within a week, the world was chaos.
No place was safe. Everyone was desperate to survive.
But humanity was not left powerless. A fraction of people immune to the virus awakened special abilities. These Awakeners became humanity's only hope against the hordes.
Yet the true terror was not the first outbreak.
The zombies… began to evolve.
Some grew into giants after devouring others.
Some became faster, stronger, and far more vicious.
Every day, they adapted becoming fiercer, hungrier, more terrifying than before.