“Now on to our latest news, a man interrupted the Secretary of State’s speach this afternoon as he rushed the stage to announce the arrival of an impending Apocalypse. Jefferson Bercard age 54, and long time...”

“Fuck!!!!” Red streaks spread across a wood floor before marring the skin of a pale foot. Having dropped his tomato soup, a young man was forced to jump back from the stove in a panic. “Damn it, damn it, damn it!”

Grabbing a nearby dish towel, the teen frantically wiped away the scalding soup spatters on his skin, trying to avoid any serious burns. Leaning against the kitchen counter for support the boy hissed while rubbing his foot tenderly. Turning his attention back to the small TV across the room, he frowned and started thinking over the news that surprised him just a moment ago.

“...Deemed to be suffering from some psychotic mental breakdown, the old man was admitted to a sanitarium for medical observation.” The news report showed a close up photo of a middle-aged man, being detained by a dozen government officials. His tantrum made him seem even crazier than he actually was. Seeing the fear on the man’s face, the boy’s thoughts couldn’t help but drift back to the events he experienced only three months ago.

---

Running for his life, a thirty year old Rein Matsuo fled through rubble and ruins. In what use to be D City’s business district, the dirtied and worn out man pushed himself to move forward through the many cement blocks and iron bars that formed a field of obstacles in the apocalyptic environment. The debris hindered a dozen fleeing survivors running form a horde of rotting undead. As the latter chased after the former, the survivors skillfully jumped, and climbed, over the top of a demolished parking garage. Wishing they hadn’t left the safety of the city’s established survivor’s base that day, the group of survivors struggled to stay ahead of certain death.

“COMMON! HURRY!” a loud shout came from one of the other survivors as he urged the others to pick up the pace. This team leader was a burly, and aggressive looking, bearded man, who had managed this team of mercenaries for the past three years. Using the gun in his hand, he sniped a couple of the faster moving zombies that were gaining on his team. “We’re almost there!”

Shouting his last few words of encouragement, the gruff military man turned back to jump over another cement block that was sticking out of the ground, paying careful attention to avoid the hole hiding behind it. Many of the razed buildings had basement levels built deep underground, making the random fissures among the rubble natural pitfalls for those unfortunate enough to fall into them. Any survivor unlucky enough to fall in would be left stranded inside of the dark underground, which housed unspeakable danger during the end of the world.

“AHHHH!!” One of the fleeing survivors near Rein ended up stepping on a loose piece of rubble, effectively snapping their leg in two. Ignoring the other man’s cries of pain, the other survivors continued to flee onward without hesitation. Well aware that this costly misstep had lead to his death, the crippled survivor turned back to the approaching zombies. With gritted teeth, the man watched the grim reaper approach. Suddenly a small yellow light appeared in the man’s hand, before shooting out toward the hungry corpses. When the light hit the chest of an approaching zombie, a small bang rang out, pushing the monster back. With an explosion of fire, the target, and a few other zombies, were set aflame. Seconds later, a few more balls of fire followed and bombarded the mass of monsters. Thrown by the crippled pyromancer, the flames temporarily slowed the zombies, but didn’t stop them. Though his ability to throw fire was powerful, it still wasn’t great enough to deter the man’s impending doom.

“Ahhh!!!”

Four sprinting zombies tackled the ability user, bulldozing the man over. As the entangled limbs tumbled over one another, the attacking zombies started biting into the man’s flesh, tearing into him. When the tumbling bodies finally came to a halt, a shower of blood and gore flew into the air as the man was ripped to shreds by the frenzied horde. Hearing the screams and snarls of the elated predators, the other remaining survivors were prompted to run faster, a few managing to pull ahead due to their team mate’s sacrifice.

At this time the Militant team leader made it to the road where a group of vehicles waited. Skillfully starting a few of the reinforced cars, the older man turned back to check on the status of his team. Sure enough a couple of them had failed to keep ahead of the zombie horde. Raising his gun, the man’s eyes began to glow in a blue light before he started shooting at the approaching zombies. With each bullet fired, another zombie fell lifelessly to the ground. If one had the chance to examine their bodies they'd have found an accurately placed bullet hole in each of their heads, but nobody dared to stick around long enough to confirm this.

Rein and a couple other survivors, who’d managed to keep themselves in the middle of the fleeing group, found a particularly difficult obstacle coming up in the terrain. One of the cement ledges of the garage was angled in a downward slope while the next was positioned much higher, making the jump impossible for the average person. Exchanging a quick glance, the two men in front of Rein sped forward. The first man, who was tall, and considerably lanky, suddenly leaped into the air as though gravity didn’t apply. Landing safely on the higher ledge, he quickly turned around to reach down for the presented hand of his team mate. This man didn’t seem to have the same ability as the other, but Instead had the strength to shove his hand into the cement ledge, creating a handhold for him to use to get up. Seeing the cooperation between the two, Rein picked up his speed in hopes of also getting some assistance. Unfortunately he was disappointed when he saw the two turn to leave.

“HEY!” Rein called up to the two, but neither one cared to even give an explanation as they left. Doing his best to jump as high as he could, the much shorter refugee was stuck just out of reach of the nearest foothold. “Fucking ability users!” He cursed angrily. Panicking now, he quickly searched the sides for another way forward, but failed to find any. As the sound of angry roars got closer, the man was forced to backtrack to find a new way around the obstacle. Now in the back of the group, Rein had fallen behind in the race for his life. Now the last one to make it to the last stretch of ruin, Rein was in a very dangerous position.

“HURRY!” The call from the team leader brought the survivalist’s attention to the train of cars ahead of him, and they were quickly filling up. If he wasn’t quick, he’d be left behind to die. Running again, Rein became much less careful as he moved through the debris, acutely aware of the danger only a few yards behind him. Skillfully jumping from place to place, Rein eventually gained some ground again.

By now, most of the others had already made it to the cars and were piled in. A few drivers already set out. The team leader, still overlooking the situation, looked on with a stern face as a few more survivors ran past him, leaving one out in the field. “Should we leave him? He’s too far behind.” A beautiful, yet domineering, woman asked as she came to stand beside the man. He narrowed his eyes in thought for a minute. “Is he an ability user?” He asked suddenly.

The woman shook her head in reply. The man stayed silent for another minute before continuing, “...Let’s head out.”

“WAIT I CAN MAKE IT!” Rein quickly approached the cars, finding only a small trench standing between himself and safety. Only, the convoy was already leaving! Frantically sweating, the last refugee sped forward attempting to jump over the hole before him. If he could make the last jump, he’d have just enough time to reach the cars and latch onto the back of a truck. Forcing himself forward, the small man flew through the air over the dark entrance to the basement below. Feeling that his jump was satisfactory, Rein was confidant he’d be able to make it to the other side. Suddenly a bloody and rotten hand reached up from the darkness below, grasping onto the thin ankle of it’s unsuspecting victim. With a forceful pull, the flying refugee was sent off course, slamming into the side of a brick wall.

“ACK!”

The impact into the cement, that made up the side of the trench, caused a bit of blood to fly out of the man’s mouth, splattering the stone. Feeling the sudden danger of falling into the trench, Rein quickly gripped onto the edge of the ledge to avoid slipping into the fissure. Trying to claw his way back up, Rein reached out to grab hold of anything within his reach, only to find there was nothing to hold onto. It was then he herd the low growl.

Looking down at the being that was still latched onto his leg, the survivor was left with a chilling sight. Within the darkness of the basement floor laid in wait a second horde of zombies. One of these corpses had leaped up and grabbed onto him mid jump. Caught like a fly in a trap, Rein watched as the zombie gleefully started to claw its way up the lower half of his body, pulling him down even further. Struggling to keep from falling, the unfortunate victim kicked out with his free leg, in an attempt to knock the other off. But before he could make any progress, another zombie jumped up and grabbed onto his flailing leg. Letting out a panicked scream, Rein could only look to the convoy for help, but it wasn’t there. They had already left, taking his hope with them. Lost in despair Rein Matuso let out one last sob of anguish, before being pulling down into the maw of the dark abyss. Moments later screams of agony echoed through out the dark underground, as another victim was claimed by the apocalypse.

---

Rein quickly brought his attention back from the memory of his death. Looking around fearfully, the youth quickly took in his surroundings. Finding that he wasn’t in the apocalypse, or in any immediate danger within his small apartment, the young man let out a relived sigh. Turning back to the news report on screen, Rein’s small face scrunched up in annoyance.

“Idiot! You get a second chance at surviving and you waste it by getting yourself locked up!?” Cursing the man on the screen, the solemn teen began cleaning up the rest of his wasted lunch, grumbling to himself as he worked.