Early morning on May 13th, well before the sun even began to rise, a dark haired youth stared out the window of his 16th floor apartment, waiting to watch the sunrise. Dressed in a dark leather sports jacket, and jeans, the petite teen, seemingly deep in thought, observed the night sky of what was about to be the worst interpretations of life ever. In one hour, dooms day would return, marking the start of the year of death. Here to prepare for a life of hell, this returnee was steeling himself for the road ahead. His mind, however, was far from thinking about the list of tasks he had to do to overcome the next few days. Instead, he was contemplating something much more dower, his death.

Sighing to himself, Rein couldn’t help but feel as though he was in the process of making a very stupid decision. Once again he was thinking about the topic of Abilities. Thinking back to Eric, and what he had told him, Rein found himself staring down a one way road. Having already thrown away his second chance at survival, all for the sake of what ‘could’ be a leg up against the rest of the population, Rein was faced with only two options. Live to fight another round in purgatory, or die. He’d regret it if he didn’t at least try to change his fate. Part of becoming stronger was taking risks, and if there was one thing Rein learned from his last life, it was that risks had to be taken to survive.

“Keep moving until you don’t.” Muttering the phrase the old man from the garage told him, Reind himself to continued to look out into the horizon. Already there were early signs of movement from the world below. At four thirty in the morning, a steady stream of traffic was already pouring into the streets of F city. Many people waking up to started their week day routine. Most of these people were off to start work at some office job, or to open up their shops. A few were leaving the comfort of their homes to exercise. Like every morning at about five am, the first signs of light started gradually illuminating the sky, but something was different. Usually the morning sky would gradually change into a pale blue, before being illuminated by the rising sun, but today the sky looked red. Like the glow of a raging fire. Seeing the unatural color overtake the horizon, the people below began to slow. Rein felt his heart beat quicken. Fearing what he was about to do, the teen nearly turned away. By using the memory of his horrible death, Rein forced himself to face forward, willing himself not to look away. Reminding himself to stay strong, Rein knew if he didn’t fight, then he’d once again die.

Taking slow deep breaths, the youth repeated a series of thoughts in his head, ‘I refuse to give up. I refuse to be weak. I refuse to die.’

Suddenly the red sky darkened into Violet. Light broke the horizon, searing into the eyes of the observers. What was once an eerie sunrise, became a violent display of radiation. Something dark started overtaking the youth’s consciousness. The sudden shock, caused the returnee’s heart to suddenly stop, allowing for only a few fleeting thoughts to cross the boy’s mind.

‘Is this it? Is this how I die?’

Stuck in fear, a small sharp pain started to well up in Rein’s chest as his heart remained motionless. The pain was so powerful, and sudden, that the boy nearly cried out, but instead he grit his teeth and forced himself to stand. -Bump- He pushed Himself to take a breath. -Bump- And willed himself to live. -Bump- His heart slowly started to beat again, picking up it’s pace as time ticked by. After what felt like an eternity, the youth finally managed to pull himself out of his shocked state.

‘….I won’t allow it!’

The boy finally let out the breath he hadn’t realized he was holding. By now, Rein was looking at a fully emerged yellow sun. He hadn’t noticed when, but at some point in his shock, the sun had finished ascending over the horizon, turning back to the traditional yellow it was meant to be.

The silence from the world below, caught the youth’s attention. Looking down at the street below, Rein could see a few people standing motionlessly. Some faced a couple cars that had collided into each other, having veered off the road, but that was it. There was no walking, or running, just standing. It was as if the whole world had agreed to come to a sudden halt.

Suddenly Rein saw some movement from the corner of his eye. Looking to where a few people stood on the sidewalk, he could see a couple of them twitching in short spasms. One of which, having fallen at some point, was struggling to get up off the ground. Finally the previously motionless citizens began moving again, but Rein could tell they were no longer, ok. Faintly making out the slow familiar movements, the teen knew he had just witnessed the birth of zombies. A loud scream erupted from one of the buildings, cutting the silence. As if setting off a series of switches, more chaotic screams started to echo from multiple directions. The apocalypse has begun.

---

“Aug, I hate Mondays...or is it Tuesday.” A tall man in a blue suit grumbled to himself while checking his watch. Before stepping out of a black sports car, and closing the door behind him, the man hit the lock button on his car keys, activating car alarm. The car honked causing an echo to reverberate through the empty parking garage that wouldn’t fill up until about seven. Making his way to the elevator, Bern Bradshaw waited impatiently for the lift to arrive, so that he could make it to the subway below. Being a branch manager for a local business firm, Bern would always have to arrive early to check his emails from the night before. Nobody ever seemed to send important emails during business hours. Hearing the ding from the elevator's arrival, Bern once again checked his watch, absentmindedly boarding. Hitting the button for the sub level for the subway, the businessman descended.

It was a pain to have to commute a few streets over, but F city’s downtown didn’t have great parking. If it wasn’t for the mall across from the parking garage, then he’d have to commute even further than was necessary just to find parking. Luckily the mall had been closed the last few months, allowing him to ride the train in relative piece. He still had to share it with other office workers in the morning, but the ride back was okay. Speaking of, it was a little strange to see the platform so empty. Aside from the homeless man scavenging through the garbage can near the stairwell, he seemed to be the only one there this morning. That was fine.

Taking out his phone, Bern started scrolling through some news feeds. After about five minutes, he started to get impatient again, and checking his watch. The train should have been here by now, but for some reason it seemed to be running a little late. Just when he was about to put any thought into it though, Bern heard it coming down the tunnel. Just in time too, that homeless man looked to be headed in his direction, most likely to ask for some money. He could already smell his stink. Seeing that the train had arrived, Bern quickly dodged the homeless man, who was starting to get a little too close, and entered train.

“Damn, did you see that, that guy needs a bath.” He voiced out loud to the few other blue suits on the train. Sending chills up the man’s spine a sudden loud scream came from the next car. Looking to where it came from, Bern’s attention was directed to an even more chilling sight. The businessmen he thought he’d be riding with, were all sporting wounds, and blood stains on their clothes. A few even bled from their mouths. As if he was seeing a scene out of a horror movie, the man quickly lashed out, pushing the man closest to him away. Just when he thought he’d run back out of the train, he ran face first into the homeless man from earlier. The stench of blood, and grim, pervaded Bern’s nostrils as he looked at a half eaten face. Staring wide eyed at the exposed mandibles, Bern Bradshaw let out his own bloodcurdling scream. Hands and teeth alike dragged the flailing man back into the subway train, the doors closing behind them. Leaving the platform empty and quiet once more, a strange peace settled underground. Seconds later... the trains emergency alarm rang out, halting all operations. Doing what the train should in an emergency, it opened it’s doors automatically, releasing the passengers.

---

A tall leggy woman screamed as she struggled to flee down a corridor leading from the elevator. Having already lost one of her black high healed shoes, the gimping woman’s movements became hindered. Tight navy skirt hiked up in an unflattering position, putting on full display the underwear that was meant to be hidden, the woman’s business attire no longer held it’s previous sophistication. This matter was far from the lady’s mind however, as she turned to see a blood covered face close behind her. What looked to be a psychotic, two hundred pound, man was currently staggering after her in erratic, and unstable, movements. The blood on man’s face, was from biting into the neck of another resident, that the poor woman was unlucky enough to witness. If she had know what was waiting for the elevator on the 14th floor, the woman would have chosen to take the stairs.

Just then the heel of her remaining shoe broke, sending the woman face first into the floor. Having just enough time to roll over, the pursuing man fell on top of the women, pinning her to the ground. Luckily the zombie had yet to figure out the use of it’s arms, and was now only trying to bite the woman with it’s gaping mouth. Using all her strength, to keep the other at arms length, the woman screamed for help. Just then, a loud clank sounded out within the hall, a splatter of blood spraying on the woman’s face. At the same time, a sudden force sent the rabid zombie flying to the side of the hallway, and off of the woman. Zombie now floundering next to her like a dying fish, the woman quickly scrambled away, distancing herself from the monster. Pushing herself against the far wall, the woman started screaming in horror as she watched a metal crowbar smash into the head of the prone corpse. The bar hit the zombie a total of three time before the monster finally stopped moving. Terrified by the carnage, the woman stared wide eyed at the broken skull in front of her.

“...”, At the other end of the crow bar was a small teen-aged boy, who waited patiently for the woman to react. Finally after some time, and not getting a reaction, the boy spoke a few words. “Are you hurt?”

Startled as if the boy had suddenly appeared, the woman shook her head quickly, still refusing to move from her spot.

“Did it bite you?” Another question.

“N-no. He bit the other guy.” She mumbled. As if on cue another groan came from the direction of the elevator. Another bloody figure made it’s way around the corner at the end of the hall. When the zombie turned to face the two of them, the woman was able to clearly recognizing him as the guy that was in the elevator with her. The lady was almost grateful to see him alive… that is until she saw the giant hole taken out of his neck. Still squirting blood, the new zombie started to make its way over, inciting another scream from the woman on the floor.

“Quickly! Run!” The teenager ordered. The woman scrambled to her feet in a panic, running in the opposite direction of the zombie, and leaving the boy behind.

Calmly stepping forward, Rein waited as the zombie stumbled forward. Having fought these things countless time in his previous life, the teen was pretty calm facing the recently turned undead. All of the zombies, during the first couple days of the apocalypse, would no doubt be slow, low level, corpses, making them easy to take care of. As long as you weren’t surrounded, you could easily sidestep their attacks. For example, just now the Zombie before Rein couldn’t even try to lunge at the boy. Rein only had to take a step back, and the zombie would trip. The sudden change in weight caused the monster to fall prone before the boy. The monster could only let out a groan in frustration, before it’s head was struck by a metal crowbar. Rein swung down forcefully, swiftly bashing the zombie’s head in, killing it.

“That’s four.” A loud scream rang out from behind him. Recognizing it as the woman he just saved, Rein quickly ran toward where she went. When he turned the corner though, he was met with the bloody sight of two zombies gnawing away at the once living human. Her body stuck halfway through an open stairwell door. The woman must of tried escaping, only to be ambushed when she opened the door. Shaking his head in regret, the teen stepped forward to take care of the two monsters, who seemed to preoccupied with their kill to notice him.