Ficorpio
Chapter 1
Before the Outbreak, I Built Two Safe Houses
One was inside the Urban Residential Compound. I let everyone in because that safe house had been built to attract both people and zombies.
The safe house hidden in a deserted corner of the world was my real refuge.
I was a Reborn Survivor. In the previous timeline, after I was bitten by a zombie, the people my kindhearted mother had once rescued tied me up and threw me into a horde of zombies. They killed my generous parents as well, then seized our safe house for themselves.
On the first day after my rebirth, I went on a buying spree in front of the neighbors, purchasing every kind of canned food and bottled water I could find. I also called in contractors and had the top floor sealed off so I could store all the supplies there.
My neighbor, Graham Mercer, had “mercy” in his name, but his character was the exact opposite.
In the previous timeline, we had been neighbors for years. When the zombies surrounded the city, my parents shared our supplies with Graham’s family. They even let the entire Mercer family move into our apartment so we could all survive the apocalypse together.
But Graham repaid our kindness by taking over our safe house and supplies. Then he demanded that my family go outside and search for more.
After ambushing me and tying me up, he threatened my parents. If they refused to leave in search of supplies, he would kill me.
In the end, my parents had no choice but to risk going outside.
“Kid, there’s an old saying: if you’re going to help someone, you help them all the way. Since you helped me before, why don’t you help me one more time?”
After my parents went out again and again, they finally ran into zombies. Even from inside the room, I could hear their screams rising from the floors below.
I watched helplessly as they were torn apart and transformed into the walking dead.
And I became their final line of defense.
When the zombies closed in, they threw me into the horde to draw its attention and give themselves a chance to break through.
“Alex, what are you doing? Why are you buying so much junk? I’m telling you, that stuff is terrible for your health.”
Graham Mercer watched me pile order after order into my cart, wearing the smug expression of a man convinced he had wisdom to spare.
“Sure, sure. You’re right, Mr. Mercer,” I said with a thin smile. “But I have a reason for stockpiling it. There might be a disaster in a few days, so I’m getting prepared.”
My fingers never slowed as I worked through another purchase on my phone.
Seeing I had no intention of listening, Graham sighed theatrically to the people nearby. “Kids these days. They don’t want to work. All they know how to do is shop online.”
I swallowed a laugh.
Chapter 2
Keep showing off, Graham. In a few days, you won’t have the chance.
Less than three days remained before the zombie outbreak. I needed to gather every supply I could.
And I didn’t just intend to stockpile quietly. I wanted everyone to know I had food. I wanted them to see the boxes arriving at my apartment, the supplies stacked openly, even the crates I had arranged on the roof.
As for my parents, I had sent them back to our hometown as soon as I got my second chance.
Our family came from a mountain settlement cut through by ravines and steep ridges. The old cave refuge there had been used by my grandparents’ generation. It stayed cool in summer, warm in winter, and with its underground cellar, it was practically a shelter designed by nature itself.
For a reborn survivor like me, it was everything I could have asked for.
After sending my parents home, I repeatedly reminded them to inspect the cellar. Then I had truckload after truckload of potatoes delivered to the mountain.
Potatoes lasted a long time underground. They could be planted without drawing much attention, cooked in countless ways, and provided enough calories to keep a person full.
I wasn’t worried about my parents anymore.
Now it was time to have some fun with Graham Mercer.
The nightmare of my previous timeline was carved into my mind. After being given another chance, I would be betraying myself if I didn’t make him pay.
While I bought supplies in plain sight, I also installed several surveillance cameras around the area, each connected to a remote two-way audio system.
They would help me escape when the time came.
And more importantly, if I couldn’t speak through them, how was I supposed to lure the zombies over without anyone noticing?
Two days passed in the blink of an eye. Once I had finished preparing the shelter with my own hands—though it would be more accurate to call it Graham Mercer’s execution ground—I drove to my parents’ place under cover of darkness, careful to make sure no one noticed me leave.
After winding through the mountain roads, I pulled over. Then I took several more twisting turns on foot before finally reaching the old cave refuge where my family had lived.
At my insistence, we had piled and sealed earth over the entrance. From a distance, no one could have guessed there was a cave hidden beneath it.
Beyond the outer earthworks stood a bank-grade blast door and bulletproof glass, along with an electrified fence. Every wall inside had been reinforced as well.
Of course, all of that was merely a decoy.
The real shelter was underground, hidden in a basement no one would ever think to search.
The basement connected to a root cellar, and two abandoned service tunnels branched out around it. If anything went wrong, they would give us additional places to hide.
Chapter 3
I had stored potatoes, fresh water, and other long-term survival provisions throughout the tunnels, the cellar, and the basement. Even if one part of the shelter was compromised, we could still retreat to another.
Three hiding places, like a clever rabbit.
After getting a second chance at life, if I still couldn’t understand something so basic, then I would have deserved to die the way I did in the previous timeline.
Once everything was finished, I slipped back into the residential compound before dawn. I was exhausted and wound tight with tension, but I had never felt more satisfied.
What could feel better than personally cutting down the person who had betrayed me?
Tomorrow, everything that was meant to happen would begin.
I slept straight through until dawn. The moment I woke, I picked up my phone and found one news alert after another.
Experts reported isolated cases of people biting others in the city and elsewhere, with the infection apparently spreading from person to person. They repeatedly insisted that the incidents were limited and would soon be brought under control.
The public clearly didn’t believe them. People poured into supermarkets, frantically stripping the shelves bare.
I watched the coverage with an involuntary smile tugging at my lips. What a bunch of idiots. Why rush to a supermarket now? If someone inside had already been infected, who would be able to escape in a place that crowded?
A day later, just as I expected, the zombies began appearing in large numbers.
The first to turn were the people who had kept rushing outside even after the virus began spreading. Now they staggered through the streets like the walking dead, attacking every living thing within sight.
I even saw one incident from my window. A young couple was running in a panic when the woman, perfectly normal one second, suddenly began convulsing. The next, she threw herself at the man beside her, knocking him to the ground as terror turned his legs to water.
Another fit of violent twitching later, there was one more zombie in the residential compound.
I was still watching from the window when someone knocked on my door.
Knock, knock, knock.
When I opened it, the person standing outside was none other than my sworn enemy, Graham Mercer.
I looked past him and nearly laughed. A dark, crowded mass of people filled the hallway. Then I glanced back at Graham’s harmless, almost apologetic expression, and confusion stirred in my chest.
This wasn’t how I remembered things from the previous timeline.
Had the script changed?
“Alex,” Graham said warmly, “you mentioned a few days ago that some kind of disaster might be coming. I figured it was better to be safe than sorry, so I gathered some of my relatives together. The problem is, I didn’t have enough extra food prepared at my place. So, maybe you could take a look at what you have here…”