Chapter 1: Her Death

The shrieks hit before I even saw them. A wall of sound, broken by guttural moans that clawed at my eardrums. My legs burned as I ran, lungs screaming for air, heart hammering like it wanted to tear itself free. Behind me, they came — a swarm, endless and crawling, a tide of rot and hunger that didn’t know mercy.

I tripped over rubble, my palms scraping against cracked asphalt. Pain shot through me, but there was no time to care. My mind raced, dragging behind it memories I didn’t want, memories I couldn’t escape.

I thought of them. All of them.

The friends I saved who never called me back, the family I begged to trust me who had abandoned me, the people I shielded with my life who… left me to die. I thought of him — the one I truly loved, the one who waited for me while I ran after ghosts that didn’t matter. My chest tightened. If I had only stayed… if I had only chosen differently…

The first one lunged. Its fingers were brittle bones wrapped in gray, rotting flesh, scratching across my arm. Pain flared, white-hot, but worse was the cold clawing realization: there was no escape. Not this time.

I screamed, but it sounded hollow even to me. My vision blurred with tears and the stench of death. Another grabbed my leg; I fell. Scrambling, desperate, I swung my katana at the nearest horror, but it didn’t even slow down. I swung with all my might, but they kept coming. They never slowed down. I was outnumbered, all alone, surrounded. I was surrounded by a horde of zombies with no where to run, no more strength to fight, and that's when everything came back to me.

I remembered my father. How he’d smiled when I won my first track race, how he’d told me I could outrun anything. Outrun life. Outrun fear. Outrun death. I’d believed him. I had to. Wishing he was hear with me, that I could hear his voice one last time. But even his memory wasn’t enough to save me from this.

My last thoughts weren’t of hope. They were of regret. Every bad decision since this whole mess started, everything I've discovered in the last 8 years. It all consumed my mind Why did I help them? They were never my family. It had been clear all along, but I ignored those doubts. Why did I leave him? He was the only one who truly cared, he was the my rock, and I just abandoned him. Why did I ever think loyalty would protect me? Look at me now, look at where my blind trust and loyalty has gotten me, here, alone, in this horde, dying.

A thousand teeth sank into my arms, my legs, my side. My strength was waning, my will was gone. Pain became a river, washing over me, and yet… even in the end, my mind clung to the bitter truths I’d learned too late. Far far too late. Love could betray. Family could abandon. And no amount of kindness could save you from the world.

I gasped, choking on blood and dust. I could feel myself slipping, my sanity slipping away with each bite. Bit by bit, slipping. My fingers curled into the pavement, digging desperately, but I knew — I knew — this was it. My life, my mistakes, my regrets, all burned into the last flicker of my soul. And then angry, I was angry! With myself with my choices. If I could do it all again I'd do it differently. I'd be better, I'd choose better.

And then darkness claimed me.