4. Rebirth

The pain slowly faded as Maya had lost her consciousness. Only a warm and gentle feeling greeted her after she passed away. Maya no longer felt the pain when her eyes were completely closed. The world suddenly felt so quiet that Maya felt that she was in an abyss of nothingness, where she could not even hear her breathing.

Maya is always thinking. That when she died, maybe she could finally have a chance to meet her family again and get their forgiveness after Maya felt like she could not protect her family until the very end. Maya might be able to see her brother again. And her parents, whom she was forced to kill when they both turned into zombies and nearly attacked her sick brother. Maya waited until the miracle came. But no matter how long Maya waited, the darkness that surrounded her did not dissipate in any moment.

Slowly but surely, the feeling of calm turned into a feeling of restlessness. Because right now, Maya did not know if she was dead or alive. Just as her anxiety was almost at its peak, Maya began to faintly hear a disturbing, monotone voice that felt so close to her ears. Maya's brows involuntarily furrowed. Maya had no time to be confused or sad in this changing situation. She could only wait warily, as her body suddenly felt sucked in by an invisible force.

Before Maya was done being surprised after the mysterious energy pulled her body elsewhere, Maya began to faintly feel that she could move her body again, as if she were no longer controlled by her zombie instincts. The woman quickly opened her eyes, only to see that she was in a clean room, with fresh air coming from the large window in the large room.

Maya isn't stupid. The woman knew quickly that she was in the hospital from the type of equipment in the large room. But in her last memory, Maya clearly remembered that slowly her body started to burn into charcoal before she finally ended up turning into ashes.

Maya also felt a strange feeling as she moved her body. Maya is a woman in her mid-twenties. She is tall and burly because she has had to struggle to survive in the zombie world for more than five years. Her body is a little heavy because of the muscles that are formed due to her solid activity. But her current body felt so light and limp, as if Maya had lost all of her muscle mass.

Not only that, when Maya raised her hand, she could only see a pair of beautiful pale hand that looked fragile when she tried to move it. Maya could hardly believe the slender fingers were part of her body. Her skin had also turned pure white, as if her tanned skin could change so quickly just because she was lying in the hospital for an indefinite amount of time.

Maya did not know what was happening at this time. Her head throbbed in pain, as she tried to think about her current situation in a great confusion.

Looking around her, Maya was afraid that she had become part of the experiment of people that wanted to know what she really had turned into after the burning process. Maya was the one who suggested that Ben record the burning process at that time. But Maya did it because she was sure she would die in the process. Maya didn't know that she could survive and instead turned into some kind of fragile porcelain doll she is now. The woman's alertness increased greatly, as she tried to remove the oxygen tube that had been helping her to breathe all this time.

When Maya attempted to shift to a sitting position, she felt a stinging pain in her head again. Now Maya is more afraid that someone has replaced her zombie brain with something weird this time.

Maya attempted to ignore the pain in her head as she carelessly removed the IV needle that stuck in her hand. The woman staggered when she's trying to stand up, before she slowly searched for any weapon she could use to escape from whoever person that kept her in this strange white room.

Maya didn't know if the person who brought her was overconfident or stupid, but she could easily find a fruit knife that was tucked away near a basket of fruits that was put next to Maya's bed. Looking at the fresh fruits, Maya was a little pensive because it felt like it had been a long time since she had seen someone have so many kinds of fruit like the one in the basket. Among the fruits in the basket, Maya could even see the type of fruit that should have been mutated due to the meteor residue five years ago. Maya believed at this time she might have been captured by a group of humans who had truly advanced. Her movements turned more cautious, as Maya reluctantly tried to ignore the temptation to eat the fruit and try to find other clues of her current whereabouts.

Maya was just about to go to the window, when the sound of people walking towards her room was heard from the distance. Her whole body tensed up as the woman hurriedly ran to hide behind the only door in the room. Once again, Maya fell into a trance as her current state of body that seemed to have shrunk a lot almost slowed her movements. She could usually run hundreds of meters rapidly. But with her current condition, she stumbled so much, only to hide behind the door of the strange room she was in.

Maya held her knife in a ready position as she waited for anyone who might enter her room. The girl took a stance, when the door was actually opened by someone.

"You can rest assured, Madam. This friend of mine just wants to see whether his current wife-to-be is really all right or not."

Maya moved swiftly as she jumped up to grab the neck of whoever looked the weakest of the people who had just made it into her room. The fruit knife in her hand was aiming very thinly from the neck of the man she was currently targeting. Maya's eyes look sinister and so threatening, as she screams at a woman and a man who reflexively jump into a tense position after someone nimbly manages to put someone in a dangerous position.

"Don't move, or I will kill this man!" cried Maya fearlessly. Seeing Maya who did not look like she was playing, the man who was not caught looked a little dazed as he glanced at his friend who was being held hostage by the girl. They obviously just want to see the latest condition of his friend's fiancée. But when they just entered, they now have to be faced with a situation that threatens someone's life.

"Oh My God! Nola! What exactly do you want to do? Put that knife down! We, we can talk about it, Honey ...."

Maya's brows furrowed when the name of Nola somehow felt familiar to her at this time. Her head, which had been throbbing ever since, became even more violent after she heard the unfamiliar name. Maya slowly swayed, until she could no longer maintain the standing position she had been trying to maintain, and instead fell to the floor with a thud sound.