CHAPTER 1: THE REBIRTH

The woman who had ruined my life was screaming in my arms when the monsters came for us. I could hear her nails scraping against my skin as she fought to escape, but I held on tighter. Her body twisted violently, desperate to reach the military convoy disappearing beyond the dunes, while the sound of thousands of claws tearing through the sand grew louder behind us. She wanted to live. After everything she had done, she still believed she deserved to.

I tightened my arms around her waist and pressed my cheek against her trembling shoulder. Blood from the wounds on my body was already soaking through my clothes, but strangely, I felt almost peaceful. For two years, I had lived through hell. I had watched cities fall, watched people turn against each other, watched friends become enemies and loved ones become corpses. I had fought for every mouthful of food and every drop of clean water. I had crawled through ruins, slept beneath broken buildings, and killed monsters with weapons that were never meant to exist.

And now, after surviving all of that, I was going to die here.

With her.

Veyra Watt screamed again as she struggled harder. “Nerida, you lunatic! Let me go! The convoy is still there! If you let me go now, I can make it back! You don’t have to die!”

I laughed. The sound that escaped my throat was weak and broken, but it carried more satisfaction than fear. I turned my head and looked at her pale face. Her beautiful features were twisted with terror, her eyes darting toward the vehicles in the distance as if someone would suddenly turn around and save her.

“No, Veyra. You don’t get to run away this time,” I whispered, tightening my grip around her. “You have spent the last two years running. You ran after betraying our team. You ran after stealing our supplies. You ran after Nido died. You even ran when you knew I was coming for you.”

Her face changed when I mentioned him. For the first time, the fear in her eyes was mixed with something else. Guilt. Or perhaps it was only fear of what I would do to her.

Behind us, the sand seemed to come alive. A monstrous wave of mutated lizards was pouring over the dunes. There were thousands of them. Their bodies were larger than ordinary Komodo dragons, some nearly the size of small cars. Their dark green scales were thick and hard, reflecting the weak sunlight like metal armor. Their mouths stretched open as they hissed, revealing rows of jagged teeth stained with blood. Their crimson eyes moved constantly, searching for the nearest living thing.

And unfortunately for us, that was me and Veyra.

Farther away, the remaining Superpower Users were still fighting around the military trucks. Gunfire flashed across the desert, followed by explosions of supernatural energy. Some fighters were throwing fire. Others were creating barriers or sending blades of compressed air through the monsters. But there were too many. Their powers were almost completely exhausted, and their ammunition was running low. Every monster they killed seemed to be replaced by ten more.

The convoy was already retreating. No one was coming back for us. Veyra realized it at the same time I did. Her face went white.

“Nerida, please!” she cried, suddenly changing her tone. “Please, I’m begging you! Whatever happened between us, we can forget it! We can start over!”

I stared at her. For a moment, I almost felt sorry for her. Almost. Then I remembered Nido. I remembered the tiny body I had held in my arms three years ago. I remembered the blood. I remembered Veyra standing nearby, pretending to cry while secretly smiling because she had gotten rid of the animal she hated.

My sympathy disappeared.

“Start over?” I repeated softly. “I wish I could.”

Veyra’s eyes widened.

“But I already did.”

The first lizard reached us. Its jaws snapped around my calf. Pain exploded through my body. I nearly screamed, but I refused to let go of Veyra. The creature’s teeth sank through flesh and muscle. Warm blood ran down my leg as its head jerked violently, trying to tear me apart. My knees almost buckled, but I forced myself to remain standing.

Veyra screamed when another lizard rushed toward us.

“Let me go!”

“No.”

“Nerida!”

“Did you think about this day when you killed Nido?” I asked, my voice trembling from the pain. “Did you think about me when you betrayed us? Did you think about all those people who died because you gave our location away?”

“I didn’t mean for them to die!” she screamed.

“But they did.”

Another lizard slammed into us. We fell to the ground. The sand entered my mouth and filled my nose. Veyra tried to crawl away, but I grabbed her ankle and pulled her back. She looked at me as if I were a monster.

Perhaps I was. After two years in the apocalypse, I no longer knew where the monster ended and the human began.

More lizards surrounded us. Their claws scraped against the sand. Their hissing filled the desert. Veyra began crying.

“Nerida, please. Please, I don’t want to die.”

I looked at her for a long moment. Then I smiled.

“Neither did Nido.”

Her scream disappeared beneath the roar of the swarm. The monsters descended. One bit into Veyra’s shoulder. Another tore at her arm. She screamed so loudly that my ears rang, but I held her close as the creatures dragged us toward the center of the horde. I could feel their teeth tearing into my legs. My clothes were soaked with blood. My body was becoming numb. Yet my mind was strangely clear. I had spent so long imagining this moment that I thought I would feel hatred. Instead, I felt relief. At least I would not die regretting that I had allowed Veyra to escape.

“Did you ever think,” I whispered into her ear as her screams became weaker, “that the person you betrayed would be the one who ended your life?”

Veyra’s lips trembled.

“You… psycho…”

“Maybe.”

A lizard lunged at my neck. Its teeth sank into my throat. Everything stopped.

A terrible, burning pain exploded through my neck as the creature ripped through my flesh. I tried to breathe, but blood filled my throat instead. My hands instinctively reached for the wound, but another monster bit into my shoulder. The jade pendant around my neck became drenched in blood. My vision blurred. I could hear the cracking of bones. I could feel my body being torn apart.

And then I thought of Nido. I saw him in my memory, curling against my feet. I remembered the way he used to climb onto my bed whenever I was sick. I remembered his soft purring and the way he would stare at me whenever I opened a packet of food. I wanted to see him one more time. Just once. I wanted to tell him I was sorry.

Then everything went black.

“Ah!”

I shot upright in bed. My scream tore through the darkness. For several seconds, I had no idea where I was. I clawed at my throat, expecting to feel blood and torn flesh beneath my fingers. My lungs burned as I dragged air into them. My entire body shook violently, and sweat soaked my hair, my clothes, and the sheets beneath me.

Nothing. There was no wound, no blood, no monsters, no desert… only darkness.

A small sound came from the corner and I froze. Two round eyes were staring at me. Rex lifted his head from his little bed, his ears standing straight up. He tilted his head to one side as if he could not understand why his human had suddenly decided to scream in the middle of the night.

I stared at him. My heart stopped.

“Rex?”

He blinked.

I threw myself out of bed. The blanket tangled around my legs, sending me crashing onto the floor, but I barely felt the impact. I crawled toward him with shaking hands, and Rex immediately grabbed his little peanut toy before waddling toward me. The moment I touched his fur, something inside me broke.

I pulled him into my arms.

“Rex… you’re alive.”

He squirmed once, then settled against my chest.

I buried my face in his fur.

“You’re really alive.”

The tears came before I could stop them. I cried so hard that my entire body shook. Rex licked my cheek several times, probably wondering why his owner smelled like fear and tears, but he did not leave. I held him as though someone might take him away from me again. Because I knew what it felt like to lose him. I knew what it felt like to lose everything.

After several minutes, I finally forced myself to look around. The familiar furniture, the curtains, the bed and the small table beside it. This is my room. My room from before the apocalypse.

My breathing stopped. I scrambled for my phone and turned on the screen. The date stared back at me.

August 26, 2025.

4:19 a.m.

I stared at it. Once. Twice. Then again. My fingers began to tremble.

“No…”

I checked the date again. It had not changed.

August 26, 2025. Three months before the cataclysm. Three months before the world collapsed. Three months before the sky changed color, the power grids failed, strange creatures appeared, and ordinary people began awakening supernatural abilities. Three months before millions died. Three months before I lost everyone.

I slowly lowered the phone.

“I’m back… three months before the apocalypse”