Chapter 1

Clara screamed loudly and grabbed her beating chest in absolute terror. Her whole body shook violently as she felt imaginary teeth ripping into her soft skin. She looked down at her shaking hands and expected to see dark red blood everywhere.

But her pale hands were completely clean and totally free of any terrible bite marks. She was sitting safely inside her own warm and quiet bedroom. "Thank God, it was all just a horrible nightmare," Clara muttered with a heavy, crying breath.

The bright morning sun shined right through her clean glass windows like a beautiful painting. But the deep and painful fear in her beating heart refused to go away completely. Just a second ago, she had been dying in a dead and rotten wasteland.

The terrible zombie virus had turned everyone into flesh-eating monsters. People had eaten their own neighbors just to survive another day.

"Recently, flu cases have been on the rise across the city." The news anchor's voice came from the television in the corner. Clara turned her head slowly to look at the bright screen.

"Please take personal precautions and avoid crowded places this week." The news anchor continued speaking with a very serious face. Clara felt her warm blood turn into completely solid ice.

She remembered this exact news broadcast from her past life. Everyone had thought it was just a normal winter flu. No one knew the sick people would soon become hungry monsters.

This was not just a bad dream in her mind. It was a real memory of the terrible world ending. She had actually lived through the horrible zombie apocalypse.

The painful memories crashed into her brain with heavy force. She remembered the dark and dirty underground survival shelter. She remembered fighting with all her strength to protect her husband.

She had starved for many days so his family could eat. She had been the perfect and loyal wife to Damon. And she remembered exactly how he paid her back with cruelty in the end.

When the zombies finally broke through the heavy steel doors, he ran. Clara had stood in front of him with a heavy metal pipe. But she felt two strong hands push hard on her back.

Damon did not pull his loyal wife to safety. He threw her directly into the path of the hungry monsters. He used her soft body as a human shield to escape.

Clara closed her eyes tight to fight the deep pain. The pain of his betrayal hurt much worse than the zombie bites. She reached for her phone on the small wooden bedside table.

Her hands shook as she looked at the bright digital screen. It was exactly one month before the deadly zombie virus outbreak. She had actually been reborn to live her life again.

She had thirty exact days before the world turned into hell. This time, she would not be a blind and stupid fool. A glowing line of blue text appeared in the empty air.

[Host, the Apocalypse Survival System has been activated.] Clara stared at the floating words with very wide eyes. A strange system had actually attached itself to her mind.

The bright blue text shifted to form a completely new sentence. [TASK 1: Purchase an Apocalypse Survival Fortress.] Clara let out a very cold and bitter laugh in the quiet room.

To survive the coming zombies, she did need a strong fortress. But thick steel walls and heavy security doors cost millions of dollars. Where was she supposed to get that kind of massive money?

Her phone buzzed in her hand with a new text message. It was a short message from her personal lawyer. The huge investment returns from her late adoptive father were ready.

The lawyer said the massive fortune would enter her bank today. In her past life, she had given every single penny away. She had handed the entire massive fortune right over to Damon.

She had thought it was the right thing to do then. She had believed they were a real and loving family. Her chest squeezed tight with heavy and crushing emotional pain.

Shortly after she married Damon, she had gotten heavily pregnant. But the painful childbirth had been a complete and total disaster. Her innocent baby died, and the doctors said she became infertile.

Her cruel mother-in-law hated her for being a broken woman. But Damon had played the fake role of a loving husband. He brought a sweet little boy home and said they should adopt.

Clara had felt so guilty about her broken and useless body. She poured all her love into Damon and that adopted boy. She worked like a dog to serve his mother and sister.

But right before she died, she learned the horrible dark truth. Chloe was not Damon's real sister by blood at all. They had been sleeping together in secret for many long years.

And that sweet adopted boy was not a random poor orphan. He was Damon and Chloe's real biological child. Clara had spent her life raising her cheating husband's secret baby.

She had given them her massive money and her real life. No, she would never let that happen ever again. She would take all her money and leave them to die.

"Knock, knock, knock!" The loud noise hit her closed bedroom door. Before Clara could even speak, the door was kicked wide open. Her angry mother-in-law stood there with a very ugly scowl.

"Are you dead in there, you lazy and useless woman?" The older woman yelled with pure poison in her loud voice. "Why is my hot breakfast not on the dining table yet?"

Clara looked at the old woman with pure ice in her eyes. "Your son is crying in the hallway right now!" the mother-in-law shouted. "You cannot even give birth, and now you refuse to cook?"

"I am very hungry, and you are wasting my morning time!" the old woman continued to yell angrily. "Get out of that bed and go to the kitchen right now!" Clara did not move a single inch.

Chloe walked into the room right behind her wicked mother. She crossed her thin arms and glared at Clara with deep hate. "I sent you a link to those new designer high heels."

"Why haven't you transferred the shoe money to my account yet?" Chloe demanded in a very spoiled and angry voice. "I need to wear those expensive shoes to my big party tonight!"

"You know Damon told you to buy me whatever I want," Chloe sneered with a very proud and ugly smile. "So hurry up and send the money to my phone right now."

Clara looked at the two horrible women who ruined her life. In her past life, she would have rushed out of bed quickly. She would have cooked their food and bought those expensive shoes.

She would have done anything just to keep the fake peace. But today, she just stared at their demanding and greedy faces. The silence in the bedroom grew very heavy and very cold.

"No," Clara said in a very calm and quiet voice. Chloe dropped her arms down in complete and total shock. Her dark eyes grew wide with instant and burning anger.

"What did you just say to me right now?" Chloe demanded loudly. "Are you deaf in your ears this morning?" Clara replied with a very cold face. She threw her blanket off and stood up on her feet.

"I said no to your stupid demands," Clara stated very clearly. "I am not cooking your breakfast food this morning or ever again." The mother-in-law pointed a shaky and angry finger at Clara.

"And I am definitely not buying your ugly new shoes either," Clara finished with a hard glare. "Have you completely lost your stupid mind today?" the old woman yelled.

"You useless piece of trash, how dare you speak to us?" the mother-in-law screamed at the top of her lungs. "You live in my son's house, and you will obey my direct orders!"

"I will not obey anyone in this house anymore," Clara said. Chloe did not waste any more time talking to Clara. She lunged forward to grab a huge handful of Clara's long hair.

"I am going to teach you a very painful lesson!" Chloe screamed. "You are just a barren failure of a woman!" Clara moved her own body much faster than the spoiled girl.

She raised her right hand up and swung it very hard. Her open palm met Chloe's cheek with a heavy and brutal force. Chloe stumbled back and held her bright red face in pain.

Tears of total shock filled Chloe's eyes as she cried loudly. "You little witch, did you just hit my precious daughter?" the mother-in-law yelled. She rushed forward and raised her closed fist to strike Clara.

Clara did not step back or hide from the older woman. She simply raised her hand again and struck the old woman. She slapped her directly across her ugly and wrinkled face.

The heavy mother-in-law fell hard onto the solid wooden floor. She held her swollen cheek in pure and absolute shock. No one in this house had ever dared to touch her before.

"My face!" the mother-in-law cried out in pain on the floor. Heavy and fast footsteps rushed loudly down the outside hallway. Damon appeared quickly in the open doorway of the large bedroom.

He looked at his mother on the floor and his crying sister. "What is going on in this room right now?" Damon shouted. His handsome face was red with pure and burning anger.

"She went completely crazy and attacked us for no reason!" Chloe cried. Damon glared at Clara like she was dirty garbage. "Have you completely lost your mind this morning, Clara?" Damon demanded.

"Apologize to my innocent family right this exact second!" Damon ordered loudly. "Get down on your knees and beg my mother for forgiveness!" Clara looked right at the terrible man she used to love.

She looked at the cruel monster who fed her to zombies. Her eyes were completely empty of any love or care. She felt nothing but cold and bitter disgust for him.

She stood very tall and looked directly into his angry eyes. Her next words cut through the room like a sharp knife. "I want a divorce.”