CHAPTER 1 - Rebirth

"Look out!"

Felicity’s foot caught the lip of the curb, pitching her forward toward the busy street. 

Before she hit the asphalt, a firm hand yanked her back by the shoulder.

"Hey! Are you alright?" a stranger asked, his voice full of concern.

Felicity didn't answer. 

Her lungs burned as she sucked in ragged, shuddering breaths. 

Cold sweat coated her neck, and her heart hammered against her ribs like a trapped bird.

She blinked hard, eyes darting around. 

Bright sunlight stung her retinas. 

Green leaves fluttered on trees lining the sidewalk, and clean cars zoomed past, glinting in the morning sun.

‘Where are the screams? Where is the smell of rotting flesh and burning rubber?’

"Miss? Do you need to sit down?"

Passersby paused, whispering and staring at her flushed face.

She was standing at the busy crossroad near her neighborhood.

Suddenly, a memory tore through her mind like jagged glass:

Cold steel binding her wrists. 

The sneering, cruel face of her twin sister, Phoebe. 

The cold, indifferent eyes of her boyfriend, Mack. 

They stood together inside the warm, barricaded house, the very house Felicity had chosen and fortified.

Mack grabbed her arm, shoving her toward the armed scavengers from the northern base, while Phoebe clutched a crate of canned meat and medicine, laughing in her face.

"Thanks for keeping us fed, sister," Phoebe mocked.

The heavy iron gates of the enemy compound slammed shut behind Felicity, sealing her fate as a trade-off for supplies.

Felicity gasped, slapping a hand over her racing heart. 

The agony of that betrayal, the bitter cold, the gnawing hunger, it was all so vivid, so sickeningly real.

She looked down at her hands. 

They were smooth, soft, and unscarred. 

There were no dirt caked her fingernails and no jagged marks from zombie teeth or barbed wire lined her forearms. 

She checked her clothes: a clean, neatly pressed blouse and tailored trousers. 

This was the exact outfit she had worn the day she took a leave of absence from her corporate job, the day she decided to head home early to see Phoebe, right before their lawyer called about their uncle's inheritance.

I'm back... I really came back!

Without a word to the stranger or the gathering onlookers, Felicity spun on her heel and sprinted straight for her apartment building.

"Hey! Miss, wait!" the man called out, bewildered.

She didn't look back. She burst through the lobby, scrambled up the stairs, and threw herself inside her flat. 

She slammed the door shut, turned the deadbolt, and collapsed back against the wood, her chest heaving.

Hands trembling, she pulled out her smartphone.

The screen read: March 14, 2029. 10:15 a.m.

A week. 

Exactly one week before the global outbreak hit, plunging humanity into a cannibalistic nightmare.

A cold, sharp smile formed on Felicity's lips, tears of relief spilling down her cheeks. 

In her previous life, she had chosen the spacious suburban house, believing it was the ultimate safe haven, while Phoebe took their uncle's custom commercial van. 

But that house became the fortress her own sister and lover used to betray her.

Not this time.

Ding. Ding.

, The screen displayed caller ID: Lawyer Vexn.

Felicity took a deep, steadying breath, wiped her face, and answered.

"Felicity?" the smooth voice of the executor came through. "I'm calling regarding your late uncle's estate. As per his final will, he left two major assets for you and your twin sister, Phoebe, to divide evenly: the two-story suburban home on Oak Ridge, and the heavy-duty commercial van in his garage. Since you two need to sign the paperwork today, have you decided who gets what?"

Felicity gripped the phone, her voice dropping to a calm, icy whisper. 

"Have you contacted my sister yet?"

"Yes, miss. She already made her choice. Could you come by as soon as possible?"

Felicity's eyes narrowed. 

‘Made her choice?’

According to her memory, her sister had dragged her feet because she couldn't decide which asset to take.

"I will be right there," Felicity said, ending the call.

She stared at the dark screen as anger washed over her, her fists clenching until her nails bit into her palms. 

The memory of Phoebe’s cruel laughter rang in her ears.

‘She took everything from me. My home, my trust, my life.’

A tremor passed through her body, but after a long moment, Felicity closed her eyes and let out a slow sigh. 

She forced the heat of her anger back down, burying it deep beneath a layer of ice. 

Panic and fury wouldn't help her now. Only cold strategy would.

"Calm down, Felicity," she whispered, opening her eyes. "Let them play their game."

She grabbed her handbag, smoothed down her blouse, and headed back out.

Twenty minutes later, Felicity stepped out of a cab in front of Lawyer Vexn's quiet legal offices. 

Inside, her heels tapped softly against the polished tile floor. 

As she approached the door labeled Conference Room B, hushed, heated voices caught her attention.

Felicity paused outside the cracked wooden door, stepping into the shadow of the hallway.

"Are you completely insane, Phoebe?!" Mack’s frustrated voice hissed. "Pick the van! It’s a custom-built, heavy-duty commercial model with reinforced plating. It's worth way more than that old house! We can sell it, or we can use it to travel whenever we want!"

"No! Shut up, Mack, you don't understand!" Phoebe fired back, her voice sharp and panicked. "We are keeping the suburban house! I don't care about the van's price tag. We need that house, and we need to fortify it immediately!"

"Fortify it? For what?!" Mack grunted. "It's just a house! Why are you acting so unhinged today? Why are you suddenly obsessed with brick walls and fence height?"

"Because I said so!" Phoebe snapped. "I am choosing the house today. Felicity can take that damn van for all I care. She's going to take it whether she likes it or not!"

Standing outside in the hallway, Felicity felt a chill run down her spine. 

Her eyes narrowed to thin slits. 

Phoebe wasn't just being stubborn, she was terrified. 

She knew about the house's strength. She knew about fortifying it. She knew the exact timeline.

Felicity’s lips curved into a dark, silent smirk.

Phoebe was reborn too.