Reborn To Rule The Zombie Apocalypse

Present Day, New York City.

The world was ending, and nobody knew how to stop it. Across New York city, people ran screaming through the streets as infected victims attacked anyone unfortunate enough to cross their paths.

Abandoned cars blocked the roads. Smoke rose from burning buildings, while police sirens mixed with the screams of people begging for help. The dead were no longer staying dead.

“Please, somebody help me!” a woman screamed as she stumbled away from an infected man chasing her. Nobody stopped. Everyone was fighting to survive.

Lucy Hart gripped her phone tightly as she ran through the crowded street. The government had announced an emergency evacuation, directing uninfected residents toward designated safe zones before the military sealed the city.

She had received the evacuation instructions barely ten minutes earlier. Her first thought had been Stephen. Her second had been Bryan, their seven-year-old son. She needed to get them out immediately.

“Please, Stephen, pick up,” she whispered, calling her husband again. The phone rang repeatedly, but he refused to answer. Fear tightened around her chest as another explosion shook the street.

She tried once more, glancing behind her. An infected man staggered out of a shop, blood covering his mouth. When he spotted a running survivor, he suddenly accelerated.

Lucy screamed and joined the fleeing crowd. She could not afford to waste another second. Her son was waiting at home, and she would not leave him behind.

“Just hold on, Bryan,” she whispered, pushing past a man carrying a suitcase. “Mummy is coming for you.”

She reached their apartment building breathless, her clothes damp with sweat. The entrance was crowded with frightened residents arguing about the evacuation route. Somewhere upstairs, a child was crying.

Lucy hurried toward the staircase, ignoring the elevator. She needed to reach their apartment, collect Bryan, and get to the government evacuation point before the military closed the access roads.

When she reached their floor, she heard laughter coming from inside her apartment.

For a moment, she stopped. The sound was familiar, but something about it felt wrong. Stephen should have been preparing their son, not entertaining someone while the city descended into chaos.

She pushed the door open without knocking.

“Stephen, we have to leave!” Lucy shouted as she entered. “The government has opened evacuation routes. We need to get Bryan and reach the safe zone now.”

Her words died in her throat.

Stephen was on their bedroom bed with Vanessa, Lucy's best friend. His shirt lay on the floor, and Vanessa was pulling the blanket over herself.

Nobody spoke for several seconds.

Lucy stared at the two people she had trusted most. Outside, the city was collapsing, but inside her home, her marriage was falling apart before her eyes.

“Stephen?” she whispered.

He looked at her with irritation rather than guilt. “What are you doing here? You should have knocked.”

Lucy felt something crack inside her.

“Knocked?” she repeated. “You are in my bedroom with my best friend, and you're asking me why I didn't knock?”

Vanessa quickly sat up, gathering her clothes. “Lucy, please. This isn't what you think.”

“Then tell me what it is!” Lucy demanded. “Explain why you are in bed with my husband.”

Vanessa looked away.

Stephen finally stood and reached for his trousers. “Stop shouting. You are making a difficult situation worse.”

Lucy stared at him in disbelief. “A difficult situation? People are being attacked outside! I came here trying to save our family, and I found you sleeping with her!”

“Keep your voice down,” Stephen warned.

“Our family?” He laughed bitterly. “You still think we are some happy family?”

Lucy took a step backward. She had endured his coldness for months, convincing herself that success had changed him temporarily. She had never imagined he would humiliate her like this.

“How long?” she asked quietly. “How long have you been doing this to me?”

Stephen buttoned his shirt. “Long enough.”

Vanessa finally spoke. “Lucy, you have to understand that things between Stephen and me are different.”

“Different?” Lucy turned toward her. “You were my best friend. I trusted you with everything. You sat beside me and listened whenever I cried about my marriage.”

“I never asked you to do that,” Vanessa replied defensively.

The words struck Lucy harder than a slap.

Stephen picked up his phone and checked the screen. “I'm tired of pretending this marriage means something. We need to be honest about what we are to each other.”

Lucy swallowed the lump in her throat. “I stood beside you when you had nothing. I helped you build your movie production company. I believed in you when nobody else did.”

“And I married you, didn't I?” Stephen snapped. “What more do you want from me?”

“Respect! Loyalty! The same love you promised me when we started our family!”

He laughed without amusement.

“Love doesn't build a successful company, Lucy. Connections do. Money does. People who can open doors do.”

He gestured toward Vanessa.

“She knows important people. She has connections to sponsors who can finance my next productions and introduce me to powerful investors. She can help take my company to another level.”

Lucy stared at him. “And what exactly do I do? I gave you five years of my life.”

“You have nothing to offer me,” he replied coldly. “You have no money, no influence, and no useful connections. You are broke, Lucy. I managed to marry you, and now you expect me to carry you forever?”

She felt her eyes burning.

“You weren't talking like this when you needed someone to believe in you.”

“That was then. Things have changed.”

“And Bryan?” she asked. “Has he become useless to you, too?”

Stephen's expression hardened.

“Don't drag our son into this.”

“You brought him into this the moment you decided your family was beneath you!”

Before Stephen could answer, a crash erupted from downstairs. A woman's scream followed, then another. Something heavy slammed against the building entrance.

Vanessa grabbed Stephen's arm. “What was that?”

A terrified voice echoed through the corridor.

“Run! They're inside! The infected are coming upstairs!”

Lucy's blood ran cold.

Stephen immediately grabbed his car keys and hurried toward the door.

“Where are you going?” Lucy demanded.

“To the car. I'm not dying here.”

“What about Bryan?”

“Get him yourself!” Stephen shouted. “I don't have time for this!”

Lucy stared at him as he rushed out with Vanessa. For one terrible moment, she could not move. Then another scream brought her back to reality.

Bryan.

She ran into his bedroom, where her son was crouched beside his bed, clutching his favourite toy.

“Mummy!” he cried when he saw her. “What's happening? I'm scared!”

Lucy scooped him into her arms.

“I know, baby. But we're going to be okay. Hold on to me, and don't let go.”

She carried him toward the stairs. The ground floor had become a nightmare. Residents shoved past one another, desperate to escape, while an infected man lunged at anyone within reach.

Lucy tightened her grip on Bryan and forced her way through the crowd.

“Move, please!” she cried. “I have a child!”

She finally reached the entrance and spotted Stephen's car pulling away from the building.

“Stephen!” she screamed, running toward it. “Wait! We're here!”

Bryan lifted his head from her shoulder.

“Daddy! Daddy, wait for us!”

For a moment, the car slowed.

Lucy rushed toward the passenger door, hope rising despite everything he had done. Surely Stephen would not leave his own child behind. Surely there was still something human inside him.

She reached for the handle.

The car accelerated.

“Stephen, please!” Lucy screamed, pounding on the window. “Take Bryan! At least take your son!”

Stephen looked at them through the glass.

Then he looked away.

The car disappeared around the corner, leaving Lucy standing in the street with their child in her arms.

Bryan began to cry.

“Mummy, why did Daddy leave us?”

Lucy could not answer. She held him tighter as the sounds of approaching screams grew louder.

The infected were coming.

She turned and ran, searching desperately for somewhere to hide. But the streets were packed with abandoned vehicles, fallen bodies, and terrified survivors. Every route seemed blocked.

Then she heard the growling behind them.

Lucy looked back and saw several infected rushing toward them. Their faces were twisted, their clothes stained with blood, and their dead eyes fixed on her and Bryan.

She knew they could not outrun them both.

Not while she was carrying him.

Lucy lowered Bryan to his feet and held his shoulders.

“Listen to me, baby. You have to run.”

He shook his head violently. “No! I'm not leaving you!”

“You have to!” Tears slipped down her face. “Run as fast as your legs can carry you. Find somewhere to hide, and don't come out until it's safe.”

“But, Mummy—”

“I love you, Bryan. More than anything in this world.”

She kissed his forehead and pointed toward a narrow alley between two buildings.

“Go! Don't look back!”

Bryan finally ran, crying as he disappeared into the alley.

Lucy turned toward the approaching infected and screamed, drawing their attention away from her son.

“Over here! Come and get me!”

They changed direction immediately.

Lucy ran, leading them farther from the alley. She stumbled over broken glass, scraped her knees against the pavement, and struggled to keep moving as the infected closed the distance.

One caught her shoulder.

She screamed and fought desperately, striking its face and trying to pull herself free. Another seized her arm. Then another appeared behind her.

Lucy fell hard against the road.

As the infected surrounded her, she thought of Bryan. She wondered whether he had found somewhere safe, whether someone would protect him, and whether she would ever see his face again.

She had given Stephen everything she had. She had loved him when he had nothing and stood beside him when his dreams seemed impossible.

And when the world ended, he had abandoned their son without looking back.

Lucy could hear the infected snarling above her. Pain spread through her body as she struggled to rise, but she knew her strength was running out.

She closed her eyes.

If I could have another chance, she thought desperately, I would never trust Stephen Anderson again. I would protect my son, and I would make everyone who destroyed my life pay.

The infected dragged her down.

And Lucy's world went dark.