Chapter 1 Reborn

Yvonne Brown was blocking our way out. It was our only path to survival. Our teammates roared at her with everything they had, "This is our last chance to retreat! Either we leave, or all of us are going to die here!"

Yvonne was stony and cold. She refused to make way for any of us. "Yves is still on the way. You can spare five minutes. That's no big deal!"

Panic was etching itself across our teammates' faces. "You're going to put our lives at risk just for him? Yvonne, that's ridiculous! That's just selfish!"

Some of the hot-tempered ones would not stand for this. They charged ahead and tried to pull her away.

And then Yvonne fired a shot. The bullet flew past everyone's heads, but only barely. Gasps and sharp inhalations screeched.

"Are you mad?" they demanded.

Yvonne did not flinch in the face of accusations. Instead, she retorted, "You're the selfish ones! You're vile and evil! No one's going on the chopper until Yves is here! You're all cowards who don't deserve to live anyway. People who would abandon their teammates when they need them the most don't."

My deputy turned his attention to me. He was stuck between me and Yvonne. "Sieghart, the military chopper's going to shut its door. If we keep stalling, we might never get out alive."

I gave him a reassuring smile and told everyone to calm down. Then, I approached Yvonne and put my hand on her shoulder. "Yvonne's right. We leave no man behind. That's our code. I know Yves is running late, but we can't just abandon him."

My teammates couldn't believe what they were hearing. They looked at me like I'd grown three heads out of nowhere.

"But that's insane, captain! You can't take her side just because she's your girlfriend! It's an emergency!"

"Shut up!" Yvonne fired off more bullets, but they shot just above the guy's head. "You heard Sieghart! We're not leaving until Yves is here! Stop talking right now!"

With my support and her armed with a gun, Yvonne thought she was on top of the world. She came closer and leaned against my shoulder. Gently, she said, "I knew you were different, Sieghart. You're a friend, through and through."

I put on a smile and patted her head. "Yves is one of my best friends. I can't just leave him for dead, can I?"

What Yvonne did not know was that I didn't even need to fight for a slot on this chopper. I was a virology expert. All I had to do was make a simple call, and the military would send their armed forces and best carriers to pick me up.

Also, my whole team was made up of experts across different fields. Well, almost my whole team, anyway. Yvonne and Yves were the sole exceptions.

I only squeezed onto the chopper in my previous life because I had to drag her along with me. If I'd cut her off, I could've gotten on a better, safer plane and made my way to the base with my teammates.

I would not make the same mistake twice. This time around, Yvonne would pay the price. The ultimate price. That was what her idiocy and selfishness would cost.

She would go straight to hell, along with her childhood friend. The very one she would risk everyone's lives to wait for. The very one who nearly wiped my whole team out more than once because of his incompetence.

The lack of protest only stoked Yvonne's smugness further.

Time was dragging on, and the zombie swarm was encroaching on us. Even now, we could see the sea of darkness making waves as it drew closer to us.

And then, finally, after taking his own sweet time, Yves decided to show up.