Chapter 2: Reborn

Alice's POV

My eyes opened.

I sucked in a hard breath like someone had been holding my head under water for a long time. My heart was beating so fast it hurt my ribs. For a few seconds I was sure I was still under the broken concrete. I waited for the pain to come back. I waited for the blood and the dust and the heavy weight on my body.

Nothing happened.

I was lying on something soft. A bed. My bed.

I did not move right away. I was afraid that if I moved, everything would break and I would be back in that dark room dying again.

My hands went straight to my stomach.

The round shape was still there. Warm. Solid. I pressed down carefully and felt a small push from inside.

The baby was alive.

A broken sound came out of my mouth. I kept both hands on my belly and just sat there shaking. Tears ran down my face fast. I did not try to stop them.

“You’re okay,” I whispered. “You’re still here. Mommy’s here. You’re safe.”

I sat up slowly. My leg did not hurt. There was no blood between my thighs. No open cuts. No broken bones. I looked down at my body. I was wearing an old gray t-shirt and soft shorts. The same clothes I used to sleep in before the world ended.

This did not feel like death.

I looked around the room.

My loft. My bedroom. The light wood floors. The big window with the thin white curtains. My desk in the corner with stacks of research papers. The photo of me and Caroline from college sitting on the nightstand.

My stomach twisted hard when I saw her smiling face in that photo. I wanted to throw the photo across the room.

I stood up. My legs worked fine. I walked to the window and pulled the curtain open.

The city was normal.

Cars drove down the street. People walked on the sidewalks holding coffee cups. A man was walking his dog. A woman was pushing a stroller. Two kids were laughing and running ahead of their mother. The sky was clear and blue. No red moon. No smoke. No dead bodies. No screaming.

I stared until my eyes started to burn.

I turned around and almost ran to the small calendar hanging on the wall near the desk. My hands were shaking so bad I had to hold the paper with both hands to keep it still.

July 4th.

I read it again.

July 4th.

I grabbed my phone from the nightstand. The screen lit up with the same date. July 4th. 6:17 in the morning.

I died on August 5th.

I remembered every second of that day. The concrete crushing my leg. The blood pouring out of me. Luke’s cold eyes when he chose Caroline. The sound of Caroline laughing while I begged for my baby’s life. The weak kick from my child before everything went black.

I had gone back in time.

Thirty days.

I sat down hard on the edge of the bed. My whole body started shaking. The memories hit me one after another. Luke looking at my stomach like it was garbage. Caroline calling me pathetic. The two of them walking away while I bled out on the floor. The way Luke said he would not raise a kid with a dead woman.

Hate filled my chest until it was hard to breathe.

I hated them. I hated them so much my hands curled into tight fists. I hated how they left me to die. I hated how they talked about my baby. I hated that I had loved them. I hated that I had trusted them with everything. I hated the soft, stupid version of me who believed their lies.

I pressed both hands over my stomach again and held on tight.

“I won’t let them near you this time,” I whispered. “I swear on my life. I won’t make the same mistakes. I won’t be soft. I won’t trust them again. I will protect you. No matter what.”

A cold feeling suddenly spread through my head.

It felt like something was turning on inside my mind. A blue screen appeared in front of my eyes. I could still see the room through it, but the words were clear.

[Apocalypse Survival System activating…]

[Host detected.]

[Previous timeline status: Failure.]

[Rebirth successful.]

[Time remaining until global collapse: 30 days.]

I stopped breathing.

More words appeared.

[Special Lifeform detected in host’s womb.]

[Warning: Information about Special Lifeform is restricted.]

[Main Mission: Survive the first wave of the apocalypse.]

[Failure penalty: Permanent death. Special Lifeform will not return.]

My blood went cold.

I reached out to touch the screen. My fingers passed right through it. It was only in my head.

“What are you?” I asked out loud. My voice sounded weak and strange in the quiet room.

The system answered in a flat, cold voice inside my mind.

[This system exists to correct a failed timeline.]

[Host’s death created a critical point of change.]

[Primary objective: Protect the Special Lifeform and survive.]

[Further information is locked.]

I stared at the words until they blurred.

Special Lifeform.

My baby.

The system had brought me back because of the child inside me. If I died again, the baby would die forever. There would be no third chance. This was it.

I sat there for a long time with my hands on my stomach and the blue screen floating in front of me. The hate in my chest was still burning hot, but now there was something else mixed with it.

Hope.

I had thirty days.

Thirty days to get ready. Thirty days to become stronger. Thirty days to stockpile everything we needed. Thirty days to make sure Luke and Caroline could never hurt us again.

I wiped my face with the back of my hand and forced myself to breathe slower.

“Okay,” I said quietly. “Okay. I can do this. We can do this.”

My phone started ringing on the nightstand.

The sound was so loud in the silent room that my whole body jerked.

I looked at the screen.

'Luke calling.'

My heart stopped for a second.

Thirty days before the end of the world.

And the man who left me to die was already calling my phone.

~