All Chapters of Apocalypse My First Skill Was Immortality : Chapter 1 - Chapter 8

Jake woke to the sound of something chewing.For a few seconds he had no idea where he was. Dirty white tiles. Broken glass. The underside of a counter. His cheek was pressed to the floor and his mouth tasted like copper.He tried to breathe, and pain tore through his chest.He jerked upright with a strangled gasp, regretted it right away, and fell back against the counter."Ah, fuck!"His hands flew to his stomach. There was blood everywhere. His shirt was soaked and ripped open, the front of it stained dark. But under the blood, his skin was whole.No hole. No torn flesh. No broken ribs jabbing at his lungs.He pressed a shaking finger to the spot where the creature had stabbed him. Nothing. He pressed harder. Still nothing."No. No, no, no."He pulled the shirt aside and looked again. No cut. No scratch. Not even a bruise. All that blood had come from a wound that didn't exist anymore.He was alive. He was alive after something had put a limb through his chest.The memory came back

The woman wasn't moving.Jake stood across the street, staring at her body while the thing that used to be Daniel pulled itself to its feet. Blood dripped from its mouth.It had changed in less than a minute. Black veins crawled across its neck and face and slid under the collar of its torn shirt. Its fingers had grown long, the nails turned into dark hooks. One shoulder sat higher than the other, like something under the skin had yanked the bones out of place.But the worst part was the face. It still looked human. Not all the way. The jaw hung crooked and the eyes had gone cloudy, thin black lines spreading through the whites. Still, Jake could recognize the man who'd staggered out of that storefront.That made it worse."Jake." Ethan's voice sounded far away. "Jake, we need to move."The man turned toward them. His lips parted."Help..."Jake stopped breathing. The voice was weak and broken, barely a whisper."Please..."Ethan went still. For one impossible second the whole street

The first thing Jake noticed was the smell of blood.It clung to his clothes, his hands, and the back of his throat. Every time he swallowed, he tasted metal. The van's windows were open, but the wind did nothing to clear it.The second thing he noticed was Claire's silence. She hadn't said a word since they left the parking garage.Both hands gripped the steering wheel. Her eyes kept jumping between the road, the mirrors, and the bodies on the pavement. Twice she had slowed to avoid running over someone. Once she had stopped completely when a child darted between abandoned cars. The child vanished into an alley before she could get out. Claire hadn't tried to follow.Jake knew why. There were too many people who needed help. Too many screams coming from too many directions. If they stopped for everyone, they would never reach anywhere safe. It was a terrible thing to work out. It was also becoming necessary."How far?" Ethan asked.Claire glanced at him. "Where?""Wherever we're goin

The man outside Rebecca's house wore someone else's face.Not literally.He stood on the porch in the dim light with one hand pressed to his neck and his shirt dark with blood. He looked tired and scared and painfully ordinary.Then he lifted his head."Found you," he said, in Jake's voice.Rebecca grabbed Jake's arm with her good hand."Get away from the door," Ethan whispered.The stranger took one wobbly step forward.Jake's phone had no signal and his hands were slick with sweat. Rebecca pushed the kitchen knife back into his hand before he could ask. "You're better with it than I am," she whispered. The handle was still sticky from Daniel, and it felt wrong in his grip. Behind him, Claire stood next to Martin, who was leaning hard against the wall. Rebecca's hurt arm was wrapped in a strip of torn bedsheet, already soaked through.Nobody was in any shape for another fight.A sharp crack came from the street. The stranger's head snapped toward it. Then the asphalt split open."MOV