Contos e Romances de Apocalypse

A split second before I swipe my card at the Hermès boutique, I hear my unborn son's scream inside my head. "Mom, don't buy this useless designer bag! The zombie apocalypse is only a month away! This is inedible, and it can't be used as a weapon either. What's the point of buying it? Buy essential food! Sell that limited-edition sports car at home and trade it for a bulletproof armored vehicle!" My hand trembles, and the purchase order worth millions scatters across the floor. The sales associate looks at me with disdain and says, "Ms. Webb, if you don't have enough funds, you can always come back another day." I ignore her and immediately turn around to call the owner of the wholesale market. Without wasting any time, I order, "I need 10,000 pounds of potatoes and 5,000 pounds of beef. Make sure it's the kind with the fatty parts! I want it delivered immediately!" From this moment onwards, the socialite Phoebe Webb who only knows how to shop is gone. In her place stands a survivalist obsessed with preparing for the end of the world.

Leo Parker, my fiance, shoved me out the door with his own hands. He used me as bait to buy time for himself and my best friend, Jessica Thorne, to escape. I'd never forget him shutting the door. I'd never forget his last words through the narrow crack. "Thank you for your sacrifice, Chloe." When I open my eyes again, I'm back to the day before the zombie outbreak. Leo is gently urging me to hurry up and transfer 150 thousand dollars for the remodeling. It's the money we set aside for the home we plan to live in after we get married. In my past life, he set a trap and drained every cent of my savings. This time, I smile and agree. The only difference is that the 150 thousand dollars is going to build my doomsday bunker. And I'm also planning something special for them. After all, since I get a second chance at life, I should properly thank them for the "kindness" they showed me last time when they shoved me out to get torn apart by zombies.

The cataclysm was upon us. The world was besieged by a wave of deadly frost, covering everything it touched in an icy coffin. We were trapped in a cave of ice, but fortunately, Joshua Frost came to our rescue just in time. I thought I was saved, but I thought wrong. Joshua didn't even give me a moment of his time. Instead, he went to my best friend's side. "Irene isn't good with the cold, and she's not in the best of health. Just hang on for a bit, Sera. The rescue squad's coming soon." When the rescue squad did come, I had passed out from the extreme cold, my body numb. While I was weakened, Joshua stripped me of my Ability and gave it to my best friend.

In the dead of this frozen apocalypse, the shelter's fusion core was on the verge of overload. I grabbed my repair kit and sprinted for the basement, only to have the guard captain's girlfriend, Miranda Dunn, step right into my path. "Everyone, come look! Zach’s about to dump poison into the vents. He's gonna kill us all!" Her voice cut through the air as she shrieked. "I didn’t approve a private room for him two days ago, and now, he wants us all dead!" The guards didn't bother asking questions. They slammed me hard against the freezing metal door. "Zach, are you going to kill us all over a room? We're taking you in for interrogation!" I stared at the control panel, its readings spiking into the red, and shouted, "If the core blows up, none of us will make it out alive!" But they were too busy trying to impress Miranda and brushed off my warning, thinking I had lost it. Nineteen minutes remained before the core exploded.

I found a wounded giant wolf. After the world ended, I treated him as my strongest fighter and a living source of warmth, curling against him to sleep every night. Later, once he healed, he turned into a man and warned me with a savage look, "I'm the Alpha of a werewolf pack. I have responsibilities to my people. Don't think you can make me stay." And with that, he left. I pulled my ragged blanket tighter, confused. What was he talking about? I had been keeping him as a dog the whole time. What did his responsibilities have to do with me? Later, I rescued a foolish husky from a pile of zombies. When I led him back to my crumbling shelter, I found the heir to the werewolf pack crouched at my door, covered in blood and looking utterly betrayed. His voice was hoarse, close to tears: "Throw that thing out and keep me instead, all right? I'm bigger, stronger, and have a thicker coat. I can warm your bed, and I'm better in that department too! "...If you don't agree, I'm kicking that stupid dog of yours back into the zombie pile!"

When the Earth slipped into a relentless, record-breaking heat, I exhausted everything I had to develop a constant-temperature shelter. Yet, my fiancée, Janine O’Connor, insisted on wearing a bikini and going out to sunbathe with her personal secretary. In my previous life, I stopped her. I warned her that an apocalyptic heatwave was coming, and that countless people would be burned to death simply by being exposed to the heat. However, her personal secretary looked as though he had suffered a great injustice. “I’m sorry, Will,” he said. “But I can’t bear to see Miss Janine stuck in a shelter for the rest of her life. I’ve done my research. This is a period of natural selection for the Earth. Only by adapting quickly to the environment can people truly survive.” Even so, I threatened my own life and forcibly brought Janine back into the shelter. Relying on the shelter I built, Janine survived the apocalypse and rapidly built a survivor base. However, on the second day after she became the base’s leader, she had me hanged outside the shelter and burned alive. “If you hadn’t forced me to come back, Mark wouldn’t have been devastated and killed himself in the heat! He was about to develop a new type of shelter, yet you stole all the credit! I’ll make you pay with your life!” Even after my death, her hatred didn’t fade. She ordered someone to skin me and turn my hide into a rug, stepping on it every day. When I opened my eyes again, I was back to the day I tried to stop her from sunbathing with Mark Davis.

Three years into the apocalypse, my girlfriend, a captain of the Spark Sanctuary, kept me stuck living in the outer quarantine belt for 1,095 days. Every time I dragged my battered body to her with an entry pass in hand, she would put on a conflicted expression. "Shane, you're my boyfriend, so I have to avoid showing favoritism. These spots need to go to the families of fallen soldiers. Just wait a little longer. You don't have special abilities, so you're just regular muscle inside." I bought her excuses completely, turning right back around to risk my life fighting through swarms of infected. It wasn't until the day I accumulated my ninth entry pass, crawling back to find her while burning up with a 104-degree fever, that I caught her handing the last spot to her ex-boyfriend. She shielded him. "Logan's healing power is humanity's greatest hope. I have to look at the big picture." She snatched the blood-stained entry pass from my hand and tossed it into the trash can. In that instant, it all clicked. Her supposed "difficulties" and "big picture" were nothing more than convenient excuses to sacrifice me whenever it suited her.

I had just been confirmed as a match and was preparing to donate a kidney to my husband's adoptive sister. That night, she left her iPad in the living room. The screen was still on, showing her chat with the doctor: [Doctor, please don't tell my sister-in-law. If she has a kidney removed, her hidden heart condition will flare up, and she won't live longer than three months.] The next day, I canceled the donation without a second thought. My husband flew into a rage. He called me cold-blooded and forced me to sign a divorce agreement that left me with nothing. The next day, I stood outside the hospital room and heard my sister-in-law laughing smugly. "She's so stupid. I faked one chat screenshot, and she actually believed she was sick. Now her penthouse is mine, and we can finally be together openly." My husband kissed her. "Good girl. Later, I'll find you a good kidney on the black market." Outside the door, I sneered. Of course, I knew the chat log was fake. I had come back from the future, after all. In two weeks, the zombie outbreak would begin. Those two so-called siblings who were actually lovers would not only steal my medicine, they would push me out to feed me to the zombies. This time, with only four days left before zombie hordes overran the city, I wanted to see how long a sick woman without a new kidney and a scumbag without supplies could last in that penthouse.

On New Year's Eve, my cousin and I went to the supermarket to stock up for the holiday when a cold wave hit out of nowhere. The temperature plummeted dozens of degrees, and the world plunged into an ice-cold apocalypse. In the blink of an eye, people froze solid into ice sculptures. I scrambled to grab winter coats and whatever supplies I could, but my cousin just sat there playing video games. He even posted his pentakill on social media to brag about it. I went through hell to snag him a down jacket, and he still insisted he was not afraid of the cold. "I'm a real man. You think a little cold scares me?" He refused to eat the compressed biscuits. He even used our scarce bottled water to wash his limited-edition sneakers, then threw a fit demanding freshly pan-seared steak. "It's called having standards, look it up. Even if I die, I'm dying tough and with style!" I scoffed. Since he wanted to die tough, he could go right ahead and freeze into an ice sculpture. Ice sculptures were plenty tough.

My dad was a zombie. My mom? Even scarier. She was an uber-powerful mutant. At the crack of dawn, she was already yelling, "Derick Olson! Don't make me come over there! What kind of zombie are you? Glued to your headphones all day—are those audiobooks really that captivating?" I rolled over in bed and promptly fell right off. Scrambling to my feet, I started tidying up my room in a flash, terrified she might actually make good on her threat. "Look at Mr. Hoffman next door," she hollered. "He roams the streets day and night, probably gobbled up more brains than you've read books!"

In order to find clean water for his beloved Liana Hughes to bathe, Castiel Fenton, my brother, left the base with all the able-bodied men. But among the zombies, a sentient Zombie King emerged and took it as an opportunity to invade the base. June Morgan, my pregnant sister-in-law, was torn in half by zombies while protecting me, and Poppy, my little niece was devoured down to the bone trying to help me escape. To save the base, I called Castiel for help. Upon hearing the news, he had no choice but to abandon Liana and rush back with his men. Eventually, the zombies were driven out of the base, but Liana was eaten by a passing zombie. Castiel said nothing and only collected Liana’s remains expressionlessly. On the day of Liana’s funeral, Castiel deliberately pushed me into a horde of zombies and let them feast on my body. “If you hadn’t called me back, Liana wouldn’t have died! You must pay for her life!” When I opened my eyes again, I was back on the day the zombies invaded the base.

Whitney Lund throws me out of the base on the day my ability test results come out. "You were tested three times, and all three results show that you're a non-ability user, Maverick." Raven Lincoln, her second-in-command, stands nearby with a look of disdain. "Whitney has kept you around for three years even though you're just an ordinary person. She's done more than enough for you. You've already received the expulsion order from the base, so get out of here and stop being an eyesore." I grip the expulsion order tightly, a lump forming in my throat. I've spent three years following Whitney, and just last month, I nearly died in a mutant rat horde just to gain enough points for her S-rank protective gear. She held my hand back then and said, "I'll protect you for the rest of my life once I become the strongest ability user, Maverick!" It turns out that everything I've gone through and risked my life over for the past three years means nothing to her. I'm nothing more than a resource dispenser to her. One year later, the base's founding anniversary celebration is held. Whitney walks onto the stage to accept the Apex Hunter Award, but as soon as she sees the person presenting the award, her composure instantly shatters.

It was the apocalypse. A zombie apocalypse. We should've been running for our lives, but my girlfriend, Yvonne Brown, refused to. She wanted to buy as much time as she could for her incompetent childhood friend, Yves Claude, to hop into the last helicopter that would take survivors away. But the retreat was our group's only way to survive in this apocalypse. Yves was not showing up anytime soon. I had no choice but to knock her out and drag her into the chopper. And Yves, the one she could never seem to forget, died in the swarm of undead. I, however, survived thanks to what I did. Yvonne and I lived happily in a safe zone. And then that fateful day came. I was going to take over the territory and lead humanity on an attack against the zombies. The night before that decisive strike, Yvonne spiked my water with anesthetics. When I was caught helpless, she tossed me into the horde of zombies. The swarm of undead tore my flesh open, and the pain killed me. Yvonne? She stood on the wall coldly, a sneer decorating her lips. "Yves could've lived, but you took that chance away from him! You selfish monster, you killed Yves! I will make you suffer what he suffered! You'll pay for it with your life!" Death took me, but it tossed me all the way back to the day of the retreat. The day Yvonne adamantly insisted on waiting for Yves. Well, if she was so happy to live through a world like this with her friend, who am I to say no? I would grant her that wish, even if she would end up as zombie food.

When the tsunami came, ninety-five percent of the world's land disappeared beneath the ocean. I was just an ordinary graduate student in aquaculture when I was swept into the deep sea and unexpectedly awakened a god-tier talent: Dragon Lord. From then on, I could sense the emotions of marine life, issue simple commands, and even make elite sea beasts bow their heads and obey. While everyone else fought for a single mouthful of fresh water, I opened a ranch in the deep sea. With an army of sea beasts, I built a city of trade upon the sea!

The apocalypse was coming. The ground temperature was 158 °F, and the first batch of human beings started moving to the base at the North Pole. As a scientist, my husband was allowed to bring family members with the first batch. Everyone thought that he would take me along without hesitation. But in the end, the name he wrote in the application form was one of his master’s students. “I trained her myself, and she does not have parents. I can’t bear to leave her alone in such a hot place.” He casually submitted the application form, and his words just chilled me to the core. “Rose, you’re different. You’ve been through tough situations. I believe you can make it until the second batch moves.” I forced a resigned smile and said nothing. That night, as the temperature climbed, I made a calm call. “You promised to grant me one wish, no questions asked. Does that still count?”

When the zombie apocalypse hit, pets leveled up into guardians. Three per person. That was the cap. My buddy dropped serious cash on three Caucasian Shepherds. My landlord dumped his fish and started raising crocodiles. My girlfriend bolted to the zoo and came back with a lion. Me? I had three strays. Bubba—blind. Missy—lame. Snowy—barely a month old. The second the system locked pet slots, I knew I was screwed. I barricaded myself inside with my three "broken" cats and kept my head down. Day one—fear. Day two—helpless. Day three—the cats strolled back in, tails up, dragging something I didn't recognize. Bubba looked at me. "Dad, I bit off every zombie head on the block. I'm solid, right?" I just stared.

Global supernatural horrors descended upon the world, and everyone had to clear horror-game instances to earn a slim chance at survival. In my previous life, my fiancée refused to use her item to open the exit because she wanted to wait for her first love to clear the instance. But this was the final escape point in the instance, and our only chance to survive. With only three minutes left, I had no choice but to knock her unconscious and use her item to force the exit open. Her first love was ultimately left behind in the horror realm, where the horrors devoured him. However, I cleared the instance successfully and used the generous score rewards to build a happy life with my girlfriend at the survivor base. During the final instance, just as I was about to lead humanity in defeating the supernatural boss, my girlfriend injected me with an anesthetic, deliberately destroyed my item, and threw me into the horror realm. The horrors swallowed me whole, tearing my soul apart while I was still alive. Meanwhile, she watched from the safe house, sneering at me. “If you hadn’t been so afraid to die and abandoned Finn back then, he could have made it out alive.” “You must pay for everything Finn suffered!” When I opened my eyes again, I had returned to the day my girlfriend stubbornly refused to use her item. Since she wanted so badly to live and die alongside her first love, the two of them could become nourishment for the horrors together.

During the fifth year following the zombie apocalypse, my father becomes the base commander. It is all because Beckett Walker, my younger brother, and I both have antibodies in our blood that can counter the zombie virus. Mom and Dad give the majority of the supplies and resources to Beckett, because I'm just his "backup". But since I'm the backup, I'm still fed and provided for to ensure that nothing happens to me. However, when I accidentally take the food that was meant for Beckett, Dad slaps me in anger. "You already received your portion of the supplies, so why are you trying to steal Beckett's? He's not only your younger brother, but he's also the hope and future of the base!" Mom shrieks at me, "Are you trying to kill your brother so you can take his place?" I want to refute them. I only took it by accident. I didn't do it on purpose. But before I can, Dad locks me up in the cryopod. It's dark and freezing. I curl up in a corner, my body shaking. I'm sorry, Dad. It's so cold. I promise I won't ever be greedy for food again.

The altered invaded after civilization collapsed. I awakened no ability at all. My body was weaker than an ordinary person's, yet the director of the Federal Anomaly Command personally invited me into Meridian Bastion's SSS-level sanctuary in the Blackridge Exclusion Zone. Because I was the world's only "Reality Anchor". As long as my emotions stayed stable, the dimensional breach above the city wouldn't collapse, and millions of altered creatures couldn't cross into our world. Everyone treated me like something sacred and avoided giving me even the slightest shock. Then one day, a newly awakened S-class destruction operative kicked through the sanctuary's ballistic glass and crushed my limited-edition Nova-9 figure beneath his boot. "The soldiers outside are bleeding to hold back the altered, and command is spending public resources to pamper a useless man who can't even fire a rifle. What makes you worth it?"

The fortress I'd built with all my soul as refuge in the apocalypse was seized on the day of, and by my boyfriend with his childhood friend no less. Just as a zombie was about to chew through my neck, I suddenly heard his thoughts. "Who would know?! Not all zombies want to eat humans! But it's not like we have chips and cookies to munch on!" In just a flash, I whipped out the sleeve of Oreos I was carrying around. The zombie's eyes lit up. "You can understand us?!" I nodded repeatedly. "Yes! And it's not just Oreos—I have Lay's chips, Reese's Puffs… all the snacks you would want! Just name it, and I'd have it!" As I spoke, I took out all the snacks I was carrying, and the zombies promptly swarmed forward, munching and tearing up with emotion. "Argh… It's been so long since I've had these! I miss being a benign human!" "These chips are great! I could keep munching on them forever!" That was when the zombie in the lead threw an arm around my neck. "I hence declare that you shall henceforth be the queen of all zombies!" My eyes widened in shock. "M-Me?!"