: Rebirth

The apocalypse came, and I was kind enough to take in my childhood friend and his one true love.

But his love was infected with the zombie virus, and he insisted on keeping her in The Bastion.

For the safety of everyone else, I refused his request.

Later, his love turned into a zombie and was shot dead.

My childhood friend was despondent for a few days but eventually chose to survive by scavenging for supplies with the rest of us.

But when the zombies besieged our city, he stared at me with venom in his eyes.

"If you hadn't pointed out that she was turning, they never would have killed her!"

He pushed me off The Rampart, and I was torn to shreds by the zombies.

When I opened my eyes again, I was back at the moment my childhood friend came knocking, his one true love in tow.

1

"Sasha, can you let us in?"

Outside the door, Gareth Valerius supported Elara Aveline, both of them shivering in the frigid wind.

The moment I saw them through the peephole, the memory of being torn apart alive in my last life washed over me.

I took an involuntary step back, pausing for a moment before answering, "Alright."

As Elara Aveline walked past me, she instinctively clutched her collar.

Even so, I still noticed the fresh, red wound on her neck.

It was still weeping blood. A fresh wound.

"Sasha, who are they?"

The noise at the main gate attracted a lot of attention. My colleagues, who had been busy with their own tasks inside The Bastion, started to gather around.

Everyone was wary of the two sudden, unidentified newcomers, their gazes filled with suspicion and annoyance.

"It's alright," I said with a smile. "Gareth Valerius is a childhood friend, and the woman with him is..."

Before I could finish, Elara Aveline quickly interjected, "I'm Gareth's girlfriend, Elara Aveline."

Her eyes welled with tears. She was clearly terrified by the despair she'd witnessed outside.

Between Elara Aveline's fragile appearance and my assurances, my colleagues in The Bastion finally let their guard down.

The zombie horde was due in a week. This was the most critical moment.

No one could guarantee that if a carrier managed to infiltrate the Safe Zone now, our city—or even the world—would have any future at all.

Watching Gareth Valerius and Elara Aveline huddled in a corner, whispering about who knows what, my gaze darkened.

"Sasha, thank you for taking me in," Elara Aveline said, her right hand clinging tightly to Gareth Valerius's arm.

"I was worried that because of my relationship with Gareth, you wouldn't let me stay."

I smiled.

'I wouldn't care if she were Gareth Valerius's stepmother, let alone his girlfriend.'

"You've misunderstood," I explained coolly. "I've just known him since we were children. That's all there is to it."

As we made small talk, Elara Aveline kept subconsciously touching her neck.

'How interesting.'

'The more you try to hide something, the more obvious it becomes.'

I took the scarf from my neck and offered it to her. "It's cold. Wear this."

After I spoke, my gaze fell directly on the wound on Elara Aveline's neck. "If anyone else saw that," I added, "who knows what kind of trouble it might cause."

: Previous Life's Culprits

2

"So you saw it all along?" Gareth Valerius stared at me with wide, disbelieving eyes.

I didn't answer, simply pouring them two glasses of hot water.

"I thought, with your personality, you'd never let Elara in after finding out something like this."

Gareth Valerius smiled in relief as he spoke, even growing nostalgic as he reminisced with me about the old days.

"Sasha Kaelen, I used to have feelings for you, but now, my heart belongs only to Elara."

Watching them hold hands, their fingers intertwined, the smile in my eyes deepened. "Well, isn't that a coincidence. I've only ever seen you as a friend."

Gareth Valerius stared at me for a long moment. After confirming I wasn't joking, he gave an awkward laugh. "That's good, then."

"I'm so happy you agreed to let Elara stay."

'Could I have refused?'

In my past life, I refused Gareth Valerius's request to take her in, pointing out that Elara Aveline was infected for the safety of everyone else at the base.

A few days later, a fully zombified Elara Aveline was shot and killed by my colleagues.

Gareth Valerius was despondent for two days because of it, but thankfully, he eventually pulled himself together.

"Sasha Kaelen, I've already lost Elara. I can't lose you too."

Looking at the heartbroken, stubble-faced Gareth Valerius, my brow furrowed in pity. "Don't worry," I said. "As long as I'm here, I will protect you."

But I never would have imagined that at the critical moment when the Zombies besieged the city, he would viciously force me to the top of the Rampart.

"If it weren't for you, how could Elara have died!"

The next moment, Gareth Valerius pushed me off the high wall.

Before my brain could even process the pain of my vital organs being pierced, the Zombies outside the wall tore me, still living, to shreds.

I snapped back to the present, watching the culprit from my past life and his girlfriend share a loving gaze. 'What a perfect couple,' I thought.

"Still, to be on the safe side, it's better if Elara doesn't meet with everyone for now."

I placed the key to the Westwood Villa in Gareth Valerius's hand. "You should understand what I mean by that."

The Westwood Villa was originally a place where the Lab stored miscellaneous items. With everyone busy making the Vaccine recently, everything was moved out, leaving the Villa vacant.

"It's relatively isolated there, so we won't go over unless we have a reason. That way, you two can also get some proper rest."

After seeing them off, I quickly returned to the Lab.

It was 2:00 PM. Elara Aveline had two days left until she fully turned.

I looked at the Vaccine sample on the table, and my mind was made up.

3

At dinner, I dished out the potatoes from the pot, one for each person. Seeing their dejected expressions, I spoke up to reassure them, "We've been trapped here for over half a month now. No one could have predicted how things would turn out when the Zombies first appeared, so we have to conserve as many supplies as we can."

"Besides, we now have two more mouths to feed in the Bastion, so everyone's rations will be a little smaller than before."

Just as I expected, my words made my colleagues turn their resentful gazes on Gareth Valerius.

Gareth Valerius grew visibly uncomfortable and hurriedly tried to justify himself. "My family and the Kaelen Family go way back. I know better than anyone what Sasha Kaelen is capable of. Her family has produced countless famous Chemists, so I have absolute faith that her arrangements are sound."

"Oh?" My colleague, Marshall, asked, his interest piqued. "So your family is in chemistry, too?"

"No, I'm a Lawyer."

The moment he said that, the whole room burst into laughter.

'This was a matter of life and death for all of humanity. Without the constraints of law, moral standards had already hit rock bottom.'

'What good was a Lawyer like Gareth Valerius, who couldn't fight or offer any practical skills?'

"Speaking of which, where's your girlfriend?"

It was only then that one of my colleagues noticed someone was missing from the dinner table.

I had specifically warned Gareth Valerius about this before leaving The Villa.

'Given Elara Aveline's current condition, it was best she didn't appear before the others.'

"If anyone discovers her wound, forget Elara—even you won't be able to stay here anymore."

'And outside of the Bastion, there was nowhere else in Aethelburg one could safely spend the night.'

Gareth Valerius understood the truth in my words, which was why he followed my advice to the letter.

'Of course, my real concern wasn't the safety of that wretched couple; I was just worried Elara Aveline would, intentionally or not, spread the virus to others.'

"She's not feeling well," Gareth Valerius said with a strained smile. "Elara has always been timid. I think the sight of those Zombies outside gave her a bit of a fright, and now she's feeling under the weather."

Marshall sighed and nodded in understanding.

A city of over twenty million people had become a ghost town in less than a week. In the past, no one would have believed such a thing was possible.

Sighs rippled through the room. There wasn't a person at the table who hadn't lost family.

Noticing everyone's eyes begin to glisten with tears, I raised a hand to quiet them down.

"I need everyone to hold on just a little longer. We're already seeing initial results from our work on The Vaccine."

"Just give me half a month. We will win this fight in the end!"

'With the amount of food we had in The Granary, we had more than enough to last that long.'

'Our research and observations had shown that Zombies were vulnerable to high temperatures.'

'In half a month, the cold snap would begin to subside, and that would be the perfect time for us to fight back against the Zombies.'