BACK FROM THE DEAD: MY APOCALYPSE LEVEL-UP SYSTEM

Chapter 1: The Ultimate Betrayal

The rain was like a thousand needles stabbing my skin. I was so numb that I couldn't even feel the cold anymore. The only thing I could feel was my hands shaking like crazy as I pressed my palms against the road.

"Marcus!" I screamed at the top of my lungs. My voice broke, coming out all ragged and sob-like.

"Marcus please! Open the door!" I begged him.

Inside the SUV, the dashboard light made everything look warm and cozy. Marcus was sitting behind the wheel, as his hands clenched tightly at the steering, He wouldn't even look at me. He just ignored the smudges my fingers left on the window. Cindy was next to him pulling on his arm, her face all twisted up in a panic.

"Drive, Marcus! Just drive! They're behind us!" Her voice was all small and muffled behind the glass as she yelled.

I pounded on the door with my fists. I could see the seat through the window and it was piled high with all the stuff I had packed. My food, my aid kits, my extra clothes. Even the last jug of fuel we had was strapped to the back bumper. He had taken everything. He was leaving me with nothing.

"Marcus I have nowhere to go!" I cried, my fingers slipping on the glass as I tried to grab the door handle. "We built this life together! You promised me we'd make it!"

Finally Marcus turned his head. He looked at me through the window and his eyes were completely empty. There was no memory of our life together, no memory of the promises he made. There was a cold pathetic desperation.

He didn't open the door. He didn't even crack the window to throw me a scrap of food. Instead he said three words that cut me deeper than any knife: "I'm sorry Eva."

Then he hit the gas.

The tires spun in the mud spraying dirt over me. The force of the acceleration knocked me backward causing me to hit the ground hard. I couldn't breathe. The gravel tore through my jeans scraping my knees raw. I barely felt it. I was too busy staring at the taillights of our SUV as it disappeared into the night.

"Marcus!" I shrieked, scrambling to my knees reaching out a hand. "Don't leave me! Please!"

The taillights blinked once as the car turned a corner. Then they were gone. He was gone. He had taken everything. He had handed it all to the woman he was cheating on me with.

I heard a weird clicking sound coming from the trees.

My breath caught in my throat with my heart racing like crazy as I slowly turned my head.

Out from the deep shadows of the tree line, a figure stumbled into the faint moonlight. Its jaw hung loose, unhinged and dripping with a thick, dark fluid. The clothes it wore were shredded, stained with old, dried blood. Its eyes were milky white, completely devoid of anything human.

Then came another. And another.

The highway was suddenly crawling with them. They stepped out of the ditches, tumbled over the guardrails and crawled out of the brush. Dozens of them. They were all drawn to the sound of Marcus's engine and my screams.

I scrambled backward on my hands and knees, my chest heaving as I tried to find something to use as a weapon.. There was nothing. Not a rock, not a stick. Marcus had even taken my knife.

"No, no no " I whispered, my voice shaking hard and my teeth were chattering. "Get back. Get away from me."

The lead monster let out a screech and it lunged at me.

I rolled to the side in time. The creatures fingers brushed against my jacket, its teeth snapping down in the air. My legs were shaking as I scrambled to my feet.. I took off in a sprint running down the highway as fast as I could.

My body was spent because I hadn't eaten in days. Every breath was a painful gasp as my muscles continued to burn. Behind me the sound of dragging feet got faster. They weren't slow anymore. They were whipped into a frenzy by my sweat and fear.

I went down hard as I tripped on a piece of iron on the asphalt. My chin bounced off the road, Before I could even get up a heavy weight crashed down on my spine.

A pair of decaying hands locked onto my shoulders pinning me face-first into the road. The smell was suffocating. Rotting. Stagnant water.

"Get off me!" I shrieked, twisting my torso with every ounce of strength I had. "Get off!"

I managed to flip onto my back kicking my legs out frantically. My boot connected with a zombie's ribs caving them in with a crunch.. It didn't care. It didn't even slow down. Two more threw themselves onto my legs with their fingers clawing at my ankles.

I looked up into the darkness. The entire horde was closing in on a wall of skin, milky eyes and snapping jaws. They crowded over me blocking out the sky blocking out the rain.

"Marcus..." a tear slipped down my cheek as I whispered. The name suddenly tasted like poison on my tongue. I loved him, I had protected him.. This was my reward.

The first bite tore into my shoulder.

My head snapped back my eyes wide with agony as teeth ripped through my jacket and sank into my flesh. The pain was searing exploding through my body. I screamed until my throat felt like it was tearing apart.

Another set of teeth sank into my thigh. Then my arm.

They were tearing me apart piece by piece. I could feel my blood pouring onto the highway stealing my warmth, stealing my breath. My vision began to dim, a heavy black curtain drawing closed.

Through the agony a cold hatred ignited in my chest. It was hotter than any fever, than any teeth.

“If there's an afterlife “ I thought, my fingers twitching one time in my own blood “I will find you, Marcus. I will find you. I will make you bleed.”

The darkness rushed in, absolute and heavy as My heart gave one flutter.

Then everything stopped.

……

"Ah!"

I snapped upright, my spine straight as an arrow, a violent gasp tearing out of my lungs.

I thrashed my arms wildly, striking out at the darkness, expecting to feel the cold, slimy skin of the undead. My chest was heaving so hard it pained my ribs, and cold sweat was pouring down my neck, completely soaking the collar of my shirt.

"Get off! Get off me!" I choked out my voice raw and shaking.

My hands didn't hit rotting flesh. They hit quilted fabric instead.

my breath caught in my throat as I pulled my hands up staring at them in the light. They weren't covered in blood. There were no teeth marks on my wrists and my skin was smooth. Uninjured.

I looked around the room.

There was no highway. There was no stench of decay. I was sitting in bed. A real soft bed, with white sheets. The digital alarm clock glowed with a blue light. The window looked out over a city street where streetlights flickered normally. No fires. No sirens. No monsters.

My hand flew to my shoulder expecting to feel a gaping hole.. There was nothing. Just the thin cotton of my pajamas.

I was safe. I was alive.. The memory of Marcus's betrayal still burned in my chest, a cold hard hatred that I couldn't shake.

"A dream?" I whispered, my voice shaking over the place in the quiet room. "Was it all a bad nightmare?"

I reached over with a hand that would not stop shaking and grabbed my phone off the nightstand. The screen turned on, shining a light into my scared eyes. I looked at the top of the screen thinking I would see that I had no service, thinking the world was still dead like it had been for months.

Then I saw the calendar on my phone and it really scared me.

The date on the calendar was thirty days before everything fell apart.

Before I could even process the date, the phone in my hand began to vibrate violently, the screen changing to an incoming call display. The name flashing on the screen made my heart drop straight into my stomach.

Marcus.