◇ Second Chance ◇

Lu Xing was fighting against the vicious level 3 zombie with great difficulty, he gritted his teeth and shoved the blade straight through the zombie's skull. Having fought one after another of those creatures, he had finally killed the last one. He fell to the filthy ground without a care.

Exhausted, he thought back to the last few days with regret.

Thinking back to it, he was feeling cheated. Not only did his girlfriend betray him, but the man he considered his best friend since surviving through the Apocalypse, had also betrayed him. Five years of love, and nine years of friendship ended just like that. The Z City had finally fallen to the onslaught of zombie hordes and ghouls.

People had scattered or died, sacrifices had been made...

He'd been with his group up until they'd turned on him. Considering he was a level 3 Evolutionary that was crippled with a bad leg...so...it was no surprise. At 32 yrs old, he wasn't young, and would've hindered the group. He simply never expected that after exhausting himself protecting the group to the best of his abilities...that his girlfriend would stab his stomach, or that his so called best-friend would push him into the horde of zombies trying to follow their group...

Yet somehow here he was...somehow still alive.

"Story of my life." Lu Xing said sarcastically, his arm raised up over his face as tears streamed down his face.

At the start of the Apocalypse, he'd been a regular college student, living in Y City. His older sister, and his mother had been in M City, to far away for him to have saved them during the Apocalypse. His childhood friend was missing, and everyone else he'd known was either dead or missing as well. He'd only had his girlfriend, Baili, and his best friend, Tu Yan.

But now...

He was alone.

The pain from his stomach was beginning to numb, and he probably had a fever to boot...

'Am I going to die like this? If only...' He thought to himself as he felt himself close his eyes.

Feeling heavy at heart, he began to sink into a deep slumber...

Suddenly he found himself struggling as though he was drowning. He opened his eyes and found himself flailing about as the watery substance entered his mouth and nose. Realizing it was a losing battle, he gave up and awaited death...

After a while, he realized that nothing hurt. He wasn't drowning. Within the the depth of a dark abyss, he suddenly found himself looking at a bright figure. A being much larger than him and most definitely not human. The figure seemed like a combination of man, tendrils of light, and feathery wings...

'An Angel!?' Lu Xing gasped wide eyed. 'I must be dead.'

At the thought he shivered, feelings of denial welling up inside him.

-Correct- A voice resounded inside Lu Xing's head.

Lu Xing felt his eye twitch as he stared at the thing he believed to be an Angel.

-Will now commence Soul Transference and Spirit Consumption- The Angel said its deep dark eyes staring at Lu Xing as he lifted his hands, tendril of lights moving from out of its palm to attach themselves to Lu Xing body.

Correct that, Lu Xing body was actually gone, what was actually present was a mesh of his Soul and Spirit. Which were now beginning to destabilise, as the tendrils of light began to carry data back to its owner. Lu Xing felt as though he was being processed through a grinder.

'Am I going to die...again?' Lu XIng thought suddenly feeling that this world was unfair. 'I don't want to die!'

With what force he had left, he used his hands to grasp the tendrils of light...and then pulled.

He did it not knowing what would happen.

-Error! Error! Cannot complete Spirit Consumption! Cannot complete Spirit Consumption!- The Angel's eyes widened shocked, its tendrils of light went from bright white to a bright red, it seemed to be malfunctioning. -Soul Transference recalculating!-

Confused, Lu Xing pulled on the tendrils some more as he felt his state begin to stabilize.

-Recalculations Confirmed!- The Angel spread out more tendrils of light towards Lu Xing.

This time Lu Xing who tried to grasp some more of the tendrils failed. He then felt an electrifying sensation throughout his very existence. Then there was the sensation of falling deeper into the abyss.

Last thing he saw was the Angel looking at him from above with its mouth moving as though to tell him something.

Lu Xing only made out the last bit, 'I will find you.'

☆☆☆

"Agh..." Lu Xing woke up feeling terrible.

His eyes adjusted to the light...then they widened with shock. He quickly got out of the bed he found himself lying on and ran to the mirror on the dresser. Disbelief was evident as he felt his face and stared into the mirror.

He had the scruffy black hair, the brown eyes, pale lean body...this was him...minus 13 yrs of his 32 yrs.

"I've come back!" Lu Xing exclaimed with an energetic jump.

He was grinning.

"What is wrong with you?" Someone weakly asked from the other bunk-bed in the room.

To be precise, the lower bunk-bed.

Lu Xing could barely believe his ears.

"Liu Zhuo!" Lu Xing exclaimed feeling joyful at the discovery.

"Hmh...let me sleep..." Liu Zhuo grumbled out as he wondered if his friend had lost his marbles.

Realization dawned on Lu Xing suddenly as he scrambled to look at his iPhone.

His hands began to shake.

As clear as day, the date on the iPhone was seen...May 5th of the year 2020.

Just barely three weeks away from the terrible night that had occurred during Lu Xing's life.

The night that had started the Apocalypse.

Lu Xing remembers that it had started on May 23rd of that year. He remembers he'd been stuck in the college with the remainder of students yet to leave for the summer vacation. Y City was close to Z City, but very far from M City. Hence he'd never gotten to M City in his prior life...

But this time...things would be different.

Lu Xing shakily dialed his home line. The ringing continued for a short while before it went to the operator saying the line was non existent. Feeling confused before he remembered his mother had probably disconnected it to avoid telemarketers. He sighed, relieved at the thought as he dialed his older sister this time...and finally someone answered.

"Little Xing! What's wrong?! It's not even 7am yet!" Lu Xing's older sister, Lu Meng, asked worriedly.

"Sister, you and mother must grab everything important and leave M City. Go to H City, buy a fortified living arrangement, stock up on weapons, and food. The key is survival sister! You must do all of this before the 23rd! Stay inside till the worst passes!" Lu Xing exclaimed feeling his heart ache, his sister probably won't believe him...worst, she may even think he's insane.

"..." Lu Meng on the other line was silent for a moment before speaking. "Ok, I'll do it, but tell me what'll happen on the 23rd!? Do you need money? Will you be coming to H City then?"

Lu Xing felt his heart lighten.

"You believe me?" He asked choking back tears of relief.

Since meeting death, he'd become much to emotional.

"I believe you." Lu Meng said, she sounded sincere.

Lu Xing wiped away the moisture from his eyes, and began to explain to his sister the oncoming Apocalypse...