Waking up in the apocalypse - did I cross over

15th April 2023

8 days after the apocalypse

Ali opens his eyes slowly in a new environment, his body feeling numb. He tried to move his body or to stand up but winced in pain as he failed. Looking at the unfamiliar surroundings he felt suspicious.

"Where am I?" He muttered as he looked at his own body, still covered in blood and burned clothes.

"I was at the office with Shiva and then _ " Ali thought aloud from what he could last remember, but then the image of Shiva's death came to his mind and he stopped.

"So he's really gone." He whispered under his breath with closed eyes. His thoughts then trailed off to what happened next and he remembered about Kevin whom he was about to kill. "Bastard."

Ali cursed as he remembered Kevin's mocking smile before he fell unconscious.

"Emily" Ali shouted from his bed, calling for his personal maid, thinking that after he was knocked out, his guards must have brought him back.

Ali waited for the girl and the sound of hurried footsteps but nothing came.

'Where is she?' Ali thought as he saw no one enter his room after he called. Emily would always be nearby even when he was at home, and especially now when he was wounded. "Is she not here." He wondered as he forced his body to slowly stand up.

-urkgh-

Gritting his teeth and suppressing the pain he stood up, his back was feeling sore and legs wobbly. He only took one step but felt like he could fall down. "Damn it. Where is everybody?" Ali thought as he took his bed's support and walked towards the door.

While walking his eyes went towards the side at the glass window. He saw outside smoke floating in the sky like a ballon. Ignoring the door he walked limply at the window and looked outside.

He watched the world with mouth wide open in shock. He opened the side door and walked into the balcony to get a clear look at everything. He noticed he was in a top building somewhere in the middle floors. He saw outside, as many nearby buildings were destroyed, burning or crumbling apart in front of his eyes. Roads were still packed with vehicles, yet seemed empty of life. His eyes darted towards all the nearby buildings as he tried to see any sign of life, but failed to see anything below.

Everything seemed deserted, destroyed and empty. "What the hell happened?" Ali wondered as he got no idea what he saw around him. He was about to head back inside and look for his phone or anything else to call someone, when he turned and his eyes looked at the sky.

"Holy, is that _ ?"

Ali stared at the empty sky with wide eyes filled with shocked and disbelief. After all, he saw a giant moon in the clouds. It was nowhere near the night and yet he could see it clear as day. Also it was like the moon was barely hanging on, it was nowhere near as away as before and felt like any moment now, it would crash onto the ground and destroy everything.

Though it was just Ali's wild assumption at the moon, it was truth. The enitre earth now was surrounded by a barrier, and the moon was just hanging outside that barrier. And if that barrier didn't stop the moon's trajectory, it really would fall down.

After the event where whole planet started to suffer the loss of energy suddenly, earth lost its controlled gravitational pull, and without that, the moon started to leave it's orbit and started coming crashing down. But then the wave of that energy washed over the entire planet, which created a barrier over earth that seemed to stop the moon and the harmful rays of sun, which were burning holes in everything on the planet.

It was a transparent barrier that couldn't be seen, but if anyone reached the edge of earth or the hights of sky he could feel it. One could say the whole planet was now sealed inside a giant orb of energy, which barely sudtained everything.

Was it the effort of the world's will of earth to save itself, or was it the doing of the one who was responsible for everything. Was it an effort to save the earth, or to trap it - who knows?

The situation of earth inside the barrier was generally the same to what it was before. The gravity had come back to normal, there were no natural disasters happening right now. The sunlight rays came like usual, after getting filtered by the barrier instead of ozone layer. The movement of tectonic plates had stopped and they've settled down for now. Even the earth's core was back to normal.

Yet despite all this normalcy there were changes which were irreplaceable. The continents had shifted and the world's map was ruined. No type of electronic or magnetic equipments survived the onslaught of that wave. And even creating something new now couldn't work, as the magnetic poles of earth itself had reversed and ruined. The air itself seemed to be changed on the planet and everyone could feel it.

Will all these changes what would the future hold for this planet - Only time could tell. For now this apocalypse marked the beginning of the transformation of earth which changed everything for its residents.

"Did I die from that electric shock and got sent to some other world? Did I cross over to some apocalypse type world?" Ali couldn't help but wonder aloud as he found himself in this new peculiar environment. "Let's find someone first and then ask them."

Ignoring the moon which was floating so nearby, suppressing the shock and doubts that filled his brain, Ali walked back inside. His body wasn't hurting much and it didn't feel numb anymore. But he still hasn't adjusted yet.

He threw his clothes aside and turned on the shower. He noticed there were no electricity in the building, so heater didn't work, so he could just take a cold shower.

"A girl's room." Ali whispered as he noticed a dozen types of creams, shower gels and facewashes lined there.

Washing all the blood on himself aside, he closed his eyes and lost in thoughts. If he was really not on earth, he didn't know what to do here anymore. His family, his friends, Aarvi everyone would be gone and he'd be stuck here. He didn't want to live alone like that. He also didn't kill that bastard yet, so how can he be happy if he changed planets all of a sudden.

Till now he never thought this was his own world, after all he didn't know what happened after he was passed out. He didn't saw the world crumbling apart in front of him, nor did he know that he wasn't unconscious just for a few hours, but was asleep for over a week now.

He could just hope to go out and plan to meet someone and ask them for details.

He even had the idea to call for some system if he was really transmigrated somewhere else, but he got nothing. "Let's just hope this whole building has someone else inside too."

Ali said after he was done with his shower. He came out with a towel wrapped around his waist and sat in front of the mirror. It took him a moment again to realize Emily wasn't there to help him get his clothes or do his hair anymore. He stood up and started searching around the cupboards to look for any suitable clothes.

And he didn't find anything.

He thought of wearing his same old clothes again for now, but then looking at all the blood stains on them and remembering all that scenes of his death, he chose against it. He could remember all that in his heart himself, he didn't need an extra reminder of his loss over his body. Walking out of the apartment he was in, he went into the next one. He knocked on the door but found it was open.

"Hello. Is anybody there?" Ali spoke as he moved inside and walked towards the rightside bedroom. Since the layout of both these apartments was same, he didn't had to roam whole and check everything to find the living room.

"It can work for now, I guess." Ali said as he looked at a jeans and a long shirt. The size of the clothes was merely the same, maybe a size or two bigger , but nothing to make him uncomfortable.

He also found a few mobile phones in that room, checking everything, Ali realized not one of them was working fine. Most of them were burned, while the ones which still had a cracked display but worked, showed no network coverage.

He even dialed the emergency numbers for any ambulance or law agencies, yet even they didn't work.

"Is it really the end of the world like in the games?" Ali wondered as he put the phone in his pocket to try again after going out or somewhere else. He had his own watch and shoes, so there was no need to exchange them.

Ali walked out of the room but then he heard some sounds coming from the floors below. Curious he wanted to go out and meet them and maybe know the general situation of what the hell was happening, but then as if thinking of something he went towards the kitchen and picked a knife and placed it over his belt. He also found a cricket bat in the corner and picked it.

"Well no harm in playing it safe at level 0." Ali said and started walking down the stairs.

Unaware that he was about to come face to face with his first zombie and the first traitor, who pushed him into a corner.

7th June 2023

"You shouldn't have betrayed me, bitch. Now it's your turn to beg and kneel. I'll send your bastard buddy behind you soon too."Ali said coldly to a young girl Who was kneeling in front of him.

"Ali please, I _ I had no choice. H_he forced me. I'm telling you. He forced me, I'm really sorry. Please (sobbing) I don't wanna die." The young girl with a pretty face and a pale complexion said to Ali as she moved forward and held his feet.

"Don't worry. Who said anything about dying? I won't kill you." Ali said as he picked the girl up by holding her shoulders. Hearing his words the girl wiped her tears, looked at him with a smile and hugged him. "Really, I knew you weren't like what he said. I promise I won't do _."

"Death will be too easy." Ali said with a cold tone. And before the girl could understand anything, he bit her neck with his teeth.

The girl kept struggling in his arms, trying to free herself, crying, shouting and begging - but Ali just held her slender body tightly in his arms and increased the pressure on her neck, he didn't let go until he finally tasted sweet iron like blood on his lips. "That's for Emily." He whispered in her ears, as he let go of her, while wiping his lips with his fingers and then licking the blood off them. "Consider this my parting gift, my sweet little Kiara."

"You monster, I'll kill you. I'll kill you bastard." Kiara jumped at him fiercely, her eyes filled with anger and hatred, yet when Ali saw her appearance, only a smile came on his face. He slapped her hard with a backhand and turned around to leave "Let's see if that bastard's gods listen to his prayers to save you. If they don't, well, then I'll see you in the herd of zombies soon, my dear."

Ali walked out laughing maniacally as he heard the sound of her crying behind him. While he took out his knife and made a long cut on his left hand, blood constantly kept dripping from his hand, yet not a scream escaped his mouth. He kept walkiing forward while lighting a cigarette. "Just a little bit more. Just a little."