Staring in disbelief, Billy watched as Jacqueline guided two familiar children away from the incoming zombies. She kept looking over her shoulders as she pushed the oldest to run in front of her while carrying the youngest in her arms. He continued to watch as several different emotions ran rampant. It was a huge relief to see she was okay.It was hard not to be when she had been his companion in every life. However, the sight of the two kids was what made it impossible to be fully happy to see her. That and the zombies. How did they bump into each other? Had this happen in previous lives where he died early and Jacqueline was still left alive? It was impossible to know since there was no one he could ask about it.The system might know, but he wasn't willing to even attempt asking. Learning if Jacqueline had met them wouldn't help in the long run, and that was assuming the system would know or tell him anything. This was his last chance too, so rather than waste time

Billy's mind whirled as he quickly narrowed down his options. He could hurry back inside and hope that he hadn't been spotted. It was possible that the figure hadn't noticed him. However, if they had seen him, he would need to either barricade the house before the figure got to him or flee through the back. On the other hand, he could just make a break for it.If the figure didn't notice him, he could get a head start back to his face. While he didn't like the idea of drawing anything or anyone back to his base, the base was better fortified to keep anything or anyone out. He quickly came to a decision and moved. Billy closed the door as quickly and quietly as possible before moving to the back of the house.As he moved, he strained his ears for anything or anyone coming. The only thing he could hear was his breathing as he hid behind the furniture. He didn't dare to move a muscle as he waited for any signs of the figure coming into the house. Time ticked away, but he

Billy could feel Joshua's intense stare burning holes into the side of his head, but he didn't care. They both knew that Joshua wasn't going to speak up unless he wanted trouble. Jacqueline, on the other hand, looked like she was going through an existential crisis. He wasn't sure why she was acting that way. Did it really blow her mind?Jacqueline snapped out of it and said, "I'm glad you made it out safely. If it were me, I wouldn't know what to do."Well, Billy was sure he wouldn't be this calm if it were his first time experiencing the zombie apocalypse. He even suspected he might die early, though not as early as his actual first life. It still bugged him how he died so easily because he had been caught completely off guard. The zombies had only gotten lucky to catch him unaware."In any case, can you tell what you know about what's going on?" he asked.She didn't hesitate to spill the beans, and he listened intently to compare his previous lives to

Jacqueline and Joshua quickly joined him. Whatever they intended to say died in their throats when they saw what he was looking at. Their eyes bulged at the sight of zombies surrounding the building, and more were still coming. As far as the eye could see, the zombies appeared to be coming in from all directions. There didn't seem to be any opening."What's going on?" Jacqueline asked.Joshua stared at Billy, looking for answers, but even Billy was shocked by how quickly things went bad. He knew that the zombies would be coming. However, this was far too quick. It was almost like the zombies had been waiting for this moment to come after them. The problem was that he hadn't seen any signs of them anywhere before.They had encountered a few zombies, but the sheer amount they were facing was far more than was expected. It should have been a trickle of zombies before the horde grew to such a size. The only thing Billy could think of was that the zombies had already

Billy stared as his mind whirled with indecision. A morally good person would run back to save them because that was the right thing to do. Leaving a woman who was someone close to him and two children to the zombies would be a monsterous thing to do. On the other hand, a realistic person or someone with self preservation would immediately leave them behind.Honestly, if it wasn't for Jacqueline, he would have hightailed out of there without even looking back. However, this was Jacqueline. If he left, he didn't think she would follow him. As she was now, she wouldn't abandon the kid to save herself. She would die. There would be no second chance for her since this was his only life left. On the flip side, because it was his only life, he had to be even more careful."Billy!" Jacqueline screamed again as she knocked another zombie away.He gritted his teeth and made his choice. Billy rushed over and grabbed Jacqueline's arm before shoving her away. She stumbled b