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
Combing a hand through his hair, Billy muttered, "What on earth is going on?"Something was very wrong here. He didn't recall the system notifying him that the second wave had started already, which had been odd. Usually, they would receive a notice that the second wave started not long after the first one. There was only one life where this didn't happen. Perhaps he had missed the notification. Fortunately, he could check the history of messages from the system.Billy saw that he had indeed missed the message, as it happened while he was asleep. Normally, he was better about checking the messages, but recent events had kept him distracted. It had only been a couple of hours between the end of the first wave and the start of the second wave, which matched up with what he knew. However, that didn't change the underlining fact that there was still something wrong.Why did the second wave end in only a day? The first wave was supposed to be the only wave that laste
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 made eye contact with the baby, whose head was resting on Jacqueline's shoulder. Before he could say a word or make a move, Joshua spun around with wide eyes. Their eyes met as Billy rushed forward. The kid opened his mouth to scream, but Billy managed to slap his hand over the kid's mouth. Jacqueline instantly turned around with her knife ready.As soon as she saw who it was, her eyes widened, and she said, "Billy?""It's been a while," Billy said with a nod.She lowered her hand with the knife. "Billy, how are you here? What happened to you?"While still keeping his hand on the kid's mouth, he said, "I'm sure there's a lot we need to catch up on, but we shouldn't stay out here with the zombies lurking around.""Okay." That's when she realized that Billy had covered Joshua's mouth. "What are you doing?""He was going to scream and draw everything in the vicinity's attention," he said calmly.However, on the inside, he was menta
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 yawned as she opened her eyes. She blinked a couple of times before sitting up. It took her a couple of moments to adjust before her eyes widened. Looking around, she spotted Joshua and Billy working on something together. Jacqueline stared at them for a bit before getting out of the bed. The duo glanced up from what they were doing to stare at her."Good morning," Billy said."Good morning, big sis," Joshua said."Good morning. What's everyone doing?" she asked."I'm showing him how to do inventory and teaching him some skills he'll need," Billy said.She blinked. "Oh, that's a good idea. Have you learned a lot?"Joshua's expression twisted. "Sort of.""Sort of?" she asked.Billy quickly cut in and said, "He actually woke up not too long ago. He fell asleep not long after you did.""Where did he sleep?" she asked."On the floor," Billy simply said.Jacqueline grimaced. "I could have shared the b
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
"You can't be serious," Joshua blurted out.Billy ignored the kid and pointed to the opposite building as he said, "We can cross to the other side to get away from the zombies."Jacqueline blinked before it suddenly hit her, and she asked, "Are you serious?""Why would I lie?" Billy asked as he lowered his hand."Don't you know how crazy your idea sounds? The distance between the two buildings is too big. There's no way we would be able to cross," she said."Even if we have equipment?" Billy asked."Unless you're saying we have a helicopter and you somehow know how to pilot it, then no," she said. "You don't have a helicopter, do you?"He shook his head. "No, no helicopter. I was just giving a suggestion."She narrowed her eyes as she said, "There's no way you wouldn't bring it up without having some kind of idea in mind. You're not that kind of person.""Well, I do have some ideas, but I can't guarantee that they would
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