The moment the words had appeared in front of Billy, he had gone on the defensive, thinking that the zombies had somehow arrived sooner than expected. He never expected to see a floating text box show up out of nowhere. The tension slowly bled out of his body as he stared at the message warily. He didn't trust something he had no clue about. [Greetings, user. Shall we finally begin the introduction?] It repeated its message, and Billy had a feeling it wouldn't leave him alone until he answered. "Yes." Saying yes to some unknown entity might not have been a smart idea, but rejecting it could have also been bad. There was no telling how it would react. For now, he was going to play along and see where this might lead. Instantly, the message was replaced by a new one. The contents caused Billy's eyebrows to shoot up. [Congratulations on becoming an awakened. The system will be your guide.] While he didn't know what it meant to be an awakened, Billy had a good idea what it was referri
Despite being caught off guard, Billy calmly asked, "Why do you want to know?""If I were also an awakened, I could help you out more," Jacqueline said.That was a reasonable conclusion to make. If she became an awakened, she would gain a power like he had. However, there was no guarantee that the power would be useful. The system had said it was random, so there was a chance that the power she would get would be useless to her. Besides, he didn't even know how he became an awakened.[The system can answer that. Of those that are fortunate enough to survive the initial wave, a few would spontaneously obtain a power and system.]There were a few things about what the system said that made Billy narrow his eyes. "If that's the case, explain why I got a power and you when I died right at the beginning."[Unfortunately, the system has no answer to that.]"Then can you explain in detail more about who got a power and system?" Billy asked, seeing that there was no point in pressing for answ
"You know," Jacqueline started slowly. "When you said preparations, I didn't expect this."Billy looked her way as he asked, "What were you expecting?""Well, I didn't think you wanted to use company money to go shopping," she said as she looked down at the shopping cart.She had been completely blindsided when he had told her to follow him and led her to the nearest store. With no idea about what he was planning, she could only go along with whatever he had in mind. Apparently, that involved buying several items from the store. While she could accept that he wanted them to be ready for anything, she thought they were supposed to be in a rush."Aren't you worried about zombies appearing while we are heading to your house?" she asked as she looked up."That is something I considered, but I have a theory." At her attentive gaze, he continued, "In the first two lives, the zombies appeared at the exact same time. In my third life, they arrived sooner than expected. I believe that somethin
Billy gave Jacqueline a warning look, but she wasn't looking at him. She was glaring at Debra with a dark look on her face that screamed that things would get ugly if his wife did anything wrong. He really hoped things wouldn't devolve into chaos. However, he wasn't holding his breath. If needed, he would just grab Jacqueline and drag her away before the zombies cornered them."How dare you!" his wife shrieked. "Do you even know who I am?""You're Billy's wife," Jacqueline said as she crossed her arms. "Wait, I mean ex wife."Debra couldn't believe what was happening. She had never been so disrespected before in her entire life, and by some nobody. She had never even seen this woman before, and she was acting way too close to Billy for her liking. While she might not like the man, he was still hers. Only she could dump him, not the other way around."How shameless. Do you even know what you're saying?" Debra demanded."Yes. Do you?" Jacqueline shot back with a confident look in her ga
Debra tripped and landed face foward on the ground, but neither Billy nor Jacqueline looked back. Billy had already cut ties with them, so there was no reason for him to worry about her. If she died, it was her own fault for coming after him instead of returning to the house. As they jogged away, Debra stared after them in stunned silence.She couldn't believe it. He really did abandon her. She at least thought he would stop when he heard her trip and fall, but he didn't even look back. Maybe he was serious about leaving her and the family. The idea boggled her mind, making her unable to do anything else except watch them get further and further away. It was only the sound of someone calling her name that snapped her out of it.Looking behind her, she saw her parents waving at her. "Debra, get back here. Hurry."All thoughts about Billy left her mind as she remembered the zombies that were closing in. She frantically got to her feet and scrambled to get back to the house before the zo
"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Jacqueline asked as she looked over the apartment complex they were standing in front of.Everything about it screamed that it was completely unlivable. She couldn't imagine how they would be able to live in this place until the zombie apocalypse was over. Looking towards Billy, she was shocked to see that he was already walking in. Jacqueline quickly followed after checking over her shoulder. There were no zombies within sight. They had managed to lose them on the way there.Billy scanned the place as he mentally revised how much work they needed to put into it. He had seen the place many times before when he left the company building, but this was the first time he had actually gotten close, much less entered it. The place would definitely need a lot of work to make it a suitable base for them, but he figured it was better than their other options.Obviously, he would have preferred turning his old home into a base, but that wasn't an option. Goin
By the time Jacqueline woke up, Billy had done some significant work on fixing up the nearby area. Since he couldn't leave her alone in case there were zombies, he couldn't go far. However, she had trouble resting with him working in the same vicinity as her. He couldn't say he was surprised, but that left him no choice except to move quietly into another area to work.Seeing Jacqueline rub the sleep out of her eyes, he asked, "Did you get a good rest?"At the sound of his voice, she jerked and stared at him with wide eyes before calming down. "Yeah, but I'm pretty sore.""It can't be helped. This place didn't exactly have people living here in mind," he said as he handed over a bottle of water to her.She only took a sip before returning the bottle to him. "Did anything happen while I was resting?""No, it's been relatively peaceful outside of the chaos happening outside," he said as he glanced toward the window.Jacqueline followed his gaze and grimaced. They were currently on the s
Billy snapped open his eyes and mentally went over his body's condition. While this hadn't been the best sleep he had gotten, it wasn't the worst. He guessed that he probably got maybe a few hours of rest. It wasn't a proper rest, but it would have to do for now. There was a lot of work ahead for them, so he needed to get up. In the distance, he heard a noise in another part of the apartment.As he sat up, he glanced towards the front entrance to see that it was still barricaded. Jacqueline hadn't left the place, so the noise was probably her doing. To be safe, he made sure to pull out the knife he had hidden away nearby. Slowly heading towards the sound, he stumbled upon Jacqueline swinging a knife with a grunt. Sweat was dripping down her brow, and her shirt was wet.Jacqueline didn't seem to notice his presence, and he wasn't in a hurry to get her attention. Watching as she practiced swinging the knife, he catagloued any poor movements. She must have been training since he had fall
Hello everyone. I just want to thank all my readers who have been following along because it sure has been a doozy. Also, there are several things that I want to let you know.Billy's story has ended, and I'll have to admit that I didn't think it would end so soon. I had a lot of things planned, but after some careful consideration, I ultimately decided to end it early.Just like with Rise of the Demon King: Caleb Gonzales's Rat Race, I might do a rewrite or remake of it.If I do go through with this idea, then I'll just immediately go to eBook and paperback, and it would be very different from the one here. We will have to see, and I'll let everyone know.For now, I'll be focusing on finishing Johnny's story in Rise of the Commoner: Johnny Burns's The Lost Heir, which can be found here: https://www.meganovel.com/story/Rise-of-the-Commoner-Johnny-Burns-s-The-Lost-Heir_31000695378 .It's also going to be ending early. I'm not sure by how much. It might even be shorter than this one. We'
After hearing what the woman had to say, Billy released her. She took the chance to elbow him in the face, making his nose bleed, before putting some distance between them. There was a dark look on her face. He scowled, but he didn't retaliate for it. Instead, he went over everything he had learned from her. It had been a lot, and that had only been the surface."Well, what are you going to do now?" she asked."Well, I'll be accepting that proposal of yours," he said as he stood up and brushed the front of his pants.The woman huffed. "See. I told you. I don't know why you insisted on picking a fight when there was no need to fight.""However, I have some conditions," he said.She stared at him in disbelief before blurting out, "What?""You heard me. I won't accept your proposal without my own terms," he said."You can't be serious. You can't just add your own terms. You're already lucky enough to be spared in the first place," she said."It's not like you wanted to. You're only doing
"Hold it," Billy said as he held up a hand."Yes?" she asked."Why are you doing this? Why are you preparing to unleash a zombie apocalypse?" he asked."Why?" She took a moment to consider his question before saying, "It's for entertainment."Billy felt the veins in his head bulge from sheer anger. "What?""All of this is meant for entertainment for our followers. Unforunately, we've been having issues making it work, hence the number of tests we performed," she said."Followers? What are you talking about? Are you saying this is a game?" he demanded."A game? No. I guess you can view it as a game, but it isn't. You don't really need to know the details since you don't have the clearance for that information," she said.He gritted his teeth. "Then what can you tell me?""As stated before, we were running tests when we noticed some things were not progressing properly. One of them happened to be you," she said as she poin
Billy coughed up blood as he struggled against the giant zombie's grip. He could hear the others screaming as they fought off the other zombies that surrounded them down below. Unfortunately, he was in no condition to help them as he fought to stay alive. Billy couldn't believe how quickly things had gone horribly wrong.One moment, they were trying to stealthily sneak away. Then the next day, the giant zombie was rushing towards them like a maniac. They had tried to run away when they realized the giant zombie was coming for them, but it easily outpaced them. Whether it was because of its long legs or because it was simply faster than them, it easily caught up to them in no time.If Billy hadn't shoved Jacqueline away, she would have turned into paste beneath the giant zombie's foot. However, the force from its mere step had knocked everyone off their feet, giving the giant zombie time to grab him. The giant zombie's grip tightened, and he could feel his bomes creak i
A sound caught everyone's attention, and all eyes turned to the doorway. They didn't see anyone or anything, but after what they had seen from the system, none of them were calm. The tied up woman was even more frantic to get out of the ropes. Unfortunately for her, they held fast, keeping her from getting away. Billy vaguely wondered why she didn't use her power."We're going," Billy declared."Wait," the woman wailed. "Don't leave me."Billy didn't give her a second glance as he walked away from her. He didn't want to stick around to see if the noise was actually something to be worried about. Jacqueline's gaze shifted between the two of them. She clearly didn't want to leave the woman behind, but she could also tell that Billy wasn't going to do that. Then the last person any of them expected to protest spoke up."I think we should let her go," Joshua said.Everyone turned to him as Billy said, "What?""We should let her go," Joshua said.
"Are you kidding me?" the tied up woman shrieked, voicing what was on everyone's minds.What was the system thinking? This was basically telling everyone to die. Billy had no clue how many awakened there were, but their group had three awakened, if he still counted as one. That meant the zombies would receive a boost three times greater than if none of them were awakened, and what did they mean by boost? It was so vague that it could mean anything.Were the zombies stronger, faster, smarter, or what? It was impossible for anyone to counteract it without more information, which the system didn't seem to care to give. Billy could feel everyone's gaze on him, as if looking to him for answers that he didn't have. He could understand why Jacqueline and Joshua were doing that, but why was the tied up woman also looking at him?If anything, he should be the last person she should be looking to, considering how he had just threatened her. Well, he supposed that there we
Billy studied the woman's face as the others stared dabsmacked with their jaws hanging. He was just as shocked as they were, but he was better at keeping it off his face. Out of all the things he expected her to say, he didn't expect the woman to tell him that things had gotten off the rails for everyone who had gotten a system and power."Are you really telling the truth?" Billy asked.The woman frantically nodded her head. "Yes, I am. You've got to believe me. I have no reason to lie. When I realized that I could hide from everyone, a screen appeared in front of me, telling me I was one of the awakened."Something had seriously changed this time. In previous lives, no one could receive their power until after their first wave was over. He wasn't sure what had made such a huge difference, but that meant the system had no right to take his power away from him. If anyone could get their power before the first wave ended, he shouldn't have his power removed.<
"Billy?" Jacqueline called out.Billy frowned as he recalled telling her to stay quiet and out of sight until he said the coast was clear. She must have heard his knocking out the woman and got worried, but that didn't change how dumb it was. Jacqueline was basically announcing her presence to whoever was nearby. If he had been the one who had been taken out, she would have been in trouble.Even now, it wasn't a guarantee that they were in the clear just yet. He remained silent as he dragged the unconscious woman away while keeping an eye on his surroundings. After dragging her into another part of the house, he found some rope to tie her up with and searched her for anything valuable. Unfortunately, she didn't have anything on her except for a knife.He narrowed his eyes. It didn't make sense for someone to only go around with a tiny knife. Just imagining someone trying to fight a bunch of zombies with it was ridiculous. Even against another person was a joke.
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