Rise of the Desperate: Billy Wood's Save and Restart System

Chapter 8: Zombie Swarm Aftermath

Billy took a moment to catch his breath after ripping his knife free from the zombie's neck. Observing his surroundings, he could scarcely believe that they had survived the encounter in one piece. Well, not everyone had. The number of people that had survived was but a small fraction of how many there had been to begin with.

Of course, he couldn't say for sure that there were no other survivors in the other parts of the building. There was no way to tell unless he searched everywhere. For now, he needed to focus on the survivors that were nearby. The only people left in the vicinity were himself, his wife, and her parents. It wasn't surprising since he had worked hard to protect them from the zombies.

He winced at the throbbing pain in his shoulder. Glancing down at his shoulder, he grimaced at the long marks that ran down his arm. A zombie had gotten lucky and managed to claw at his arm. Of course, he got back at the zombie by bashing its head in with his baton before stabbing it repeatedly until it stopped moving.

Considering he didn't feel like he was changing into a zombie, he guessed that he was in the clear for now. However, he still needed to wrap it up so he didn't bleed to death. It was quite a nasty scratch. As he searched for something to clean his wound and stop the bleeding, he spotted a familiar corpse nearby. It was in pretty bad condition, but there was no mistaking the fancy clothes.

It looked like his wife's lover hadn't managed to get out alive despite abandoning her early on to save himself. Well, the coward got what he deserved. Moving past the body, he was stopped by his wife's father, who was blocking his way towards the kitchen, where there should be a medkit.

"What is it?" Billy bluntly asked, as he wasn't in the mood to deal with his father in law at the moment.

"I order you to stay put," the man said as he pointed a finger downward.

For several moments, Billy stared at the man as he tried to comprehend what he was trying to say. "What?"

"You heard me. You're not allowed to leave without my permission," the man said as he repeated the same action.

Billy stared at him silently before he burst out laughing. It was completely unhinged, making his father in law take a step back. His mother in law was hesitant to join her husband and could only glance between the two of them. His wife had finally gotten to her feet and was staring at her lover's corpse with a blank look on her face.

Finally, the laughter died out as Billy spat, "You really changed your tune. First, you told me to get out. Now you're telling me to stay put. Well, I'm not sticking around."

Pushing past the man, Billy felt a slight twinge of guilt for causing his father in law to stumble. His mother in law was quick to rush over to support her husband while keeping an eye on Billy in case he tried something. A part of him disliked how they looked at him, adding to the guilt, but he immediately squashed it. He couldn't allow himself to be pushed around anymore.

He had already saved them, despite how they were going to kick him out with nothing except the clothes on his back. The years they had spent together had meant nothing to them, so he should treat them the way they treated him. Entering the kitchen, he searched through the drawers until he found the medkit to patch up his wounds.

As he did this, he could feel his ex family watching him. Since they weren't saying anything, he decided to ignore their presence. Once he was patched up, he closed up the medkit and held it underneath his armpit. With the way things were going, he was going to need all the first aid he could get his hands on.

"Hold it," his father in law said, finally speaking up. "You can't take that."

Billy stared at them coldly, causing them to falter as he said, "I don't have to listen to you anymore. You've already decided we aren't family anymore, so I have no obligation to listen to you. I'll be taking my leave."

"Wait." Billy stopped in his tracks at the sound of his wife finally speaking up. "We can talk about this. You can't just leave us behind."

Giving her a disbelieving look, he said, "Didn't you hear what I just said? There's nothing between us anymore. I don't need to care about you anymore. Why don't you go back to your lover?"

She flinched at his mocking tone and glanced at her lover's corpse. It still burned him that she chose someone who would gladly drop her in a heartbeat when he had been faithfully by her side for years. He had even saved her, even though he didn't have to. He blamed his soft heart, but he promised himself this was the last time he would help them.

"You're on your own," he said as he headed for the door.

While he should stock up on supplies, he refused to deal with them any longer. They were just going to keep harassing him until he gave in to their demands. It wasn't worth dealing with them. If things were as bad as he thought outside, then he could just take what he needed elsewhere.

Something crashed into his side, and he grunted in pain. "No, you can't."

Glaring down at his wife, who was clinging to him, he felt his heart waver at the sight of her tear stricken face. Unable to help himself, his eyes softened against his will. He instinctively wiped a tear away from her face and watched her face take on a hopeful look. However, he was quick to put a stop to it.

"Let go," he said as he gently pushed on her shoulder.

Shaking her head violently, she said, "No, you can't leave us. I'm your wife. You can't just leave us behind."

"I told you to let go," he said more firmly.

Suddenly, her face turned ugly as she said, "You're a monster. You don't care if we die or not. I should have never married you."

As he was about to speak, she raised a hand to hit him in the chest. However, she seemed to have forgotten that she was still holding a taser in her hand. The taser slammed against his chest, and he felt electricity coarse through his body. His body went limp as he fell backward.

Not expecting this, his wife was unable to hold him upright and let him go. He fell onto his back and felt a sharp pain go through his body. Staring down at his chest, he could only look in disbelief at the piece of furniture piercing through his chest. He coughed up blood as he felt himself losing consciousness.

His wife's parents rushed to her side to comfort her, clearly having no intention to help him. As he felt his world go dark, he cursed himself for dying again because of them. How could things have ended up like this? If he woke up in the past again, he swore that things would be different.