John observed from the balcony as his father's vehicle, a black Toyoda jeep, veered into the busy streets, where traffic congestion slowly built up.

His father has rushed out to purchase food supplies for this upcoming "apocalypse". Of course, there is a high chance of his family being entirely wrong, that they were hallucinating altogether and are about to let a lot of money go to waste. But they aren't willing to take that risk. It was all too absurd… yet too coincidental and realistic.

He leaned forward against the metal railing, gazing deeply into the night sky.

Two moons emitting a dreamy milky glow dapple the night sky.

"This planet, Terra. We exist here, yet we are not from here…" John's thoughts trailed off temporarily as the glimmer of a bright star drew his attention. "Apparently, I am from Earth. Am I actually going crazy?" Snorting in disbelief, he averted his gaze and shook his head. "Who knows? Maybe I'm from that star over there."

He chuckled, trying to wipe off the disbelief bothering his mind.

John's current memories, from childhood to adulthood, belonged to his life on Planet Terra, yet somehow, he also has memories of an entirely different life. He has made different friends, gone through different events, and even lived on a different planet. But only one thing remained the same, and that was his lovely family members.

To quench his thirst for answers, John began browsing the internet, hoping to find useful information. Since his family went through the same experience, wouldn't it potentially suggest that there were more people like him out there?

Searching up the keywords, "Earth" and "apocalypse", he expected massive disappointment, but instead found hundreds of related posts circulating all over the globe from various social media platforms. Most of them were very recent, with the earliest post being less than 5 minutes before he woke up. Scrolling between pages and forums, more comments and posts came pouring in, approaching the thousands. Soon, his trusty old computer began to lag heavily due to an overflow of commentators on the webpage he was currently browsing.

Confirming his speculations of an incoming apocalypse, John leaned back against the backrest, processing this unbelievable news. Clearing his mind, he took the initiative to screenshot several of the top posts and their users before retreating from the website to concentrate on his tasks at hand. Who knows, these users seemed really knowledgeable and they might come in handy.

Making use of the knowledge he can recollect, John searched his home in and out for useful items that can be utilized, organizing them into various categories. Despite a lack of knowledge since his memories were limited to his 18-year-old self, he had decent instincts for choosing items deemed important. What else to expect from a person who has experienced an apocalypse?

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Most of his past memories were locked, replaced by sheer darkness permeating n his brain, while very few parts have already been recalled, integrating into his current memories.

Planet Terra is extremely similar to Earth, consisting of all of the materials and minerals Earth possesses. It is currently at an identical stage of technological advancement as compared to Earth. Weirdly enough, its language and culture had also developed similarly to Earth. If it weren't for their distinct geographical differences, John would have believed that Planet Terra and Earth were exact clones of one another.

Unlike Earth, Terra's planetary surface is covered by 50% land and 50% sea. In terms of size, there is much more to explore as Planet Terra's volume is 100 times larger than Planet Earth, possessing unique regions and strange phenomena that science has yet to explain. Till today, many mysterious and desolate areas of the planet are still untenanted by humans. As a result of its size, Planet Terra has a population of 750 billion, nearly a hundred times more than Earth's population.

Or at least, before the apocalypse occurred.

John's eyes dimmed for a moment before they lit back up with a speck of hope. "But here I am. Alive. Along with my family!"

He glanced behind his back at a lovely portrait of his family hanging on the wall.

The portrait framed his sweet family of 5, each making unique expressions at the camera. His Dad's awkward smirk; His mom's perfect smile; His little brother's quirky smirk and rebellious middle finger; His little sister's emotionless look; and lastly, himself, carrying a lazy grin while his fingers combed through his curly hair.

A "perfect" family of 5. (That quarrels a lot)

John observed the picture for a while, gently sliding a finger across the portrait as he balled his hands into a fist of determination. His past life indicated that he was the last remaining survivor of his family. This time, he has vowed to protect his family at all costs, even at the cost of his own life.

Wasting no more time, John picked up his phone again to redial his brother's number, urgently hoping that he'd finally pick up.

John was all alone at home.

His father, using their family's only vehicle, is on his way to purchase supplies in bulks while his mother is taking public transportation to pick up his sister, Mary, who was supposed to have a sleepover at her friend's house located at the on the opposite side of town.

The only one uncontactable was John's little brother, Jason, who was unfortunately on a seven-day field trip in a foreign country, far away from the city.

John cursed at the sight of no one picking up the phone, slamming his fist on the table in frustration and worry. "Such an unfortunate timing! Pick up the phone dumbass!"

His brother, although a phone addict, was also a nature-lover who always muted his phones in order to 'not disturb nature' whenever he was outdoors.

Pacing in circles with unease, his phone finally received an answer after several more failed attempts.

"Hey, whassup dickhead, you called me like 10 times—"

John was never so grateful to hear his brother's cracking, puberty-hit voice. Just as John began to speak, one of the many dark shells in his memory cracked open, emitting a blinding light. Devouring the darkness, it revealed itself to be a newly gained memory before rapidly integrating into John's mind along with the other essential memories.

Digesting the contents of the memory hastily, a seething chill of fear jolted down John's spine as unsettling goosebumps formed all over his skin.

Without a second thought, he exclaimed at his brother in a hurry. "Shut up and listen Jason. In one minute, you need to hide somewhere safe and barricade all the doors! Zombies are coming and you need to collect clean bottled water…"

As John desperately tried to disclose as much advice as possible, a sharp zap crackled from above him and his phone immediately lost connection.

"Bzzt!"

The ceiling lights switched off instantaneously and the entire apartment settled into a pitch-black state.