Rusty pipes and metal bars lined the cement walls, and ceiling, of the building’s two floor basment parking garage. To enter, all vehicles had to pass through a ramp, on the right side of the building. This lead to the 1st subbasement floor. The floor then slowly descended in a spiral, leading to the 2nd lower level. At this time, the entrance to the concrete structure was barricaded by a cage door. Every night, after a specific time, the security guards close this cage door too limit access to the building. The next morning the doors are then opened up. For those who need to leave, or enter, during lock hours the doors briefly open to allow, those with a code, a passage through. The few undead that were banging against the metal grate from the outside showed how well the security worked. Though the gate kept the monsters out from wondering in, it also kept any monsters inside of the building from wandering out. This is why the closed off parking garage still contained a few odd zombies, having wondered in from the stairwells on either side of the building. From the little light that was provided, and the amount of vehicles present, it was difficult to see these lurkers in the shadows, for the florescent bulbs just couldn’t dispel all of the darkness from above. Logically there should be more, of these Loitering undead, but the number of zombies blocking the way into the basement had probably made it impossible for any human to make it through, especially after the fire alarm incident.

At the moment, now that the fire alarm had ceased, the garages was eerily quiet. The previously stressful atmosphere was now calm, allowing for a wet sloshing sound to fill the silence. One of the zombies in the garage, whose organs were being dragged behind them, painted a red line down the center of a driveway as it walked. Not having been dead for long, the red blood of a rather robust middle aged man, continued to flow out of the shredded skin of his belly. This left the man’s face, and upper body, looking pale and sickly, but otherwise untouched. If one were to look at this man from over the top of a car, they might even assume he was alive, though unwell. But that would be because they are unable to see the gore, and blood peeking out from behind a torn shirt. Most of the other undead where in a similar state shuffling here and there between the vehicles, but none were alive. The random missing pieces of flesh, and flowing blood, a clear indicator of their earlier demise. A rare few, the bodies of those who turned in their sleep, didn’t have wounds, but bloody maws, that continued to open and close repeatedly, prepared for their next meal.

SHLOP

The organ trailed zombie fell forward after being pushed from behind, sliding face down on it’s own intestines. Letting out a low moan of indignation, the floundering undead struggled to move it’s arms as it tried to right itself, looking much like a fish out of water. Hearing the noise, a couple other nearby undead closed in, mistaking the dead man for living prey. Tearing into their brethren, the attacking zombies began to pick apart the zombie, who could only make more noises of protest. The commotion caused the remaining stragglers to gravitate toward their direction. Taking the opportunity, a shadow moved quickly behind them, flitting between vehicles silently. No mater how close this shadow got to the undead, the zombies seemed unaware of it’s presence, too preoccupied with the growing frenzy in front of them. It was as if the shadow wasn’t even there. Once or twice this small figure would test the waters by occasionally running up to a zombie, and stopping behind, or in front of, the monster. Each time, the figure would be ignored. Only once did a zombie react to this, letting out a growl, and then lunging forward awkwardly, But the figure would just jump out of the way, leaving the zombie confused as it fell from it’s own clumsiness. When the undead looked around for this annoying shadow, it found nothing. Returning to it’s previously docile state, although a bit more frustrated, the zombie continued to patrol the lot.

A few meters away, behind one of the cars, Rein sat quietly in contemplation. For some reason the monster were acting a little weird. Compared to what he remembered from his first life, these things seemed a little bit dumber than usual. The inability to use their limbs effectively was about right. Most zombies didn’t have control of these during the first day, making it easy to run away from them. Unfortunately the widespread panic, caused by the sudden appearance of the undead, kept anyone from noticing this on the first day. But Rein remembers that the zombies were still able to find their prey rather easily. If you were hiding in a closet, or closed off room, the undead would know and trap you inside. Driven by a heightened sense of smell, and sound, these monsters were almost impossible to hide from. This is why it didn’t bother him that the zombies were more interested in attacking the people screaming rather himself. Thinking back over the last couple of hours, very few zombies made a move on him that wasn’t instigated by talking, yelling, or a broken lamp. But now, they hardly even saw him when he stood right in front of them? That didn’t make sense. It was a little early to make any conclusions, and there weren’t any other major changes to these monsters, but he couldn’t help but feel a little troubled by it. It was only the first day though, and a loss of mobility might not of been the only weakness the zombies had on the first day. Rein could have just forgotten what it was like dealing with the first wave of zombies. Still, something was wrong. Maybe something in the timeline had changed?

Done thinking, Rein once again ventured out into the garage, this time with a purpose. Though he didn’t have to worry about attracting the attention of the undead, he still had to be mind full of not stepping too close into their line of sight, or making any excessive noise. His presence may not be easily noticed by them right now, but they could still see him if he wasn’t careful. Making it to the back of the garage, Rein ran up to a small moving truck. Taking out a set of keys, he swiftly unlocked the driver’s side door, then slid into the front seat. He’d finally made it to his truck. Now a little past seven in the morning, he was now a few hours into the apocalypse, but it felt more like a whole day had already passed. Thinking back on everything that had happened, it was a little baffling how things were turning out. Killing monsters, making friends. Watching them die. And thing were only getting started. The boy couldn’t help shaking his head in regret, he should of just left town early like he had originally planned.

---

In his last life, Rein’s escape from the apartment complex didn’t happen on the first day, nore during the first week. After finally waking up to the world ending, Rein did the only reasonable thing he could think of. Hide. Before Rein’s group had joined the other residences, about thirty people were already clearing zombies together. When they met the other surviving groups, the amount doubled in size, making zombie hunting a lot easier. This continued until the whole building was cleared out, creating a small safe zone in the apartment complex. The residences then decided to wait for help. The small community barricaded themselves indoors, surviving off of the little food they could find in the empty apartments. Pulling together their supplies, they set themselves up to wait out the catastrophe until help came. A small group of leaders stepped forward to manage the large group, composed mostly respectable people who either worked for the city, or saved a few people from the monsters early on. There wasn’t much thought put into it. Yeah there were a few people who apposed orders, or even some stealing food, but over all people just excepted things as they were. They were to stressed out to even care.

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Then F city’s base was set up, and the location was broadcaster on the radio. The survivors were prompted to make their way over, and the group faced their first problem. Stay or go? After being cautioned by the group leaders to wait, a few people tried to escape on their own, only to be crowded by monsters on the way out. Most stuck it out and stayed with their neighbors, but the lack of food soon forced them to take action. Rein was one of those who remain with the larger group, knowing full well that he wouldn’t be able to survive on his own. He couldn’t remember if he’d been close to anyone in that first team, but he did remember working together with the others to create a survival plan. He wasn’t a leader himself, but he remembered staying close to a guy named Adam who was. Gearing themselves up with broken brooms, and kitchen utensils, the rag tag team set out on their journey.

It was the first in a long line of ‘worst weeks’ to come. Death, Zombies and infighting happened from the moment everyone left the building. At first the problems were small, an occasional zombie fight here or there, lack of sleep, and a constant look out for water. But then things got a little more severe. Infection, sickness, and battles with other groups for supplies became common. Most of the time they weren’t even fighting zombies, but fellow survivors. But the further they traveled, the more danger they found themselves in. One night their group was ambushed by a small zombie horde. There was only eight of them at first, but the numbers quickly rose as the more people died.

Rein, as unlucky as he was, found himself cut off from the rest of the group with Adam and two others. Cornered between two buildings, the four of them were out numbered by the undead in front of them. Knowing that there only chance was to fight their way out, Adam encouraged Rein to fight. The plan was to break through and run. Watching the zombie encirclement close in on them, Rein nearly pissed himself, but Adam continued to support him. Unfortunately it wasn’t enough. If it wasn’t for that old lady, The plan might have actually worked, but before Rein could even lift the broom handle in his hands, he was pushed from behind. Stumbling forward, Rein nearly ran head first into a Zombie’s open chest cavity. Instead he managed to twist out of the way and hit the ground. Staring up at the haggard and decaying faces around him, Rein was certain he was about to die. That is until Adam stepped in to save him.

Pushing the first Zombie away with his shoulder, the larger man forced two more monsters away, killing one in the process. Pulling the teen up from the ground, Adam threw the boy back behind himself. He was just about to back up and regroup with the others when a loud screen brought the two’s attention to their remaining team member. The guy was being held down by two zombies, one biting into his wrist, while the other tore into his should. Behind, Rein saw the fleeing figure of the old woman. Having realized what the woman had done, Rein felt an anger he didn't know rise up inside him, but it was short lived. A closer, and more familiar, scream came from beside the boy, before being cut off. While he was distracted, a smaller, more limber, zombie woman had latched onto the Adam’s back, before wrapping it’s head around the front of the man. Biting into the man’s neck, the undead ripped the man’s adam’s apple from his throat. Locking eyes with Adam, Rein could only watch on helplessly as gushes of blood flowed forward in torrents. Every time Adam swallowed, the hole in the man’s neck would pump out more blood, seemingly unable to comprehend what he was now missing.

Hearing a loud crunch, as the zombie woman on the man flesh, brought Rein’s attention back to the situation. He was still unsure if it was because he thought he had to, or he was just scared, but Rein ran. He ran leaving Adam and the other member of their group behind as zombie food. A couple days passed, and Rein met up with the remaining survivors from the apartment complex regrouped. Sure enough the old woman had also found her way back safe. With not even have the numbers they started with, the group continued forward. After a few more days, the small group of survivors finally came across a military caravan that was escorting other survivors to the base. Relived, the group was finally escorted to the F City’s base, making it to safety. Or what they thought was safety.

Now, Rein couldn’t even remember the faces of most, if any, of the people he traveled with. If he had run in to any of these people today, then he didn’t recognize them. In theory, the same sequences of events should have happened in this life too, if things hadn’t gone so wrong. For starters, there was no fire alarm, and the large number of zombies on the first floor was also unexpected. That amount of zombies, freely crowding the front of the building, was a situation that didn’t happen until later on in the apocalypse, or in deeper parts of the city. The apearence of a zombie horde gaurding the door, made it rather obvious that things wouldn’t work out the same way for the residences this time. He could only hope that the people above were smart enough to avoid that trap. Otherwise the majority of them were doomed. A bit of regret gnawed at a part of Rein, that he hadn’t know was there. Yeah most of these people wouldn’t make it past the first year, but… could he have helped them live longer? Niomine’s face came to mind, Fallowed by Takeru’s.

The teen quickly shook his head, bringing himself out of his dark thoughts. He knew better than anyone that he couldn’t save everyone. There is only so much one person can do, and if he let the guilt get to him, he’d find himself biting off more than he can chew. Right now he may not be able to save a full building worth of people, but he could still save himself.

Taking a moment to steady himself. The teen moved a few things around in the truck’s cabin, then put the key into the ignition. This was it, the last moment before heading out on his journey, and there was only one obstacle left before finally making it out of this dreaded apartment complex. The basement door. Looking around with a stoic face, Rein made sure the coast was clear before starting the engine. The motor roared to life, reverberating off the cement walls. A few zombies in the area stopped moving, and, as if receiving the same signal, turned toward the truck. Shambling towards the truck in anticipation, the zombies tried to box the vehicle in, however before they could surround the truck, the vehicle quickly backed out and sped forward. Mowing over a couple undead, Rein could only grin in satisfaction. The truck was much sturdier than it looked, which meant that any zombies that got too close would just bounce off the sides, or get crushed under the wheels. After making a few turns around the parking lot, luring most of the undead to a random corner of the garage, Rein finally stepped on the gas, leaving the dead in a cloud of smoke.

Few zombies survived at the car park entrance, after a moving truck rammed the gates of the garage. When the metal grate collapsed on top of them, the three ton truck proceeded to run over the top of them, crushing the monsters to death. The weight of the truck, and the edges of the grated fence, cause the unintended, effect of turning the undead into read pulp. Without stopping, the rampaging vehicle made a quick round about the building, slowing just long enough for the driver to scout out the situation outside. The front entrance was still flooded with reanimated undead, and there wasn’t any new activity going on beside the building either. Unfortunately Rein was unable to see the two faces he was looking for among the undead on this side, but Niomine’s truck was mysteriously gone. Maybe Takeru made it out after all. Giving up the search, the young teen proceeded to drive out of the complex and into the city, not sparing even a glance to the survivors waving him down from the fifth floor. As far as he cared, those selfish bastards could wait for the military to rescue them. Something he knew would never happen. This thought was only retribution he’d allow himself to spare for Niomine and Takeru. Looking in the rear view mirrors at the growing zombie horde in front of the complex, the teen could only frown.

“I’m lucky to of made it out of the building this time.” Feeling a cold shiver rise up from his potential mistake, Rein started heading deeper into the city.

Watching the yellow truck speed away, Adam and Mary Ann could only shake their heads in dismay. They knew not everyone would share their view of solidarity, but they couldn’t help but feel a bit of resentment to the person who had just left them behind.