Maya's POV
The zombies were coming.
I pressed my bleeding hand against the basement door, feeling the wood shake with each hit. My heart hammered so hard it hurt. Behind the door, dead things screamed and clawed, wanting to tear me apart.
"Please!" I screamed, pounding on the door my sister had just locked. "Yiren! Let me in! Please!"
Through the small window, I could see her. My baby sister. The girl I raised after Mom and Dad died. She stood on the other side with her arms crossed, watching me like I was a bug.
Next to her stood Ethan. My fiancé. The man who promised to love me forever.
They were both smiling.
"I'm sorry, sis," Yiren said, but she didn't sound sorry at all. "But someone has to be the bait. And let's be honest—you're useless anyway."
"An F-rank healer in a zombie apocalypse?" Ethan laughed, wrapping his arm around Yiren's waist. "That's just sad, Maya. At least this way, you'll finally be useful. You'll buy us time to escape."
My stomach dropped. His arm around her waist. The way she leaned into him.
"How long?" I whispered. "How long have you two been..."
"Three months," Yiren said cheerfully. "Since the day after the apocalypse started. You were so busy trying to help everyone, you never noticed he was visiting my bed at night."
The door cracked behind me. Zombie fingers pushed through the gap, reaching for my hair.
"But I gave you everything!" I screamed. The words ripped from my throat. "I gave you my food! My medicine! I created the immunity boosters that kept you alive! Every plan that saved us—that was ME!"
"And we're very grateful," Ethan said, his voice bored. "But gratitude doesn't change facts. You're weak, Maya. That F-rank system of yours is worthless. We need fighters. Not some pathetic healer who can't even heal zombie bites."
"Ethan, please—" My voice broke. "I love you. We're supposed to get married—"
"Married?" He laughed so hard he had to wipe his eyes. "To you? God, Maya, I only dated you because your pharmaceutical research helped my family's company. The engagement was just to keep you close. But now?" He looked at Yiren with such warmth—warmth he never showed me. "Now I've found someone actually worth my time."
Yiren giggled and kissed his cheek.
The door splintered. A zombie's rotting hand grabbed my shoulder.
"HELP ME!" I threw myself at the door one last time. "I'M YOUR SISTER!"
"You were my sister," Yiren corrected, her pretty face cold as ice. "But this is the apocalypse, Maya. Only the strong survive. And you? You were always the weak one. The stupid one who thought being kind made you special." She leaned close to the window, her breath fogging the glass. "Did you really think I loved you? I hated you. Everyone always loved you more. Praised you more. But look at us now. I'm A-rank. Ethan's S-rank. And you're just food."
"Goodbye, Maya," Ethan said, pulling Yiren away from the door. "Thanks for all your hard work. We'll make sure to survive really well with everything you taught us."
They turned and walked away. Just walked away, laughing together, as the door finally shattered behind me.
Zombies poured into the basement like a wave of rotting death. Their moans filled my ears. Their hands grabbed my arms, my legs, my hair.
Pain exploded through my body as teeth sank into my shoulder. Then my leg. Then my stomach.
I screamed until my throat bled.
But the worst pain wasn't physical.
It was knowing the two people I loved most in the world had fed me to monsters without a second thought. That every kind thing I'd done meant nothing. That I'd died for people who saw me as trash.
As darkness ate at the edges of my vision, I saw my life flash by. Every moment I'd been stupid. Every time I'd trusted them. Every smile that had been fake.
Six months ago, when the apocalypse started and I awakened as F-rank, Ethan had looked at my system screen with such disgust. I should have known then.
Four months ago, when Yiren started "borrowing" my supplies and never returning them, I should have said no.
Two months ago, when they started whispering and laughing behind my back, I should have left.
But I loved them. And love made me blind. Love made me weak.
A zombie's teeth found my throat.
Blood filled my mouth.
As my heart beat its last few times, one thought burned through my dying brain: If I could do it all again, I would make them pay. Every drop of blood. Every tear. Every betrayal. I would make them suffer like they made me suffer.
I would become strong. I would be ruthless. I would destroy them.
If only I had one more chance...
My eyes closed. Everything went dark.
And in that darkness, something impossible happened.
A voice—cold, mechanical, ancient—spoke directly into my dying mind:
"WISH GRANTED."
A golden screen blazed to life in the blackness, so bright it burned:
[RESURRECTION PROTOCOL INITIATED][PLAYER MAYA CHEN: QUALIFIED][BEGINNING RESET IN 3... 2... 1...]
My last thought before everything vanished: What?
Then the world ripped itself apart, and I fell screaming through time.