Never would Emi have thought that she would miss the mundane aspects of life.
There was a time when Ren would nag her to study, saying that she spent too much time reading manga, manhwa, manhua—really whatever she could get her hands on that fed her appetite and curiosity.
But now, she was no longer curious. All she wanted to do was go back to where she came from and lie in her soft bed. She would never complain again if the higher powers of the universe allowed her to return to those mundane moments.
For a moment, there were a few palpable feelings she could recall from the life she longed for.
Or did she simply want to die and cease existing altogether? Having no consciousness sounded better than the constant passing from one place to the next. She couldn't handle not knowing where she would be the next time she opened her eyes.
What Ren told her before she died plagued her. But what was it? Each time she woke up again, she couldn't remember the words, but the warmth… the feeling…
Emi recalled watching speedrunning videos of her favorite games. It felt like she was speedrunning life. There was no other way to describe it than that.
Alive, dead, alive, dead, alive…
The stench of filth mixed with gasoline, blood, and mildew. It was putrid, like nothing she had ever smelled before in her life. It immediately made her nauseous.
Even though her father wasn't always around, she was taught to make sure their space was tidy. As chaotic as she was in all aspects of her life, she recalled keeping up with cleaning.
Her chemistry teacher always complimented her ability to keep a clean bench and be precise with her chemicals.
Why was she recalling this now?
As much as she wanted to plug her nose and avoid the smell, something stood out to her more than anything else.
"Hydrogen sulfide…" she uttered.
Meaning there could be a sewage backup, or even worse, a corpse. Perhaps both? Either way, her chemistry teacher would have been so proud of her for waking up in an unknown world and her first words were identifying a chemical compound.
But the people in her past were mere flashes of dreams without names. The comfort they offered was chased away.
[Mission: Find Him]
'Who?' she wondered, unable to remember.
Emi sat up slowly and noticed papers and garbage falling off of her, unburying her from the horrible place in which she had woken up.
If there was something that seemed to reign true in all of the strange happenings she had experienced, it was that whoever she was becoming was close to death in some way. Either they were already injured or simply at the end of life.
Unfortunately, there was no time for introspection. Her eyes scanned the space, and it seemed to be a small house. It was on the verge of collapse, and black mold covered the corners.
Trash covered the floor and countertops, but it wasn't the trash of a hoarder, but debris and rot that had fallen in through the holes in the roof, the open door, and shattered windows. The light was dim. It was either early morning or dusk.
With all of this in consideration, she decided she needed to get out of there quickly. There were too many things that could kill her.
As she stood up, pushing her hands into whatever she was lying on to help her onto her feet, a gasp of pain escaped her lips. Her right arm wouldn't even move.
She looked down, alarmed. To see the full scope of things, she had to use her left arm to turn her right.
Sure enough, where there was once a grey sweatshirt sleeve, her arm had what seemed to be a bite mark that ripped through her flesh and took out the muscles that would have been useful for her to stand up.
Her chin quivered.
There was no time for that either. She merely shoved her arm into the pocket that was at her waist, and she got up as quickly as possible.
Rushing to the door, she heard a horrible, low growl, and she put on the brakes as quickly as the shabby sneakers she wore would let her.
She yelped and placed her one good hand over her mouth. If something was there, there was no way of knowing how many.
Her eyes darted around the dark space. In the filth, she managed to spot what seemed to be the broken leg of a table. It was light enough to lift with her left hand, and she held it out in front of her.
There was scraping and more growling.
In less than a second, she was met with the most awful sight she had ever seen. Something that could almost be described as a human was looking at her. Its limbs and neck were at odd angles. Even in the low light, she could see pus-filled deformities covering its body.
She wouldn't attack first, but didn't have to wait long. Even though it didn't move quickly, it still moved towards her. Never before had she been a fighter, but she still knew that she needed to get to that thing before it got to her—before it got to her the same way another one must have, based on the state of her arm.
Her aim was clumsy. She hit the thing in the back as it crawled towards her on its legs and arms like a dog, and she couldn't back away any further because of the pile of trash.
It wasn't enough to stop it. The thing scraped the floor as it dragged its body towards her still.
Knowing it was still seeing her, she took the broken table leg to its head, and it finally stopped moving.
A screen appeared in front of Emi's eyes. She shielded her face as if it was going to attack her.
[+5 Combat
New Item: Infected Meat]
She gasped at the sound, still protecting her face, but she managed to peek at the screen that seemed to keep changing.
[Congratulations, Survivor—]
She didn't catch the rest of whatever was being written to her.
"There are more over here!" a voice shouted from outside the house.
Through all of the hell that surrounded Emi, she saw the beautiful face of a woman appear in the doorway. She carried a bat and looked as if she were ready to beat someone down. After a man with her cleared the house with a gun, the woman stepped into view, Emi realized this woman was pregnant.
In a chaotic place like this?
The screen that appeared still produced messages, but she was ignoring it completely. There were people, and they didn't seem to want to kill her as they looked on in horror.
Emi dared to start walking forward, but the two seemed tense.
"Have you been bitten?!" the man yelled at her.
Emi's eyes widened, and she kept moving forward, but the man held his gun up.
"I will only repeat myself one more time!"
He was wearing military clothing. One of his gloved hands hid the pregnant woman behind him before he focused the gun on Emi once more.
She raised one of her arms, and her chin began to quiver.
It seemed that this wasn't the place for her either. When would she be able to rest?
All she sought was warmth and the last feeling she recalled from what she deemed to be her first life. Was it love?
"I think so," Emi sobbed.
She pulled her right arm out of her pocket with her left hand. Tears streamed down her face when the two reeled in horror at her arm, which was actively bleeding and torn to shreds by whatever had gotten to her first.
However, what struck her the most was the woman's expression. She had beautiful blue eyes and a kind face despite the circumstances.
Emi had read apocalypse books before, and she knew that if she didn't die now, she would likely turn into whatever had tried to attack her before.
"Make sure it doesn't hurt," she pleaded.
[Mission: Failed]
And the darkness she had already become familiar with returned. Consciousness didn't cease just like before.
Another world. Another life she didn't want.
The perilous sound of a language she didn't understand was being chanted. Coldness against her back.
As soon as she opened her eyes…
[Mission: Find Him]