Rebirth in the Apocalypse: Third Time's a Charm

Although I hate mornings more than anything, my body was a lot happier with me after waking up in a bed than on a pile of blankets.

Things to note, I guess.

I was trying to revamp my whole future, so there was no point in getting used to sleeping on the floor on the cold ground. I had my home; my paradise and I would not give it up for anything or anyone.

Instead of making my bed, I just put the whole thing in my space. Why make it when I was just going to sleep on it again tonight?

I called Jenny and got my house on the market. I didn't know how long it would take to sell, but step three was now out of my hands.

Which mean that I was in for a day of shopping! I got out of bed and took my time getting dressed and decided that this would be a perfect time to see if I could have a piece of chocolate cake with fudge icing.

I entered my space and walked towards the house. I think that the ranch meant so much to me because it was so similar to this place. Not being as excited about my own space as I thought I would be, I finally understood the saying 'be careful what you ask for'.

In my second life, I would have given anything to be like Colin and have my very own space. Mind you, how he described his space was nothing like what I had. He claimed that it was like a warehouse. It started off small, but the more that he put stuff in and took it out, the bigger it got. Not what I was expecting, but sure...

I would have to say that the first time I came here, I was really confused as to what was going on. Once again, I really, REALLY loved to read web novels and since I was obsessed with transmigration, I think I had read everything that I could get my hands on. That included transmigrating into the end of the world.

Yes, even I could chuckle over the irony of it all. That being said, I would have preferred Ancient China if I could have had a say in the matter...

But I digress. I thought that I would be ahead of the game, understanding how supernatural powers worked, about the nucleus in the zombie's heads that could be used to increase your own power, about leveling up and becoming an unstoppable force with someone that had lightning powers and/or a space power.

My reality was nothing like that. So, did I mention that nothing went the way I was 'promised' in those novels? Let's start with the zombies, shall we?

The original 'zombie' as the world here thinks of them were created in Country M as part of an experiment to improve the power and performance of the Navy. The volunteers were given an injection of genes and a retrovirus that would enhance the desired characteristics of certain... species.

Each dosage contained the gene sequence for both blue and mako sharks, starfish as well as a little-known organism called a hydra.

Now, if you are like me and hear the word hydra, you automatically think of a mythical creature that looks like a dragon with, like, nine heads. Something that Hercules would be proud to fight.

This was not it. This hydra was about the size of a child's finger when fully grown with a base stem and a flower-type head. So, why add this weird, alien creature into the mix? It turns out that they are the secret to eternal life... or the ability to not die.

Yeah, I wasn't impressed when I heard it for the first time either. One of the scientists that I saved in the third year that I was there told me that these hydras have stem cells with an infinite capacity for self-renewal. This came in the gene form of fox O... so, the scientists in their infinite wisdom added an overabundance of that gene. Self-renewal would be important for any respectable soldier, right?

Then came the starfish genome. They (the ones that were supposed to be smart), took the gene that allowed the starfish to reproduce asexually and regrow limbs. Seriously, they had a starfish that was able to completely regrow from just an arm. Imagine what that did to the zombies.

The sharks I think were the guys in the group deciding that if they were going to add genes to the Navy, then sharks would be a great place to go. The blue shark and the mako shark are less well known than let's say a Great White or Tiger shark, but the blue shark was known for its aggressive behavior while the mako was considered highly intelligent with larger brains and extreme speed and agility.

Want to know how those four creatures put together with a dude would work out? Nightmareish... really really... not.... Yeah...

Remember, forget everything you knew about zombies, cause these weren't them. They had no crystal nucleus to dig out, they didn't start off slow and gain speed and intelligence with every level that they upgraded to...

These zombies were highly, like extremely, intelligent. They started out fast and agile and never slowed down. I guess it is also a blessing that they didn't speed up either.

Some had light purple skin while others had a bluer hue to them. They were organized, followed a hierarchy, and preyed on humans to the point where they would and could sneak into the safe zones to take humans away to eat at a later time. Heck, they could even decide who would turn into a zombie and who would just end up as food.

I feel like I need to stress that as much as most novels talk about humans becoming more powerful and coming out on top... this was not what happened.

We were considered to be THE food source for the newest apex predator. I had even heard rumors that they were farming us, bringing us to their bases, and keeping us terrified until our fear had reached a level that they considered our meat delicious.

Yeah, those were the zombies that we were dealing with. All the intelligence of highly trained men and women with the aggression, stealth, agility, and immunity that the new genes afforded them.

And if Country M thought that they would maintain control over these creatures, they quickly learned otherwise.

So, how did the genes spread? ... A retrovirus was added to the mix in the hopes that it would give the scientists some level of control. This retrovirus would attack the immune system, ideally killing these super soldiers in about ten years or so. But once again, the best-laid plans of mice and men... By destroying the immune system, it allowed the genes that should not have been that dominant to come take control.

And, as all other viruses, it could be passed through blood, bodily fluids, and from mother to child.

In other words, the scientists succeeded in creating a superhuman, indestructible creature that liked the taste of humans and can regrow its head if necessary.

Oh, did I forget that part? Yeah, cutting off their heads was not enough to keep them dead. You would need to burn the corpse to ashes in order to be assured of complete victory. But the triggers were so quick that simply setting them on fire would not work. The fire needed time to destroy their genes so that they couldn't regenerate... thus having to cut off their heads.

Give me the zombies that my world came up with any day. It seemed like it would be so much easier.