Dean had fought tooth and nail against the horrors of the apocalypse, surviving on sheer willpower and instinct. He had lost friends, family, and his own humanity along the way. But in the end, even the strongest couldn’t fight forever. Trapped and surrounded by an endless swarm of the undead, Dean made his final stand—fighting until his last breath was stolen from him.

But instead of darkness, he woke up in his old apartment. The calendar read March 23, 2025—5 years before the outbreak. His body was intact, his scars were gone, and the world was still normal.

Given a second chance, Dean refuses to waste it. He abandons his old life, using his knowledge of the future to prepare for what’s coming. Every mistake he made before, he corrects. Every weakness he once had, he erases. Stockpiling weapons, supplies, and knowledge, he builds a fortress before the first zombie even rises.

But the question lingers in his mind—was his return to the past a blessing or a curse? Was he the only one who remembered, or were there others? As the world continues down its doomed path, Dean realizes that surviving the apocalypse once was hard enough—but preventing it might be impossible.

As Dean approached the outskirts of the city, he quickly realized the highway was completely blocked—abandoned cars, burning wreckage, and the undead stumbling aimlessly between them. Driving any further was impossible.


Dean cursed under his breath, quickly securing The Beast in a hidden spot between a collapsed overpass and an overturned semi-truck. He locked the vehicle, enabling its reinforced security system to prevent thieves from breaking in.


This meant he had no choice but to go on foot.


With his M4 Carbine ready, he started moving through the city streets, using alleyways and cover to avoid unnecessary fights. But soon enough, he encountered his first group of zombies—at least ten of them, feasting on a corpse in the middle of an intersection.


Dean took a deep breath and aimed down his sights.


Three precise headshots took down the first three, but the gunfire alerted the rest. They turned, bloodied mouths gaping open as they screeched and charged at him.


Dean quickly switched to his Benelli M4 shotgun.


A head exploded like a watermelon, spraying gore against the asphalt.


Two more dropped as Dean moved swiftly, keeping his aim steady. A stray zombie lunged at him from the side, but Dean anticipated it, swiftly pulling out his combat knife and plunging it deep into its skull.


More growls echoed in the distance. He needed to move.


Dean sprinted through an alleyway, kicking over trash cans and weaving through abandoned vehicles. As he turned a corner, he came face to face with a small group of survivors armed with makeshift weapons. They looked desperate, ragged, and afraid.


One of them raised a baseball bat wrapped in barbed wire. "Give us your food and ammo, and we won't kill you," he snarled.


One precise shot to the leg sent the man screaming to the ground. The others hesitated, realizing too late that they had made a mistake.


Dean leveled his rifle at them. "Walk away, or you won't get a second warning."


Dean sighed, shaking his head. The world was barely ending, and people were already turning on each other.


After another fifteen minutes of weaving through wreckage, avoiding hordes, and taking out stray zombies, Dean finally spotted the high-rise where Marcus and his family were trapped.


The entrance was blocked by overturned furniture and makeshift barricades—clearly set up in a hurry. The real challenge was getting inside.


Dean gripped his rifle tighter, his breath steady.


Chapter 12 - Into infested city