Meeting Old Friends from a New Life

"Glad to be back…"

I smiled at them as it was really good to be back indeed. Being able to see the sky that's bright and not dark all the time, it felt like it's been forever. And this was the last year where I actually saw the Sun shine brightly for so long. Before it all began…

I remembered that it was the year 2028; it was the darkest year of the so called apocalypse. Our group had finally found the last piece of to build the Mind Jump Device. This device had the ability to save, send, block, recall, or transfer someone's memories and experiences into their future self or past self. The idea was to build the device and send out our memories before two-thirds of the population turned to flesh eating zombies. This so we could better prepare ourselves and save the people we couldn't save.

This was a device that they were trying to build for 4 years in the apocalypse. Many people have died trying to assemble this kind of device after getting the blueprint for it. Luckily, none of our teammates died when we were trying to find the parts for the device. But on the night of August 23, 2028, we were suddenly ambushed by three 10th grade zombies while we were using it. This device upon usage releases sonic waves that can attract 7th grade to 10th grade zombies to our location. We didn't know that was the case until we actually heard them growling from a kilometer away. Yes, a kilometer away. In the tenth year of the apocalypse, zombies weren't the only ones who evolved, but us humans too.

We had to be fast in transmitting memories to our past selves before the apocalypse happened, and in doing so, we attracted a horde of high grade zombies. Toni was the first to send out her memories, and I was the last one. I was able to send out the last of my memory in time before… we all died. Our future selves in 2028 are dead but we still have a shot here at 2018. We knew that even if we died in the end, at least we could save a different version of us.

Which led us to now… May 27, 2018. Three days before everything that we know of gets destroyed and everything that human kind worked for became useless.

"Who was the first to 'remember'?" I asked in a serious tone while shifting my gaze at each one of them.

Everyone was silent until the other girl broke the silence as she spoke.

"Toni was the first one. It's obvious since she was the first to Mind Jump" She said.

If I remember correctly this girl is called Jaden. She was in charge in scouting for our team in our previous life. Stealth and invisibility were her powerful assets. Poison manipulation was something she was also good at. And she had large and sharp claws that could tear a 9th grade zombie in half with one swing. In short, she was a brilliant assassin.

"How long ago was it?" I asked.

"Two years…" Toni answered

So that's what she meant… two years. She waited for me to come to the states for two years. While everyone was still in their 'sleep', she had to wait patiently.

"Who was next? Was it you Jaden?" I asked in a sad tone.

"I wish! Even though I was the second one to use it, the order was messed up because of the battery that we used. I 'remembered' about 6 months ago. Ken was the second one to remember." Jaden said lively

"Ken? Who's Ken?" I asked in a curious tone. This was a name that I haven't heard of from our past life.

"That would be me. Ken Needy." He said as he reached out his hand towards me.

"Do I know you?" I asked. I seriously don't know this guy!

"Ouch! Come on Dwayne, who would thought that you'd forget your right-hand man just like that? HAHAHA!" He said with a hearty laugh.

This guy! It's him!

"Kaizer?! You're Kaizer?!"

Okay! I'm definitely shocked right now! Kaizer always covered himself with a mask to hide his face. Besides, if he took it off, he had a beard growing. That perfectly maintained newly grown short beard was his trade mark. But this guy looked like a baby with that face. There was no hint of facial hair anywhere!

Like he said, he's my right-hand man. I trust him with my life. Manipulating and summoning different kinds of knives from thin air was his specialty. Not only was he efficient in using knives, he was also skilled as a front liner. He could take out hundreds of lower grade and mid-grade zombies in seconds! He was very effective as a front liner.

"Oh! That's right! You should stop calling me Jaden. That's not my name. The name's Yu Yan Fields. But you can call me Yan, not that it matters in a few days."

A few days…

Three more days before it happens…

In three days' time, the announced meteor shower would happen. It would be the most magical thing that people would see. Thousands of comets would be visible in the sky. But later did we know that this would be the start of the end.

I was at my house during the meteor shower. Jerome was already asleep from exhaustion. So I was alone on the balcony of my room. It was really a sight to behold. Suddenly at a far distance, I saw a light that was brighter than the rest. It became brighter and brighter by the second. This brightness became bigger and bigger as well. I started to panic and wanted to run but fear took over so I froze.

This ball of light was already one-fourth the size of the moon when it slammed against it. When the comet hit the moon, there was a massive earthquake that happened. At the same time, sand from the comet began to fall on earth. Because of the earth's atmosphere, the sand was heated up and turned it into multiple tiny glass crystals that rained down on earth.

These colored crystals penetrated houses and buildings as well as all the creatures living in the world. No one was safe from it. The remaining dust from the comet covered the atmosphere of the earth making it dark. This would be the beginning of the end which people who survived this tragedy would soon call, the Death of the Moon.

When I woke up from this event, I was covered in shards of glass from the window. I must've been blown towards the inside of the building. I couldn't remember anything at all since after the event, you'll forget everything about you. Your life before the apocalypse and as well as the people you knew. So practically, you wouldn't know that the people you would kill or meet were people that you once knew.

"It's nice to see you again Dwayne. It really is." A voice of a man snapped me back to reality.

"You are?" I asked

"George… George Miles." He said stoically with no hint of emotion on his face.

This attitude… It couldn't be… No way…

"You can't be serious. You're NINE?!"

In the future, Nine had long straight hair that covered part of his face. He might have a different look now, but he's stoic character remained the same. Nothing much has changed even 10 years in the past.

Don't let his character fool you. Nine had the best accuracy in our team in our past life. He was the best Sniper in the world. Everybody knew who he was. Not only was he good with any gun. He had abilities that allowed him to be good with mid-range and short range combat. Overall… he was a natural born killer. And we were blessed to have him on the team.

"Yes…" He answered flatly.

There was a long silence after that.

Well, at least it's good to know that there were things that didn't change.

"Enough with the introductions! Dwayne, we need to prepare. Let's proceed to the next phase of our plan." Toni said sternly.

Yep, she hasn't changed at all. But she's quite harsh right now. I wonder what happened to her in the last 2 years.

"Chill Toni… we-"

"My name is not Toni… It's Antonia… Antonia Hills." She said shyly

Ken and Yan started to laugh hysterically.

"There's not much of a difference! AHAHAHA!" Yan pointed out

"Happy now?! Let's go!" Antonia puffed.

After a while we all followed Antonia to the School Parking Lot. She was still furious about what happened earlier but nonetheless the crowd was still lively as ever. And I tried to be intimate with Antonia since in our previous life, we were… you know… together. But somehow, she felt distant. I wonder why?

As we were walking, towards Antonia's car, there were a lot of people that were staring at as and they seemed to be talking about something.

What's going on? Is there something wrong? I didn't mind them and went to grab Antonia's hand, but as I was about to do so, someone grabbed me from behind and pushed me.

"Stay away from my girlfriend Newbie!" a voice sounded behind me as I was pushed.

I nearly fell, but my body reacted per instinct and I did a butterfly twist and landed with one hand on the ground.

I could hear people from the background saying "oooooh" or something. Wait 'til the apocalypse happens. This would become normal by then.

I looked at the person who attacked me and saw a familiar face. He may be young now, but I will never forget a jerk's face when I see one. Bart Wesley… Your typical dumb jockey. He's the son of the mayor of Bridgeport and in the future, he'll be known as Crown. The guy who conquered east LA and made it into a modern Roman Empire where gladiators fought for freedom and slavery was rampant. I will never forget that day where he almost killed my team because Toni would not leave me for him. But now, he called her his girlfriend? What? Am I still dreaming?

"Did you hear me Newbie! Don't ever go near her again!" Bart said.

I looked at Antonia for a confirmation to beat him up but instead she said…

"Go, I'll be fine."

Is she serious right now? She's not telling me to leave her with over-sized Dumbo here isn't she?

My gaze then turned to Bart and killing intent was heavily leaking from me. He seemed to notice it as well because he stopped moving and he started to shake.

"Oh yeah? Make me." I taunted him.

My team and I have been through worse and in fact we've been through the worst. That's why I am not scared of a mere human. Even a 10th grade zombie would be more harmful than him.

"You bastard! I will kill you!" He shouted while running towards me.

(Meanwhile in Ken's, Yan's, Antonia's and George's mind)

Yan: Oooooooh! This is gonna be interesting! Haha!

Ken: He's an idiot for calling him that.

Antonia: Uh-oh…

George: … May his soul rest in peace

I think I know what my team is thinking. They know me too well. If there's one thing I hate, it's being called a bastard.

Did he just call me a bastard? No he did not just call me that! That's it! I'm going to have fun with this guy. HAHAHAHA!

While he was running towards me with a punch, I timed it carefully before side-stepping and tripping him over. He then slammed to one of the lockers face first. I then grabbed him from behind his neck and slammed him again pressing him harder this time.

People were shocked with what was happening. The bully was now being bullied! Blood started to drip from his nose.

You think I'd stop there? HAHA! Not even close! As his friends were running towards me to back him up. I pulled him back again and this time, I slammed him on the ground as hard as I could. Blood started to ooze on the ground. His buddies stopped in their tracks as I emitted an even heavier killing intent.

I stared at them and asked…

"Who's next?"

They started to retreat a little and it was obvious that they wanted to run away.

Just as I was about to launch at Bart's lackeys, a huge noise erupted from one of the rooms…