No ‘Tomorrow’

Zach screamed himself awake, and threw himself out of bed. He scurried to the corner like a wounded beast, held himself and screamed, again and again until his voice was hoarse and he fell into sobbing.

Phantom pain and remembered humiliation keep him trapped in the nightmare he just died from. An unpleasant liquid slid down his inner thigh, and Zack froze in horror.

"No, no, no! Please, no! Not this! Not here! No!" Zack howled to the ceiling, banging his head against the wall behind himself until he knocked himself out.

Turned out the 'get captured by gangsters' idea was extremely bad. First they robbed him, drugged him, tied him up, tortured him, and then finally they raped him. The ordeal only ended when Red Zombies broke through the door and killed everyone there.

When Zack came to, went and cleaned himself up. He stared in the mirror, feeling like a stranger. His face is pale and looks haggard. His hair is ordinary brown, and the length is neither short or long. His eyes are pale grey, bloodshot around the edges and very swollen from crying. There's a deep, haunted look to them that all the Resets have caused.

Zack is not strong, or particularly smart, or brave. Especially not brave after everything he's seen recently. He would not have called himself a 'good' person in the past, more like he was neutral. He could not understand why all of this was happening to him.

Was his life just some sort of sick joke? Were there a group of little gods somewhere laughing at all the horrible things that have happened to him 'today'? Was there anything he could do to survive to see 'tomorrow'? What was the point of living this nightmare over, and over, and over?!?

Zack sat down at the kitchen counter, and stared at the fridge in contemplation. It was mostly empty. So was his wallet. It's the last day of the world, so what is there to 'save up' for? Why should he pay the rent? The utility bills don't matter when everything is ending today. Tuition payment? Debt collectors? Loan sharks? What could they do to him that a zombie can't?

At the edge of reason, something in Zack's mind finally snapped. From 'today' Zack wasn't going to be a victim anymore. No running, or hiding, or screaming, or begging. No searching for protection. No relying on hope.

This is it now. Today is all Zack is ever going to have, for however long these Resets are going to last. "It's the last night of your life, Zack." He whispered to himself, and chuckled brokenly. "Time to really start living."