I am Undead

'Everything feels so strange ... what?'

'What kind of nightmare is this? Father where am I? Where are you?'

I was in a strange place. The only thing I could see was darkness. I stretched out my arms hoping to see my body, but to my regret there was nothing ... just darkness.

'Is this death? I mean I've never been a believer but the fact that I'm here seems to show that I was probably wrong in my lifetime. But what is this darkness? I don't know of any religion that believes in such a world after death?'

Before Neo could finish his thoughts, a strange feeling took over him.

'What kind of a feeling is this? ... Something is calling me? ... where?'

As if the feeling could understand, a small red thread appeared that is almost impossible to see. However, Neo saw this thread very clearly and decided to follow it.

'I don't know what you want from me, but I don't seem to have anything better to do here anyway.' he said and decided to walk along the thread in front of him.

Well, he thought he was walking, but in reality, in this world, Neo was just a small spherical ball. Barely larger than a grain of sand.

...

Neo doesn't know how long he's been following this thread, but it doesn't really feel like time exists in this world. Everything feels so surreal, like being in a stranger's body in a world that's alien, but at the same time it all felt oddly familiar. As if he had been here before.

His thoughts, which were chaotic and jumbled before his death, slowly begin to sort themselves out again and he gain an incredible sense of calm.

After who knows how long, he reached his destination. At least that's what he thought, especially since the strange feeling was the strongest here. Furthermore, he can perceive the feeling better now.

Then he saw it. At the end of the red thread, there was a small red sphere.

He didn't know why but he wanted to touch the sphere. And so, he didn't hesitate and tried to touch the sphere.

Then it happened, the red sphere engulfed him and, in the end, there was only the red sphere shimmering in a strange black and red light in that darkness.

...

Neo slowly opened his eyes again in reality. His memories of this world in darkness are vague and unclear and he doesn't know how much time has passed, but he does know one thing.

He's not dead anymore.

After staring at the ceiling for a few minutes, he started smiling.

"HAAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHA!!!"

Neo has never felt so liberated as in this moment. His thoughts of guilt for not helping his mother and to have disappointed his father are gone.

"Everything is so clear in my head. As if I was relieved of an unbelievable burden. Whoever or whatever you are red ball... thank you for a second chance."

After saying that, Neo slowly leans his back against the wall and tries to examine his current situation.

'The highest priority is to examine and treat my wounds. Otherwise, I'll just die again.'

'Second, I need a weapon that I can use and some food. There should still be some supplies in the apartment and otherwise there are still some downstairs that I saw under the stairs.'

'Third, I have to deal with the undead outside the door. There should only be 3 undead in front of the door, but the loud noises have probably attracted more by now.'

'Fourth, I need to save my mother and for that I need information on where she is and if she is still alive. We were going to the military outpost up north, what's the name again? ... Redinker military Outpost? ... they are probably going there.'

'All right, time to work.'

Neo began examining his wounds on his neck and back.

"Sigh..."

'I'm not bleeding anymore, that's good, but the knife has to come out so I can treat myself. It's going to hurt like hell and the wound will probably reopen and I'll bleed again.'

'Well, there's nothing else I can do, so on three.'

...

'one...'

'Two...'

'Three...'

"Flaah"

...

'What? Why am I not bleeding? And why don't I feel any pain?'

'It hurt like hell the whole time, why don't I feel anything now? ... Maybe my nerves died there and...'

Neo couldn't finish his sentence and stared wide-eyed at the wound on his lower back... the wound was regenerating on its own, visible to the naked eye, at an incredible rate. Even in today's advanced world, such regeneration is only possible in genetically modified humans, and even there such results are rare. Neo is sure he isn't genetically modified, it's way too expensive and any human will be tracked if he's altered... So how is it possible that Neo's wound regenerates so quickly?

Neo has a bad feeling and grabs his neck for the wound, fearing the worst. And he was right. The wound on his neck has also closed and the burning pain that was there before is gone.

'Wait Neo, calm down, don't panic. It can't be... breathe in and out, slowly.

"HUH!"

"huh!"

…

"huh"

"huh"

"huh"

'On the bright side, I won't die of my wounds... ha' thought Neo

'Well, the only question now is... am I still human? ... Or ...'

'Damn, I have to deal with the undead outside first, then I can think about it later.'

…

"Okay, a weapon... mhm... I seem to be in a child's room. Probably from one of the two children who were eaten by their parents outside."

Neo looked around the room and found a wooden baseball bat in a corner behind the desk.

'Mhm... better than nothing' he thought to himself and practiced hitting a bit.

'Wow, the bat is so light... Well, it's only made of wood. But still I feel so energized as if I could hit indefinitely.'

Neo also found a bike helmet and knee and arm pads, and put them over his now bloody clothes.

He decided to look out the window to examine the city's situation. He saw several high-rise buildings and blocks of flats in front of him, either destroyed or in poor condition. You could see the burning buildings very well at night. He saw countless undead running around on the streets. Some ran in certain directions, while others seemed to move aimlessly and did nothing else. And then there were a few living people he could see, all in all he saw 3 groups of people each having around 8-12 people.

'Oh, one of the groups is fighting the undead... they are trying to buy time for the kids who are also in the group to climb into a building. No wait, they're throwing the kids to the undead to get away themselves ... Another group runs away and ... umm a young woman fell on the ground ... no one in the group stopped to help her ... and she was bitten and is being eaten. Hmm... so this is what the new world looks like.'

'The strong survive and the weak are sacrificed or left behind ... well like I was left behind as a sacrifice to grant time for the others to run. If it weren't for the Red Ball, I'd be dead long ago, just like them'

'All we've heard from the military so far is shots in the distance. They must have given up the city and retreated to the Redinker military outpost to the north. What are they thinking right now? What happens here also must happen all around the world, are they doing anything to stop this madness?'

…

'Well, enough seen, it's time to kill those undead outside the door. This incredible hunger... It's eating me from the inside. I have to secure the supplies in the apartment… quickly.'

'I have to survive'

He thought and grabbed the wooden baseball bat as hard as he could and removed the barricade on the door and then opened it.

...

The door opened and behind it was an undead looking straight at Neo with his empty and glassy eyes. Neo didn't hesitate and reached out and hit the undead's head as hard as he could with his baseball bat. The undead didn't stand a chance and his skull cracked open immediately and he fell to the ground... finally dead.

But Neo didn't stop there. He ran out and saw two more undead on his right, he kicked the one that was closer to him in the stomach and the undead flew a few meters backwards until it hit a wall and fell to the ground. Neo then pulled out and smashed his skull with his baseball bat. Also, dead instantly. Then he turned to the last undead and hesitated slightly. He was confused to be more precise. Because the undead didn't pay any attention to Neo, but stopped exactly where he was before. After a moment's hesitation, Neo kicked the undead's legs away, causing him to fall sprawling forward onto the ground. Neo then stepped on the skull and after two kicks the undead was dead.

"Huuuuuuuh"

After a long breath, Neo turned around and saw one of the children there, a little girl who also became undead. Neo didn't hesitate. 'The little one is already dead, she no longer feels any pain.' he thought to himself and hit her little head with his baseball bat, whereupon she fell to the ground and finally died.

Neo was in the living room at the moment and saw the keys for probably the apartment on a small wooden table. He took them and headed for the entrance. He locked the door and pushed a small wooden chair in front of the door to block it.

"Huuuuuh"

"Huuuuuh"

"Huuuuuh"

Neo then took a few deep breaths in and out. strangely, he didn't feel tired though... just hungry.

He decided to go into the kitchen and eat something there. The kitchen doesn't seem to have gotten anything from the fight. Neo went to the fridge and opened it. There were a variety of foods in the fridge. From milk, eggs to cheese and meat and a whole chicken. Neo suddenly felt such a strong urge that he couldn't control himself and without hesitation grabbed the raw chicken and bit into it.

...

Neo stood in front of the fridge holding the raw chicken in his hand, bite after bite disappearing into his mouth. He even ate the bones without hesitation. In the end he ate the whole chicken after a few seconds and went back to the fridge and ate all the meat in there. In the end it took him about 10 minutes and he ate all the meat products in the fridge.

"What? Why did I do that?"

Even though he ate enough for several people, he was still incredibly hungry. He didn't understand why he did that. Hunger apparently drove him to it. He decided to eat the other foods there as well. He warmed up some water and used it to make an instant noodle soup.

But when he wanted to eat them, he immediately spat out everything that was in his mouth. 'What a disgusting taste is that. I've never eaten anything like that.'

Next, he tried to eat an apple, a banana, a salad, some rice, canned tomatoes. But no matter what he ate. He threw up everything again.

"What the hell am I!!!"

"DAMN RED BALL!!!"

"WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME!!!"

Frustrated, he slammed the fridge. He didn't feel any pain, but the fridge had a huge dent that a normal person can't create. Maybe with combat armor like those used in the military or a combat robot can do something like that.

But a simple person? Never.

...

Frightened, Neo runs into the bathroom directly across from the kitchen and looks in the mirror.

He still has the same black hair, but everything else has changed. His eye color is no longer black but red/purple. His body color is paler and looks unhealthy. He looks at his reflection in the mirror with wide eyes.

"... I'm Undead."