Chapter 4 - Am I Dead?...

City F,

The city is bustling with human activity, dust and smoke fill the air, roads are filled with traffic of people hurrying towards their daily jobs and vehicles similar to those on earth. It was a busy scene to behold of.

In the suburban of the city lead by a dirt road, with houses made of wood and polished stones and a few made of cement and bricks, one can feel the fresh air with faint sounds of animals from the barns and chirping of birds. This is the outskirts of the city F, and also the granary of the city.

In a certain house in the suburban, on the second floor, in a room containing nothing but a bed, study desk, and an old wardrobe. On the bed there lays a boy of age 16, with pale skin and a thin body with common-looking facial features. But in such a peaceful environment he doesn't seem to be so peaceful.

"Arther..., I promise", that was the last thing he heard..

"Am I dead?",

"Is this how it feels to be dead, it feels similar to my bed"

"Wait why can I still think?", Arther slowly tried to open his eyes, bright sun rays entered his eyes it difficult to adjust to the brightness, after taking some to adjust to the brightness he slowly opened his eyes and observed the surrounding.

"It sure looks similar to my room",

"No! this is my room", he got up from his bed with an astounded look on his face, his brain was still trying to process everything.

"Was it all a dream? no, it was too real.", he sat on the bed trying to figure out everything.

"It's so absurd,", he looked at the date and time on his citizen tab

(In this world every citizen was given a citizen tab similar to mobile on Earth that is connected to your DNA and can only be accessed by the person with matching DNA. It is connected with the world net for information and is monitored by each countries government respectively.)

He was shocked by seeing the date,

1st of March 2000, 8:00 morning.

(Authors note- Keeping the dates and time same as Earth for easy understanding.)

"Isn't it the date when my vacations started, and 10 days before the apocalypse?"

Then an absurd idea came to his mind, "Reincarnation"

Arther was a shut-in otaku with very little to no social interactions except his family, he was more interested in reading various comics and web novels, and playing games rather than being in a fake social circle. Being an otaku knowing about rebirth and all was common as he has read it in many novels.

But experiencing it was a different feeling, but accepting such a fictional thing wasn't much difficult as he has seen many fantasies and myths coming true in his past life, and surviving in the post-apocalyptic world has given him a strong psychological state.

Just as he was thinking about those things a voice from downstairs startled him,

"Arther, wake up breakfast is gonna be ready in a few minutes",

It was his mother's voice, his mother's name was Abella and she was a housewife of age 39. She was a standard wife material with a kind personality, great cooking skills. She had brown long hair, fair tanned skin, with good body shape due to daily work in the fields.

It has been years since I last heard her voice, last time I saw her I didn't even have time to properly say goodbye to her, as a son didn't even complete my last duty of cremating her with proper rituals. Tears welled up in my eyes as I remembered the scene of her lying in the pool of blood.

I tried to control my emotions and went to the bathroom to take bath, it has been many years since the last time I took bath, in the post-apocalyptic world only those higher-ups staying in the inner city, officials with higher status, and leaders of strong forces had the privilege to take a bath every day.

We had only one bathroom on the second floor which the entire family used. I went in with a set of clothes taken from the wardrobe. A few minutes later while I was taking the bath I heard a sweet voice that I wanted to hear for those years of hardship.

"Arther, do it fast, I have been waiting for a long time if you don't come out in a minute I am gonna beat the shit out of you", it was none other than my elder sister Jessy, as being an active girl with lots of admirers in the college, she is also the captain of the girls' volleyball team in the college and good at socializing, a complete opposite if me hence she doesn't like me. This is what I used to think.

In childhood, she was always there to protect me and help me in everything but slowly she starting becoming famous and was loved among her peers but that was not the same, I had an introverted personality. She tried helping me out of it but I never liked being in people which resulted in a decline in our relation, I never understood that she was always worried about me and tried to help.

"I will be done in a few minutes sis", I replied.

After I was done putting on the clothes I went out only to find her standing out waiting for her turn, she had gained most of her features from mom, brown hairs, black sharp eyes, a well-defined body, and an active personality.

"You sure took your time hun", she complained while going in.

Arthur smiled faintly and went downstairs in the kitchen for breakfast, where his father was already sitting in the front chair watching the news on TV while having breakfast.

"Good morning Arther", his mom smiled as he walked down.

Arther sat on his seat and took the toasted bread applied some jam and ate it. Being in the apocalypse he had got the habit of eating in the shortest time possible, so he finished his breakfast in few moments, this surprised his mother but she thought he was hungry and forgot about it.

After having breakfast he went into his room and thought about everything that happened to him. And decided to wait till tomorrow to confirm the news of the apocalypse.

In his past life government didn't announce anything but few events happened before the complete outbreak which no common people might notice but being a return he knows their consequences.

"This time I will not be so weak"