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I was reborn. In my last life, when the zombie outbreak erupted overnight, my husband Carlos chose his first love over everything else. He hid with her in a luxury mansion... and locked the door behind him. I was outside. Pr3/gn-nt. Banging on the steel gate until my hands b!3d. "Carlos," I screamed, "it's your child!" He never looked back. The zombies tore me apart piece by piece. This time, I came back early. I turned my father's factory into a fortress, hoarded supplies like a madwoman, and carved one rule into my bones: In the apocalypse, saints die first. When the world ends again, I won't beg. Anyone who threatens my family's survival will be c//ut off without mercy! I was reborn. In my last life, when the zombie outbreak hit, my husband Carlos was solely focused on bunkering down in a mansion with his first love. He locked me, pr3//gn-nt with his child, outside the door and let the zombies tear me apart alive. After I was reborn, I turned my d@d's factory into a fortress and stockpiled supplies with frantic urgency. When the apocalypse comes, "saints" will be the first to die. Anyone who stands in the way of my family's survival is someone I plan to cu//t loose. ... I died in a b!00dy haze, zombies tearing at my flesh until there was nothing left. Then, in a h3artbeat, I was back in the bedroom Carlos and I had shared as newlyweds. At that moment, the memory of my past life, of teeth tearing through my flesh, still hadn't faded. My skull felt like it was splitting apart. Instinctively, I grabbed for the t@!l figure beside me, only to be flung off hard. "Jade, enough. You got the wedding you wanted, just like you begged for. From now on, you had better behave. Don't get any more bright ideas." Following the sound, I lifted my head. Carlos's hands0me face, twisted with disgust, filled my vision. He spat the words at me, then turned and walked out. I had actually gone back to two weeks before the zombie outbreak. Carlos. I'd had a crush on him ever since we were kids. In my last life, at the very end, he got drunk, lost control, and I ended up pr3//gn-nt unexpectedly. He was forced to marry me, which was exactly why he had resented me so much. In that life, just to stay by his side, I had put up with everything, even though I knew he kept his precious first love right under my own roof. After the wedding, I was basically nothing more than a live-in maid in my own home. He treated me with utter disdain, barely sparing a glance at my pr3//gn-nt b3!ly, let alone setting foot in a clinic for my prenatal checkups. When the world ended, he coaxed me into buying extra supplies, but only so he could bring his first love back to our new place. After I finally dragged everything home, they locked me outside the door. They left me there to be eaten alive by zombies. I remembered the exact, agonizing feeling of my h3art being torn from my ch3st. I had felt everything slip away, including the child that had never even had a chance to be born. Now, I took in every detail of the room. It was part of a sprawling mansion in the most open part of the city, no close neighbors, no buildings crowding it in. No wonder that in my last life, Carlos had been so desperate to throw me out and bring his precious Anna back here. Something was off. This house had to hold a secret I was never privy to. Otherwise they never would have gone to such lengths to return here. I grabbed a high-powered flashlight and swept it carefully across every corner of the place. Sure enough, something behind the TV cabinet looked out of place. There was a hidden door, leading to a basement. I went down and stared. The space was enormous. It would have been perfect for storing supplies, and even now, half of it was already filled. So, had Carlos known all along that the zombie outbreak was coming? Suddenly it made sense. No wonder that in my last life, even though he had been so reluctant to marry me, he had still insisted that my family help pay for this mansion. My parents had never liked him, but back then my whole world revolved around him. In the end, my d@d had paid for it, hoping Carlos would treat me well after we married. Yet even when I died on the doorstep outside this house, he hadn't spared me a single look. I had already seen what zombies were capable of. With a second life handed to me, there was no way I would stumble through it as blindly as I had the last time. Seeing that underground space, I started to realize Carlos had been preparing for a long time. If he'd known in advance, then he would have guarded against me too. I had to start planning a safehouse that belonged to me. Carlos had chosen this "marital home" because it sat in an open area, but it was still surrounded by regular neighborhoods. That wasn't a long-term plan. The security level was nowhere near enough. Then it hit me. My d@d owned a massive factory out in the old district, on a barren hillside on the outskirts of the city. Back then, I'd even questioned why he'd bought such a plot of land when it would never increase in value. But my d@d had said a real businessman prioritizes long-term reputation over chasing fast gains. The factory allowed the previous owner and workers to keep their jobs. I hadn't expected that place to end up saving our entire family's lives. Far from the city and with plenty of space to stockpile supplies, that factory was the perfect choice. Once I had a rough plan, I got in my car and drove straight out to the factory. But when I arrived, I realized it wasn't as simple as I'd imagined. The place was desolate, weeds everywhere. The sheds were old and leaking, the whole setup looked like it would fall apart at the slightest touch, and it would never hold against zombies when the end came. I stared at the surroundings, worried. Worn out by stress and the pr3//gn-ncy, I was overcome with nausea. I also realized this wasn't something I could solve completely on my own. So I drove straight back to my parents' house. The factory was crude, and I didn't even know how to transform it, but that was where having a wealthy father gave me an advantage. When I got home, I didn't hide anything. The moment I walked in, I told them I'd been reborn, and that a zombie apocalypse was coming. My parents froze for a long time. But when they saw I wasn't joking, they fell silent and started thinking hard. "M0m, D@d, you have to believe me," I said, forcing myself to stay steady. In my last life, not only had Carlos lied to me, he'd stolen the bank card my d@d had given me and gone on a spending spree. He'd drained my family's m0n3y and turned it into supplies for himself, while my parents ended up trapped at home with no way out. I could still see it, the way they'd starved to death. This time, I wasn't going to let it happen again. "Okay," my mother said, her voice thick. "Jade, you've suffered. I can tell you're not lying. Your father." My d@d slammed his palm on the table, furious. "I told you Carlos was no good! You went through all that and you're only telling us now?!" I stayed quiet. I knew exactly how stupid I'd been in my last life. "Enough," my m0m snapped at him. "Stop scolding our daughter. The priority is listening to her. We move supplies. We survive." My eyes bu//rned. The memory of being eaten alive still made my skin crawl, but I didn't have time to sit in grief. Instead, I laid out my plan, turning the factory and its underground space into a hidden ark. My d@d's anger cooled instantly. He took the sketch, studied it, then picked up his phone and called the most secure high-end design and renovation firm in the city. "Dave, I'm going to need your help," he said into the phone. "I've got a factory under my name that needs a major retrofit. The design concept you mentioned to me last time is exactly what I'm looking for. Can you send a team out today to do an on-site evaluation?" "m0n3y isn't the issue. I care about quality and speed." "Good. Then we'll meet at the factory in an hour." There was a reason my d@d had survived the business world for decades. When it came to pulling strings, he always had plenty of connections. When we got to the factory, I showed the foreman my requirements. He wasted no time and had his team draw up a 3D layout right away. Their workflow was streamlined and highly efficient. My d@d and I handed him a card, gave him the supply list we wanted, and made the zoning requirements crystal clear. Most importantly, every material had to meet strict reinforced steel standards, and everything needed to be installed and delivered immediately. "Sir, as long as you can meet our requirements quickly, m0n3y isn't a problem," I said. The foreman took the card, grinning and nodding enthusiastically, then hurried off to direct the crew. The workers started immediately. The crew tore into the rotting wooden boards, and the site came alive almost instantly. My d@d took the blueprint, pointed at the bathroom area and the utility lines, then told the contractor, "Don't level this. Convert it into a biogas system." I caught on instantly. Biogas meant power. I immediately had the construction team dig out the far corner of the first floor and build a massive underground shelter, making sure we'd have enough storage space. My d@d called the renovation firm's project lead again, transferred another couple hundr3d grand to their acco//unt, explained the new requirements, and demanded they double the workforce and finish as fast as possible. With my d@d backing us, everything moved twice as fast. We paid enough to become their biggest client, and the more workers they sent, the quicker things progressed. Building the shelter, reinforcing the sheds, installing hardened security doors, not a single step was overlooked. In a short time, the once-dilapidated factory was now unrecognizable. The biggest change was the underground shelter. Every room connected to it. Even with three layers of protection already in place, we still needed an escape route, just in case. That day, the foreman finally couldn't hold it in anymore. "Sir, ma'am, this underground space is big enough to build a few houses. Why do you need it to be this large?" My d@d didn't miss a beat. "We do business. We'll expand in the future. I'm securing the footprint now." The foreman nodded, half-understanding, and went back to work. With construction running smoothly, I showed my m0m the shopping list. She frowned, scratched out my list and drafted a brand-new one. She switched staples to vacuum-sealed rice, hundr3ds of pounds of flour, compressed biscuits, canned food, penicillin, medicine, and daily necessities, and ordered all of them by the case. She also insisted on stocking huge amounts of frozen chicken and pork, and buying hundr3ds of ch3st freezers to store everything. "No. That's still not enough," she said, eyes sha/rp. "If things go the way you say, utilities might not be reliable. We need a complete backup plan. We should buy chicks and feed too. If it's a factory, we have plenty of space. We'll raise our own." "M0m, D@d, thank you for believing me," I said. "I need to go back first. I can't let Carlos suspect anything." "Sil!y girl," my m0m said, pulling me in. "Be careful. Your father and I are always behind you. Don't worry about the factory. We'll keep talking and stay coordinated." When I returned to our house, the design firm had already sent the updated plans to my phone. I looked them over and told the construction team to reinforce every interior and exterior wall with an additional layer of hardened plating. That factory site was practically surrounded by hills. Even if zombies tried to get in, they'd have to cross the ridges first, and that alone would slow them down. The compound spanned roughly twenty th0usand square feet. Once the redesign was complete, the outer wall would be the first defensive layer, then interior layers nested inside each other, plus a double-domed structure and a natural air-circulation layout. Even without running water or electricity, it would still be livable. I liked the overall design. We still had more than two weeks, plenty of time. I'd just finished reviewing the plans and finally felt my nerves settle, when the front door opened. At that hour, Carlos shouldn't have been home. But the person who walked in wasn't Carlos at all. It was Anna. "How did you get in?" I stared at Anna as she sauntered toward me like she owned the place. She curled her lips. "Oh please. Carlos gave me a key, obviously. You little interloper—today's the day you pack your things and get out for good." A few men she'd brought with her stepped forward, ready to haul me off the couch. Meanwhile, Anna wandered around, inspecting the renovations and layout as if she were touring a show home, running her mouth the whole time. "This kitchen's kind of small. That flooring color is ug!y. And what is this showerhead setup?" The whole scene would've been laughable if it weren't happening to me. This was my house, and she still had the nerve to critique it. Then again, maybe she'd been someone's side piece for so long she genuinely didn't know the truth, this place wasn't even under Carlos's name. Watching her act like an id!0t almost made me laugh. I picked up my phone and called the gated community's security. Anna must have realized what I was doing, because she suddenly lunged at me, trying to rip the phone out of my hand. I clutched it tighter and tried to twist away, but she was faster than I expected. I couldn't dodge her. In the struggle, Anna shoved me hard. I lost my balance and crashed to the floor. She didn't come out unscathed either, she fell onto the glass coffee table, and glass scattered everywhere. A sh@rp, bruta! p@!n t0re through my ab///d0m3n, as if something inside me had snapped. Instinctively, I pressed a hand to my stomach, then saw b!00d pouring from between my legs, spreading across the floor. Anna saw it and screamed. Her face went white, her eyes filled with pure panic. She turned and ran, vanishing out the door. Dizziness washed over me, my vision blurred, and then everything faded to black. When I woke up again, I was lying in a hospital bed. White walls. The sting of disinfectant in the air. Everything felt cold and distant. A doctor came in. His expression was stern, heavy, and he delivered the one sentence I never wanted to hear. "I'm sorry. You m!scarried. You need to stay in the hospital for a week to recover." It felt like my ch3st had been crushed by a sledgehammer. Pain and despair flooded through me. In my last life, I hadn't been able to protect my ba//by either. And now it had happened again. My child had been taken from me a second time, and all I felt was helplessness turning into rage. I hated Anna for her stupidity and cruelty. I hated Carlos for his betrayal and indifference. I swore they were going to pay. During that week in the hospital, my parents took turns staying with me. I understood it clearly now, family was the only thing that mattered. I told them, "M0m, D@d, I'm okay. Stick to the plan. Keep preparing. Once I'm discharged, I'll move in right away. Don't let anything delay it." Then I made two calls, one to a lawyer, and one to a real estate agent. A week later, I left the hospital. The first thing I did was meet my lawyer. I laid out everything about my marriage to Carlos, including the miscarriage and the abuse, then filed for divorce on the spot. After that, I met with the real estate agent, listed the new house under my name for sale immediately, and had every lock replaced. That way, whatever supplies Carlos had stashed inside were use!3ss. He couldn't even get through the door. Once the legal paperwork went through, all marital assets were frozen too. I'd originally intended to show some mercy and hadn't planned to ruin them completely. But if this was how they wanted it, then that cheating pair could go to h3!l together.