Chapter 1: Alive again

Ada's POV

"Open the damn door! You win eighty million dollars and you dare ignore my calls? I'll beat the hell out of you!"

The violent pounding on the door jolted me awake. Out of habit, my hand flew to my waist: the place where my dagger should have been was empty.

I reached for my throat then. The titanium pendant was there. I held it for two seconds and stared at the room around me, which was familiar and at the same time completely strange.

Wasn't here the cheap apartment I had lived in before the zombie virus broke out?

But I was dead. So why was I here now?

There was no time to think. The shouting grew louder outside, and then came the sound of someone prying at the lock. The flimsy security door was already shaking in its frame.

"Hand over the money!" he shouted. "My face should be on the news! You think changing your name means you're not my daughter anymore? Do you hear me, you little bitch?"

It was Frank, my drunk, abusive father, the man who had personally dragged me down into hell.

After the outbreak, he had seized my apartment, taken every one of my survival supplies, and, when I wasn't paying attention, drugged me, tied me up, and sold me to a pack of animals.

If I hadn't evolved in time, I probably would have died in that den of demons.

But why did Frank keep going on about the lottery money? In my memories, winning the lottery had been ages ago.

The thought made my eyes go wide. I grabbed my phone in a panic, and when I saw the date on the screen, I stared in disbelief: Tuesday, October 28, 2035.

I was alive again. I had gone back to one month before the zombie virus broke out.

Before I could even accept that I had been reborn, Frank smashed the door open.

He burst in with an axe in his fist, his eyes bloodshot and filled with greed for money.

"Hand over the money!" He raised the axe to his chest and fixed me with a murderous glare. "Or you're not leaving this dump today!"

"And why should I?" I asked. "You think an axe is enough to make me behave?"

"Why should you?" He threw his head back and laughed, then his face snapped back into that vicious sneer. "Because I'm your father, you little bitch. Don't think that taking your mother's surname lets you walk away from me."

The hallway door stood open behind him. A crowd of onlookers had gathered outside, but nobody dared step in to stop Frank. Only my neighbor Mrs. Cathy quietly raised her phone and signaled that she had already called the police.

I gave her a small nod and, my face perfectly calm, sat down on the couch.

My complete lack of fear only made Frank's rage boil higher. He hurled the axe straight at me.

I tilted my head aside. The axe cut deep into the wall, hung there for a moment, then clattered to the floor.

"You ungrateful brat! If I hadn't given you life, would you have won a jackpot like that? Transfer every cent to me right now, or you'll end up just like your mother!"

He had the nerve to mention my mother, the woman who had hanged herself because she could not take the beatings anymore. I shot to my feet and drove my foot hard into his chest.

"Who the hell do you think you are? You don't have the right to say her name in front of me!"

I put every ounce of strength I had into that kick, but I hadn't awakened my powers yet, so I couldn't kill him outright.

The air went still. The onlookers at the door gasped, and when their eyes met mine, they instinctively looked away.

"I have other things to do, so I'll spare your life for now. But you'd better crawl away and stay away. Otherwise, you'll get a lot worse than one kick."

I smirked, sat back down on the couch, and opened my laptop.

The police would surely take Frank and me to the station for questioning. I didn't have time to drive to the market and stock up, but I couldn't just sit and wait either. Ordering basic supplies online would do.

In my last life, I had won the lottery but never got the chance to spend it before the virus broke out, and money in the bank became no better than waste paper.

That money was my lifeline. As long as I stockpiled enough supplies, I could avoid a lot of danger.

The onlookers whispered among themselves, but I paid no attention. I went on carefully picking out what I needed.

Bottled water, crackers, toilet paper, canned food…

I picked out a few essentials, and before I had a chance to check out, I heard hurried footsteps climbing the stairs.

Several police officers appeared at the door. After a few brief questions to the crowd, they took Frank and me to the station.

Clutching his chest, Frank cursed me out.

"Sir, this stinking bitch tried to kill me! Why aren't you arresting her? She deserves the death penalty!"

The officer listened to the stream of foul language pouring out of Frank's mouth and frowned in disgust.

"Shut up. Do you think this is your house? Our investigation shows that Frank broke into a private residence and caused a disturbance. You are hereby detained for fifteen days and fined one thousand dollars!"

I laughed out loud. "Serves you right."

Frank shot to his feet in a fury, then, under the officer's stern stare, sullenly sat back down.

"Sir, she's my daughter. Isn't her home my home? How is that breaking and entering? I was just disciplining her, the way a father should. Why am I going to jail?"

"This bitch won the lottery and won't give me a single cent. She's the one who should be locked up, not me. What does any of this have to do with me?"

Frank ground his back teeth, looking like he wanted to tear me apart on the spot.

"She's my daughter! Her apartment and her money are mine! What's wrong with you cops? Can't you tell right from wrong? Did this bitch pay you off? Is that why you're covering for her and framing me?"