Perhaps only a few seconds had passed. When Aaron opened his eyes—expecting to awaken in either heaven or hell—he found himself still lying face-down in the schoolyard.
As he wondered how something like this could be possible, he remembered the strange sounds that had echoed deep in his mind during those final moments. A voice—unknown to him—had been telling him something.
At that moment, strange, holographic frames began appearing before his eyes. They looked as if they belonged in a video game. His name, gender, and numerous other details were displayed one after another.
-> SKILLS
-> STATS[Strength: 5][Agility: 5][Endurance: 5][Intelligence: 5][Perception: 5][Speed: 5]
{Available Stat Points: 0}
Aaron couldn't hide his shock at what he saw. For a brief moment, he felt as if he had been brought to life inside a video game. But there was one crucial difference: this was not a game. He was still in the real world.
Considering the fall he had taken—about fifteen meters—he should have been badly injured, but there wasn't a single fracture or scratch on his body. He tried to push himself up with his hands against the sandy ground. At first, he lost his balance and stumbled back down, but on the second try, he managed to stand.
He should have been grateful for his luck. Looking around after the incident, he noticed how eerily silent it was. On closer inspection, the only movement came from a few blood-covered students limping around.
Everyone else in the school seemed to be fighting desperately for their lives. From the looks of it, they were so afraid of the zombies that they had locked themselves away wherever they could.
When he thought about it, hiding in classrooms during the early stages made perfect sense—at least, as long as no one inside was wounded or bitten.
But in such a situation, trusting anyone was unwise. Even if someone was injured, they could easily hide it and pretend nothing was wrong. That was why Aaron had decided he would survive alone for the rest of his life. In truth, this wasn't his first time being on his own.
For over five years, he hadn't spoken to his family and had been living alone in his late grandfather's quiet house. Now, Aaron began searching for his cane.
But there was no sign of it. He was sure he'd seen it fall nearby. Had someone taken it? Or had the wind blown it away?
The second option didn't make much sense. While it wasn't especially heavy, it still had enough weight that the wind couldn't simply carry it off.
Aaron placed his hand on his injured leg. He stepped forward with his good leg, then slowly moved his bad leg—and felt something was different.
When he stepped down, there was no pain, no ache. Normally, trying to walk without his cane would twist his posture from the strain on his spine, and all the pain would shoot into his bad leg.
To test it again, he let go of his legs and walked as any normal person would. To his surprise, he could walk perfectly fine.
Could this be because of those strange holographic frames he had seen when he woke up?
If that was the reason, then he had no time to waste—he needed to get out of here and find the safest place possible. As he headed toward the school's main gate, loud, piercing sirens began wailing throughout the city.
Moments later, a pre-recorded announcement echoed:
"Attention, dear citizens, this is an emergency. I repeat, this is an emergency. Please do not leave your homes. Those currently outside, make it your priority to reach the nearest safe location. If you are unable to reach one, follow the instructions of soldiers and police to proceed to the nearest shelter."
When Aaron stepped out of the school gates, he noticed the streets were eerily silent and littered with crashed vehicles. It seemed that the incident, which had only just begun, had already spread throughout the city.
He continued walking through the quiet, blood-stained streets. His home was only a few kilometers from the school. In that time, he wanted to avoid being noticed by any zombies.
He wasn't used to seeing dead bodies lying on the ground, so instead of passing close to them, he stuck to calmer-looking sidewalks.
He needed to turn a corner. Approaching the wall of the building at the intersection, he leaned his head slightly out to look around. About ten meters ahead stood a motionless figure, swaying slightly in place.
Could it be an ordinary person? With the sun's glare and the black smoke rising from small fires nearby, it was nearly impossible to tell.
Moving quietly along the line of parked cars, Aaron kept to the sidewalk's edge. The closer he got, the more he could hear a strange, guttural rasp coming from the figure.
That's when he realized—it wasn't an ordinary person at all. His mind immediately recalled the post-apocalyptic novels he'd read.
In those books, zombies moved as slowly as possible during the day, suffering temporary blindness from sunlight. Of course, Aaron knew those were fictional, but right now, a real zombie was standing in front of him.
He had no choice but to test it. In this world, if he wanted to survive, knowledge would be his greatest weapon. If the zombie didn't match what he expected, he would run as far and as fast as he could.
Taking a deep breath before confronting the zombie, he pushed aside his thoughts and crept forward, trying to stay level with its eyes. He picked up a small pebble from the ground.
He tossed the pebble close to the zombie. As it bounced against the hot asphalt with several dull clinks, the zombie reacted instantly. Aaron had been right.
The zombie moved as if blind, turning directly toward the sound. He had aimed perfectly at the spot where the pebble landed. This information could be incredibly useful in the future. While the zombie was distracted, Aaron quietly slipped away.
When he finally reached his grandfather's old house and stepped inside, he could at last relax for a moment.
He had no desire to go outside again today. There was enough food to last the night, so he planned to spend the day figuring out what to do next—and learning how those holographic frames worked.
He walked to his bedroom and pulled all his dusty post-apocalyptic books from the shelves, placing them on his desk.
"It's been a long time," he thought. Blowing the dust from their covers, he decided to reread every single one to refresh his knowledge.
After several hours of reading, another holographic frame appeared before his eyes:
-> Power of Knowledge:Knowledge is everything. The ignorant are doomed to die. To live, one must seek knowledge.
Triggered by the book he had just read, the frame only made Aaron more curious.
He realized he shared the same belief—without knowledge, survival was impossible.
That night, Aaron couldn't sleep. To avoid drawing attention, he didn't turn on the room light; instead, he placed a small candle on the floor. All night long, he read book after book, pausing only to eat from the fridge whenever hunger struck.