Reborn Three Days Before the Apocalypse

Chapter 1

“Ah!”

Ethan Cole jolted upright in bed, gasping for breath as the nightmare faded from his mind. Blood, screams, darkness, and the cold eyes of someone watching him die flashed through his thoughts.

He slowly looked around.

The faded curtains, cheap desk, old wardrobe, and cracked wall were all familiar.

This was his old apartment.

The apartment he had lived in before the apocalypse.

Before the floods, blackouts, food shortages, wars, and monsters had turned the world into hell.

His phone suddenly chimed.

Ethan grabbed it from the nightstand.

October 6, 2031. 8:47 a.m.

His expression froze.

There were dozens of unread messages, most of them warning about a superstorm called Orion, which was expected to make landfall in seventy-two hours.

Three days.

Ethan stared at the screen in disbelief.

Hadn't he died?

He remembered his final moments clearly. He had been trapped inside an abandoned shopping complex when the survivors' barricade collapsed. Everyone had fled, but Ethan slipped in the blood covering the floor.

A monster reached him.

Through the glass doors of a nearby store, he saw Marcus Vane, his former best friend.

Ethan screamed for help.

Marcus only watched before stepping backward.

Then the creature reached him.

That should have been the end.

Yet here he was, sitting in his old bedroom, young and completely unharmed.

Ethan rushed into the bathroom and stared at his reflection. The desperate, hollowed-out man from his final days was gone. He was twenty-four again, with clear skin and a healthy body.

He pinched his arm.

“Damn!”

The pain was real.

He had been reborn.

But there were only three days until Orion.

Ethan didn't have time to celebrate. He knew what came next—floods, freezing temperatures, extreme heat, earthquakes, disease, and disasters he hadn't even discovered before his death.

His gaze suddenly fell to the silver pendant around his neck.

The pendant had been with him since childhood. He had been abandoned outside a hospital as a baby, and it was the only thing found with him.

During the apocalypse, Marcus had taken it and given it to Claire Dawson.

Later, Ethan discovered that Claire had been using the pendant to produce food, water, medicine, and other supplies.

It was a storage space.

And it had originally belonged to him.

Ethan's heart raced.

He grabbed a small knife, cut his thumb, and let a drop of blood fall onto the pendant.

A blinding light erupted.

When his vision cleared, Ethan found himself standing inside an empty apartment with two bedrooms, a living room, kitchen, and bathroom. The space covered roughly 820 square feet, with a small balcony garden filled with dark soil.

A glowing timer floated above the living room.

02:07:41

Ethan quickly discovered that items stored inside remained fresh and that he could move them in and out with his thoughts. The timer only counted down while he was physically inside.

When he stepped outside, it stopped.

Ethan stared around the empty space.

This was the same storage ability Claire had used to survive comfortably while everyone else struggled.

But this time, it belonged to him.

He didn't know why he had returned or why the pendant had activated, but those questions could wait.

He had seventy-two hours.

That was enough.

Ethan returned to his apartment and began making a list.

Food.

Water.

Medicine.

Fuel.

Batteries.

Tools.

Clothing.

Seeds.

Anything that might become difficult to obtain after the collapse had to be purchased now.

He had grown up in Graybridge Children's Home, where survival meant learning to depend on yourself. He started working at thirteen, collecting recyclables, repairing phones, tutoring students, and taking whatever legal jobs he could find.

By his final year at university, he had saved approximately $52,000.

He had planned to use the money after graduation.

Now, graduation no longer mattered.

Ethan contacted the families of the students he tutored, claiming he had been hospitalized and would be unable to continue. After settling the outstanding payments, $1,475 entered his account.

Before ending the conversations, he warned them about Orion and urged them to stock up on food, water, medicine, and batteries.

Then he contacted Daniel Brooks, a childhood friend who worked as a pharmaceutical distributor.

Ethan sent him several pages of medicine requirements.

[I need everything on this list. Emergency order. Tonight.]

Daniel called almost immediately.

“This list is crazy. What are you planning?”

“Can you get them?”

A pause.

“Yes.”

“Then get everything you can.”

Ethan transferred $9,200 and ended the call.

He grabbed his keys but stopped when he noticed a box on the table.

Inside was a limited-edition watch he had bought for Claire for $2,100.

In his previous life, he had spent years trying to please her, only for her to choose Marcus and eventually abandon him when he became useless.

Ethan took the watch back to the store.

After the return was processed, he received $2,035 back.

“That money is worth more than the watch.”

He left immediately.

For the next several hours, Ethan moved between wholesale markets and supply stores, buying rice, flour, beans, cooking oil, canned food, bottled water, batteries, camping equipment, and portable power supplies. Whenever possible, he quietly transferred the purchases into his storage space.

By late afternoon, he had filled a considerable portion of it.

His next stop was a security supplier.

“I need three reinforced steel doors.”

The owner looked surprised.

“For one apartment?”

“Yes.”

Ethan paid $1,650 for the doors and another $300 for rush installation.

He then crossed the street and ordered the thickest impact-resistant glass available for his windows.

By the time he stepped outside, the sky had turned dark.

The storm was coming.

Three days ago, Ethan had been an ordinary university student worried about money, classes, and Claire Dawson.

Three days from now, civilization would begin to collapse.

But this time, he wouldn't trust anyone blindly.

He wouldn't sacrifice his supplies for people who didn't deserve them.

And he would never allow Marcus to take what belonged to him again.

Ethan looked toward the darkening sky.

He had already died once.

He wouldn't make the same mistakes twice.