Prompt: You believe you're the one destined to save the world from the zombie apocalypse. Will you rise as humanity's hero, or succumb to the chaos?

A/N: I couldn't pass up the chance to write a zombie story, so before I begin, I must state that this chapter takes place in a different continuity than the previous ones. Any resemblance to real life events, people, or phenomena is coincidental.

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In the wake of the new disease being discovered, the world's governments were quick to point fingers at each other in search of a scapegoat, while medical researchers raced to gain an understanding of its characteristics and develop a potential cure.

The symptoms included a loss of flexibility in one's limbs, a decline in cognitive and verbal abilities, and an eventual greenish-white complexion. Patients who succumbed to the disease became reanimated corpses that hopped around with arms outstretched and uttered the same word repeatedly, like they were reliving the moment of death.

These patients were also known for being difficult to contain. Hospital staff who resorted to locking doors would find later that the person had grown desperate enough to crash through their window and plummet to the ground below, only to get up moments later and hop away like the impact was nothing.

After a week, it became standard procedure to strap these patients to their beds as tightly as possible, but the damage had already been done. Those previously escaped patients had come into contact with the general populace, and thus, a nationwide epidemic was declared in the United States.

In a small San Francisco apartment, Xiaoming and Yuli, or Xavier and Selena as they were known to the local residents, sat on their sofa while watching a grim news report. A map with splotches of red appeared behind the anchorman, who was having trouble enunciating his words. He stopped a couple of times to moan and rub at his forehead, then stumbled offscreen once his segment was over. The crash of equipment was accompanied by panicked shouts before the broadcast cut to a commercial break.

"That was strange," Xavier and Selena said in unison as they turned to face each other.

"I hope he's all right," added Selena shortly afterwards. "He didn't sound well at all."

Xavier reached for the remote control, which incited his girlfriend's disappointment. She grabbed at his arm, but he was too fast for her.

"Give it here," she hissed when he raised the device high above his head. "Don't you dare put on some terrible reality show..."

"What's the matter?" Xavier teased. "Those programs are educational too. They show us how young Americans are supposed to behave."

"We're not young, nor will we ever be American!" Selena lunged at him, and he dropped the remote control in alarm. Her body crashed against his, causing them to fall upon the cramped sofa, their hearts racing from the adrenaline and sudden closeness.

They stared longingly into each other's eyes, oblivious to the sounds of the television until Xavier regained his self-control and tried to shift out from beneath his partner. "It's only six o'clock. We should save this kind of tension for bedtime."

Selena pulled herself off him. "I suppose you're right. We can't risk having young children be corrupted."

With flushed faces, they returned to watching the news like a pair of respectable adults. Grainy footage of an infected person played on the television, and the two of them recognized the style of movement immediately.

"Why are they acting like a hopping corpse? Is this a joke?"

"I hope so," said Xavier as he noticed the way the person's feet were pressed together. "I won't be able to take this world seriously otherwise."

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Xiaoming ate his words two months later when the infected came to outnumber the healthy and society began its rapid collapse. He and Yuli saw no reason to maintain their identities as a normal immigrant couple, so they took to the streets to fight the onslaught of hopping zombies. They set off in opposite directions, agreeing to meet up at the gates of Chinatown once they had cleared the surrounding streets.

While Yuli tossed handfuls of rice at the zombies to subdue them before slicing off their heads, Xiaoming shot flames from his hands and feet, illuminating the night and causing the creatures to screech in agony as their flesh crumbled and they landed in charred heaps around him.

Yuli ran out of rice after an hour, at which point she could only rely on her sword and the occasional strike with her palm to disrupt their internal organs. Cold and slimy blood splattered at her feet and trickled into the gutters, making for a sight that would have nauseated the average person before the apocalypse.

She readied her blade to cut down another hopping zombie with a messy brown ponytail and an apron emblazoned with the words 'live laugh love.' Dull green eyes penetrated her soul as the zombie uttered a single word.

"Baby..."

"I'm sorry." Yuli swerved around the zombie's outstretched arms and saw a trace of moisture in the creature's eyes before she decapitated them mid-hop just like the rest. The former person buckled their knees, then collapsed sideways on the road, marking what Yuli hoped would be her last kill for the evening.

She turned the street corner with heavy breaths, anticipating her reunion with Xiaoming, only to grind to a halt when she saw him performing the flashy move in which he beamed huge jets of fire from his hands and mouth, thus surrounding himself with an impenetrable wall of heat and creating a giant zombie barbecue.

What a show-off, she thought, stepping back and shielding her eyes from the blaze. When will he ever learn?

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Author Note:

- Jiangshi, or hopping vampires, are reanimated corpses from Chinese folklore. They have appeared in enough horror media that the term 'jiangshi fiction' was coined in response.

- The martial art that Yuli performs in this chapter is baguazhang, known in English as eight trigrams palm. It prioritises flexibility and circular movements, which I think is fitting for a snake-turned-human.