It didn't take much time for Ethan to reach his old apartment complex. The building was surprisingly intact. He half expected it to be blown to smithereens like alot of the other buildings in this city were. Another good thing was that there weren't many zombies. It seemed there were more zombies towards the center part of the city where everything was more destroyed. It had to have been a nuke or something... he thought. To think I died only a block or so away from here. I'll have to check that out later.

He made his way inside the complex. It looked the same as it always did. The electricity was out which he expected, so taking the elevator was out of the question. Not that he trusted it anyway, rickety old thing. He pried open the door to the stairway and made his way up to the fourth floor. He walked down the familiar hallway and stopped in front of a door. 412. He went to open the doorhandle but was surprised to see the door already cracked open. Did he leave the door unlocked? No, he always locked it before he left to go anywhere. He didn't trust his neighbors in the slightest. Maybe his landlord had it opened?

He opened the door and discovered his old apartment was trashed.

"What the hell?" He exclaimed.

It was definitely his old apartment. It was the same old couch and crappy television. Some things he saw exactly how he had left them. Like the old pizza box in the kitchen, the dent he punched in the wall that he covered with a picture frame so his landlord wouldn't charge him for the damage, and the pillow and blanket he had left on the couch because he was too lazy to move to his bed. But there were papers and objects thrown about. The cabinets in the kitchen were opened, the dressers, everything. It was like someone was looking for something in a hurry. But who? He didn't have any friends or was close with the neighbors. His landlord only ever came to get the rent. And that pizza, it only looked a day old. He picked up a slice and smelled it. Even took a bite. It was cold, sure, but it tasted fine. Had it only been a day since Ethan had died in this world? But how was that possible? How could the world become like this overnight?

He decided to investigate further. He checked the bathroom and the living room, both trashed to no surprise. Nothing unusual caught his eye. Then he checked his bedroom, which the door was closed. Wierd. He always left it open. He opened it cautiously, sticking his head inside.

Huh. It looked exactly the same. Only, his room wasn't trashed. It was messy, sure, but it was exactly how he had left it. Why was this room the only one untouched? He wandered inside, scratching his head. He stepped over the dirty clothes on the floor and opened the curtains. It overlooked the apocalyptic city and the glow from the sun illuminated his room. He noticed a picture frame beside his bed and picked it up, feeling an ache in his heart.

It was of him and his mother. Back when Ethan was a kid, maybe around nine. He had almost forgotten what he looked like. He had always been a skinny kid, was prone to getting sick. His mother was the same way, and in turn that was how she died. She caught a stupid virus and died days later. Maybe that was why his father became so harsh on him, because he didn't want him to end up like his mother. Still, could've been a little bit nicer. I was grieving too... asshole. He slipped the picture out of the frame and carefully folded it, putting it in his pocket.

He looked around his room some more. He never thought he would step foot here again. Even if it had only been a day since Ethan died in this world, it had been months since he himself had been here. It was a strange feeling of unfamiliarity. He was such a kid, so immature.

He still had that stupid Time of Death poster on the wall. He waited in line for hours just to get that poster signed from one of the voice actors from the show. He was a dork. He smiled to himself, Charlie probably would've waited in line too.

He moved onto something else before he got too depressed.

No, wait. He overlooked something. His bed was made. He never made his bed. He always rolled out of it and never bothered. He scoffed, so you trash my whole apartment but make my bed? How considerate of you.

He walked over to it and layed down. It smelled different. Clean. And... he felt something hard underneath his pillow. He put his hand under and pulled out a notebook. It was just an ordinary composition notebook. Like something you'd get out of a locker. Ah, he didn't like that thought. It definitely wasn't his. Maybe whoever trashed his place left it here? He flipped open the page. It was just a bunch of numbers. Going from 1 to 268. Next to each number was a note. Most of them were random, obscure words. But the more he read, the more disturbed he became,

'34 - Still oblivious
50 - He's so cute I can't take it
89 - Why do I have to wait
100 - I slept in his bed tonight when he was at college. It smells just like him
138 - He seems to be adapting well
179 - I love watching him cry
200 - I picked up a pencil for him today and he said thank you. I love you so much
268 - I can't wait any longer

Success.'

"What the fuck..." Ethan furrows his brows.

Was he being stalked? And was this stalker the one who wrecked his place? But the only person he could think of that was this crazy and obsessed was... No, no that was impossible. This world took place before all of the events with Miles, right? Adonis existed because of what Ethan did. Because of the system. There was no way he could of been here, that he could of known Ethan before any of this even went down. And on day 138 it said something about him adapting... adapting to what?

He continues to flip through the pages. Most of them were ripped out, and from what he could read he couldn't make any sense of. Something about the System? How could Adonis even know about the System? What did any of this even mean? The more he read the more confused he became;

'No luck in this world, either. Everyone is filled with such hope and dreams for the future. It's so disgusting. I can't wait to see them all suffer. Waiting on purge.'

The rest of the page was ripped. None of it made any sense. Was the System capable of manipulating time as well as space? If so they could of sent Adonis back in time to this world, but why? To monitor Ethan? But for what purpose? The more he tried to piece it all together the more pieces of the puzzle came into play. He knew this System had to be some kind of hell. It had to be. What other explanation was there?

Thinking back on the days before he was murdered, he was depressed. More so than usual. It seemed like something or someone was out to get him. Like having his college essays mysteriously delete themselves a day before they were supposed to be turned in, or how his alarm clock would be turned off and he would be late to classes. Little things that made him suffer and ruin his day completely. He thought it was his shit luck, but, what if someone was purposely ruining his life just to make him miserable. Like they enjoyed his suffering. Someone like Adonis.

He threw the notebook across the room. Was this how the System singled out people? They target those who are weak or mentally fucked in the head and toy with them until the day they die? But why - it's not like he ever murdered anyone or commited some great crime deserving of such torment.

Did he even create Adonis? Or has Adonis always worked for the System? When he used that truth pill with Miles did they just seize an opportunity all to fuck with Ethan's head? It made his head hurt. All of this... everything was just to make him suffer. From the very beginning. He wanted to rip his hair out and scream. Find Adonis and get all the answers and then beat the shit out of him.

Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. He froze completely. Zombies can't knock... right? Then who the hell just knocked on the front door? Wait, is Adonis still here? Was he followed? No way... was he lured here? Why else would Adonis leave his notebook here for anyone to see? Who else would be able to survive a nuclear wasteland other than someone who had to have caused it?

Shit. What do I do? I need a weapon. He tiptoed out of his room and into the kitchen to grab a knife, then walked to the front door. He looked at the doorknob. He didn't leave it locked, so why bother knocking? Wierd. He looked through the peephole and was even more shocked at the sight before him.

It was a... child. Maybe around ten or twelve. They had on one of those gas masks which made him kinda creepy looking. He stepped back, confused. Could Adonis have reincarnated himself as a child? But what would be the purpose of that? Well, maybe they'll leave if I don't say anything. But the child had different ideas. He reached for the doorknob with the obvious intent of coming inside. In a panic, Ethan darted around a corner. He held the knife close to his chest as the door creaked open. He heard footsteps and this wierd buzzing sound. The footsteps stopped for a moment, then began again. He was coming closer.

Ethan didn't know what to do here. It wasn't clear if this kid was a threat or not. Maybe he came here looking for food? But that seemed too convenient. That buzzing sound became louder and along with the buzzing he heard a sort of... beeping? What was that?

"I know you're there," the kid suddenly spoke. His tone was oddly stern for such an innocent sounding voice, "Come out."

Ethan sighed and came out from around the corner, facing the kid. He immediately looked at the source of that wierd buzzing sound. It looked like a small floating orb of blue light. A drone? No, it almost seemed alive. Back in his original world they had no such technology, at least not that he could think of. He looked back at the kid and his eyes widened in surprise when he saw him holding a gun pointed directly at his head. He released the safety and Ethan panicked,

"Woah, woah, woah don't shoot!" He dropped the knife and put his hands up. The kid knows how to use a gun?!

The kid stands still for a second, a painful and agonizing second for Ethan, and then decocked the gun. Ethan sighed.

"You can speak?" The child inquired.

"Obviously."

"But your..." he gestured towards his arm.

Ethan covered his bitten arm with his hand. The bite was obvious and his skin was still zombie colored, "Yeah, I know."

"I can put you out of your misery."

"Hah," If I hadn't just discovered what I did in that notebook, I would've taken you up on that offer, "I'm good, thanks."

The child shrugged and put the gun away. Ethan awkwardly stood there as that floating blue orb continued to watch him. No, not watch - scan. He eyed it curiously.

"What is that thing?"

"It's an eye."

An... eye? [Here is a list of all shop items and prices:

1,000 points
- System Eye

You may access the shop window at any time by saying: Open Shop.]

There were only a few who knew of the System shop, and the only one he knew that would possibly be a child, "No way... you're..."

The child nodded, "I've been looking everywhere for you."

"But you're so... different." The Sai he knew was bubbly and helpful. Sarcastic, even. But this kid seemed to have a hardness to him.

"You should know you adopt certain personality traits of the host."

"The host? Wait, you reincarnated?"

"You could say that."

"Wait, but in the last world-"

"In the last world they reset me. Fortunately, I made a backup of my core memories," he pointed at the eye, "I was able to retain those memories when you used the eye in the last world. Unfortunately I can only remember as far back as when you used the truth pill in your first world. I assume the two are linked to my core processor."

Right... I'll just pretend I know what any of that means. "So, how are you here? How did you follow me going undetected by the System?"

"Because... we aren't meant to be here."

"What?" Ethan breathed.

"I'll explain later. For now, here," Sai handed him the gun.

"What are you giving me this for?"

"I've been followed." Sai ran behind Ethan as cover.

"Followed by what?!" He exclaimed.

Sai pointed towards the door, "Zombies."

Suddenly he heard numerous footsteps pounding down the hallway. Ethan frantically raised the gun, pointing towards the door.

"Won't this just attract them more?!"

"Ah..." Sai thought down to himself, "But if this body dies, I'll have no other vessel."

"What about me?" Ethan hissed.

"That won't work, your body is half dead already. It won't be able to handle any more pressure to the central cortex. Otherwise, it'll explode."

Explode?! Ethan imagined his body exploding into a pile of blood and guts. He grimaced, "Right, okay. Then stay behind me."