"Is this the afterlife?"
The ruffles of the air-conditioner and dim lights in his view say otherwise.
Erza palms his abdomen and proceeded to touch his other body parts.
'I'm…fine?'
When he brought his hands to his face, he was shocked.
'Where did the calluses go? Why are my arms free of scars?'
He swiftly raises up his body and got out of bed.
'What is going on…I was fighting that monstrosity and exhausted my-'
Just when his brain whirring at a tremendous speed to deduce what happened, a voice called him.
"Boys, come down and eat!"
'Wait, it couldn't be..?'
He hasn't heard that angelic voice in god-knows how long.
With a reckless abandon, he sped out of the room and sped down a few flights of stairs.
'Mum!'
Warm, salty tears start collecting in his eyes.
"Here's your favorite dishes! I hope it's not too salty…"
The owner of the voice was a middle-aged woman.
She had a tanned complexion but seemed to be aging gracefully.
Erza couldn't hold himself back and hugged his mother.
"Mum! Mum!"
He bawled his eyes out like a child, letting out his pent-up longing and regrets.
"Erza, what's got into you? I know I rarely cook these days, but you don't have to cry over it!"
He hugged his mother that he lost during the apocalypse.
He calmed down after a while.
When he turned his head to the dining table, his father's and two brothers' quizzical expressions greeted him.
"Dad! Feera! Bucky!"
His dried-up eyes gushed out again like a broken dam.
…
Erza came back from 10 years ago.
In the year 2020 A.D, a blue marble-like planet was struck by a disease.
A pandemic was caused by a mutated flu virus by the name of 'Doronavirus-20' , or DOVID-20 in short.
It originated from a small city in Dhina, where scientists believe that the consumption of exotic winged mammals led to the virus outbreak.
It started out as a simple flu in the first month.
However, things took a worse turn when death cases started to appear in the second month.
By the third month, the infection spread throughout the world via travel and tourism.
In the fourth month, most of the world's governments have commenced a lockdown period in their own nations.
The sixth month, however, was when the nightmare started.
Every survivor of the doomsday will forever remember the date 1st June 2020, the day when it all began.
…
After dinner, he spent an hour talking and look at his beloved family member's faces.
Checking on his ePhone XS Max's screen, it showed 9.15 pm on a Sunday, 31st May 2020.
'It seems God has not forsaken me! I have to do my best this time around!'
On the round table, Erza started his 'pitch'.
"Mum, Dad, little bros, I need you guys to listen to me and listen carefully."
He started telling them the truth about what happened to him and what would happen in the future.
Everyone's mouth was as wide as a cave.
After getting over the mild shock, third brother Bucky touched Erza's forehead.
"You don't have a fever though?"
They were just flabbergasted over what Erza said to them.
It sounds almost like it came straight out from an apocalyptic novel.
"Big bro, are you sure you haven't seen too many zombie movies?"
Second brother Feera said with a subtle tone of mockery.
The dining area's atmosphere was awkwardly silent.
It was then that Erza realized that the idea of dead infected people came back to life was purely fictional to them.
"Hahaha! Thank god you guys didn't believe me! I was recording your reaction for YouTube!"
Erza then changed his strategy.
"Actually, what I was trying to say is that there will be a new vaccine developed by my company. They are offering it to all of their staff and their family members!"
He gave his family a half-truth statement.
Erza is currently working as a Human resource manager in a biomedical company.
A vaccine has been developed, but not by his company.
"My boss said to come to Cantonese Oriental hotel in the city center where they are giving priority to the staff first!"
Then he went on saying that it is endorsed by the Ministry of Health, it went through human clinical trials and it worked…all of them were true.
Except the ones receiving it was located tens of kilometers away from the hotel.
It was just his excuse to get his family to the luxurious, 7-star hotel.
The hotel was equipped with top-tier security features.
"Erza, some of us are working tomorrow."
His mother was in on the idea but she was also concerned about work.
"It's okay mum, take an early leave and make sure you're at the hotel by 5.00 pm tomorrow."
Erza would also need some time before the doomsday to prepare supplies.
'I'm so sorry guys…this is all for our own safety.'
After conversing with his family members, they went back to their rooms for a good night's sleep.
'This might be the only night I could sleep soundly…'
With his life experience, he could sleep and wake up at a moment's notice to conserve his energy during the apocalypse.
As he enters his once familiar bedroom, he dozed off the second his head hits the pillow.
The snores he produced was unlike how he slept during doomsday, as it was without a single care in the world…
Because tomorrow, the fight for survival begins!