3 June 2023, early morning
After getting kicked out from the camp, Ali walked away and came in front of the Sky Ultima.
Feeling lost and heartbroken with everything that's been happening all around him, he was just sitting there, looking at the empty road where it all started.
He kept sitting there near the stall all night, smoking cigarettes to drown the pain his heart was constantly feeling. He felt lost, alone and just too damn tired - in these two months, he had lost everything. Everything that even remotely mattered to him a little, got taken away from him.
His family, whom he couldn't find. Not sure if they were still alive or not. If he would ever even see them again or not.
His friends, who were lost in the apocalypse too. One who died and one whom he couldn't find anywhere in the whole city.
His followers died and turned into zombies.
His love was wasted. As she chose to trust someone else over him again and again. When she asked him for proof of everything and fell for his lies blindly.
His image, appearance, money, status - all of them gone.
In just two months all his life was thrown into a disarray. Everyone he trusted and cared about was either dead, missing or betrayed him.
'What a waste of life.' He thought to himself as he looked at his reflection in the mirror.
He said and lit another cigarette, while throwing another empty packet aside.
'I should've gone back home ages ago.' Ali thought as he remembered how he'd always refuse his parents and anyone who asked him to come back.
'Should've listened to her, and not trusted that bitch Kiara in the first place.' He thought as he remembered the time when Emily told him to leave Kiara and go their own separate ways.
'Should've shot him in the head.' Ali thought as he remembered it all happened because he couldn't control his anger and kept talking nonsense with Kevin that day, that he's still alive now. Had he shot his heart, instead of hands and feet that day, maybe none of it would've happened.
'Should've let go of my obsession over her too, nothing would've been wrong then.' Ali thought as he realized just how much pain his obsession over Aarvi cost him. If not for this, he would've been with his family at his home, and he would've been out there looking for them in the apocalypse not wasting his time here, trying to convince her every day for a month. Only to get kicked out in return.
"I really did fail everything with my own hands."
Ali was sitting there contemplating all the choices he made in life which led him there, just remembering how big of a fool he had been all his life. He chased something that was never meant for him, and left behind everything else that was his.
"Umm uncle"
He was thinking to himself about what he should do next, he didn't want to stay in this city anymore, where everything reminded him of his failed mistakes. He just wanted to leave everything and go away. - when the voice of a kid broke his thoughts.
Looking at the side he noticed a little girl around the age of 8 or 10 standing there, looking down and fidgeting with her hands.
"What happened?" Ali asked as he threw away his cigarette and waved his hand to blow the smoke away. The smell of ash was filling the air, as he literally just sat there and smoked all night. Thinking about all the depressing thoughts and actions.
"Ca _ can you help me?" The girl asked while hesitating, as she gathered her courage and looked up.
Ali couldn't see her face clearly but it seemed like she was crying, tear stains mixed with some sort of glittery eyeliner were marking her face.
"Did you got lost?" He asked as he waved his hand to call her and sit near him.
The girl sat near him and shook her head.
"Where're your parents then? Or anyone else you were with?" Ali asked as he picked the box of chocolates from the store and passed it to her.
In the past two months everyone had woken up already. So Ali asked this question as he couldn't believe a girl her age could survive in the apocalypse till now all alone. Plus looking at her, she didn't look like someone who was hungry or skinny - so probably well fed all this time.
"Parents not know." The girl said with a sad look on her face. "Mamma said, she'll come back soon, but it's night now. Night is scary alone."
Listening to her speaking with that sad look and broken sentences, a small smile came to Ali's face. It reminded him of when Eva was a kid, and how she'd always act pitiful and start crying whenever she needed something.
'Did her mom left her and disappeared.' Ali couldn't help but think as he finished listening to her. After all, now in the apocalypse when looking after one's own life was hard, taking care of kids isn't everyone's strong suit. In the base, he had seen a few kids whose parents abandoned them and left to join some other people to survive with. No one wanted to drag a kid everywhere to follow them.
Men would have to look for resources outside in every base they join, and thus couldn't look after a kid. And many women who lost everything dropped their children since single parenting was the hardest in the apocalypse. Women would probably look for someone else to rely on or join, and no man wanted to drag someone else's burden on his head.
But all in all, these were things happening all over the city and it's what Ali thought. Maybe her mother died or turned into a zombie while she was outside or maybe she's stuck somewhere due to the horde roaming around. He wasn't sure so he could only ask.
"When did your mother leave? Did you know where she went?"
The girl nodded her head, and started speaking while munching on the dried chocolate. Her face had the expression like she didn't like it, but was too scared or embarrassed to throw it out.
"You don't have to eat it, if you don't like it." Ali said as he pulled the box away from her and threw it away. Scattering all the chocolates on the road.
"Now can you tell me." He said as he passed her a water bottle. As he picked another box of chocolates and this time tried them himself first.
The girl fixed her hair and took the second box Ali offered her, as she ate one and smiled. "Mamma went out in the evening. She was planning to make my favorite dinner, so she went shopping but she didn't come back."
"Shopping" Ali muttered and shook his head. It looked like someone really abandoned this girl too. But then he heard her speak again, and he got confused.
"I looked for big aunty neighbor or uncle too, but they weren't home too. Look, their shop's broken too." The girl said and pointed at a shop in the middle of the road.
Ali looked at it and got confused. Cause he never saw that shop anywhere nearby. Coupled with how this girl spoke about neighbors or shopping as if it was perfectly normal, Ali asked her something to confirm his doubts.
"Do you know what's the date today?"
"Don't you know it, uncle. It's 7." The girl said while looking at this big uncle with confused eyes.
"7 huh." Ali heard and thought, he was right in his guess.
'Does that mean she just woke up today after the wave? But it's been nearly two months and everybody else woke up a long time ago.' Ali thought confused over this discovery. He looked at a broken shop and a house stuck in the middle of the road a little far away. He could see their walks crushing a few vehicles nearby. 'Did that shop and that building teleport with her here too?'
Ali questioned himself as this was the first he saw or heard something like this. In the past two months whoever he came across, even those foreigners or those from other states, they all teleported themselves alone. At best the items they had with them after teleporting were just their clothes and some little accessories. Some brought things they were holding with them, but dragging a whole house of two floors along the teleportation, now that was something new.
"Um, can you help me now?" The girl asked again, pulling on his shirt.
Ali, thinking she wanted his help to find her parents, was thinking how he should explain to her about everything. But then he heard her speaking
"There's a thief sleeping at my house. I locked him inside room. Can you call the police?" The girl with short straight black hair said, as she signaled her hands to show how she did those things.
Ali - "...."
While Ali was talking with this girl, Kevin on the other hand woke up from his sleep with a shock. The sudden jolt pushed Kiara who was resting on his chest to roll over and wake up too.
"What, is it morning already but we just went to sleep." She asked groggily while massaging her eyes and pulling the blanket over her body.
But Kevin ignored her and looked in front of him, where a transparent blue screen was floating that only he could see, on it were the words written which took away his sleep.
[Emergency quest issued]
[Kill Ali Parker as soon as possible.]
[Quest limit - ASAP]
[Failure penalty - Host will lose all the previous rewards and system will go into offline mode.]
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A/N - This took longer than expected. Had to edit something to fix together. Next chapter is something interesting and the start of his revenge.
Also which type of system do you think Kevin has?