Thore and Hannes sat on the couch, enjoying the game and from time to time shouting at each other because either Thore scored a goal and was celebrating, or Hannes was cursing at Thore for not skipping the goal replay or just because he felt like insulting Thore. Or Hannes scored a goal and was telling Thore how bad he was, regardless of whether he was losing miserably or not.
Just as both of them were focused on the gameplay because Thore was close to scoring the 4:0, a loud bang sounded through the apartment. Both of them were startled, but neither of them looked to see what it was because Thore was just shooting the ball at the goal with a player named Kylian Mbappé. He scored and cheered at Hannes.
"Bro, what the fuck, you're so easy," Thore shouted, laughing at Hannes for taking the 4:0.
Hannes, on the other hand, couldn't take it anymore and started fighting with Thore, throwing punches at his shoulder and ribs. Thore was laughing and screaming for help from Paul, guarding himself from Hannes' punches, not being able to fight back.
In another room, Paul was lying on the floor, his eyes closed, not moving a muscle. Then, without warning, his eyes opened wide. Confused, he looked around, not realizing where he was. Suddenly, memories started flooding his mind, resulting in a strong headache.
"What happened? Didn't I die? Where am I? Wait, isn't this my old apartment?" Paul was startled. Just a moment ago, he was fighting for his life, guarding the shelter from the zombies and monsters after they broke through the last protective wall, isolating them from the chaotic world outside their shelter.
"Wait, so if I'm in this apartment, shouldn't this be the time just before the outbreak?" Paul was flooded with emotions. He was relieved, happy, excited, but there was also fear knowing what was approaching. Excited, he took out his phone. It was July 24, 2025.
"So it's the day before the outbreak and also 10 years in the past," Paul spoke, his face shaped with excitement because he knew he had the knowledge of his past life and the chance to secure all the fortunate encounters of the past, which shaped the strong figures from his past life. "I still have enough time to prepare."
With that, Paul stood up, just as he was looking to see if there was anything of use in his room.
"Paul, what the hell was that? Did you drop anything?" Hannes shouted after having enough of "fighting" with Thore.
"Yeah, no, I mean no," Paul answered, startled to hear the voice of his brother again. In his past life, Hannes was infected by the virus three years after the outbreak, and Hannes was killed by the hands of his own brother after transforming into a zombie.
But Paul wasn't someone who would break out in tears after seeing his brother again and embrace him in a hug or something like that, but he was pretty happy that he could see him again. And how weird would it be for both of them if he came in tears to him and hugged him just like that, without warning?
"I'm going out for a moment, I will be right back," Paul shouted.
"What are you planning to do? It's still raining outside," Thore answered, confused why Paul would voluntarily go out in this weather.
"I'm getting some stuff. I'll probably be back by 10 or so."
"But Justin and Max are gonna be here soon. Why don't you wait and we all go together?"
"I know, I'll hurry up." With that, Paul opened the door and left. His first goal was to buy as many necessary items as possible, things like food and water, which were essential when the outbreak started. Sure, he could have waited for the outbreak and then just stolen everything he needed, but at that point, there would already be too much chaos and the danger would be too high.
So the first thing Paul did was get his car. Yes, he had a car at 18 because his parents gifted it to him and his brother for their 18th birthday after they didn't need it anymore. It was a big brown Caddy in which at least seven people could sit and had much storage space.
Paul's first destination was the supermarket, where he got himself many canned foods, which would last long. Additionally, water was a must, and also a water filter with which he could filter the bacteria and dirt out of the water. Next, he got himself lots of toilet paper because even if it was the apocalypse, hygiene was important. Important were also batteries and candles. For the food and water, Paul paid 120€. The candles, toilet paper, batteries, and water purification system cost a combined 100€.
As Paul walked out, he got looks left and right because of the mountain of things he had bought, but Paul didn't care because he knew what was slowly creeping up. After he bought everything to the car, Paul walked to a pharmacy to get himself two first aid kits and medicine to treat illnesses and injuries. The aid kits and the medicine in the end cost 80€.
Next but not least, Paul got himself some 20-liter petrol canisters, a toolbox to be able to repair his car when needed, some basic wood to build a shelter, and warm clothes for cold times, which all cost him 343€.
All in all, Paul paid 643€ and now had the first necessities and also no money left. But once the apocalypse started, Paul would carefully get himself the other things he needed.
Paul then drove back to the apartment to meet up with the others to prepare. It was 8 pm by now, and the outbreak of the virus started exactly at 00:00 on July 25. It started in the night, which made it so extremely deadly because when people started to notice, many people were already infected, and so it spread unimaginably fast.
When Paul arrived back at the apartment, it was 08:35 pm, so now he had to convince the others not to go to the club tonight because the club they wanted to go to would be one of the places where the virus first started to show up.
In Paul's past life, they were lucky and were able to escape before they were infected, but in this life, Paul didn't want to test his luck to the extreme. Paul also had to seize the opportunity to gain the fortunate encounters of his past life before anyone else could claim them for themselves.