Apocalypse Rebirth: Crazy from Day One

What does it feel like to be heading upstairs, only for a corpse to roll to a stop right in front of you—face covered in blood, eyes wide, staring right at you?

The man was so terrified his heart nearly leaped out of his chest. His pulse hammered as a panicked scream tore from his throat. The three red bags in his hand dropped to the ground.

"What’s wrong, Dad?" "What happened, honey?" Two figures burst out of room 2709. One brandished a club and the other a kitchen knife as they rushed to the man’s side.

Bell, who had been standing guard in front of River Larkin’s door, was startled by the scream and looked over. He started cursing, "Screaming, screaming, what the hell are you screaming about, you motherf—"

He never finished his sentence. He had just spotted the corpse, its eyes wide open in death. The words died in his throat.

"Someone’s dead!" The man’s heart rate was slowly returning to normal, though his face was still pale. He pulled his wife and son back a few steps.

His expression grim, he looked down at Mrs. Ward on the floor, then glanced up the stairwell.

’She rolled down from upstairs. Does this have something to do with who’s up there?’

"Who’s this lady? She looks so unfamiliar. I don’t think I’ve ever seen her before. Does she live in our building?"

The young man looked at the body on the ground, then gave his parents a questioning look. He was away at school most of the time and rarely came home, so he didn’t know many of the residents.

"I’ve never seen her," the woman said, shaking her head. "Maybe she’s an elderly resident from one of the other apartments who rarely goes out."

Bell walked over. After his initial shock, a grim acceptance set in. The community had changed drastically recently; it wasn’t what it used to be.

The family of the last man who died hadn’t been able to hold a proper funeral. In the end, they could only dig a shallow pit in a snowdrift within the complex and bury him there.

And Quinn Chase, the man who’d killed him, had faced no punishment. He’d simply paid off the family with a few kilograms of rice.

So, while Bell had been startled at the sight of the corpse, his shock quickly gave way to a cold calm.

Sizing up the body on the ground, he said, "She died right in front of you. Don’t tell me you had nothing to do with it."

"No—" the man started, shaking his head, but his wife was already stepping forward in anger. "What the hell are you talking about? What does this have to do with my husband? I should be suspecting you! What have you been doing, lurking outside our door every single day? Maybe you’re the one who killed her and left her here!"

"What the fuck does it have to do with me?!"

"Then what does it have to do with my husband? Don’t you go around making baseless accusations!"

The two hurled insults at each other before falling silent, both glaring daggers at the other with dark expressions.

Inside his room, River Larkin listened to the commotion outside, a jolt of shock running through him. ’Someone’s dead. Another death in the community!’

’Things are getting chaotic, just as I expected.’

"Alright, that’s enough," the man said calmly, trying to de-escalate. "Stop making things up. This has nothing to do with either of us. I was just coming up the stairs when she rolled down right in front of me. It looks like she just died. She probably fell from one of the upper floors." As he spoke, he soothed his wife and bent down to pick up the fallen bags.

After listening to the man, Bell calmed down as well. He stared at the body on the ground and said in a cold voice, "So what do we do now? Whose family is she from? What are we supposed to do with a corpse here?!"

There was no way to call the police, no way to contact a hospital. But they couldn’t just leave her lying there.

Just then, drawn by the shouting, several other residents from downstairs came up to investigate. Their expressions changed the moment they saw the body on the floor, and they immediately began pointing and whispering about Bell and the small group gathered there.

The other two Bell Family brothers were also in the crowd. Seeing the situation, they walked over to their younger brother with grim faces and asked in a low voice, "What’s going on? Did you get into a fight? Did you do this?"

’They knew their third brother’s temper. It wasn’t out of the question for him to get into a fight if he lost his cool.’

’Did he accidentally kill this old woman?’

"Eldest Brother, it has nothing to do with me! I’ve been right here guarding the door this whole time. I just wanted to teach that bastard Larkin a lesson, I never thought about killing anyone!"

Bell frantically waved his hands in denial. The other two brothers breathed a sigh of relief. Meanwhile, the family of three was explaining what had happened to the crowd.

"How could someone just die like that, out of the blue?"

"Yeah, and why is there so much blood? Don’t you think she was beaten to death?"

"This woman looks so unfamiliar. Has anyone here seen her before?"

"Never seen her!"

"Never seen her!"

Everyone shook their heads, indicating they didn’t recognize the deceased. Someone voiced the suspicion that she might be from another building—that someone had killed her and dumped the body here. But if you were going to dump a body, you’d do it on a lower floor. Why haul it all the way up here?

"She fell from upstairs, so it must have something to do with someone up there. There are only two units on the floor above. We should just go up and ask!"

As soon as someone made the suggestion, the family of three from the 27th floor immediately agreed.

Someone was dead, and the body had to be dealt with. They couldn’t just leave it in front of their apartment door. Even though the cold weather would prevent any smell for now, the thought of a corpse lying right outside was deeply unsettling.

More than anyone else, they wanted this matter resolved.

The large group of people trooped up toward the 28th floor.

Inside her apartment, Stella Sterling had already heard the commotion from downstairs. Although she couldn’t make out what they were saying, she knew it was something serious.

She paid it no mind, however, and went back to the show she’d been watching. It wasn’t until a short while later, when she heard footsteps ascending the stairs toward her floor, that she finally turned off her phone.

Her expression was neutral, showing no surprise. She had anticipated this moment.

And so, just as the footsteps grew closer, she opened her door. She looked coolly at the dozen or so people gathered a short distance away and said, "I have nothing to do with this. Do not disturb me."

Her tone was calm and detached, as if she had opened the door for the sole purpose of saying that one line. After she spoke, she shut the door, leaving the crowd staring in stunned confusion.

It all happened so quickly that the people who had come up to ask questions hadn’t even processed what was going on before it was over.

Everyone was completely baffled by Stella Sterling’s actions. For a moment, they forgot why they had come up here in the first place.

It took them a moment to come to their senses. The woman who had just spoken—she must have been explaining that the death had nothing to do with her.

The thing was, they hadn’t even asked her yet. She had come out and answered their question before they could pose it.

"So... are we still going to go up and ask?"

Someone whispered to the person next to them.

The person beside him replied, "Ask what? She already said it has nothing to do with her. You still want to ask? Are you trying to get an earful?"

"But just because she says it has nothing to do with her, that’s it? Besides, how did she even know something had happened?!"

The crowd fell silent for a moment before someone said, "There was a huge commotion downstairs just now. She must have heard it. As for your other question... if you want to ask her, why don’t you go do it yourself?"

"I’ll ask then. What’s there to be scared of? We need to get to the bottom of this!" that person said with a nonchalant look. As he walked toward Stella Sterling’s door, the others just watched, their expressions complex and peculiar.