People like these were parasites. Their existence did not bring the world any good, and killing them could actually count as good deeds.
The old man was a serial murderer, while the sperm donor found out that his daughter was dead, but he was more concerned about the property he supposedly exchanged her life for.
Naia used all her self-discipline not to just head in and stab the old man, and then hunt that failure of a father down.
In any era, children were loved and cherished, but there was still plenty of trash around.
Children were very difficult to find in the apocalypse. It wasn't just because they were weak and could die easily, but also because it was extremely hard to conceive. Due to the changes in the environment, the human body itself 'evolved' to maintain the energy it needed, rather than attempt to create new life when it couldn't be supported anyway.
Further, there was a small chance that the next generation could awaken as soon as they were born.
It was a very small chance. For a time, only she and Kael were the only natural-born awakeners. The abilities that roused were also never seen before, even if her ability was barely destructive.
Of course, regardless of whether they awakened from birth or not, all children were loved and cared for until the radical group took over.
Her parents died protecting her. It was ironic because they died under the blade of fellow humans, rather than dying an honorable death while fighting against the true enemies—the aliens—outside.
Kael's fate was arguably more tragic. His parents sold him for survival, which also guaranteed them a one-year supply of food and drinks.
The radical faction was the minority, originally refugees from a fallen base nearby, but they were strong, and they were prepared.
When they took over the Central Refuge, they took away the rights to food and drinks, and people had to align with them in order to survive. No one had the energy to care for two kidnapped children anymore.
For the next few years, the two of them were tested, experimented on, and tortured. They only had each other to lean on through the suffering.
Finally, when Kael was eighteen, and she was seventeen, he finally took control of his ability…and he killed all those who harmed them and their parents.
And so, at the young age of eighteen, Kael took over the base and killed the evil people. With her help, they managed it the best they could.
They led the final surviving base for the next few years. They lost compatriots and friends along the way, but at least they were a united front, fighting the true enemies rather than experiencing meaningless deaths at the hands of fellow humans.
So…Naia was particularly averse to trash that uselessly harmed others. It felt so good to finally get rid of scum back then. Now, it was time to do so again.
Naia was also quite curious about this property that this body's father was so desperate for.
…
Naia waited for the old man to enter his bedroom before she went inside. She could hear him ranting and cursing as he walked, slamming the door as he entered his room.
She learned a lot of curse words that day.
Anyway, when the coast was clear, she headed in. Her target had been Nadia's room, but she saw that the old man had left his phone on the coffee table.
This thing was considered an antique in the apocalypse. Though Nadia had one before she died, seeing one still felt new to her.
She didn't touch it, but she did see its screen. Because the old man was an ageing bastard with increasingly bad eyesight, all the text on his phone was enlarged.
The first thing she saw, even as she was standing a few meters away, was the location and the date. It didn't have a password, and she decided to skim through the internet, confirming a few things.
It felt surreal, like a dream, but the more she thought about it, the more she was certain. Before, the supposition felt like a dream that was too good to be true. But seeing the dates, the sequences, and the information she was seeing now basically confirmed it.
She was truly in the same world and place as her last life.
And, if the events were to happen the same way, there were just a little over 3 months left before the Fall.
She wasn't even born yet when the Fall happened. However—even if there had been a lot of records lost due to the various disasters and the alien invasion—there was still a lot of data that had been preserved.
Further, everything was taught to the younger generation, including herself.
She wanted to hold out on the hope that the apocalypse wouldn't happen at all and that things were just her imagination.
However, she still knew herself too much; she knew she wouldn't mislead herself like that. In the end, her intuition that had saved her life many times told her that the upheaval was inevitable.
In three months, massive meteor showers would fall down all over the globe. Many of these rocks, in fact, contained those aliens.
The meteors themselves weren't too massive, much, much smaller than the one that killed the dinosaurs, but the impact shifted the planet, causing tectonic plates to shift and triggering a mass explosion of the volcanoes. These combined disasters blanketed the world in ash, triggering a cryogenic winter after a megastorm that swept through the globe.
Shortly after that, the ice melted, followed by a great flood, plagues, and extreme heat.
This was followed by a poison fog of sorts that transformed a fraction of the population, turning them to monsters whose only purpose was to hunt for life to feed the hibernating aliens.
When those aliens awoke, it was already too late for humanity to recover. Each one of those aliens had the ability to decimate every path it took. All these happened in the span of a few years.
She touched the cold stone on her chest, a flurry of emotions swirling in her head and in her heart.
Was there a chance she could change things for everyone?