David woke up in a sweat — he had forgotten to turn on the air conditioner again. As someone born in the northern states, he wasn’t used to the Texas heat.

  He reached for his phone, but froze. Something felt wrong. A vague sense of déjà vu came over him. His hand hovered above the nightstand. He remembered this morning. Too well. The feeling wasn’t just familiar — it was identical.

  He sat up in bed, clutching his head in his hands. This had all happened before.

  David took a deep breath, trying to calm the sudden surge of anxiety. He remembered how desperately he had fought. How he had fortified his house. How he’d run out of ammo. How he had tried to reach his car. How a huge mutant dog had taken him down, and how the system had finally granted him a level-up — right before his death.

  Before his death...

  “I didn’t die?” he muttered, throwing off the blanket and looking at the spot where the dog had bitten him.

  He was alive. He was back at the beginning of the day when everyone had disappeared. But why?

  Taking a few deep breaths, he calmed himself and then mentally said, "Status."

  A familiar semi-transparent system window popped up before his eyes.

  David Taylor

  Level: 1

  But now, alongside his level, a new section had appeared:

  Abilities:

  Sleep Resistance 1

  He smirked. Apparently, the system had taken his sleepless nights under siege into account. But what did it mean? Would his stamina improve? Would he be able to stay awake longer? Either way, it meant one important thing — his efforts hadn’t been in vain. Progress had been saved.

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  David clenched his fists. It was pointless to look for meaning in the return itself. What mattered was that he had a second chance. And this time, he wasn’t going to sit around and wait to die.

  He began thinking about his next steps. Last time, he had chosen to fortify his house, but now, knowing how many creatures would emerge from that damn dome, he realized it had been a mistake. The house was too vulnerable.

  Unlike his office...

  Thinking it through, the office was practically a fortress. The territory was enclosed by a tall fence with an access control system. The main building was shaped like a giant donut — a long circular structure with an inner courtyard. Entrances and exits were easy to control. Inside, there was a huge stockpile of supplies meant to keep employees working around the clock. Coffee, energy drinks, snacks, fully equipped kitchens with fridges stocked with food — the company’s exploitative corporate culture would now work to his advantage.

  Besides, the building had server rooms and backup generators with fuel reserves for emergencies.

  Having made his decision, David stood up abruptly. He had to act fast. He had more time than before since he now had a rough idea of the situation, but not much. He got dressed, quickly packed a bag with essentials, and headed to Dave’s house to grab his weapons — then to his car.

  This time, he knew what to do. And this time, he wasn’t going to die — he was going to win.

  David pulled up to the office and immediately blocked the gates with a truck he’d found abandoned nearby. After making sure there were no monsters around, he quickly went inside.

  The building was silent, disturbed only by the echo of his footsteps. Making his way to the technical room, he located the backup generators. After checking the fuel supplies, he shut down the non-essential parts of the building to conserve fuel as long as possible. Lights came on only in the main corridors and technical areas; the rest of the building was plunged into darkness.

  David returned to the part of the building where his team had worked and sat down at his desk. His eyes landed on the technical documentation for the modular reactor that their team had been working on for the past few months. The project was in its final stages — all that remained was fixing a few critical bugs in the control system and completing the wiring.

  Could he finish the project without a full team of fifty people? He smirked to himself. "How hard could it be?" he asked sarcastically.

  If he managed to launch the reactor, he’d have a stable power source and no longer need to scavenge for generator fuel.

  David stood up from his desk and clapped his hands. Well then — time to get to work.