Lifeafter; The era of the Revenants

Chapter 5: Rebirth

"Our offspring are re-images of oneself....."

*************************************

".......Len......."

"..Sou....en.."

"..Soulen.."

A soft gentle hand landed on my forehead as I woke up. Looking up, I saw a masculine male with blonde hair and beard. His smile was comforting and welcoming. I felt safe in his arms as he brushed my hair.

   "You've done well honeycomb... surviving by yourself in that infected world..." he said gently as I blinked in confusion.

Not until the memories of everything I had done untill my death rushed through my mind like wildfire.
I blinked back the tears forming in my eyes as I realized who was brushing my head.

"D-dad??"

"Hey kiddo.."
He said as I hugged him tight; tears streaming down my cheeks as I cried.

How long had it been? To see and feel him again... I cried into his chest, squeezing him tighter as he patted me gently.

  "Papa.... I missed you... I missed you so much... h-how are you-" I asked as he placed his hand on my head.

      "I've been watching you all this time kiddo, you've done so well. And I've always been in here..." he said as he pointed to my chest, the area where my heart rested.
"...in your heart."

I knew he was dead. I saw it happen with my own eyes. But seeing him here right now... I didn't even care anymore. About the revenge. About living. I just wanted to be with him and die together.

   "I know what ya thinking Soulen. But don't. You can't. At least not yet." He said as I blinked back confused.

"Why...? Why can't I be with you?!" I complained as he smiled gently before patting me again.

A white empty space, where we sat on the ground and spoke, I wondered where we were exactly. Between time and space? Or was this all in my mind?
He rose his hand and a blade formed on it. It was my blade. He gently dropped it towards me as I held onto it and looked to him.

   "Our time is slowly reaching its limit. You got a nice blade I can see." He said with a small chuckle before giving me a thumbs up. "Good eye."

"Thanks..." I said looking down at the blade before he placed his hand on mine.

   "Use this to kill the damn thing that ended me. And once you do that..." he said as he kissed my forehead. Before standing up and slowly fading away.
"....Try to have fun.. and enjoy your new life... don't waste it." He said as he faded.

Once he did, my surrounding slowly glowed brighter and brighter, becoming blinding to the eye. I felt my body burning, my teeth becoming sharper and my bones stronger as I screamed out, soon loosing consciousness again.

*************************************

With a gasp of air, my eyes slid open as I coughed out blood before groaning. I slowly pushed myself upright before noticing three infected where gathered around me. At first I panicked and grabbed my blade only to notice they weren't attacking me. I blinked back confused only to feel where my hand laid. It was wrapped around a vine that led downward. And a single blue flower popping out of it. My blood had drained towards it and now had a wave of blue veins leading up towards me.
I looked at my hands, my skin tone had changed. Even my eyesight was different. It was sharper and a shade of blue had replaced the clear view of everything.
I felt stronger, and healthier. I stood up weakly but noticed I couldn't stand upright properly. My legs bent inward a bit and my posture drooped. I stood like an infected.

I'm half infected...

I stared at the zombies who stared back at me. They simply stared at me awhile before one of them groaned out. But what shocked me was that I understood.
The one on the right grunted about humans close by.

I tried speaking but instead of my English words. I grunted out in their language as well.

   "Humans... are... stronger here... don't be.... rash..." I grunted out as they looked at me again.

They all looked at each other before facing me, coming closer, causing me to blink in surprise.
Was this seriously real or was I still dead? Actually I think I'm both right now.
I held my blade tighter as they walked even closer to me. They reeked but it wasn't also as bad. I also smelt like a rotten corpse. And my blood wasn't fresh anymore either. How long was I here?
Apparently they wanted to follow me now. They were like mindless babies waiting for someone to follow.

  I didn't argue with them. Not that they would listen anyway. With them at my back, I looked down at the flower that was glowing bright before reaching towards it.
Grabbing it and pulling it out caused a huge vine to erupt and wrap around me.
This caught me off guard but i didn't fight it. I turned around and saw the vines cover up the zombies as it pulled us down into the earth.
Few minutes later, the vines opened up and I found myself in a completely new place. It was a massive cave, like, insanely massive. It glowed brightly with the flowers and vines growing everywhere.
What blew my mind was the massive tree that was beaming with life here. The blue vines pulsed like a heartbeat as I stared in awe at it.
The zombies behind me aimlessly wondered around before simply falling asleep wherever they happened to stop. I chuckled gently, watching them and comparing them to babies.

   "....I... found... something good.... papa...." I growled out in grunts and snarls. I would have to learn how to speak again soon. For now though it didn't matter.

I walked towards the tree, the air and aura it emitted calling me closer like a sweet lullaby. It felt warm and my body felt tingly as I got closer. Once I was close enough, I stretch my hand and one of the vines moved by itself, at the tip was a massive flower that bloomed once it got closer to me. That's when my eyes widened and I found myself in a different place. A space of spores flying about the blue space.
   For the next hour memories and knowledge flooded my brain. I was connecting to the tree and the tree was connecting with me. We were becoming one and I gladly accepted. Once the what I call 'Ceremonial acceptance was done.' I was brought back to reality with a few new bits of knowledge.

  Firstly, this tree had been growing for years. Way before the incident happened at my home City. Apparently the outbreak had happened in another country but they tried to contain it and keep it a secret until one infected escaped and caused the spread. The tree was formed from a seed being mixed with the blood of an infected, a certain rare flower and chemicals. Not a cure to turn an infected back to human or at least save someone before they turn. No, not at all...
This tree was for the purpose of creating the ultimate race. A breed between Humans and infected. And I was the first.

   "....A Revenant...."