1 Chapter One

"Are you serious? I'm dead?"

The figure standing before me had no face, no features. It was weird actually. It was as if my mind was trying to comprehend the figure's face before me, but it just couldn't. He wore a simple white robe with a deep hood. His voice was clearly male and he spoke to me in a calm tone.

"I'm afraid so, *******. In human time, you've been dead for..." After that, he paused for a few seconds as if thinking and continued, "400 years? One of my many subordinates was on a mission in your world and you got caught in the crossfire."

"What?!"

"Don't worry though, you will be reimbursed fairly since this incident was my fault for not competently controlling my subordinates. While we certainly cannot bring you back in your original world, you can be reincarnated into any world of your choice, fictional or otherwise. With your memories still intact, obviously."

I was silent. It was a lot to absorb. For me, it'd only been an hour or two since my death. Accepting my death was pretty easy as I really didn't have much of anything or anyone when I was alive, but hearing that I died because of incompetent management was... well, fitting I suppose. 

After college, I had to get a job and bad management was rife in almost every company I was part of. It felt like a curse that followed me wherever I went. Missed promotions due to nepotism, horrible work time management leading to multiple overworked workers committing suicide, company bankruptcy due to horrible financial management. So dying to something that plagued me so heavily in my last life... It was ironic to say the least.

At least I get to reincarnate into a different world. You see it all the time in novels, reincarnating after death with hundreds of wishes and living out your dream life. 

"Any world you'd like, huh?" I mumbled, deep in thought.

"Yes, you can choose any world from your memories. We'll also allow you to choose which body you would like to be reborn into. Also, to make the transition is easier, we'll allow you to absorb his/her previous memories, with you maintaining control over the body. It wouldn't exactly be reimbursement if you weren't allowed to live the life we give you!"

He laughed after that, and though I didn't find it at all funny, I smiled nonetheless. I spoke after a few seconds, "Alright, can I have a bit of time? This is a big decision after all."

"Of course, take as much time as you need. Also, your 'abilities' that you gain will be directly related towards progressing and/or living in the world that you choose. If you have any requests for abilities that work well with your world, we'll see what we can do."

"Alright, thank you."

I thought of my old life and all the things I never had the chance to do. I never had much of a family, my only joy in life was creating things for people to enjoy. If I wasn't forced to join the corporate workforce right after leaving college, I definitely would have taken up engineering or architecture as a hobby or possibly even a job... I mean, he did say that I could choose abilities that work well with the world I choose, and I can't think of a world where those skills would be more valuable, especially later on.

"Alright, I have my answer. I want to be reborn into the world of The Walking Dead, specifically one year before the apocalypse. For the body that I'd like to be reborn into, I choose the main character, Rick Grimes. He works as a Sherriff's Deputy. That means invaluable access to resources that's necessary for the apocalypse. Not to mention, he's just a badass character in general." 

"Very well.

Now, let's start with your abilities.

The world that you chose, 'The Walking Dead' is a rather brutal world and will only be more so in the future. There is no god or magic that you can draw from the planet itself. In fact, the world itself is a rather standard Earth bar the 'walkers' that roam around. As such, flashy magic and supernatural abilities are off the table.

Now, you have three 'ability' slots available. Would you like us to pick your 'abilities' for you?"

"I'll let you choose one as I really only have two in mind that fit The Walking Dead."

"Alright, since you've allowed us to select one, the 'ability' we picked is the power to absorb a portion of memories from any person or animal. You will be able to recall these memories whenever you wish. The memories are not the same as actually experiencing the moment, only a 'subjective' memory, and the person or animal that you're targeting has to be dead. It cannot be a walker. There is also a certain limit towards how many memories you can store, so if you absorb too many, you'll need to delete some to store new ones."

I thought about that. It sounded pretty interesting and useful. Though I did wonder how this wasn't considered a flashy supernatural ability, it could prove invaluable when the world went to shit since I'll be able to use the knowledge and experience of others. If I can find the time, maybe I'll even read the memories of animals.

Finally, it was time for me to tell the entity in front of me what 'abilities' I want. 

"Okay, the first ability is an architectural skill. I'm talking the whole package. From design, to engineering, to execution. I also want a mechanical engineering ability. I'm gonna assume that there will be no internet during the apocalypse, so I'm hoping that I'll be able to build whatever I can remember. That's it."

"Alright, those will be your 2nd and 3rd ability. Now, since we chose your 1st ability, memory absorption, it's about time we send you down there."

"Wait, wait, what about my name? And why is my head spinning?"

"The spinning is because the process is beginning. We've already given you the name 'Rick' and since the memories are going to be coming from the original Rick Grimes, it's best to keep his name and identity."

"That... that does make sense..." I could quickly feel my consciousness fading, but in the midst of blacking out, I tiredly wondered why I just accepted everything that was happening. Right before losing consciousness, I vaguely hear the robed entity talking to someone else that I couldn't see.