On the way back, Ethan moved with extreme caution.
Every step was measured. He stuck to the edges of the road, keeping abandoned cars and concrete barriers between himself and any open space where zombies tended to gather. The apocalypse had taught him the hard way~one careless mistake was all it took.
He was just about to leave the highway and slip into a narrow alley when a sharp sound cut through the silence.
"Meow!"
"Meow!"
Two piercing cries. Not the soft sound of a house cat. These were deeper, rougher, filled with a savage hunger that made the hair on the back of Ethan’s neck stand up.
His footsteps stopped dead.
His hand went to the sword at his waist. Slowly, he lifted his head and scanned the rooftops on both sides of the alley.
Two massive cats crouched there, each nearly the size of a medium dog. Their fur was pure black, blending almost perfectly with the shadows. Only their eyes gave them away~eerie, glowing green, locked on him with cold intelligence. Their claws and fangs caught the light like polished metal.
Mutated cats.
A chill ran down Ethan’s spine. His grip on the sword tightened.
The two cats exchanged a glance.
Then they moved.
Both launched themselves from the rooftops at the same time~one from the left, one from the right. Their speed was terrifying. A foul rush of air hit Ethan as they dropped toward him like black missiles.
He reacted instantly.
His body shifted hard to the side. The left-hand cat tore past him, claws missing by inches.
At the same moment Ethan drew and slashed in one clean motion.
The blade met the second cat mid-air.
Splat.
The steel cut through fur, muscle, and bone with shocking ease. The mutated cat was sliced cleanly in half. Dark green blood erupted from the wound and splattered across the concrete in a thick, stinking spray. The smell was nauseating~sour, rotten, metallic.
The first cat landed awkwardly after missing its target. The second its paws touched the ground it spun and came at him again, even faster this time. Claws sliced through the air toward Ethan’s face.
Ethan’s eyes went ice-cold.
Instead of backing up, he stepped forward.
He twisted just enough for the claws to rake past his cheek, then drove the sword straight into the creature’s abdomen. The blade sank all the way to the hilt.
"Meow~!"
A shrill, almost human scream tore from the cat’s throat. Its body convulsed violently, claws scraping weakly at Ethan’s arm.
He pressed down harder, refusing to let up, twisting the blade until the thrashing finally stopped. Only when the creature went completely still did he pull the sword free.
Ethan let out a heavy breath and stared at the two corpses lying in spreading pools of dark green blood.
"What a hassle."
He searched both bodies carefully. After a few minutes he found a small crystal core, about the size of a peanut, nestled inside the brain of the first cat. A faint white glow pulsed inside it. The second cat had nothing.
"Not all of them have cores," he muttered, shaking his head. No point wasting more time.
He pocketed the core, wiped the blade clean on the dead cat’s fur, and left the alley at a steady pace.
He had no idea someone had been watching.
Not long after Ethan disappeared, a tall, skinny guy stepped out of the shadows near the alley entrance. Uncertainty filled his face as he stared in the direction Ethan had gone. His eyes drifted to the two mangled corpses.
"This guy... is a bit ruthless."
From a distance he had watched Ethan cut the mutated cats apart with frightening efficiency. What shocked him even more was the way supplies had vanished out of thin air earlier~ a truck and several cases of mineral water simply disappearing like they’d never existed. It had looked like magic.
And before leaving, Ethan had clearly been searching the corpses for something.
The skinny guy frowned, then turned and slipped into another alley, following Ethan’s trail at a careful distance of nearly a hundred meters. He moved like a ghost through the ruined streets.
Ethan remained completely unaware.
Focused only on getting home, he carefully avoided the scattered zombies wandering the roads. After cutting through several abandoned residential blocks, the familiar gates of Apex Residential Complex finally came into view.
Relief flickered across his face.
He slowed, checked the entrance carefully, and only slipped inside once he was sure no zombies had gathered near the gate.
On a rooftop across from the complex, the skinny guy stopped. His eyes followed Ethan until he entered Building Three. Immediately he pulled out an old walkie-talkie.
"Jack, I’ve tracked him. That kid entered Apex Residential Complex, south district. Building Three, Unit Two."
A rough voice crackled back.
"Did you see how many supplies he found?"
"Not clearly, but a lot. He spent a long time inside that truck before it vanished. One second it was there, the next it was gone. Whatever was inside went with it."
"Oh?" Jack’s voice carried real interest. "Now that’s interesting. Keep watching him. I’m bringing people over right now. If he thinks he can collect resources on my territory, he needs to learn the rules."
"Understood."
The skinny guy lowered the walkie-talkie, eyes still fixed on the apartment building.
...
When Ethan opened the door to the second-floor apartment, Debbie was pacing the living room with Nina in her arms. The moment she heard the latch, she spun around.
The second she saw him standing there, the tension in her shoulders collapsed. Relief flooded her face so strongly that her eyes immediately went red.
"You’re back!"
She hurried toward him. Then her gaze dropped to the bloodstained bandages wrapped around his arm and her expression changed completely.
"You’re hurt again?" Her voice trembled. "Let me see!"
"Small injury. It’s nothing." Ethan smiled and waved it off, looking at Nina instead. The little girl stared up at him with wide, dark eyes. "Was Nina good?"
Debbie had no interest in small talk. Her entire focus was on him. Without hesitation she grabbed his arm and pulled him toward the sofa. Before he could protest she started untying the blood-soaked cloth.
"What do you mean, small injury? You lost so much blood. Let me heal it right now."
"Wait."
Ethan gently pressed her hand down. With a thought, a black pistol and a full magazine appeared in his palm. He held them out to her.
"For you."
Debbie froze. Her eyes widened as she stared at the gun.
"This is..."
"For you to protect yourself." Ethan’s tone stayed calm as he checked the weapon one last time. "Safety’s here. Push it down before you pull the trigger. The apocalypse is getting more dangerous every day. Your Healing Ability isn’t meant for fighting. A gun gives you another option. I’ll teach you how to use it properly later. It’s not hard."
Debbie stared at the pistol in silence. Then her eyes drifted back to his injured arm. A complicated look crossed her face.
"You should keep it. It’s much more dangerous for you out there."
"I have my sword. That’s enough." Ethan pushed the pistol firmly into her hands, then deliberately frowned. "Take it. If I’m not here someday and this place comes under attack, how are you going to protect Nina?"
The words hit the most vulnerable part of her heart.
Debbie fell silent. More than anything she wanted to be someone her daughter could rely on. She didn’t want to spend her life being protected. She wanted to become strong enough to protect Nina herself.
Her fingers tightened around the cold metal. When she looked back at Ethan, the gratitude and something deeper in her eyes were impossible to hide.
Again and again he gave her reasons to trust him. Reasons to depend on him. Reasons to feel something she hadn’t felt in a long time.
In this cruel world, he felt like the one person heaven had sent to protect both her and her daughter.
Just as she opened her mouth to speak, a sudden commotion erupted from downstairs.
Chaotic footsteps. Men shouting. Zombies roaring in answer. It sounded like a large group had forced their way into the complex.
Debbie’s face went pale. Instinctively she hugged Nina tighter against her chest.
"Is... is someone coming?"
Ethan walked to the window and lifted a corner of the curtain.
The moment he saw what was happening below, his pupils contracted.
More than a dozen armed men were surrounding and finishing off two wandering zombies in the courtyard. Leading them was a bald, heavily built man with a Desert Eagle clearly visible at his waist.
Standing right beside him was a woman Ethan knew all too well.
Morgana Sykes.
At that exact moment Morgana glanced upward. Her eyes locked onto the second-floor window. The instant she recognized him, a cold, satisfied smile spread across her face. She leaned in and whispered something to the bald man.
The bald man looked up immediately. His gaze landed directly on Ethan’s window, sharp and predatory, like a snake that had just spotted easy prey.
Then he shouted at the top of his lungs.
"You upstairs! Why don’t you come down and have a chat?"
A cruel grin stretched across his face.
"Hand over all the good stuff you’ve been hiding, and I, might let you suffer a bit less!"
Debbie’s entire body trembled. Fear filled her eyes as she looked at Ethan.
Ethan slowly wrapped his fingers around the hilt of the sword at his waist.
His eyes turned colder than ice.
Trouble had finally arrived at his doorstep.
And judging by the hatred in Morgana’s expression, she had no intention of letting him walk away alive.