Chapter 80: Gift From Wife
After a brief exchange of planning with Rose, Fredrinn briefed the rest of the group before watching her casually stroll toward the milling crowd of undead.
Her one-piece red dress fluttered gently in the autumn wind, clinging tightly to her curves, making them highlight even more as she closed the distance.
A few of the zombies turned, their milky, dead eyes briefly catching sight of the red-dressed demon, but they paid her no mind. It was doubtful their decayed minds even registered who or what she was.
All their primal instincts knew was that she wasn’t a threat—not a foe to be attacked.
Unfortunately for them, Rose was Fredrinn’s partner now.
At this close range, she didn’t need to unleash the blood-curdling scream she had used before. She simply halted her steps, tilted her head, and calmly uttered a single word.
"Freeze."
Instantly, the weaker zombies lost all control over their bodies. The absolute command echoed through their dark nerves, freezing them in place.
The horde that had been frantically pounding against the heavy front door went rigid; some lost their balance and tipped over, hitting the pavement with dull thuds, while others remained frozen in unnatural, leaning angles against the wood.
In the entire horde, only one zombie possessed enough strength to faintly resist her command. Its body twitched and trembled against the invisible leash, fighting for control. It was a female zombie.
She was wearing an oversized black windbreaker that clearly belonged to someone much larger than her. Underneath the loose outerwear, she wore a slightly ripped white tank top paired with worn denim jeans.
Rose blinked several times, her crimson eyes scanning the zombie’s outfit.
She looked down at her own fluttering dress, then glanced back toward Fredrinn.
He was dressed in a simple creme T-shirt and a pair of dark jeans. Of course, he looked effortlessly handsome in it. But... to Rose’s eyes, something felt missing.
A sudden spark of realization clicked in her mind.
With a sudden burst of speed, Rose blurred across the concrete, reappearing right in front of the struggling woman.
She casually reached out, grabbed the female zombie by the neck, and twisted it a full 180 degrees. A sharp crack echoed through the air.
The zombie went instantly limp, its body collapsing toward the ground.
Before the corpse could hit the pavement, Rose moved with fluid grace, gently sliding the black jacket off the falling body.
She held it up, examining the fabric with critical eyes, before giving a satisfied nod.
’It will look good on hubby!’
In an instant, she flashed back to Fredrinn’s side, playfully pressing the stolen outerwear against his chest.
"Hubby, wear it. It’s nice," she said, a bright, cheerful smile gracing her delicate face.
Fredrinn stood frozen, completely stunned for a long moment.
It was no real surprise that there had only been a single Stage 3 zombie in the entire horde. If there had been more, it was highly doubtful those high school survivors trapped inside the building would still be breathing.
But what he truly hadn’t expected was that Rose would casually murder a Stage 3 monster just to steal a jacket for him.
Seeing his frozen, bewildered expression, Rose tilted her head in innocent confusion.
’Does he not like taking a gift from me? But isn’t it normal for a wife to give gifts to her husband...? Were that woman’s memories a lie? Looks like I need to devour a ’wife’ to learn how to be a good wife for him...’ Rose thought, all while maintaining the sweetest, most affectionate smile on her lips.
No one around her could have possibly guessed the terrifying, murderous thoughts churning in her head at that moment.
Looking at the eager, hopeful look beaming from her face, Fredrinn didn’t have the heart to disappoint her.
He shook his head with a faint chuckle, hiding a grin as he took the jacket from her hands gratefully. He unzipped it and pulled it on.
The dark, sleek windbreaker created a surprisingly good contrast against his slightly blood-stained cream T-shirt and dark jeans.
To top it off, the synthetic fabric meant it would be remarkably easy to wipe clean whenever blood and grime inevitably spattered onto it.
"Yay! Looks good on you!" Rose clapped her hands happily, bouncing on her heels as she admired her work.
Off to the side, Jenny only snorted, rolling her eyes so hard it almost hurt.
’She’s acting like she gave him a designer coat, for fuck’s sake,’ Jenny thought saltily, her jaw clenched tight. ’She literally stole it from a corpse. Fucking retarded zombie, acting like a dutiful wife.’
Of course, Jenny didn’t dare utter a single word of those thoughts out loud. She knew all too well that even Fredrinn wouldn’t be able to save her if she managed to piss Rose off to that extent.
Instead, she chose to channel her rising annoyance into something constructive—slaughtering the motionless zombies lined up before them.
As she stepped forward, driving her weapon through a paralyzed skull, a subtle chill ran down her spine.
She felt a bit concerned by how quickly she was adapting to the endless violence, to the point where the act of slaughter actually offered her a strange sense of peace.
Still, she quickly rationalized it to herself. She just liked killing these mindless monsters.
She was doing a good deed, after all.
Seeing her move in, Aadav and Max decided to join Jenny in cleaning up the frozen horde, their weapons making quick, efficient work of the defenseless undead.
Meanwhile, Charlie remained completely passed out in the backseat of the vehicle, oblivious to the carnage.
Unfortunately for Fredrinn, he didn’t get any chance to join the action. There had only been one Stage 3 zombie in the entire crowd, and Rose had already snapped its neck.
As the quiet squelching of blades through decaying flesh filled the quiet street, faint sounds drifted from the building ahead.
"What’s going on...?"
"Is that... humans outside?"
"I heard someone talk, right?!"
"Fuck... Did someone actually save us?!" A scared, feminine voice trembled from behind a cracked window, laced with pure anxiety. "I-I don’t actually want to go to the island..."
Another voice quickly chimed in, equally terrified. "I-I don’t want to bathe in oil either... Let’s hope they didn’t save us after listening to our cries..."
"Yeah... We can only hope..."
"Oh my god, we are saved! God still exists!"
A chorus of hushed, frightened whispers followed.
Down on the street, Fredrinn watched as dirty window curtains shuffled aside. Human heads peeked out from behind the glass, the grim, wide eyes of several trapped teenagers watching the scene below with a mixture of desperate hope and profound horror.
*Crack*
Someone finally removed the barricades behind the main door, swinging it open.