Chapter 81: Every Man for Himself
Luna Dawson’s hand holding the flashlight trembled in distress. "They’re eating our cockroaches!"
Hearing her, everyone stood up and lined up along the edge to look down.
And the first thing the newly awakened Blake Blue saw was the backs of everyone standing in a line.
"What happened to me?"
Blake Blue stood up and glanced at the bite wound.
He was taken aback. The wound had actually scabbed over. No wonder he didn’t feel any discomfort. His previously depleted superpower was now full.
Hearing Blake Blue’s voice, Rhonda Dawson was the first to turn around. He was, after all, her very first and most important patient.
"You were bitten by a Second Order cockroach. It was poisonous, but you’re fine now, so relax."
She finished with a reassuring smile, which unexpectedly made Blake Blue’s face burn. ’So, she was the one who healed me.’
"Thank... thank you. I’m so lucky you were here to help." Blake Blue thanked her, a little embarrassed.
Before he could say more, Aaron Palmer threw an arm around his shoulder. "You have no idea! When I saw you collapse on the helicopter, you scared me to death! I thought you were going to turn!"
"I never thought that cockroach would be poisonous. Thank you, everyone. I’m sorry for making you all worry."
Hearing this, Wayne Dawson said, "Don’t say that. If you all hadn’t been on the perimeter holding back the cockroach tide, we would’ve been in danger long ago."
He walked over and patted Blake Blue’s shoulder. "You’re a sturdy young man. If my strength hadn’t increased when I awakened my superpower, I never would have been able to carry you."
Things were so chaotic then that Wayne Dawson couldn’t even remember how he’d gotten him onto the helicopter.
Luna Dawson took out some spirit spring water and energy bars, handing them out to everyone.
"Everyone, drink some water and eat something to get your strength back. Hector, Grandpa, if you’re sleepy, go to your rooms and get some sleep. A kid needs his rest to grow, and Grandpa, with your blood pressure, you can’t be staying up all night. We’ll be here, so you can rest easy."
"Okay, Aunt Luna. I’ll take a shower and go to sleep when I get tired."
"Alright. A man’s got to know his limits when he gets to my age."
Grandpa Olson’s adrenaline had been pumping while he was hacking at the cockroaches, but now he felt completely burned out and exhausted.
They both agreed, not wanting to be a burden to the others.
Luna Dawson took out the villa. After settling Grandpa and Hector inside, the others continued their discussion on clearing out the zombies.
Kevin Keane and Evan Olson used binoculars, observing the situation on the university campus by the light of the raging fires.
Just as Luna Dawson stepped out of the villa, she saw a woman tightly embracing Logan Sawyer at the top of the stairwell.
Logan Sawyer was panting, his voice laced with a mixture of lingering fear and reassurance. "Sia, it’s okay. We made it through."
As he spoke, he felt the woman in his arms trembling. The reassurance in his voice gave way to confusion. "What’s wrong? Are you cold? Why are you shaking so badly?"
Charlotte Caldwell’s hand suddenly slapped heavily onto Logan Sawyer’s shoulder. The back of her once fair, slender hand was now smeared with the cockroaches’ dark green slime.
Even through the filth, a dense network of black veins could be seen spreading across her skin.
Logan Sawyer’s heart seized. He whipped his head around to look at Charlotte Caldwell’s face. When he saw her grotesque expression, a chill shot up from the soles of his feet to the crown of his head, and he froze stiff.
Then, with all his strength, he violently shoved her away.
Charlotte Caldwell, who just moments before had been reveling in a warm embrace, was caught completely off guard. As he pushed her away, the air around her felt bone-chillingly cold.
She slowly lifted her head. Her eyes, vacant yet fixated, stared straight at Logan Sawyer. The black veins had already snaked their way up her neck and onto her face, crawling past the corners of her eyes and mouth in a grotesque and hideous pattern.
The next second, as if she had lost all reason, she lunged at him again. She clung to him, refusing to let go no matter how much he struggled.
"You’re infected?! Let go! Let go of me!"
Logan Sawyer’s roar, filled with absolute terror and desperation, shattered the dead silence of the rooftop as he frantically tried to shake Charlotte Caldwell off.
Hearing the commotion, a frightened Bull quickly jumped down from his perch, not forgetting to pull Tilly Lane with him in his panic.
"I’m... so cold... Charleston, don’t you love holding me?"
"Cold..."
Before she could finish, a shrill, unearthly cry burst from her throat.
"AARGH!"
"HURK! HURK!"
Her body convulsed as she threw her head back, her eyes instantly turning a sickly bluish-gray.
Her mouth suddenly gaped open to an inhumanly wide extent, tearing the corners of her lips as blood dripped down her chin.
Then, reeking of a sickeningly sweet, foul odor, she lunged straight for Logan Sawyer’s neck.
"AHH!"
Logan Sawyer let out a bloodcurdling scream.
The instinct for survival gave him a burst of astonishing strength. He gripped Charlotte Caldwell’s jaw with one hand while desperately clawing at the arm she had wrapped around him.
At the same time, he kicked out with all his might, landing a vicious blow to Charlotte Caldwell’s abdomen and finally sending her flying.
Charlotte Caldwell slammed hard onto the ground, her chin scraping against the concrete and leaving a gruesome, bloody gash.
Her body twitched, and she quickly scrambled onto all fours. Her posture was bizarre and twisted as she lunged at Logan Sawyer once more.
Logan Sawyer was quick. He glimpsed a pile of supplies out of the corner of his eye and, almost on instinct, rushed over and grabbed a baseball bat. With astonishing power and speed, he brought it crashing down on the head of the lunging Charlotte Caldwell.
With a sickening CRACK, Charlotte Caldwell’s forehead caved in. Shattered bone fragments and brain matter splattered everywhere.
The immense impact sent an eyeball flying through the air in a perfect arc, landing squarely in Bull’s arms.
"AH! What is this thing!?"
Bull scrambled frantically to slap it away.
But he was bundled in heavy clothes, and the more he panicked, the clumsier he became. The blood-soaked eyeball was stuck fast to his shirt, and he couldn’t get it off for the life of him.
Tilly Lane, her expression calm, reached over and plucked it off for him without saying a word.
Logan Sawyer’s roars of despair and anguish echoed again. He gripped the baseball bat with both hands, looking like a man who had lost his mind.
Once, twice, three times...
He relentlessly smashed the head of the zombie on the ground, putting every ounce of his strength into each blow. The sickening thuds echoed across the rooftop, punctuated by his hoarse curses.
"AH! You deserve to die!"
"We were finally safe!"
"Why did you have to drag me down with you?! Couldn’t you have just died on your own?!"
"Die! Die! Die!"
He didn’t stop until the zombie’s head was completely obliterated, a disgusting pool of mingled flesh and blood staining the ground.
The bat in Logan Sawyer’s hand fell to the ground with a CLANG, the sharp sound particularly jarring in the silence.
After a moment of dead silence, he staggered forward and leaped down from the upper level.
A chunk of flesh had been torn from his neck, exposing the muscle and blood vessels underneath as blood pulsed from the wound.
The sight made Bull’s heart leap into his throat, and he instinctively backed away.
Logan Sawyer seemed oblivious to his injury. He forced a gentle smile. "It’s fine. She was a normal person, so the infection rate is high. But I’m a Superpower User. I can fight off a little toxin like this!"
Tilly Lane looked at Bull, her voice as calm and flat as if she were discussing the weather.
"I was scratched, too. You should keep your distance, just in case."