Apocalypse: Every Woman I Invest In Makes Me Stronger

The sun was almost gone.

What little light remained bled across the horizon in thin red streaks, turning the ruined highway the color of old blood. Long shadows stretched between abandoned cars and collapsed buildings, swallowing everything the dying daylight could no longer reach.

Ethan and Daisy moved carefully through the wreckage beside the national highway. Neither of them spoke. They had been walking for hours. The suburban villa district still lay roughly ten kilometers ahead. What should have been a straightforward journey had become a slow grind through wrecked streets, overturned vehicles, and stretches of road where the dead could be hiding behind almost anything.

Ethan’s legs felt heavy. His shoulders ached from the constant weight of the sword and the earlier fights. Even with his enhanced body, exhaustion was starting to settle deep into the muscles. Daisy wasn’t doing much better. Her breathing had grown slightly heavier, and her steps had lost some of their earlier quickness.

Ethan glanced at her.

”Still good?”

She nodded.

”Yeah. Just tired.”

”Same.” He adjusted his grip on the sword. ”Then we slow down.”

They continued forward in silence.

A few seconds later Daisy suddenly stopped. Ethan halted at once.

”Daisy?”

She didn’t answer. Her expression had changed. Her eyes closed as her Mental Ability spread outward, probing the darkness ahead. For several long seconds she remained completely still. Then the color drained from her face.

”Ethan...” Her voice was low. ”There are people ahead.”

His hand tightened around the sword.

”How many?”

Daisy swallowed.

”Not people.” She opened her eyes. ”Zombies. At least forty. And they’re hungry. Really hungry.”

Ethan moved ahead at once, climbing onto the remains of a concrete structure that gave him a slightly higher view of the road. He looked toward the intersection roughly twenty meters ahead and frowned.

A mass of bodies stood beneath the fading light. Zombies. Dozens of them. Some wandered aimlessly. Others stood completely still, rotting heads twitching as they sniffed the air. But something about the scene felt wrong. They weren’t scattered randomly. They were concentrated tightly around the intersection, almost as if something~or someone~had drawn them there and kept them in place.

That’s not natural.

”Daisy. Stay behind me.”

She nodded.

Ethan slowly drew the sword. The blade caught the last thin trace of sunlight.

Then one of the zombies stopped. Its head snapped toward them. A second later another turned. Then another. Within moments the entire group had locked onto the two living humans.

A low, collective growl rolled through the darkness.

Then the roar came.

”ROAAARR!”

The zombies charged.

”Shit.” Ethan dropped his center of gravity. ”Stay close!”

He rushed forward to meet them.

The first zombie lunged with its mouth wide open. Ethan stepped aside and cut in a single clean arc. The blade sliced through the side of the skull; the corpse collapsed before it could finish its roar. Another came from the left. He twisted, letting the claws pass inches from his chest, then drove his elbow into its jaw hard enough to stagger it. The sword followed, punching through the forehead with a wet crack of bone.

Three more rushed him at once. Ethan backed half a step, forcing them into a tighter cluster, then swung. One head rolled free. He reversed the blade and split a second skull. The third reached for his shoulder. Daisy’s voice cut through the noise.

”Ethan!”

He ducked. Claws swept over his head. He spun under the zombie’s arm and drove the sword upward through its throat and into the base of the skull. The body went limp and slid off the blade.

Another wave crashed into them.

Ethan kept moving. Standing still meant death. Every second he remained surrounded raised the chance of one fatal mistake. He slashed, dodged, stabbed, kicked. A zombie latched onto his sleeve; he ripped free, severed the wrist, and finished the creature with a downward strike through the crown of its head.

Daisy stayed close behind him, constantly scanning. She wasn’t as strong physically, but her Mental Ability gave them something just as valuable as raw power~awareness. She could feel danger before it arrived.

”Ethan! Two behind you!”

He ducked. A pair of claws passed over his head. He spun and cut both zombies down in one continuous motion.

The fight dragged on. Ten minutes. Then fifteen. The number of zombies slowly thinned. Their roars grew fewer. Their movements grew slower and more clumsy. Finally Ethan drove the sword through the skull of the last one. The corpse collapsed at his feet.

Silence returned.

Ethan stood among the bodies, breathing hard. Blood dripped from the edge of the blade. Sweat ran down his forehead. His right hand had gone numb from the repeated impacts. More than forty corpses littered the intersection.

”We’re clear.”

Daisy didn’t answer. Her eyes suddenly widened.

”Ethan!”

He turned at once. ”What?”

She closed her eyes. Her Mental Ability spread outward again. Her expression grew tighter by the second.

”There are more people coming. I don’t know exactly how many, but they’re angry. Very angry.”

A gunshot shattered the silence.

Bang!

The bullet tore through the darkness. Ethan’s head snapped sideways. The round passed so close he felt the heat of it against his ear before it slammed into the concrete behind him.

Bang! Bang!

More shots. Sparks burst from a rusted vehicle beside them.

”Down!”

Ethan grabbed Daisy and threw both of them behind an abandoned truck. Bullets hammered the metal body in a rapid, metallic rain.

Daisy hit the ground hard. Ethan crouched beside her.

”Where?”

She closed her eyes again. ”Fifteen meters. Abandoned shop on the left. Five people.”

Ethan risked a quick glance around the truck. Nothing but darkness.

”What are they doing?”

”They’re excited.” Daisy’s face tightened. ”They think we’re trapped.”

Ethan focused on the shop. He could sense the metal~guns, frames, magazines, even the internal springs and pins. He reached out with Metal Manipulation.

Nothing happened.

He pushed harder. Still nothing.

Too far. His current range was only about ten meters. The shop sat closer to fifteen.

Bang!

A bullet struck the truck. Another punched through the cargo bed. A fragment of metal sliced across Ethan’s arm. Blood ran down his skin in a thin line.

Then he smiled.

An idea formed.

He turned toward Daisy and gave her a subtle look. Then he let his shoulders drop. His body went limp.

Thud.

He collapsed onto the pavement and didn’t move.

Daisy froze. ”Ethan?”

No response.

”Ethan!” She crawled toward him, voice breaking. ”Get up!”

He remained motionless. For a second genuine panic flashed across her face~then she saw his eyes. They moved. Just barely.

She understood.

”Ethan!” Her crying suddenly became louder, more desperate. ”Please! Don’t die! Someone help us!”

The gunfire stopped.

For several long seconds nothing happened. Then footsteps emerged from the abandoned shop. Five men stepped into the open, carrying guns and various melee weapons. The man in front looked to be in his forties~medium build, sharp eyes, the kind of face that had survived long enough to become comfortable with killing.

He looked at Ethan’s motionless body and snorted.

”Hmph. And here I thought you two were something special.” He lowered his gun slightly. ”Turns out you’re just another pair of unlucky survivors.”

The five men slowly approached.

Daisy kept crying. Ethan stayed still.

Ten meters.

Nine.

Eight.

The middle-aged man took another step.

Seven.

Six.

Five.

Ethan’s fingers tightened around the sword hilt.

Four.

Three.

Two.

One.

They crossed into his range.

Ethan’s eyes snapped open.

”Now.”

Metal Manipulation erupted.

Clang!

The gun in the middle-aged man’s hand ripped free of his grip.

”What the hell~?!”

Before the others could react, every remaining weapon tore from their hands and slammed onto the ground beside Ethan in a clattering pile.

The men’s faces went white.

Ethan was already moving. He shot forward like a released spring. The middle-aged man barely had time to step back before the sword pressed against his throat. A thin line of blood appeared beneath the edge.

”Nobody move.”

Ethan’s voice was quiet. That somehow made it worse.

The four men froze.

”Who are you?” Ethan asked. ”Where’s Max?”

The man’s lips trembled. ”I... I’m Max.”

Ethan stared at him for a second, then smiled coldly.

”Bullshit.” He pressed the blade a fraction deeper. A thin trickle of blood ran down the man’s neck. ”You don’t have the look. You don’t have the ruthlessness of a man who sends five armed men to ambush strangers and watches from the shadows. You’re a stand-in. If the real Max were stupid enough to get captured this easily, he wouldn’t have survived this long. Talk.”

The man broke.

”I’ll talk! I’ll tell you everything! I’m not Max~I’m one of his men! He left earlier. He ordered us to wait here and ambush you. If we could kill you, we were supposed to do it. If we couldn’t... we were supposed to test you.”

”Test me?”

”Yes! Your abilities. Your strength. How dangerous you are.”

”And his real name?”

”I don’t know! Nobody knows! He never told us!”

Ethan stared at him. So that was how it was. Maxhad planned everything~even prepared a substitute to take the fall if things went wrong. Cautious. Calculating. Willing to sacrifice his own people without hesitation.

He’s more troublesome than I expected.

Ethan glanced at Daisy. ”Check the area.”

She closed her eyes. Her Mental Ability spread through the darkness. Seconds dragged by. Finally she opened them.

”There’s nobody else. About twenty meters is as far as I can sense right now.”

Ethan looked around. Nothing. No footsteps. No movement. Max was gone.

He clicked his tongue. ”So he really ran.”

His grip tightened on the sword. He had never even met the man, yet Max had already made himself an enemy worth remembering.

Ethan looked at the five men. His expression slowly hardened. The apocalypse had changed the rules. No police. No court. No prison. No second chances. These men had come with guns. They had deliberately hunted him. They had tried to kill him. If he let them walk away, there was a good chance they would come back with more people.

He turned to Daisy.

”Close your eyes.”

She blinked. ”What?”

”Don’t look.”

She hesitated, then nodded and closed them. Ethan stepped behind her and gently covered her eyes with one hand.

”Stay like this.”

He turned around. His expression became completely emotionless.

The five men barely had time to understand what was happening.

The sword moved.

Once.

Twice.

Again.

The fight ended almost as quickly as it had begun.

When Ethan finally lowered the blade, the road was silent again. He released his hand from Daisy’s eyes.

”Let’s go.”

She slowly opened them. Her gaze fell toward the bodies. Her stomach twisted. She turned away and simply moved closer to him, her shoulder pressing against his arm. Ethan glanced at her but said nothing.

They started walking.

Behind them the dead remained scattered across the ruined road.

Neither of them noticed the figure watching from a rooftop several dozen meters away.

The man stood on top of a large Western-style house, hands resting casually at his sides. Five armed men waited behind him. The middle-aged man watching Ethan was the real Max. His eyes followed the pair until they disappeared into the darkness. A bone flute rolled lazily between his fingers; a faint energy still clung to its surface.

He had watched everything~the zombie battle, the gunfire, the fake death, and most importantly the moment five weapons had been pulled through the air by an invisible force.

Max’s lips curled into a faint smile.

”Metal Manipulation Ability.” He chuckled softly. ”Interesting.”

There was no fear in his eyes. Only curiosity~and something much darker underneath.

”Kid...” He slowly closed his fingers around the bone flute. ”We’ll settle this eventually.”

He turned. ”Let’s go.”

The group disappeared from the rooftop. A few minutes later they appeared beside the battlefield. More than forty zombie corpses covered the intersection. Max glanced at them.

”Collect the brains.”

Five burly men stepped forward carrying heavy axes. The first axe smashed into a zombie’s skull with a wet crack. The man pulled the blade free and struck again. They worked quickly, opening the intact heads and scooping out the strange brown substance inside, pouring it into a large iron bucket. The smell was awful~rot, blood, something sour enough to turn the stomach. Max didn’t care. He stared at the growing pool of brown liquid, eyes slowly lighting with excitement, greed, and anticipation.

This was what he had really come for. Not Ethan. Not revenge.

The Zombie Essence.

When the last zombie was processed, Max looked at the filled bucket and gave a satisfied smile.

”Good.”

The group picked up their supplies and, without another word, disappeared into the darkness.

The ruined highway fell silent once again.

Somewhere ahead, Ethan continued walking with Daisy at his side.

Neither of them realized how quickly their paths were going to collide with Max again.