Be Careful What You Wish For: A Zombie Apocalypse-Chapter 259: The Gift

"I donna think I like dis," grunted Dimitri as he took point. Dealing with the trash went fast after the plan had been established, and now he was looking forward to forgetting about the sight of Hattie being shot in the head. "Too quiet."

Salvatore, to his right, grunted in agreement, his M4 cradled in his arms like a baby. Hattie had managed to find a ton of weapons in her space when they were all griping that they had left them in the house before leaving.

It wasn’t second nature to the demons to be armed like it was for their human counterpart, but luckily, Hattie always had the answer.

And guns.

And grenades.

And a bazooka.

It was great.

They were less following the road than they were following what looked like a game trail where the road should have been. It was wide enough for humans to walk single file, but there was really no sign of anyone around.

"I wonder just how much time has passed," muttered Dante. "Are we talking the same three hours we spent in the Carnival, or has it been months?"

"Or years?" breathed Hattie from where she was being carried by Tank. "Everything feels and smells different, like rot and emptiness. Even the sun isn’t as hot as it used to be."

"Maybe that’s cause the trees have grown so big that they are now blocking the sun," suggested Luca as he looked around. "But I don’t think time matters right now," he announced.

"Seriously?" demanded Ronan, his eyes wide. "I think it matters a lot."

"Not what I meant. Time is something that we can’t change. We can only keep going forward," sighed Luca, his gun clenched in his hand.

"True," grunted Salvatore as he walked behind everyone, safeguarding their backs against an attack. "Forward we go."

"Look at you, speaking four words all at once. Envy is wearing off on you," laughed Hattie, the sound loud enough to startle the crows in the trees. Letting out a warning cry to anyone who would listen, they took to the sky.

"Virus," hissed Salvatore playfully.

"Wrong Sin," shot back Envy, using the same mouth. "The virus is Lust, remember?"

The party of ten continued forward until the trees parted, and suddenly, there was a massive city in front of them. However, where tall buildings once stood the test of time, they were now completely crumbled.

"Shit," grunted Ronan, looking up. "Dere no high points around here. Was that done on purpose, or is that yet another issue with time?"

"You be askin’ us like we know," grunted Dimitri, letting Wrath out a bit more to play. Hattie had now proven to be invincible, but that didn’t mean the rest of them were. And the demon inside him stood the best chance of seeing a threat before it arrived.

There was a crunch from somewhere beside them, and everyone was on the move. Ronan and Dimitri dropped to their knee, their guns up to their eyes, already spotting their target. Chang Xuefeng dropped Hattie onto the ground as he positioned himself at her back, his scythe in his hand as he looked around.

Dante and Tank took Hattie’s right and left, covering her from both sides as Luca stood in front, acting like a human shield. A little further off to his right and left were Beau and Salvatore, adding extra protection without getting in the way of anyone’s line of sight.

Last, but not least, Désiré stood just to the side between Tank and Beau, backing up the good doctor. They had yet to see Beau in an actual fight, and no one wanted to leave him alone to figure things out on his own.

"I got ten on my side," grunted Dimitri, scanning the shadows and the building on his side, lining up the targets. fгeewёbnoѵel.cσm

"Fifteen on mine," added Ronan as he adjusted his scope. He hated being stuck on the ground; being in the air was so much more fun. People rarely shot at him up in a tree; here he was in their direct line of sight.

"What are they?" breathed out Luca, his eyes narrowing on the closest threat. It looked to be a combination between a mutated zombie and a stupid zombie. However, it was clear that they weren’t stupid anymore.

"Dead," grunted Dimitri and pulled the trigger, taking out the first one on his side. Unfortunately for him, even with a bullet wound in the middle of his head, the zombie didn’t drop.

"Fuck," breathed Salvatore, taking a shot of his own.

Just like with Dimitri’s target, the zombie didn’t so much as flinch.

"Behind!" grunted the Reaper, swinging his scythe to confront the newest treat. However, the moment he moved, the target had already disappeared into the forest they were just in. "I don’t like this," hissed Chang Xuefeng, his eyes never stopping scanning the area around. "I really don’t like it."

-----

It was easy to see that the guys were freaking out, but at the same time, I couldn’t find it in me to be nearly as stressed. In fact, I was pretty much having the time of my life. I mean, it wasn’t the Carnival, but life suddenly threw me a curve ball, and all of a sudden, I didn’t know what was going to happen next.

It was great!

Seeing something landing between Daddy and the forest, I darted around Chang Xuefeng and quickly picked it up.

"What’s this?" I asked softly to myself, but clearly, I wasn’t quiet enough. Désiré’s eyes went wide as he saw that I was no longer in the protective circle of the guys and darted forward. Picking me up, he hunched his shoulders around my smaller body, making sure that he was the target and not me.

"You can’t leave the circle," he murmured, rushing back to where I would be better protected. "We need you safe, okay? We can’t live in a world where you aren’t. Please don’t make us."

"You never will," I replied, stroking his cheek, even as I held the black box against my chest. "We are one now. There is no me without you and vice versa. But instead of worrying about something that will never happen, let’s figure out what gift we were given."