Chapter 4

"What gives you the right to hurt my grandparents?"

Marjorie burst out laughing.

"These two idiots came looking for you. If we hadn't been kind enough to save them, they'd already be dead!"

"The old fools just have saint complexes, always telling us to protect civilians. We only gave them a little lesson. Perfectly fair."

I knew none of it was real, that they were all NPCs, but the fury still shot straight to my head.

"You have powers. Doesn't that mean you're supposed to protect the weak?"

"Marjorie, if it weren't for my grandparents' support, you'd have died in that orphanage a long time ago!"

The words landed, and every power-user froze, staring at me in shock.

"They liked handing out money because they had more than they knew where to spend. Who says that gives them the right to guilt-trip anyone?"

"Besides, Margie didn't even kill him. She just taught him a lesson. Instead of kneeling and kowtowing in thanks, you have the nerve to wave that debt around and demand payback? That's shameless."

Ignoring my protests, Barret ordered the men to lock my grandparents in the basement.

"Paula, from this moment on, you're going to be a good dog for us. When we're happy, we'll naturally spare your grandparents a bite of food. Otherwise, you can wait and watch them dry out into corpses."

My parents died when I was young. My grandparents raised me.

Barret and Marjorie both knew that, and they chose this moment to use my one weakness against me.

I couldn't stand to watch them suffer, even if none of it was real.

After a long while, I nodded.

"You win."

The crowd broke into shrill laughter.

After that, I became the squad's slave completely, someone anyone could kick a couple of times whenever their mood soured.

They tested new powers on me and cut my rations, and in half a month I'd wasted away to nothing but bones, wounds layered over wounds everywhere skin showed, and not a single painkiller for the asking.

"Testing on you means we respect you. Medicine's precious in the apocalypse. Why would we waste it?"

To Barret and Marjorie, maybe torturing me was the finest thanks they could offer their former selves.

The apocalypse. Zombies everywhere.

With their powers, they didn't just clear zombies when they went out. They used those powers to deliberately mess with the civilians who were out scavenging, for fun.

The behavior stirred up public rage fast. A few other squads banded together and launched a full assault on the villa.

Barret's crew was outnumbered and steadily driven back.

With no other options, he actually decided to hand me over to sue for peace.

"Paula, you're just dead weight alive. You might as well do one good thing before you die and pay us back."

"We've told everyone you're the mastermind behind the attacks on civilians. Right now every single person is hoping to see you punished. Sacrifice you, and everyone's satisfied. We'll be sure to keep your grandparents safe. How about it?"

As the squad's lowest slave, I'd already been tortured until my body was nothing but wounds, and hearing him say that, my mind broke completely too.

"Barret, you want me dead, fine. But dying to carry your name and your blame? No."

"You think you deserve that kind of respect from me?"

Barret had long since stripped off his righteous mask, and he drove his foot into my chest.

"You won't die? Then I'll make your grandparents die in your place!"

The words had barely left his mouth before someone dragged my grandparents up out of the basement.

Barret's palm twitched, and a bolt of lightning came down streaked with purple light. My grandmother gave one horrible cry, and then there was nothing.

I threw myself onto her, sobbing, hatred surging up inside me.

Right then someone came running up in a panic with news.

"It's bad. The zombie king's shown up."

"Our outer defenses are already broken. Barret, you have to think of something, fast!"

Barret's face changed. He hauled me up and climbed to the top floor.

Looking down at the dense tide of corpses below, he didn't hesitate for a second. He gave the order.

"Zombies can't resist the smell of blood. I'm going to hang Paula upside down outside the window. When she drops and pulls their attention, we break out together from the opposite side!"

Marjorie pulled out a length of rope, bound my hands and feet, and threw me out the window, then carefully cut a slit into the rope.

"In three minutes she'll fall to her death. Everyone else, pack up and regroup!"

Feeling the rope fraying loose above me, I shouted.

"Barret, Marjorie, you'll get what's coming to you!"

The two of them sneered, looking at me the way you'd look at a dead person.

"What's coming to us?"

"Even if there is such a thing, it'll be a problem for the next life."

"Paula, as our best friend and fiancée, being able to sacrifice yourself for us should make you feel honored!"

The words ended, and the crowd scattered fast.

I felt the biting wind and closed my eyes in silence.

The seconds ticked by, and the tampered rope couldn't hold my weight any longer. It snapped clean through.

My body hit the open ground, bones broken, blood spreading everywhere.

The zombies caught the scent of blood, turned, and came shrieking toward me.

At the same moment, Barret shouted his order.

"Everyone, charge with me! Once I become the king of powers, every one of you will be lords and ministers!"

As his rallying cry rang out, the me inside the game was torn to pieces by the zombies and died completely.

The next second, in the real world, I slowly opened my eyes.