"Rest in peace," I muttered, looking at the simple grave I made in the ground.
Today wasn't really...serene.
I guess that's how every day is in an apocalypse.
It took me half an hour, taking the woman's body, the recently walker. After putting an end to her and the now legless walker and all others.
I found a small lawn of another house nearby and dug it.
Even if it required searching around, I refused to bury her in that accursed home where she suffered.
The thought of what happened to her makes me angry; I didn't even know her.
But I was, nonetheless, angry.
I know it will be gone soon, this slight guilt. or maybe never.
I already knew, always. That such incidents are the norms in a world like this. The strong preying on the weak. And I can't save everyone.
But I still can't simply ignore it and move on. Maybe because it was the first I witnessed such a one in this new reality.
'Billy would be worried; I hope he isn't in danger or hasn't left.' The man was fun to be around and helpful.
He somehow knows how to keep the mood light, and things seem easy with him helping in this shithole, like he calls it.
There's a 20-minute maximum before the sun fully sets.
So I run, still killing whatever walker is in the area.
Their numbers picked up as the night closed in, but they are still slow, easy to read, and easy to react to. Thankfully, as long as there isn't a large horde of them.
Finally, I was back in the store.
I opened the back door and sighed, hearing the familiar voice grumbling nearby.
"If you don't shut that douchebag of a mouth, I will make it shut myself." "*Mmmf*"
Walking in, I talked, clear and just low enough to be heard by him.
"Billy, it's me," and the grumpy bearded face appeared on the other side of the kitchen, holding his machete.
"Oi boy, what the hell made you take so long... You good?" I don't know how, but he seems to notice my mood.
I nodded, gesturing him to come aside so I can speak to him.
Making sure with him that he was okay to hear what happened, even as messed up as it was, I recounted slowly what I figured.
"Motherless! Fucking filthy cunts!! These fucking rats are everywhere. No matter where you look. Fucking shitloaded bags in the shape of human beings!!"
"Those three...were they included too?"
"Yeah, all of them, and we have their boss here, the one with the overgrown beard," Billy seethed, then gripped his machete and stormed out, striding like a beast toward him, but I stopped him.
He looked furious at me but didn't say a word and just stood there angry, waiting to hear me out.
"I saw her; she was pale and all, but I still saw it clearly. There were dark traces on both her wrists, ankles, and...neck. and even traces of blood on her thighs."
"How did you find out?"
"She ran outside and already turned with the others, naked, like most of them who followed her in chasing one of the 5 who was still alive," and Billy got the idea of what happened to her before that.
"Then let me go so I can have a fucking conversation with them."
"Not now, Billy, not like this. And we need to move."
"And let them off? Are you fucking serious now, boy?"
"You think I would? No, never. I just want to make it a hundred times more painful and scary to them. So how about this..."
...
…
.
{3rd POV}
Ten minutes later two men holding different-sized bags ran out from the back of the restaurant after securing it with a chain and lock.
The backyard was clear, with no walker in sight as the two slowly disappeared between trees and alleys.
Yet the scene at the entrance on the other side was a different story compared to the silence from the backdoor.
Three gagged men were struggling with muffled cries, hanging in the entrance of the shop, upside down.
A nearby walker staggered closely and came to one of them, its pale hands reaching for his head, caressing his beard as the man kept moving frantically, trying to escape the hold.
Yet the uncaring walker opened its stinky jaw and took a large bite of its nose, blood spilling out.
Soon the fate was shared with the other two as more and more walkers were attracted by the sound and smell.
In a few minutes more than 10 walkers crowded the entrance. Feeding.
And beside them, in big bloody letters, was a message written in the background like a grim reminder.
{The fate of rapists}
===
"Remind me not to get on your bad side," Billy spoke, having his smirk back as they walked toward the place Sasuke told him about.
"Don't worry, I don't hurt old weak men."
"Haha, that doesn't make it any better. You good, boy?"
"Yeah, it's not the first time to witness how fucked we humans are. Still...if only I were a few minutes earlier. I could've..." Sasuke sighed and shook his head.
He wasn't one to keep blaming himself when he knew he had no way to control those things.
"You don't have to beat yourself up over it; shit happens...always."
"I know, thanks for packing my take in advance. That saved us a lot of time."
"Yeah, not a big problem; figured it would be better than listening to those fucks moaning. Are we going to have the rest of the supplies tomorrow? There are still many things in there, water, those bags of wheat."
"Mhm, I will take care of it as soon as possible; don't worry. Man, I needed a bath as soon as I got back."
"*Whistle* bath? You got water running in your place?"
"Yeah, enough for a couple of baths, I think, if I don't overuse it. We are close. By the way, Billy, are you alone?"
"Always have been." His voice sounded heavy, belonging to someone who lost people, and Sasuke understood it very well.
"You?"
"I was, until I met a group of survivors this morning."
"Hoh? That's rare nowadays. How many?"
"Two sisters in a pitiful state. They lost their grandfather not long ago, who was keeping them safe."
"Fucking tragedy, hah?"
"Yeah. Found them while clearing the building; they were in pretty bad shape. mourning, hungry, too hungry to even move."
"You helped them?"
"Of course, the little girl's situation was not too dire, thankfully, just malnourished and hungry. Her sister, on the other hand, was passed out. Probably from giving all food to her little sister. But now she recovered after some care, enough to move around."
"Are they young?"
"9, and the other should be around twenties."
"Hoho, so how does it feel to be a Romeo?"
Billy grinned as they both came into the front door of an apartment complex while Sasuke unlocked the front door, entering with Billy keeping watch, who flashed a light in the dark.
"You tell me, how does it feel to be a Juliette?" Sasuke quipped, reminding him that he saved him too.
"A very hairy and ugly Juliette." They laughed at how bad that sounded and started going upstairs, with Billy seeing corpses here and there, mostly killed with one clean slash.
Clearly done by the harvester beside him.
"You cleared this place?"
"Corner to corner Yeah, Katniss...the older sister. She isn't easy to trust others, so get ready to be roasted."
They were now on the fourth floor, and Sasuke kept walking, thinking the two girls were in "his" apartment, yet he heard the sound of talk from their original one.
'Are they still here?' Signaling Billy to wait, he approached the door to listen closely; Ciri's voice reached him as she asked Katniss something about the time.
*Knock* knock*
"Katniss, it's me. Sasuke" Stepping back, he waited; the girls approached, and he heard Katniss hush at Ciri.
"Sasuke?" "Yeah, it's me. I thought you two moved to the one above."
With a creak, the door opened as Katnis peeked before it swung, and she nocked an arrow, aiming it at them, seeing an unfamiliar bearded man standing behind Sasuke as both held multiple bags in them.
"Easy, little one, I had enough trauma from medieval weapons already; no need to scare old me like this," Billy spoke, holding his hands up with his ever-present easy smile.
The boy already made him feel as if every cold weapon around was waiting to screw him.
And now this girl holds a freaking hunting bow.
Have no one around still appreciating normal guns anymore?
'What next...a fucking mangonel?'
"Katniss, he is a friend."
"You brought a stranger into my house; have you lost your mind?"
'Well, it seems little Juliette isn't that trusting of him either.'
Billy stifled a laugh before he tried to help the man out.
"Relax—"
"No one said he will be staying with you; there are another 18 apartments around that I've cleared, and he will crash into the one next to mine. I'm here to give you this.
Make a meal for Ciri, or tell me if you don't know how to cook. I will be in apartment number 18."
Katniss was surprised by his tone; there was almost indifference to his tone.
It's the first time he spoke to her like this since they met.
She knows that her words were a little harsh, but many things happened in mere hours, and she couldn't keep up with him anymore.
She absentmindedly took the bag from his outstretched hand and watched as he walked away with no more words, calling for the bearded man to follow him.
"Look, I don't know what is going on between you two, but just know that he risked enough to get that food, and he really cares about you two. Stay safe; I won't bother you."
With that, Billy waved at the little girl peeking from a corner and followed Sasuke up.
'Hahaha, I fucking love this drama. Should I play the matchmaker here? A bloody romance in the apocalypse...how poetic.'