I begged Lucian.

“It doesn’t matter if we break off the engagement! Just send someone immediately to save June and Poppy, and I’ll do anything you ask!”

When he heard that, Lucian froze. He knew how much I cared about him.

Back when he was bitten by a zombie, I risked my life to find him the antibody.

If I were thinking about abandoning him, it must mean things were really that bad.

After hesitating, Lucian finally agreed to send help.

I quickly recorded footage of our surroundings to send to him to prove that we were really in danger.

Just then, Lucian received a voice note from Castiel.

“Eira is pretending. Don’t believe a word she says.”

Soon enough, I heard Castiel’s voice on the other end of the line.

In that instant, it felt as if I had been plunged into ice water.

Did Castiel truly wish for us to die?

Lucian’s face darkened the moment he heard it.

“Effective immediately, Northern Base is forbidden from answering Eira’s calls. No one is to leave the base! Eira, I want to see if you and June really get torn apart by zombies!”

He hung up. The zombies outside seemed to be triggered by something. They attacked the air-raid shelter with even greater fury.

The chandelier above swayed precariously before crashing down.

I lunged forward to shield June and Poppy but was struck by it.

Shards of the broken chandelier sliced my back, and I bled freely.

Because of the strong scent of blood, the zombies outside grew even more frenzied.

Gritting my teeth against the pain, I crawled to my feet. Only after confirming that June and Poppy were unharmed did I breathe a sigh of relief.

I knew the three of us could not just sit here waiting to die. We had to find a way to escape.

“June, I’ll charge and draw the zombies away. You take Poppy and get out of here! Head for the Northern Base! No… go to the Southern Base and find my uncle and the others!”

Castiel refused to look out for us, and Lucian was unreliable. Only my uncle, currently at the Southern Base, might be able to save us.

But June refused to budge.

“No, Eira, I’ll distract the zombies. You take Poppy and run! I’m heavily pregnant. I won’t get far…”

Just then, a zombie smashed through the air-raid shelter door and let out a bloodcurdling growl.

More zombies poured in immediately after.

Seeing the dire situation, June stepped forward and used her body to carve a path for us.

In the split second before the zombies pounced, she uttered her final words, “Eira, run! Go find your uncle!”

Clutching Poppy, I gritted my teeth and ran.

Along the way, I saw the entire Central Base in utter ruin.

Bodies lay scattered everywhere.

I dared not look closely. I was afraid of spotting a familiar face and just kept running forward with my head down.

I finally found a car and drove for what felt like an eternity before finally reaching the outskirts of the Southern Base.

I frantically shouted for help.

“Help! Send reinforcements to the Central Base!”

The guard recognized me and rushed to alert my uncle.

But my uncle never appeared. Instead, an unexpected group arrived.

“Eira, you made it here after all!”

The speaker was Castiel’s right-hand man, Conrad Woods. Behind him stood the base’s young and strong men.

“What are you doing here?”

My face lit up. With them here, the base could be saved!

But Conrad showed no trace of joy. Instead, he only laughed coldly.

A wave of unease washed over me.

“The base was breached by zombies! Conrad, you’re coming with me to save them! June…”

Conrad did not move at all. He said expressionlessly, “Commander Fenton had us wait here specifically to block your way.”

I thought I misheard him. “What?!”

“Eira, I must say you act very well. You and June trying to deceive us is one thing, but dragging a young child into this is another.”

Conrad took Poppy from me, placed her in the car, and addressed me coldly. “Commander Fenton saw through your and June’s scheme long ago.”

Poppy kicked and struggled and tried to come back to me.

“Please save my mom!”

Thick smoke billowed in the distance. It faintly mingled with heart-wrenching screams.

Conrad’s eyes flickered, but his anger only intensified.

“You involved this young child in your lies!”

With that, he locked me inside the car, too.

“Conrad, I’m not lying! Your family’s desperately waiting for you!”

I pounded desperately on the car door as my heart filled with despair.

Conrad drove me to the Southern Base.

But as soon as we reached the entrance, we saw crowds of people fleeing with weapons.

Conrad rushed forward to ask what was happening.

“Someone saw the Central Base surrounded by zombies! We’re going to rescue them!”

Conrad’s face paled. He spun the car around and sped away.

When he drove us back to the base, the sight before him kept him frozen in place.

The base lay in ruins, littered with the corpses of ordinary people, and the air was thick with the pungent stench of blood.

The air-raid shelter was an even more gruesome sight. What had once been a refuge was nothing but crumbling walls and debris at present.

Conrad stepped onto a puddle of blood.

The elderly woman who always greeted him with a smile at the base was now nothing but a severed head. She had been devoured by zombies.

“How?! How could this happen…” Conrad’s voice trembled. He tried to reach out, but his arms refused to move.

He knelt on the ground and sobbed uncontrollably.

A young team member suddenly collapsed to his knees and trembled as he picked up a pair of glasses that had snapped clean in half.

Those were his mother’s reading glasses! She had poor eyesight and never went anywhere without them.

He clutched the glasses tightly. The glass shards cut into his palm and spilled crimson blood.

“Mom! Mom!”

Despair and self-reproach washed over the crowd like a tidal wave.

Some wailed uncontrollably, others knelt on the ground and hit themselves across the face in anguish.

Some clung to each other. Their tears mingled with bloodstains streaming freely down their faces. Under the pallid emergency lights, they formed a heartbreaking scene.

I slid down the wall and sank to the ground. My heart ached so intensely that I could barely breathe.

Looking down in one corner, I saw a body torn beyond recognition.

The red string that I had given her was still tied around her wrist. It was the one that I had braided myself to protect her and her baby.

It was June.

I had arrived too late!

I collapsed onto the floor as tears streamed down my face.

Just then, Castiel strode back with an arm around Liana.

They walked in as they teased each other.

“So, Liana, isn’t bathing together more comfortable?”

Liana flushed crimson with embarrassment.

However, Castiel did not seem to care.

“Good thing we didn’t listen to Eira. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have been able to bathe so peacefully.”

Seeing the two about to get all cozy again, the grieving young adults in the city could not stand it any longer.

They grabbed their weapons and closed in on the pair.

“Castiel, didn’t you say the zombie siege was fake? My sister and my mother are dead!”