[Juliet's POV]

Deep into the night, I crouched on the city wall, handing energy crystals over like a machine.

Alison waved her hand impatiently. "Hurry up. Quit dawdling. You're gonna drag everyone in this city down with you if you delay my progress with fortifying the walls."

I remained silent as I handed another crystal to her.

On the faint golden protective shield—visible only to me—the cracks spread wider and wider.

All of a sudden, a ten-foot-tall mutant zombie thrust its arm right through the lightning and protective barrier. With an effortless slash with its sharp nails, it stumbled its way inside.

Alison screamed, unleashing a bolt of lightning. Nonetheless, the lightning that struck the zombie left nothing but a faint mark.

"My power isn't working!" she shrieked, turning around to flee as her face turned white.

When she turned, she bumped right into a guard, Andrew Greene, who had just rushed to the scene. Instinctively, she gave him a hard shove.

"Hold it off for me, Mr. Greene!"

Andrew was caught completely off guard, crashing right into the arms of the zombie.

"Mr. Greene!" I called out, instantly activating my power, and tried to rush forward.

Yet, it was still too late. The zombie's sharp claws had ripped through Andrew's heart.

Alison returned after retrieving a hand grenade from the guardhouse, and she flung it at them. The massive explosion blew both Andrew and the zombie to shreds.

Upon hearing the commotion, Jeffrey and Lucas rushed over with reinforcements. Then, they heard Alison screaming her accusations at me, "Juliet, why didn't you save Mr. Greene sooner?"

She threw herself into Jeffrey's arms immediately, sobbing so hard that her entire body trembled. "It was all my fault. I failed to protect Mr. Greene," she cried.

"If Juliet hadn't just stood there in a daze, he wouldn't have died."

"It wasn't me! She was the one who pushed Mr. Greene out as bait!" I yelled urgently. "The protective shield is broken. I'm not lying. The zombie swarm will be here in six hours!

"We have to evacuate immediately. It will be too late if we delay any further!"

In desperation, I yanked out the safety amulet hanging around my neck. I lifted it, and with a tremor in my voice, I said, "Jeffrey, look at this. You once said you'll believe me as long as I present this. I'm not lying. The base will soon collapse."

This was a gift Jeffrey gave to me for my 18th birthday before the apocalypse. That day, his eyes filled with sincerity as he promised, "Jules, no matter what happens in the future, I will stand by you unconditionally whenever you hold this out."

Jeffrey's eyes looked lost for a moment, but his expression darkened even further right after that. He stepped forward and yanked the safety amulet out of my hands.

"How dare you threaten me with something so worthless, Juliet! I was truly blinded back then to ever give you something like this."

He threw the safety amulet fiercely to the ground, smashing it into bits in an instant. My heart shattered into pieces as the crisp shatter resounded in the air.

Jeffrey stared at me, his face full of disappointment. "Forget about a useless safety amulet. Even if you gave up your life, I will only ever believe Alison."

Lucas stormed over, pointing at the shattered fragments on the ground. "Get a good look! Jeffrey has long fallen out of love with you. Yet, you're still using something like this to irk everyone.

"Alison is our savior. I will purge you from this family myself if you continue to spread rumors!"

Jeffrey turned away and gave a resolute command. "She caused the death of a guard and spread rumors. Lock her up in the disciplinary cell. Do not release her or feed her unless it is by my orders."

I stared at the broken fragments on the ground, not saying another word in defense.

With a loud clank, the door was locked shut. As the darkness consumed me, the system's alarm bells rang out in my head.

[Host's vitality: 18 hours remaining. Protective shield status: 30% damaged.]

[A massive zombie swarm is estimated to arrive in six hours.]

I could hear Alison whining on the other side of the metal door, "Let it go, Jeff. Juliet didn't mean to do it, so don't punish her too harshly.

"I've fortified the lightning barrier, so there's absolutely no way the zombies can get through."

[Juliet's POV]

I curled up in a corner, my infected wound and fever sending shivers throughout my body.

Not long after, the door flung open. Lucas stormed into the cell with Alison tagging along behind him. "Hand over the premium crystals!"

"What crystals?" I asked, looking utterly perplexed.

"Jules, you could have just told me if you wanted to use the crystals. You didn't have to steal them."

As Alison uttered those words, she crouched and leaned toward me all of a sudden, waving a chocolate in her hand. She lowered her voice and added, "Look, Juliet—pure dark chocolate. Jeff put out a bounty across the entire base just to get this for me.

"I lied about losing my crystals, and Lucas practically dragged me here to make your life difficult. They don't love you anymore. You really are so pathetic!"

Once she said that, the expression on her face twisted as she began searching my pockets aggressively.

The moment she laid her fingers on the brown medicine bottle, I tightened my grasp. "Give it back to me!" I shouted.

Alison forcefully pried my fingers off the bottle, grabbing it out of my hand. "She's even hiding drugs, Lou! There's only half a bottle left. She used it, didn't she?"

"No!" I screamed, my voice shaking with desperation as I lunged forward in an attempt to get it back from her.

Lucas grabbed me by my wrists and shoved me away violently.

"Back the hell off!"

I crashed heavily onto the ground, my forehead instantly bruising from the impact. "I am your very own younger sister!"

"I don't have a sister like you!" Lucas roared. "All you ever do is cause trouble for Alison. I've been sick of you for a long time!"

"This is life-saving medication!" I argued, pushing myself up from the ground, my eyes bloodshot.

"When you were scratched by zombies in the west district last month and had a high fever that just wouldn't break, I cured you with this medication. She wasn't the one who healed you!"

Lucas paused momentarily, a flicker of conflict crossing his eyes.

Alison welled up instantly. She grabbed his arm and said, "Lou, since Juliet wishes to claim that she saved your life, I'll let her take credit for it."

Lucas gritted his teeth and snatched the medicine bottle away.

"That's enough."

He raised his hand and flung the medicine bottle straight to the ground. A crisp shatter echoed all around, and the medicated fluid seeped into the soil.

I lunged toward it like I had lost my mind, trying to scoop up the remnants of medication from the ground with my hands.

Nonetheless, Lucas planted his boot on the back of my hand, forcing it down hard. The sound of bones cracking echoed in my ears, and the pain made my vision go black.

He fixed his eyes on me and said in a firm voice, "Of course I knew you were the one who saved me. Even then, so what? Alison is a thousand times more important than you. Even if you saved my life a hundred times over, I will only be on her side."

I studied his face, which I could barely even recognize now, and suddenly burst out laughing. In fact, I laughed so hard that tears streamed down my face.

As it turned out, the life-saving medication I spent all my points on meant nothing to him. And as it turned out, even as his biological younger sister, I was nothing compared to an outsider.

Alison linked arms with Lucas smugly as she urged, "Let's go, Lou. Let's not waste our time with this madwoman. The celebration party is about to begin."

When they got to the door, she came to a sudden halt in her steps. In a triumphant tone, she said, "Oh, I forgot to mention—everyone voted on a decision earlier. If anything goes wrong with the surrounding wall next time, you will be the first candidate to be our human shield to block the gap.

"So, you can rest easy now while you wait for the moment you die."

The door locked shut once again. I sprawled on the floor, the pain in the back of my hand feeling like nothing compared to the agony in my heart.

The system's alarm rang out once again.

[Host's vitality: Six hours remaining. Protective shield status: 70% damaged.]

[A massive swarm of zombies is estimated to arrive in one hour.]

Faint sounds of music and laughter drifted from outside. They were throwing a celebration party for Alison, celebrating her success in fortifying the lightning barrier.

As they celebrated the arrival of another peaceful night, none of them was aware that death was already standing right by their doorstep.

[Juliet's POV]

The music at the celebration party continued. Surrounded by a crowd, Alison basked in the crowd's repetitive praises.

Suddenly, a deafening boom came from the city walls. Overlapping growls and roars of zombies tore through the atmosphere.

Terror erupted instantaneously. People in the crowd screamed, "It's a swarm of zombies! A massive swarm of zombies!"

A guard ran over, staggering along the way. "The lightning barrier on the right of the base has been breached. There's a massive gap. Zombies are coming through soon!"

Jeffrey's face fell. He leapt to his feet while Lucas tightened his grasp on his weapon, wearing a tense expression.

Alison went pale with fright. She hid behind both men immediately, frantically explaining, "How could this be when I've clearly reinforced it? I… I've exhausted my powers for today. You guys have to figure something else out!"

Someone called out, "Quick! Get Juliet out here!"

The guards rushed toward the dark cells immediately and dragged me to the center of the square, though I was barely clinging onto life.

Immediately, everyone's attention was on me.

"Have her block the gap!"

"She has protective shielding powers. She won't die!"

"Just sacrifice her to save everyone else in this city!"

Jeffrey shut his eyes for a moment. When he opened his eyes again, only iciness remained in his gaze. "Go block the breach, Juliet," he ordered.

Lucas opened his mouth to speak, but he only managed to say one thing—"Quit wasting time!"

As I stared at them, I felt unusually calm. "Alright. I'll go," I said.

Step by step, I headed toward the gap in the city wall. I neither struggled nor bawled my eyes out.

[Host's vitality: Two hours remaining. Protective shield status: 90% damaged.]

I looked at the system notification before my eyes. For the very first time, time felt exceptionally long. While everyone watched on in relief, I deactivated my protective shield powers, throwing myself straight into the sea of zombies.

"Juliet!"

Jeffrey's eyes went wide with horror, and his instincts pushed him to rush forward. Meanwhile, Lucas turned as white as a ghost as he took a step forward.

The moment they both sprang into action, Alison grabbed onto them, holding them back with all her might.

"Don't go. It's too dangerous! She will be fine. She has powers. Let's stand guard here for now!"

Held back forcefully, Jeffrey and Lucas had no choice but to watch as I became buried in the swarm of zombies.

In the next moment, the system's voice reverberated through everyone's minds.

[The host, Juliet Cox, is dead. Execution protocol is complete. The savior's mission status: Failed. The protective barrier is no longer in effect.]

Everyone in the square fell into a dead silence.

Then, someone asked in a trembling voice, "Where did the system come from? Isn't… Isn't Alison our savior?"

Waves of questions poured in, and Alison turned deathly pale. She feigned composure as she yelled, "Don't be afraid, everyone. I'm doing my best to mend the walls!"

She gathered her lightning powers in an attempt to cover the entire base with it once again.

However, in the next second, the lightning barrier that had previously surrounded the entire city with ease stretched less than 20 feet before it began flickering violently.

With a loud rumble, the flickering sparks, along with the lightning barrier that was previously there, vanished into nothingness.

The true apocalypse was finally here.