What I said was seven parts lie, three parts truth. The truth was that they did run away. The lie was that I had never planned to die with her; I was planning to kill myself.

Ruth stayed silent for a long time, so long that I started to think my story was too ridiculous and she had seen right through it. Just then, her cold hand gently touched my face. The movement was clumsy and unfamiliar, yet there was something obsessive and possessive about it.

“Stop crying.”

Her voice was cold, but there was a hint of softness in it. Her fingers brushed against the back of my neck.

“Since they stole your vehicle and tried to separate us… When I find them, I’ll tear their bones apart one by one and let you play with them. Okay?”

I pulled her back into my arms, a victorious smile curling at the corner of my lips.

“Okay. You’re the best, honey.”

A few sarcastic comments drifted past in the floating chat.

[Don’t get cocky, you cannon fodder. When Dan comes back and exposes your lies, you’re dead.]

[Exactly. Ruth hates being lied to the most. Anyone who lies to her gets torn to pieces.]

[Dan and Callie are on their way back. They’ll probably be at the villa complex soon.]

I read the comments, the smile on my face growing deeper. It was good that they were coming back. After all, I had prepared a very special gift for them.

Dan and I had known each other since we were kids. Growing up, he took my toys, my scholarships, and eventually my girlfriend from me. Yet, he always wore that same innocent expression.

“Xavier, you’re stronger than I am. What’s wrong with letting me have it?”

Callie was the same. I was the one who built the search-and-rescue team and planned our routes. Yet in the end, she drove off in the vehicle with Dan, abandoning both Ruth, who had been injured and unconscious while saving them, and me, who stayed behind to cover their retreat. That debt had to be settled properly.

Three days later, on a stormy night with pouring rain, a battered armored vehicle—barely holding together—smashed through the gates of the villa complex. Callie and Dan crawled out of the car, covered in mud and looking utterly miserable. Behind them, more than a dozen mutated zombies were chasing them.

“Help! Is anyone there? Help!” Callie screamed, her voice hoarse.

Dan gripped a machete in his hand, but it was useless against mutated zombies.

Just as one of them lunged forward, about to bite through Dan’s neck, I stood on the second-floor balcony, holding a cup of coffee, calmly looking down at the scene below.

“Ruth,” I said lightly, “they’re too loud.”

From the shadows behind me, Ruth stepped forward and simply glanced down at the yard.

“Boom!”

In an instant, the zombies were crushed flat against the ground by the overwhelming force of gravity. The sound of bones shattering rang out, and a moment later, they were all reduced to pulp.

Callie and Dan stared blankly at what had just happened. Then, they both looked up. Under the flash of lightning, they finally saw me standing on the balcony and Ruth standing behind me.

Both of them froze.

“X-Xavier?” Callie stammered, “You’re not dead? And that monster… Is that Ruth?”