Chapter 80: Leave, or Nobody Walks Out

Inside the Survival Space, Ethan told them what was happening on the other side of the door.

Aria’s face changed the moment she heard it. The vines coiled around her wrist trembled, then withered and fell away. She did not waste the second. She put Lana into Elena’s arms, took the longsword Ethan had reshaped from the iron rod, and stood.

"Let’s go."

He caught her arm and activated Space Teleportation. The world blurred. A second later they were back inside the Museum.

Aria stepped out first, sword in hand. Ethan started to follow. She stopped him.

"I’ll handle this." Her voice was calm, with steel under it. "Don’t show yourself unless you have to."

He studied her, then stepped back. "Don’t take unnecessary risks."

She gave him a quick nod, pushed open the storage room door, and walked toward the calligraphy and painting exhibition. Ethan stayed behind. He slipped into the shadow beside the doorway and watched.

The hall had changed since he left it. Five women stood near the center with their backs almost touching. Each held an iron rod, and none of them looked sure of it. Across from them were six men. Hungry. Desperate. Desperate men were often worse than armed ones.

The leader was bald, with a broad, fleshy face. He held a thick steel pipe loose over one shoulder. Two younger men stood behind him with fire axes.

"Aria." He grinned. His teeth were stained yellow and black. "If you’re smart, you’ll hand over all the food." He tapped the pipe against his palm. "Don’t think knowing a little Sanda makes you untouchable. Nobody cares about rules anymore."

Aria tightened her grip on the sword. "A group of grown men too afraid to deal with a mutant crocodile. And now you’re brave enough to threaten five women."

The smile disappeared. He spat on the floor. "The twenty-plus people on our floors are starving." His voice rose. "You think we have time to worry about manners?"

Ethan listened from the dark, and the argument told him the rest.

The Museum had been packed when the apocalypse began. More than two hundred staff and visitors had been trapped inside. Half of them turned. The security personnel eventually cleared the zombies and dumped the bodies outside. That was not the end of the dying. More than fifty survivors were killed in the first days by zombies that slipped through the defenses. Another twenty or so died over the following weeks. Some were taken by mutant animals. Some died of injuries. Others simply ran out of food.

About thirty people were left. They had split themselves between the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth floors. The supermarket on the first basement level had been shared by everyone. It had been the lifeline. Seven days ago a mutant crocodile took the entrance, and nobody had been able to drive it out. The shared supply was cut off. Now each floor was running out, and hunger was turning the survivors on each other.

Aria took a slow step back. Her eyes stayed on the bald man. "You’ve made your choice."

He raised the pipe. "Gladly."

Her fingers moved. The vines in the corner of the hall twitched. His expression changed. A vine nearly as wide as a man’s wrist exploded from behind a display cabinet and cracked through the air like a whip. The nearest man barely had time to turn. It slammed into his leg.

He dropped with a scream. Three bloody lines opened across his calf.

The room went silent.

The bald man stared at the vines, then at Aria. The color left his face. "You... you became an Ability User?"

The other men stepped back on instinct. Even the five women behind Aria looked stunned. They had known she could fight. They had seen her train at the gym. None of them had seen her control plants.

She raised the sword slightly. The vines moved again. Several thick strands crawled across the floor and rose in front of her, twisting together into a dense green barrier between the two groups.

"Leave." Her voice was quiet. "Nobody has to die."

His face twisted. He looked at the injured man, then at the vines, then at the women behind her. Fear flashed through his eyes. Hunger was stronger. He lifted the pipe.

"Take her!"

The two men with the fire axes stepped forward. Aria’s vines snapped toward them.

Then something moved at the back of the group. A skinny man, almost hidden among the others. His hand slipped into his pocket. A fruit knife came out. His eyes locked on Aria. She was watching the bald man. He saw the opening and lunged.

"Go to hell, bitch!"

One of the women screamed. "Aria!"

The knife flashed. A woman beside Aria shoved her sideways. The blade missed her stomach by inches and grazed her waist instead. A thin line of blood opened across her skin. Aria staggered.

The room seemed to freeze.

Ethan’s expression changed. That was enough. He stepped out of the shadow. Space Teleportation took him. The skinny man barely had time to turn. Ethan appeared directly behind him, and the sword drove forward. The blade punched through the man’s chest. The body jerked. Ethan pulled the sword free. The man collapsed without another word.

Everyone stared.

The bald man looked at Ethan. He had not even seen him appear. "Who the hell are you?"

Ethan did not answer.

The pipe swung at the back of his head. He heard it coming and shifted one step to the side. Steel tore through empty air. The bald man’s momentum carried him forward. Ethan turned. His eyes hardened.

"Wrong move."

Space twisted beside his hand. Spatial Cut. A razor-thin distortion flashed across the room. The bald man’s expression froze. A moment later he collapsed. Dead.

The remaining men stared at their leader. Nobody spoke. Then one of them dropped his fire axe.

"Run!"

The others turned for the stairwell. Ethan raised the sword. They did not make it far. A series of sharp flashes cut through the dark. When the noise stopped, the exhibition hall was silent again.

Ethan lowered the sword.

Aria pressed a hand to her waist. Blood had soaked through the fabric. "Thank you."

He shook his head. "Deal with that first." He pulled out gauze and handed it to her.

She took it. "I’m fine."

"You’re bleeding." ℴ

"I noticed."

He gave her a flat look. She almost smiled despite herself. "Fine."

While she treated the wound, the other women slowly gathered around him. One of them, a young woman with a ponytail, looked at him and kept glancing between his face and the bodies on the floor.

"Aria." She lowered her voice. "Who is he?"

Aria hesitated, then looked toward Ethan. "He’s a friend. A friend who came to help us." She pointed at the young woman. "This is Zara. I used to coach her at the Sanda gym. She’s been working here as an intern." Then she indicated the others. "They’ve been helping me protect the sixth floor since the apocalypse started."