Chapter 489: Last Second Interruption in Brigantine

"N—No..."

The fear she had held at bay for so long, three months of survival, of scraping by, of refusing to break, shattered in that moment. Tears welled up and spilled down her cheeks.

"Yeah, cry more. That’ll make it better," Williams sneered, grabbing her vest and ripping it away in one savage pull. Her white bra was exposed, and she gasped, her voice cracking into strained cries.

"Leave me! NOO! NOO!!"

"LET GO OF HER!!" Keith gritted his teeth, fingers digging into the dirt, desperate to move, to fight, but Romero’s weight kept him pinned.

Romero chuckled above him. "That’s good, yeah. Just watch as she gets violated by every man here."

Keith could only watch, helpless, as Mei struggled beneath Williams.

Williams licked his lips, eyes gleaming. "Now, hang in there. I’m going to make you taste my huge cock."

The two men holding her arms laughed, licking their lips in anticipation.

Mei squeezed her eyes shut, tears streaming down her temples.

How did it come to this?

Her life had always been hard. Born with a frail constitution, she hadn’t even been able to move or think properly for the first five years of her life. When she finally caught up, she did so with determination, but her parents never cared. She was just one of many children, and no matter what she achieved, there was never a reward, never a word of praise.

Mei had never felt deeply attached to anything before the outbreak.

Not to a place.

Not to possessions.

Not even to the idea of a future.

She had spent most of her life keeping distance between herself and other people. It was easier that way. Less painful. Less complicated. If she did not let herself become attached, then nothing could truly be taken from her.

The outbreak had not changed that at first.

If anything, it had made the feeling worse.

Everyone lost something.

Everyone had someone they could not save.

Everyone learned that caring too much in a world like this only gave people another way to hurt you.

But now, trapped between Romero’s men with Keith bleeding beside her and Emily hidden inside the cart, Mei understood that she had been lying to herself.

There was someone she could not lose.

Memories flashed through her mind.

Lexington Charter.

Jackson Township.

Ryan standing in front of people he barely knew because he could not bring himself to abandon them.

Ryan looking at her with those strange grey eyes whenever she became angry, stubborn, or impossible to deal with.

Ryan slipping into her room to read books along her just laying besides her.

Ryan protecting and saving her again and again.

The black hair.

The gray eyes.

The only face that came to her mind even now.

The only person who still gave her comfort when everything around her was falling apart.

She had tried to move on.

She had tried to tell herself that Ryan had made his choice that day. That he had left her behind. That she should stop waiting for someone to come back for her.

But she could not.

As the men around her moved closer, Mei closed her eyes.

She tried to prepare herself.

Tried to believe that if she stopped hoping, it would hurt less.

Tried to convince herself she would not feel anything.

Then the air changed.

A faint breeze moved across her face.

It carried a familiar scent.

Something nostalgic.

The men around her turned their heads.

The wind grew stronger.

A strange sound moved through the darkness, like the air itself was being pulled apart.

Williams raised his gaze.

He barely had time to react.

A fist struck him across the face with terrifying force.

The impact sent him backward so violently that his feet left the ground. Blood burst from his mouth as he flew through the air, crashing hard into a tree several meters away before collapsing face-first into the dirt.

For a moment, nobody moved.

Nobody understood what had happened.

Mei opened her eyes.

Tears blurred her vision.

Then she looked up.

A figure stood between her and the men who had surrounded her.

Black hair.

Gray eyes.

For one second, she could not believe it was real.

She had imagined seeing him too many times. During the nights trapped in Brigantine. During moments when she heard guards outside her door. During the times she convinced herself that he had forgotten about her.

But this was real.

His black hair moved in the wind around him.

His gray eyes were cold.

Darker than she had ever seen them.

Two men still held Mei’s arms.

They stared at Ryan in shock before slowly beginning to back away.

Ryan did not give them the chance.

His right hand clenched.

Dark-green light spread across his arm, brighter and sharper than the weak flashlight beams around them.

Then he swung.

The wind exploded outward.

A violent shockwave tore through the space between them.

The two men were thrown away from Mei, their bodies lifted off the ground before they crashed into the darkness several meters away. The force of the wind left them rolling across the dirt, groaning in pain as they tried to move.

Ryan did not look at them again.

His eyes returned to Mei.

Then he moved toward her.

Mei could barely breathe.

Ryan knelt in front of her, the coldness in his expression disappearing the moment he saw her properly. His face twisted with anger, guilt, and something that looked painfully close to regret.

He removed his black jacket.

Then he wrapped it around her shoulders carefully, covering her body and pulling the fabric close enough to protect her from the cold night air.

"I’m sorry I’m late," he said.

His voice was gentle.

So different from the violence that had just exploded around him.

Yet it was full of guilt.

He couldn’t even be relieved that he came on time because he didn’t come in time. The last minute she had to go through that hell of a worst future after all and he didn’t even want to think how the past weeks had been for her here.

Mei looked up at him, her voice choking as she spoke.

"R...Ryan..."

He reached for her carefully, lifting her as though she might break if he moved too quickly.

The moment she felt his arms around her, the last of her strength disappeared.

Ryan was here.

He was really here.

It was really him and not some stupid dream or hallucination.

"I’m sorry, Mei," Ryan started to say.

But Mei could not let him finish.

She leaned forward and buried her face against his chest.

A sob escaped her before she could stop it.

Her fingers clenched tightly into his shirt, holding on as though she was afraid he would vanish if she let go.

Ryan froze for a moment.

Then his arms wrapped around her more securely.

He held her gently and softly as she cried and gasped for breaths into his chest.

"Now," Romero’s voice interrupted, "what do we have here?"

Ryan slowly lifted his gaze.

The coldness returned immediately.

Romero had taken his foot off Keith and stepped away from him, though he kept one hand near his weapon.

Bang!

Before he could say anything else, a gunshot cracked through the night.

The bullet passed so close to Romero’s cheek that he felt the wind of it.

If he had remained crouching where he was a second earlier, it would have gone straight through his head.

Romero’s expression changed.

He threw himself to the side and rolled behind one of the motorbikes.

Then he looked toward the darkness with narrowed eyes.

More men turned their weapons in the same direction.

The group closest to Ryan aimed their guns at him and Mei, while another group shifted toward the shooter behind Romero.

Flashlight beams cut through the night.

Then Romero saw her.

A woman stood at a distance with a rifle raised in her hands.

Lucy.

Her face was cold.

There was no hesitation in the way she held her weapon.

Romero’s mouth slowly widened into a wide grin.

"Look at that!" He shouted. "The slut Lucy is here, guys!"

Lucy’s expression did not change.

She kept the rifle aimed directly at him.

Behind her, Rachel stepped forward.

Her hands were raised.

The moment the first shots came toward Lucy, a wide reddish barrier appeared in front of them. Bullets struck the surface and stopped, falling harmlessly to the ground as if they had hit an invisible wall.

The men firing at them shouted in confusion.

Rachel’s barriers expanded, covering Lucy and blocking the narrow path behind her.

Keith, still on the ground with blood running down his arm, turned his head weakly.

"S...Sister..."

Lucy’s eyes shifted toward him for only a moment.

Then they returned to Romero.

The sight of Keith wounded made something colder settle across her face.

Romero noticed it too.

He saw an opportunity.

He moved away from the bike and started toward Keith, intending to use him as a shield. If he got close enough, Lucy would hesitate. She would have to lower her weapon. She would have no choice but to stop shooting.

But the moment Romero took another step, a chill ran down his spine.

He stopped.

Another bullet struck the dirt near his head.

Too close once again.

Lucy had not missed by much.

Romero slowly looked toward her.

Lucy’s rifle had not moved, her eyes ruthless and cold with a single warning within them.

Get closer to Keith, and she would shoot.

Romero knew her.

He knew she would and wouldn’t miss.

Even if Keith was nearby.

Even if there was only the smallest opening.

Lucy would take the shot if she believed it was the only way to stop him.

Romero’s smirk faded.

He stepped back quickly.

Then he ran toward the men behind him, moving away from Keith and taking cover as gunfire continued to tear through the night.

The men behind Ryan began firing too.

Gunshots cracked through the night from both sides as the survivors found themselves trapped between Romero’s group near the motorbikes and the armed men who had been trying to hold Mei in place.

But Rachel reacted immediately.

She raised her other hand.

A second red barrier formed behind Ryan, Mei, Tommy, and the cart. The glowing wall stretched through the darkness, sealing off the narrow space between them and the shooters behind them.

Bullets struck the barrier from both directions.

Each impact created flashes of red light across its surface before the bullets fell uselessly to the ground.

For a few seconds, there was a strange wall of protection around them.

Lucy and Rachel stood on one side.

Ryan, Mei, Tommy, Keith, and Emily on the other.

Romero’s men could keep firing as much as they wanted.

They could not get through.

Ryan looked at Rachel.

She had both hands raised now, her face tense with concentration as she maintained the barriers around them.

Rachel nodded without looking away from the attackers.

She was holding.

But Ryan knew it could not last forever.

He turned back toward Mei.

Her face was still wet with tears, and she looked exhausted enough that she could barely stay upright. But she was standing beside him now. She was free from the men who had held her.

Ryan reached for her hand.

"It’ll be fine," he told her.

Mei looked up at him.

The coldness in Ryan’s expression softened when their eyes met.

"We’re getting out of here," he continued, giving her hand a gentle pull. "I’m taking you home."

Mei’s cheeks became faintly red.

She wiped quickly at the tears on her face with her free hand, as if she was embarrassed that he had seen them.

Then she nodded.

"Okay."

Ryan held onto her hand and pulled her forward.

They did not have time to stand still.

"Keith!" Lucy called.

She moved toward her brother while Rachel continued holding the barriers.

"Look at me!"

Keith was still on the ground, one hand pressed against his injured arm. Blood had soaked through part of his sleeve, and his face had become pale from the pain.

He raised his head weakly.

Then he saw Lucy.

A tired smile appeared on his face.

"Ha..."

He took a shallow breath.

"Sister. I knew you’d come."

Lucy’s expression tightened.

"Shut up, you idiot."

But she smiled slightly as she said it.

The smile did not hide her worry.

Keith’s arm was bleeding too much. He needed proper treatment. He needed to get away from Brigantine before the shock and blood loss made him collapse completely.

Lucy crouched beside him.

"Can you stand?"

"Probably."

"You can barely talk."

Keith tried to laugh, but it became a pained groan instead.

Lucy did not waste more time arguing.

She shifted him carefully onto her shoulders, supporting his injured arm as best as she could before lifting him up.

"Hold on," she told him.

Keith wrapped one arm around her shoulder.

"Y...yeah."

Ryan looked toward Tommy.

Tommy was on one weak knee beside the cart, one hand holding his side as he struggled to breathe.

"Tommy!" Ryan called.

Tommy raised his gaze.

Ryan stepped toward him and offered a hand.

"How are you holding up?"

"Somehow," Tommy replied.

His answer came with a weak, pained smile.

Ryan grabbed his hand and pulled him back to his feet.

Tommy swayed slightly, but he stayed standing.

"I’m sorry," Ryan said. "I’m late."

Tommy stared at him.

Then he shook his head.

"What are you saying?"

His eyes moved toward Mei, then toward Keith on Lucy’s shoulders, and finally toward the cart where Emily lay hidden.

"My plan was a failure."

Ryan looked at him seriously.

"What are you talking about?"

Tommy did not answer.

Ryan gave his shoulder a firm grip.

"We’re all here."

Tommy looked at him.

"We joined up exactly as planned."

Behind them, bullets continued striking Rachel’s barriers.

The red glow around the group flickered with every impact.

"Mei is here," Ryan said. "Keith is here. Emily is here."

He glanced toward the cart.

"And you got them out."

Tommy’s expression shook slightly.

For a moment, he looked like he might cry.

Then he forced himself to breathe and nodded.

"Y...Yeah."

Ryan gave him a small smile.

"Yeah."

His eyes moved toward the cart.

The wooden box and bottles had shifted during the escape, but the cover still hid Emily’s body beneath it. Ryan could see part of her hair through a small opening. She was unconscious, pale, and far too still.

But she was out of that basement.

She was free.

At least for now.

"Can you push it?" Ryan asked Tommy.

Tommy looked at the cart.

Then he clenched his jaw.

"Yeah."

He moved toward the handles, though pain flashed across his face as he bent down.

Before he could fully grip them, Mei stepped forward.

"I’ll help."

Tommy looked at her.

Mei did not wait for an answer.

She took hold of one side of the cart and nodded toward the dark path leading toward the shore.

Together, she and Tommy began pushing it forward.

The wheels shook over the rough ground.

But they moved.

Lucy turned, keeping Keith securely over her shoulders.

Rachel’s barriers were still standing.

Ryan moved toward the rear of the group.

"Run!" He shouted.

Mei and Tommy pushed the cart faster.

Lucy ran beside them with Keith.

Ryan stayed behind with Rachel.

"We’ll cover you," he said. "Just keep moving!"

Rachel’s face was a bit pale from maintaining two barriers at once all this long, but she nodded.