Chapter 101 — The Estate

Chapter 101: Chapter 101 — The Estate

Don’t stop.

Victor frowned.

His instincts screamed at him to help.

That unfamiliar voice buried somewhere deep inside his mind screamed louder.

Keep driving.

"What the hell..."

The woman collapsed onto her knees.

The little girl’s head rested limply against her shoulder.

"...Please..."

Victor’s truck slowed.

Thirty yards.

Twenty.

Ten.

His fingers tightened around the wheel.

Then...

The little girl’s eyes suddenly opened.

Milky white.

Her jaw stretched unnaturally wide before she lunged toward the woman’s neck.

The woman screamed.

Victor slammed his foot back onto the accelerator.

The truck roared past them.

His heart pounded violently against his ribs.

"...Jesus..."

The image replayed inside his head.

If he had stopped...

He would already be dead.

The headache behind his eyes exploded once more.

Victor clenched his jaw.

"...Enough."

His breathing remained steady despite the sweat gathering along his forehead.

"What the hell is happening to me..."

Several more miles passed.

Silence filled the truck.

No radio.

No phone calls.

Only the constant rumble of the engine.

Victor reached into the cup holder and grabbed the framed photograph resting beside him.

It was old.

The corners had begun to curl.

Dahlia stood in the center wearing a black dress.

Victor stood beside her with one arm wrapped around her waist.

Silver stood behind them, looking as though someone had forced him to attend the picture.

Persephone leaned over the back of the couch making bunny ears behind Dahlia’s head.

Victor smiled despite himself.

"...Ha, what a trouble-maker."

He wasn’t talking about Dahlia.

He was talking about Persephone.

She had ruined every family photograph she possibly could.

Even Silver had eventually stopped trying to stop her.

Victor’s thumb brushed gently across Dahlia’s smiling face.

"Just be there when I arrive..." Victor whispered.

"I’ll handle everything else."

He carefully returned the picture to the cup holder.

The truck continued forward.

Without warning...

The headache vanished.

Completely.

Victor blinked.

"..."

For the first time all day...

Silence.

Real silence.

No pressure.

No ringing.

Nothing.

Then...

A single image flashed across his mind.

Towering iron gates.

One gate hanging open.

Blood across white stone.

A black SUV parked sideways.

Gone.

Victor’s breathing hitched.

"...No..."

He hadn’t imagined that.

He knew he hadn’t.

His pulse quickened.

His foot unconsciously pressed harder against the accelerator.

The scenery outside gradually became more familiar.

The roads.

The trees.

The private security checkpoints.

The estates hidden behind massive walls.

He knew exactly where he was.

Only a few more minutes.

"Doll..."

Victor whispered.

"I’m coming."

Far ahead...

Beyond the bend in the road...

The tops of wrought-iron gates slowly came into view.

One of them...

Hung crookedly from its hinges.

Victor’s expression hardened.

"...Please let me be in time."

He pressed harder on the accelerator.

The truck surged forward.

The familiar estate walls stretched along both sides of the road.

Tall stone barriers.

Black wrought-iron fencing.

Security cameras mounted every few yards.

Everything looked exactly as Victor remembered...

Until it didn’t.

The security checkpoint at the entrance had been destroyed.

Concrete barriers lay overturned.

The reinforced glass guard booth had shattered, glittering across the pavement beneath the afternoon sun.

The electronic barrier arm had been ripped completely from its base.

Victor slowly eased off the accelerator.

"..."

His eyes swept across the scene.

No movement.

No guards.

No radio chatter.

Nothing.

His truck rolled to a stop several yards before the entrance.

The engine idled quietly.

Victor didn’t move.

Years of military service had taught him one lesson above all else.

Silence was never comforting.

Silence usually meant someone was waiting.

His fingers wrapped around the grip of his pistol.

Click.

The familiar weight settled comfortably into his hand.

His heartbeat remained steady.

His breathing slowed.

His senses sharpened.

Only then did Victor push open the truck door.

Crunch.

Broken glass shifted beneath his boots.

The air smelled wrong.

Burned fuel.

Gunpowder.

Copper.

Blood.

Far too much blood.

Victor slowly closed the truck door behind him without taking his eyes off the estate grounds.

"...Doll..."

His voice barely rose above a whisper.

The wrought-iron gates stood open.

One leaned crookedly against its hinges exactly as he’d seen in that strange vision.

The sight sent an uncomfortable chill crawling across his spine.

"..."

That wasn’t coincidence.

It couldn’t be.

Victor stepped through the entrance.

Immediately, he noticed the first body.

One of Silver’s estate guards.

Face down.

Still wearing his black tactical uniform.

Victor recognized him.

Marcus.

The man had worked for Silver for nearly twelve years.

He knelt beside him.

Two fingers pressed gently against the side of the guard’s neck.

Nothing.

His gaze shifted lower.

The pistol remained in Marcus’s hand.

The slide had locked back.

Empty.

Victor silently removed the magazine.

No rounds.

He checked the spare magazines attached to the man’s vest.

Empty.

Every single one.

"...You fought until the end." Victor murmured.

He gently closed Marcus’s unseeing eyes before standing once more.

Only then did he truly look around.

Bullet holes scarred the stone pillars lining the driveway.

Several expensive vehicles sat abandoned at odd angles.

One SUV had crashed halfway into the decorative fountain.

Marble lay cracked beneath its front tires.

The water had long since stopped flowing.

Dark crimson stained the white marble surrounding it.

The estate hadn’t fallen quietly.

It had been a battlefield.

Victor’s jaw tightened.

His boots continued forward.

Every step revealed another body.

Another guard.

Another empty magazine.

Another familiar face.

Each one had died facing outward.

Protecting the estate.

Protecting the family.

None had turned their backs.

Victor’s grip around his pistol tightened almost imperceptibly.

"You all did your jobs..." Victor said quietly.

"I’ll take it from here."

A gentle breeze swept through the trees.

Leaves rustled overhead.

Everything else...

Remained unnaturally still.

Then—

A low growl drifted across the grounds.

Victor froze.

Not out of fear.

Out of instinct.

His head turned toward the sound.

Near the servants’ quarters...

A figure stumbled into view.

Still dressed in the estate’s security uniform.

Its left arm hung by shredded muscle.

Half its face had been torn away.

Clouded eyes locked onto Victor.

The creature let out another guttural growl.

Then it lunged at him.

Victor raised his pistol.

Years of military training took over.

Front sight.

Center mass.

Bang! Bang!

The rounds punched through the zombie’s chest.

It staggered...

But didn’t stop.

Victor’s eyes widened.

"...What?"

The creature kept coming.

Another shot.

Its shoulder exploded.

Still coming.

"What the hell?!"

Only then did Victor instinctively fire again while backpedaling.

The last round catches it in the forehead.

The zombie collapsed instantly.

Victor held his position.

He waits.

Nothing.

His eyes dart between the chest wounds and the head wound.

Then realization slowly dawns.

"...The head..."

He didn’t know why.

He only knew...

Silence returned.

Victor didn’t lower his weapon.

Military training told him to wait.

To observe.

To confirm the threat had ended.

Five seconds passed.

Nothing.

Then...

Another growl.

This one came from somewhere behind the mansion.

A second answered from the gardens.

A third echoed near the garages.

Victor’s expression hardened.

"...Wonderful."

His gunshot had announced his arrival.

He slowly scanned the estate.

They were coming.

Not one.

Not two.

Several.

Victor exhaled slowly.

"Guess subtlety isn’t an option anymore."

He tightened his grip around his pistol.

His eyes lifted toward the grand entrance of the Azar Manor.

The massive double doors stood wide open.

One hung slightly off its hinges.

The dark interior beyond was completely silent.

Victor stared at it for several long seconds.

"...Hold on, Doll."

Without another word...

He ran toward the mansion.