CHAPTER 65: CHAPTER 65: GRUESOME SIGHT

Zerra clutched Cassias’ sleeve tightly out of shock, and her breathing became ragged.

The sight before her truly shocked her to the core, leaving her mind blank. Cassias squeezed her hand when he sensed Zerra’s disordered breath and chaotic emotions.

"Do you know them?" Cassias asked. His eyes flickered.

She bit her lip until it bled slightly. Her hands let go of Cassias’ sleeve, and she didn’t answer his question. However, the way she immediately went to the bound people, he should have gotten the answer already.

"I almost forgot we are in the last days," Zerra muttered in a daze.

Cassias followed her, watching as she slashed the ropes on the person’s arms and feet. Then, she moved to the next person.

The two people twitched weakly. Eryx opened his eyes, but he appeared disoriented and didn’t recognize her. The sudden noises had roused them, but they soon passed out again.

It was the Ashborn siblings. Doctor Ashborn had taken care of her before the apocalypse began, while Eryx was the man she had found on the street. He had been undergoing some sort of zombie transformation before his sister picked him up.

She didn’t find them at the Moon Cloud city base, so she thought that they should have been heading to the capital like the usual plot. Isryn Ashborn, the elder sister, would work at the Research Institute after she awakened the rare wood ability.

Well, nevermind about the plot. Even at this point, she didn’t recognize it anymore. The romance between Cassias and Nyra was non-existent. The side characters also had less hostility toward her.

Those people were acting out of character, as if they were not just paper men; novel characters, but genuine living people.

"They look malnourished," Cassias chimed in.

While Zerra fell into a slight daze, he already moved to the other three bound people and slashed their ropes. He took out a bottle of water and helped them drink, moistening their chapped lips.

Zerra pursed her lips. Her eyes scanned the surroundings; the brutality of the apocalypse was open in front of her.

She hadn’t experienced much of those things like cannibalism. It might be possible at a later stage, but it was just earlier months of the apocalypse. She, who only stayed human for less than a year in each reincarnation, could never get used to it.

Her stomach churned, and she gasped as she clutched Cassias’ sleeve when he returned beside her. Besides the five intact people, who were seemingly treated like food reverse, there were mutilated body parts at the corner of the room.

Bones were sticking out. Even the hay in the barn wasn’t enough to cover all of it.

How many lives had been lost here? She had just taken a glance at one corner and didn’t even want to see what was in the rest of this dimly lit barn. Cassias had gone to close the door earlier, so there wasn’t much light in the room.

"Do you think the meat that we have eaten this morning is from those people...?" She held her stomach, her eyes bloodshot. Her hands went to her mouth to stop herself from retching.

When she was a zombie, she had no control or consciousness, so she didn’t care what she was eating, but she had her human rationale now.

"No." Cassias’ voice was soft. "Look at that part. There are still some farm animals there. I have also eaten it, so I have made sure that it was goat meat."

Zerra didn’t ask him how he was so sure about it, but she instinctively believed him. Her eyes shifted to the other corner of the room, where there were a few goats and cows. Then, two chicken coops.

Scott must have moved all his farm animals inside.

At the realization that her meal was safe, she let out a relieved breath; still, her stomach was uncomfortable.

"Let’s treat them first." She pursed her lips, taking out a few antiseptic bottles. Their hands and feet had left red marks because of the tight rope binding. The antiseptic would help them to lessen the chance of getting infected or getting sick in general.

She checked the condition of all the people, thin and malnourished, but luckily, they didn’t miss any limbs.

After she was done applying antiseptic, she got up. Her senses caught a groaning sound–unknown whether it was human or not.

"Do you hear something?"

The barn had been oddly quiet. It was unsettling. They could still feel the eyes of the animals in this barn strangely watching them. Or that might be their illusions.

She got up from her crouching position, shaking the hay off her clothes. The sound was coming from behind the haystack that served as the people’s bed.

"Be careful." Cassias’ warning rang in her ears as her footsteps became the only sound inside.

Her pupils shrank when she witnessed the sight before her. Cassias was quick to take a few footsteps and appeared beside her. He grabbed her hand and squeezed it for reassurance.

It was another mutilated body, with its hands gone. Utterly inhumane! The person was unconscious, only occasionally letting out groans and hisses of pain.

The open wound was infected; rancid smell had begun to spread, and he would be a zombie in no time. That might be the reason there were too many victims in this place. Once they had untreated open wounds, people would soon turn into zombies.

"What kind of place is this? Scott is hiding all of it..." Zerra mumbled.

She closed her eyes, processing the shock. Then, when she opened them again, she noticed that there were more such people with missing limbs among the haystacks.

As she blinked, she saw the people suddenly opening their eyes as if they were hypnotized, then they moved. They, with their missing limbs, were dragging themselves toward her.

"Cassias," she muttered with widened eyes. None answered her. She turned around to find that Cassias was also rooted to the spot.

She tried to move, but she couldn’t. Her body felt like it was frozen and bound with countless ropes.

"Stop." There was no other choice, so she once again tried to give them a command using zombie control. She was slightly horrified to find that it was useless. They weren’t zombies yet, so she couldn’t control them.

They had various expressions — laughing, smiling, sad... but the only similar thing about them was that no matter what expression it was, they evoked an eerie feeling.

Soon, they arrived around her, making her panic. The feeling of their hands, coated with blood and trying to touch her; she almost stopped breathing.

A hand grabbed her shoulder, and she jolted. Her hands instinctively tried to shake the person’s hand.

"It’s me, Zee." Cassias’ soft voice rang in her ears. "Take a deep breath and calm yourself down."

As if an illusion broke, Zerra realized that there were no bloodied people with missing limbs around her at all. There was also only one person with his hands gone in the haystack, as if the earlier scene was just a nightmare.

"You can break out of the illusion, surprisingly." A voice rang from the door, tinged with annoyance.

Then, the door completely opened, revealing Scott, drenched in blood. His face was no longer as kind as before. His lips pulled up into a malicious smirk. "Since you are here, then stay."