CHAPTER 52: 52. APOCALYPSE-HARDENED KID

Ayaka watched as the man with a machine gun strolled through the ruins. Blood glistened in his mouth like syrup, his teeth stained red. He prowled through the ruins with lazy menace, scanning the wreckage for something to kill. Something to feed on.

She had no weapon. Nothing that could match him head-on. But she didn’t need one. She could use his own vampiric instincts against him.

He was barely fifty meters away, moving like a predator with too much confidence. With her Sight Domain, she could see everything. His every twitch, every breath, and every sniff.

She moved slow, careful, slipping out of her hiding spot and stepping into the open. Her eyes through her skill never left the man as he paused, head tilted, sniffing the air like a dog even though he was buildings away from her.

Ayaka moved through the ruins until she reached a cluster of corpses—some fresh, others long dead, bloated with gas and reeking of sweet decay. She knelt beside a particularly rotten one, picked up a cracked concrete slab, and brought it crashing down on its belly.

The stomach burst open. Flies swarmed in thick clouds, and a wave of sour rot slammed into her like a brick wall.

Perfect.

She reached into the corpse’s ruined gut and smeared black, gelatinous organs across her clothes. Her hands came away slick and reeking. Flies clung to her face. She gagged, but didn’t stop.

She had to smell like death—because vampires hated rot. They only craved fresh, warm blood.

Now, he wouldn’t smell her. That should be enough for her to find a way to kill him before he finds her.

Now disguised in death’s stink, she slipped through the ruins and headed for the broken gas station she’d spotted in her Domain. The pumps were dead, but the underground pipes might still hold something.

She scavenged plastic bottles from the rubble, jammed a metal pipe between her tiny lips, and sucked. A bitter taste of petrol filled her mouth before a few drops coughed out. She aimed it into the bottle. Slowly, bottle by bottle, she filled up just under two liters.

Not much. But enough.

She walked into the gas station’s shattered store. It reeked of mildew and dust. She stopped and hesitated.

Wouldn’t the vampire smell the petrol?

Of course he would. His senses were sharper than any beast’s.

She needed cover.

Leaving the petrol hidden behind a broken counter, she slipped out again. The vampire had wandered further—now eighty meters away, sniffing, searching and possibly still hunting.

Ten minutes later, she spotted three bloated corpses tangled in a rusted shopping cart. Their skin was green, and glossy with pus. The flies had made a kingdom of their flesh.

"Sorry," she muttered, grabbing one by the leg.

The skin slid off like wet cloth.

She didn’t flinch.

One by one, she dragged the bodies back to the gas station, her arms aching, her nose burning. She found a bent crowbar on the way and used it to split their bellies open, spilling black sludge and gas-bloated intestines across the floor.

The stench was unbearable, thick enough to choke on. She was already reeking, but this... this made her eyes water.

She dumped the corpses around the room. Then, she poured petrol in pools near the bodies, splashing more onto shelves, floors, and moldy rags.

She worked fast and efficient. Not like a kid, but like someone who’d seen too much to hesitate. The scent of rot and gasoline mixed into a noxious fog but still, the smell of fuel pushed through the rot.

She needed one more thing. Something the vampire wouldn’t resist.

She found a shard of glass, held her breath, and sliced her palm. Fresh blood dripped down her fingers.

She let it fall on the corpses, near the door, across the trail.

Warm and metallic.

From above, Yuki watched from a rooftop, unsure what the hell the little girl was doing.

Now that the petrol was set, there was only one thing left: fire.

And she had just the tool to spark it in mind.

In the apocalypse, anything broken could be made deadly. Ruin was the new weapon.

You just had to know how to use it.

With her Sight Domain, finding what she needed was easy.

Moments later, she’d laid the trap. Now came the hardest part—luring the vampire.

The most dangerous moment.

He could kill her before she even made it back to the trap.

But she wasn’t just a kid anymore.

She was something the end of the world had shaped.

A survivor sharpened by fire and fear.

An apocalypse-hardened child.

So, se moved.

Running toward the vampire, blood dripping from her hand.

Though he was buildings away, she saw his head snap.

He heard her.

He turned, his eyes glowing and sniffed.

Then licked his lips. "Blood. Fresh... and young."

His body tensed.

He stepped into the sun, ignoring the burn peeling his skin. He didn’t care. Not now.

When he came running, Ayaka let him see her silhouette once—just enough. Then she darted into another building as gunfire rang out, narrowly missing her.

"A kid!" he howled. "The most delicious meal in the world!"

He gave chase.

Ayaka ran, her heart pounding, legs aching, feet thudding so hard it felt like they’d kick her in the back of the head. Her Domain mapped everything. She ran without thinking, weaving through ruins, bullets snapping past her.

She reached the gas station, dove inside, and hid behind a fridge in the back. Her lungs burned. She crouched over a car battery she had scavenged earlier from a dead vehicle, wedged tightly between her knees. Two copper wires were clamped to the terminals—one to positive, one to negative.

Across the floor, a strip of cloth soaked in petrol stretched from her hiding spot to the trap room.

All she needed now was a spark.

Just one spark to turn the whole place into a furnace.

Footsteps echoed on the outside.

She heard him at the door, drawn by her blood.

"Come out, kid!" he howled. "Let’s have some fun!"

Her blood still dripped.

The vampire stepped inside. He didn’t flinch at the stink. All he smelled was her.

He moved toward the center of the room, his gun raised.

Ayaka waited.

Closer...

Just a few more steps...

Then she touched the copper wires together—

Nothing.

Her eyes widened.

No spark.

No fire.

No!

Her heart jumped. Her breath hitched.

The vampire turned toward the sound. Took a step closer.

He was coming. His mouth open, and his fangs gleaming.

Ayaka gritted her teeth.

The wires trembled in her hands.

"Spark, damn it!!"

TBC