CHAPTER 248: CHAPTER 248: SUSPICIOUS SUPERPOWER

The zombie froze. Its milky eyes snapped toward them, nostrils flaring. Then, with a bone-chilling snarl, it lunged forward.

Ember didn’t think. She threw the cardboard aside, grabbed the crowbar, and swung with all her strength.

The metal connected with a sickening crack, and the creature collapsed... but its scream had already drawn the others.

The distant groans turned into a chorus. Dozens of footsteps thundered closer.

Ivy couldn’t see them, but she could hear everything: the heavy steps, the rasping breaths, and the wet dragging of limbs. Her hands clawed helplessly at the ground.

"Ember! What’s happening?"

"Stay down!" Ember shouted, her voice raw with fear and resolve. "Don’t move no matter what!"

’No... Ember... let me move...’ Ivy thought desperately and tried to move, but her body refused to hear the command.

Growl!

A loud roar near Ivy’s ear made a chill break through her entire body.

"NO!" Ember yelled, and Ivy felt a warm body engulfing her.

Usually, Ivy’s heart skipped a beat in joy whenever Ember hugged, but this time... she didn’t feel any joy. It was this very unfortunate moment that she lost one of her beloved ones.

And... this was the exact moment that made Ivy question her superpower.

Her superpower allowed her to hide her presence from the zombies... but whenever her jinx gets activated... the zombies surge toward her like a rabid dog.

"Ahhhh!" Ember’s anguished howl made Ivy tear up, and she let out a heartwrenching sob, "Ember, move! Move! Let those bastards come for me..."

But Ember remained still, protecting Ivy’s frail body with her own.

"Ember! Please! I beg you...ugh...please...ugh..." Ivy sobbed and tried her best to push Ember away.

Many zombies had surged to their location and started to stack on Ivy and Ember.

Time passed by, and due to suffocation, Ivy became unconscious. Before fainting, Ivy only had one thought... that if God was there, then... let her become a zombie too. She would rather not live.

Yet she heard Ember’s last sentence,

"Little sis, sorry for rescuing you so late. If I have another chance... I will find you earlier and protect you well. Never let Jay know that I loved him, even now. And make sure that he doesn’t wait for me. Tell him I ran off with someone else."

’No... please... no... God! Please don’t let anything happen to my sister... please! I beg you.’

Yet Ivy was awakened by the pitch-black scene again; only this time, the sound of her father’s and mother’s sobbing echoed in the abandoned factory.

"Ember... our Ember... how did you turn into a half zombie..." Helena’s trembling voice cracked, her words breaking apart into sobs.

Victor knelt beside Ember’s slumped body, his trembling hands hovering over her, unsure whether to touch or recoil.

Ember’s breathing was ragged, too slow, and too unnatural.

Her veins pulsed faintly with a dark hue beneath her pale skin, and her once bright eyes were now clouded with a faint, eerie silver sheen.

"Dad... Mom..." Ivy’s hoarse voice escaped her lips as she stirred awake, confusion flickering across her pale face.

The stench of blood and decay clung to the air, and when she reached forward blindly, her trembling fingers brushed something cold.

It was Ember’s hand.

"Ember?" Ivy whispered. Her voice was soft, almost fragile. "Ember, it’s me... It’s Ivy..."

A low growl rumbled from Ember’s throat... animalistic yet restrained. Her head twitched toward Ivy, eyes flickering.

"She must have tried her best to resist the virus... hence she turned into a half zombie." Helena’s broken sob pierced Ivy’s heart like a knife.

She murmured like a woman who had lost her senses.

"It was because of me... she became like this while protecting me. I am cursed... I am a curse... Or else how can I stay unharmed, but my sister turned into half zombie? Silas died while protecting me, his friend died protecting me too, my best friend encountered a huge wave of a zombie horde and almost died too, my eldest brother sacrificed himself for me, and now... my second sister died too..."

Helena and Victor froze mid-sobbing, their hearts sinking, before they hugged Ivy and sobbed, "Baby, it’s not your mistake, you..."

But Ivy pushed them and stumbled far away.

"Don’t come near me... I caused everything... I might kill both of you, too!"

Her lifeless eyes were slowly filled with blood tears, the sight so ghastly that Helena and Victor’s hearts leaped out of their chests.

"Ivy! Stop thinking! Stop speaking!"

"No! No! Ember... Ember became a half zombie. My sister... the only sister who loved me... she became a zombie. How helpless must she have felt? She was trembling with fear, and yet she protected me... she wanted to live, yet... because of me... she became a corpse... just kill me too! I don’t want to live!" Ivy yelled; the repeated death had severely affected her.

Before Helena and Victor could react, she tried to slam her head on the ground, but the next second, someone knocked her out.

"Sister... rest a little." The voice was laced with tiredness and sounded a little broken.

’Please... I don’t want to watch this dream... can someone end this dream... I can’t...’ Ivy thought as a familiar wave of helplessness washed over her.

However, the luck wasn’t on her side, because the next second, she woke up again to the familiar pitch blackness.

The scorching heat in the air told Ivy that it was only morning.

Her mind was disoriented, and she heard the faint discussion between Helena, Victor, and Felix.

"If he comes, we will tell him that it was an accident." Helena’s voice was laced with fatigue.

"Yes. Otherwise... he might hate Ivy." Victor sighed helplessly.

"He dares! How is this even Ivy’s mistake?" Felix growled.

Ivy knew who they were talking about... Jay, Ember’s lover and longtime boyfriend.

Just then, the sound of footsteps echoed in the abandoned factory. And it was only then that Ivy realized that Jay had arrived long ago.