Chapter 200 The Cost of Survival


    Chapter 200 The Cost of Survival


    Theresa fell silent, unsure of how to respond.


    s


    Including Susan, there had been 21 people in that underground bunker. Seven women had been kept alive as livestock, while the rest, across all three tunnel exits, had been killed and butchered. Countless human corpses, most of them women but not exclusively, had been cut apart and hung to dry, cach piece separated andbeled like inventory–arms, legs, torsos. No part was spared.


    Even someone as hardened as Theresa, no stranger to the horrors of the apocalypse, felt physically sick at the sight.


    She nced at the dazed women huddled in the corners, then yanked Kurt, the scarred brute still hanging limply in her grip, forward. “Bring the girls over.”


    Theron approached, eyes dark. “Just kill him. If you can’t do it, I’ll put him down myself.”


    “Kill him? With one strike?” Theresa snorted. Still dragging Kurt, she hauled him upstairs to the second floor of the inn, kicked open a window, and instantly, a wave of zombies gathered below.


    Kurt, barely clinging to life, looked up and finally realized what was about to happen. Panic overtook his pain.


    <i>Shing</i><i>! </i>


    The de shed, and his limbs dropped to the ground like meat cleaved from a carcass–just like the ones they’d seen hanging downstairs.


    The poor women, long numb to everything, suddenly blinked. In their empty eyes, a flicker of light returned.


    Lucas stood off to the side, his brows furrowed, but he didn’t speak. None of them did. They were all killers in their own ways–especially Theron, who was actually grinning.


    Charlotte didn’t say a word either, but the satisfaction on her face mirrored Theresa’s. After all, she’d followed Theresa into this hellhole. And she knew without a doubt: if they’d hesitated, if they’d fallen for the trap–<i>they </i>would’ve ended up strung from those racks.


    These monsters deserved to die ten times over–Theresa feeding them to the zombies was the mildest justice they could’ve received. Anything less, and she’d have looked like a bleeding–heart saint.


    She personally finished off everyst one of them, including Susan. The woman only realized her own stupidity at the very end, when she looked into Theresa’s eyes and saw no innocence, no naivete. Just the fatal truth: the only fool in this story was her.


    “Burn it all,” Theresa said tly, turning back to the others after thest body hit the floor.


    Everyone was still stunned from/what they’d just witnessed. Theron was the first to snap out of it. “I’ll take care of it.” He gave her a thumbs–up, eyes gleaming. Wolves could always recognize their own.


    Half an hourter, the entire ughterhouse had been torched and purged. As they retreated from the


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    Chapter 200 The Cost of Survival


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    tunnels, Charlotte turned to Theresa with a puzzled expression. “Theresa… I don’t get it. If someone’s starving enough, <i>is </i>eating people really the only way to survive?”


    “No.” Theresa said coldly. “Whether they eat people or not, none of them were going to survive.”


    Charlotte looked even more confused.


    It was Theron who answered this time. “She’s right. Whether you cat or don’t cat human flesh doesn’t change the oue. The ones who survive are the ones who don’t <i>have </i>to.”


    The true horror wasn’t that they ate people–it was that they believed it was the only option left. That ce was already doomed.


    As their vehicle sped away from the western edge of the city, Theresa, Theron, and Lucas had a deep discussion.


    “That tunnel is perfect. We can secure it, clean out the surrounding area–it could be a major outpost.”


    “I was thinking the same thing.”


    “Definitely doable.”


    Charlotte listened to them strategizing and couldn’t stop staring at Theresa with even more admiration. <i>She’s </i><i>so </i>awesome<i>! </i>


    Back at their camp, women were rarely respected, let alone consulted. Most men didn’t even bother to listen when a woman spoke, much less invite her to lead a mission. But Theresa was always at the center of the alliance, the one making final calls. Watching her take charge like that, Charlotte could hardly contain her awe.


    Just then, a figure stumbled into view in the distance–disheveled, desperate, waving frantically. “Help me!” the woman screamed.


    Tyger, who was driving, called out, “Boss, there’s someone up ahead.”


    Theresa looked up from the map. A woman in her thirties stood in the road, wearing a thin dress with only a long–sleeved men’s jacket over it. Her hair was a tangled mess, her face pale and drawn. She looked like -she could copse at any second, shivering violently from the lingering spring cold.


    There were no zombies in sight. The woman scanned her surroundings anxiously, then began waving frantically at the vehicle.


    The car rolled to a slow stop.


    She rushed up and banged on the window. “Please! Help me, please!”


    Before anyone could react, two more vehicles pulled up from the other end of the road. The woman turned pale with terror, ncing between the cars. Her whole body trembled. “Please, I’m begging you! Don’t let them take me!”


    “What happened?” Charlotte rolled down the window slightly.


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    Chapter 200 The Cost of Survival


    The woman chung to the door. “I escaped. If they catch me, they’ll beat me to death!”