Be Careful What You Wish For: A Zombie Apocalypse
Chapter 147: A Yes Or A No

Chapter 147: A Yes Or A No

The guard, who had introduced herself as Candy, brought me toward a building that looked... different.

Unlike everything else around here, this building was clearly decrepit with its grey brick front, broken windows, and bars all around. Screams and crying could be heard coming from inside, but by the look on everyone’s faces, I was supposed to ignore that part.

Meh, it couldn’t be worse than Camp Hell.

"Name," stated the butch female in front of me. She seemed to be holding the same clipboard as the other guard, and her pen hovered over top of the paper. "Name!" she snapped when I didn’t answer fast enough.

"Hattie LaRue," I replied with a sigh. Seriously, couldn’t the front guard have had some type of communication with this one? I mean, there were lots of places to run off and hide if I really wanted to, and there was no way that this woman would even notice me gone.

The woman’s hand hovered over the paper, the pen millimeters from writing something down, as she looked down at me. "Any relation to..."

"Ma maman," I sighed, repeating the exact same thing I had told the first guard. However, unlike him, she clearly had an interaction with my mother before, given the pure disdain on her face.

"You look a little young to be here, kid," sneered the guard as she wrote down my name. "Simply because you know the ruling class here, don’t mean that they know you."

Cocking my head to the side, I looked at the woman with short hair. "Maman would be terrified if she knew I was here," I whispered, a shit eating grin on my face as the other woman’s eyes widened. "I haven’t seen her since I was five, when she—" I stopped, letting my smirk speak for itself.

"When she what?!?" whispered the woman as she leaned forward. Even Candy seemed to be hanging on my every word as the two older women shared a look.

That was the thing about maman... she was good at getting men to notice her, but that didn’t mean she was just as friendly with the women.

"She left me with a step-papa who wasn’t exactly a step-papa if you know what I mean. Man, I would love to be a fly on the wall when she realizes that I am here right now." Once again, the two women shared a look before looking at me again.

Shrugging my shoulders, I didn’t say anything else. What happened to me after Maman had left me was on her, not me. And I refused to be tainted by her actions.

"She’s with the head of this compound," whispered Candy as the other guard nodded her head. "Has been for the last seven or eight years."

"Huh," I grunted, somewhat surprised. That woman changed men more than she changed underwear, so that guy had to be loaded in order for her to stick around that long. "I guess I have a new step-papa now."

The sound of footsteps coming closer made us straighten as the second guard frantically wrote something down on her clipboard. "Powers?" she grunted, her voice returning to how it was before.

"Powers?" I asked, confused. Looking up at Candy, I waited for her to explain. I didn’t know if she was talking about the same powers that Ghost told us about (God rest his soul in the deepest pits of Hell) or if this was something new that I didn’t know about.

"After the zombies came, humans learned that they could harness certain powers," explained Candy. Holding out her hand, she flattened her palm, and a small fountain appeared from the center of it. "I have water powers."

Looking over at the other guard, I waited. "Earth," grunted the guard. "Elementals are the lowest on the food chain. Then again, being high up means you have to go out there again and do missions, so I guess that being down on the food chain isn’t all that bad."

"Have you noticed any powers?" asked Candy kindly. "It’s okay if you haven’t. They might appear when you hit puberty."

Ouch. That one smarted a bit.

Nodding my head, I widened my eyes as I looked between the two women. "I grant wishes," I announced, only to hear a scornful laugh behind me.

Spinning around, I saw two men in the same guard uniforms as the others. "There’s no such thing as granting wishes. This isn’t Disney, nor is it a fairy tale. If you are going to lie, lie better."

The man beside the loudmouth simply tilted his head to the side, his eyes going blurry as he stared at me.

"Wishes?" asked Candy, and when I nodded my head, she shared a look with the other woman. Seriously, I was tired of silent conversations that went over my head in more than one way.

"Yes," I said, with a very put-out sigh. "Wishes. You wish for it, and I grant it. No matter what. And before you ask, ’cause I get this one a lot... no, there is no limit on wishes. You can wish for a hundred things or a million, and they will all come true. And yes, I can bring someone back from the dead, and I can make someone fall in love with you."

I mean, I hadn’t actually done that last one yet, but a wish was a wish... there was nothing that I couldn’t do.

Three of the adults, and I used that term loosely, turned to look at the fourth guy, who was still staring at me.

"She has a power," grunted the man finally, shaking his head as if he was coming out of a trance. "But I have no idea what it is."

"I told you what it is," I growled, not liking to have to repeat myself again. "Or would you be happier if I had a different power?"

Candy narrowed her eyes at me, a concerned look on her face. "You can’t joke around like that, Sweetness," she said. "Having powers is important. They give you the ability to feed yourself and take care of your family."

"Was that a yes or a no?" I demanded, rolling my eyes. It had been a long day, even if it was the evening. Apparently, when I wished myself back home, I hadn’t taken into account the time change. What was early morning in Country K was 12 hours later here.

"There is only one way to determine if she is being truthful."