Be Careful What You Wish For: A Zombie Apocalypse
Chapter 383: The Village In The Trees

Chapter 383: The Village In The Trees

Unable to sleep, Selene waited until the sun had just risen before going to seek out the Seer.

Crossing the rope bridges that interconnected the trees and homes of her village, she couldn’t stop her heart from pounding. Stopping in the middle of one bridge, she looked over the side at the velociraptors on the jungle floor.

The creatures were some of the most vicious that she had ever experienced, and while they weren’t a big as they were in the movies, they were definitely just as smart.

"How did they find us?" she asked to her silent shadow. Rhys stepped forward until he was by her side.

"I don’t know," he answered, trying to think. "But if they have found us, it’s just a matter of time before the others do. We can’t survive another attack from the T-rex."

Selene scoffed bitterly at his words. "If you had said that four years ago, I would have thought you were crazy," she sighed as the reptiles continued to study them out in the open.

There was just one of the many reasons why none of them had even touched the ground in two years. Between the dinosaurs, the insects, the predators, and the flora, everything in this place was out to get them.

Even the other humans who had managed to survive.

The only reason why they were still alive was because of the Seer. He was the one who had saved them; it was his visions that told them how to be safe and taught the rest of the people what they needed to do to survive.

The monthly sacrifices were hard on her and everyone else. There were less than a hundred people in the village left, which meant that in eight months, there wouldn’t be a single person left alive.

Humans were dying, and it was our own fault.

"If I had said it four years ago, I would have been," smiled Rhys as he rubbed Selene’s back. "But just think, we now have an extra ten months of sacrifices, thanks to the Seer’s vision."

Selene’s eyes narrowed as she considered just how much she had managed to screw up. She was meant to bring the others back to the village, to use their lives as a sacrifice to the jungle instead of her own people...

But she had failed that task. Only the Seer knew if they managed to survive the night. Either way, she was going to have to send a few hunters out. The village needed food; there was no other way around it.

Resolving herself to the Seer’s punishment, she took a deep breath and continued walking toward the biggest of the grass huts.

The rest of the village was slowly waking up, not that you could hear them. Everyone had learned the hard way that noise brought the predators, so while you could see people slipping from hut to hut, silence reigned.

"Growing up, I thought it would be fun living in an Ewok village," continued Rhys. He wanted to cheer Selene up, but he really couldn’t think of any other topic. "Now I know it isn’t nearly as cool as the teenage me thought it was."

Selene smiled at him before coming to a stop in front of the Seer’s hut. "Requesting permission to enter," she said to the guard who was standing like a statue next to the door.

"The Seer knew you would come," the guard nodded; however, he continued to stare forward as if Selene was nothing more than air. "He will not see you. You have disappointed him. If you don’t want to be the next sacrifice, you need to find those ten people. Only then can you make up for your failure."

Bowing to the closed door, Selene turned around and walked back the way she had come. She knew it was a fool’s errand. She knew that she had committed a grave sin by not bringing back those the Seer had seen.

She should have worked harder; she should have knocked them out and brought them by force if she had to. But sometimes she was just tired of this life. She wanted to be kind, to let people have a choice in the matter.

However, if it came down to them or her and her people, then there was no question.

"Send out two hunting parties," she said, her head held high as she continued her walk of shame. "One to find food, the second to find those people."

"But—" started Rhys before quickly cutting himself off.

Selene turned to look at him, her face just as blank as her eyes. "I will go with the second party. The Seer has said that I have to be the one to bring them back, then I have to be the one to bring them back."

Rhys nodded his head, a grim look on his face.

"At least with the kid, it isn’t like they could have gone too far. It was already close to dusk when we entered the jungle; they would have had to find shelter nearby if they had any chance of living."

"I’ll tell the second party to start with the caves and any other place that can offer shelter," agreed Rhys, his easy-going attitude long gone.

He was ex-military, and he knew the odds of people surviving without being prepared; none of those people had even carried supplies with them.

Their chance of survival was less than 10%, and that was a conservative estimate. But no matter what, he would pull their souls out of the afterlife if it meant being able to save Selene from being the next sacrifice.

Before the two knew it, they were back in front of Selene’s hut.

"Go," sighed Selene with a dismissive wave. "I need to eat some berries, and then we will head out."

Giving her a formal salute, Rhys spun around before disappearing into the trees.

-----

"Captain," saluted one of the men in front of Rhys. His face was completely mangled from where he had been attacked by a pack of raptors. It was a testament to his strength that he was still standing, but Rhys couldn’t help but look at him and think that maybe it would be an act of mercy to kill him off next, before Selene.

"Get ready," snapped Rhys, almost a completely different person now that Selene was nowhere to be seen. "We leave in 30."

Search the lightnovelworld.cc website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.