Be Careful What You Wish For: A Zombie Apocalypse
Chapter 393: Bottom Of The Food Chain

Chapter 393: Bottom Of The Food Chain

The waves lapped gently at the edge of the beach, the entire world moving on as if nothing had happened. As if Leo hadn’t just died.

The survivors stared, breath held, as the body finally went still. The creature, whatever it had been, was no longer jerking or twitching. Just a boy now. Still and silent.

Sadie knelt beside him, hand hovering over his face, not quite ready to close his eyes. Her fingers shook. "He was just a kid," she whispered. "He—he wasn’t dangerous. We didn’t have to kill him."

Colt stood a few feet away, dripping blood and sea spray. His shirt was torn at the collar, and blood started to collect on the scratches that Leo had managed to make on him. They weren’t deep, but that didn’t mean they were clean, either.

But there was nothing Colt could do but wish that he wouldn’t become infected with something. Here, being sick was an immediate death sentence.

The knife was still clutched in his hand, Colt grunted. Right... wish. Hattie was somewhere in this jungle. If he could only find her, then he could make a wish. Cocking his head to the side, he stared through the dead body and to where Sadie was trying to keep from crying.

But changes were that one wish wouldn’t be nearly enough. No, he would need to find a way to keep Hattie contained... caged. That way, he could use her whenever he needed something. Sadie wanted everyone to stay alive, and while he knew that wasn’t humanly possible...

It should be possible for that kid.

"He was already gone," Colt said flatly, his mind spinning with his new plan. "You saw what that thing did to him. What it was."

"No one even saw it get on him," Sadie said, eyes flicking to the wound on the back of Leo’s neck. The centipede, if that’s what it could even be called, was a bloated, pale thing, too long for its own good. Its pincers had been embedded deep into Leo’s spine. "It just... infected him."

Infected was the wrong word, but Sadie couldn’t think of a better one. The bug hadn’t consumed him in the usual sense, but it was like the creature was in complete control of Leo’s body, like it had taken over his brain and was manipulating him.

The woman who had killed Leo, Miriam, the mother with the two kids, couldn’t be bothered with the conversation. Cleaning the blade off with her shirt, she gave Sadie a side eye. "We don’t get to hesitate," she said quietly. "Not anymore."

The smart ones didn’t argue with her, but Sadie had opened her mouth, only for Colt to silence her with a shake of his head.

The kids clung to her legs, wide-eyed, but silent. No one sobbed. No one wailed. They couldn’t afford to. Not here.

Sadie finally reached down and closed Leo’s eyes, brushing the matted hair off his forehead like it would somehow make him look more human again.

But nothing was going to erase the memories from the people here today. Until their dying breath, they would always see Leo with the unnatural smile, the unnatural movement.

They wrapped the body quickly, without ceremony, using part of the ruined sail as a shroud. They couldn’t bury him; there was no time. Most wanted to just throw his body into the water and let the fish and whatever else was in it eat it.

However, Sadie refused. She wanted to honor the body, to give him a proper burial. Unfortunately, that wasn’t possible either. Wrapping the body and leaving it next to the fire was the best that they could do.

The beach was already soaked with blood, and they didn’t want to attract predators to their location.

"You have five minutes," said Colt, his voice rough but soft. "Pack up what you can, and then we leave. We can’t stay here. Not now."

Everyone scrambled to do what he had said, and in less than the allotted time, they were back at the fire, holding their small bundles in their arms.

Letting out a soft grunt, Colt took Sadie’s hand and walked away from the old campground. It took at least an hour, if not more, before they found a secondary location, and everyone quickly set things up.

"I want watches rotating every thirty minutes," Colt said when everyone’s sleeping arrangements had been made. Not everyone had blankets, and now that they knew the threat of the insects, most weren’t willing to use something that an insect could hide in. "No fire. No talking. If you hear something, wake me. Do not go investigate. Not for any reason. Tomorrow, when daylight comes, we’ll head out and try to find a more permanent solution."

The survivors nodded, too shaken to argue.

Sadie rose to her feet and crossed the sand until she was beside Colt. "You think more of those things are out there?"

"I know they are," scoffed Colt as he sat down on a fallen log, prepared to take the first watch. "How could there be only one in a jungle this size? To think otherwise isn’t doing anyone any favors."

"And you think they’ll come for the rest of us?"

He looked at her, his jaw tight. "If they can get inside Leo without anyone noticing, then none of us are safe. Not until we figure out what the hell we’re dealing with."

Sadie glanced at the jungle line. The vines hung low, dripping moisture. The trees seemed to lean closer, like they were eavesdropping.

"What if it’s not just the insects?" she whispered. "What if this place... is more dangerous than we thought?"

Colt didn’t answer. As far as he was concerned, man lost whatever edge their cavemen forefathers had when they got too comfortable with their lives. Anything that could have posed a threat had been eliminated long before the current human population came into existence.

Now, they were facing more threats than they ever had before.

The sad fact was that humans were back to being at the bottom of the food chain, and he had no idea how to keep everyone alive.

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