Apocalypse Fighter

Chapter 23 - Bad Neighbours

“Oh, really?” Though disappointed, Richard still maintained a friendly smile. 

“But I can tell you where they keep the vaccines: the Washington D.C Central Hospital. They’ll be stored in a freezer. If you know somebody in the hospital… ha-ha. But anyway… cheers!”

Though Janet was laughing, she had a sober, cunning look in her eyes. She was not drunk.

“Interesting. Thank you,” Richard replied casually.

Richard knew he’d gotten lucky; he definitely owed Janet for this information. It had been a good idea to join the class reunion party; he finally had information on the location of the activation potion! Of course, there would certainly be security measures in place at the hospital and he might need helpers. 

Milos? No, he is too well-behaved for this kind of thing.

Richard spent the next few hours thinking of solutions until early that morning, someone arrived at his gate. 

“Here it is.” Lora West pointed at the door, indicating for Edith Foster and Kelly Herbert to go ahead and knock the door. She stood behind them looking nervous.

They had been informed that the tenant was a man called Richard Williams, accompanied by his wife and baby son. They were new to the area and had no connections in Washington. In the past, Lora had never been frightened by ordinary people like him. But she felt uncomfortable around him; the young man’s expression made her blood run cold.  

“Come out, I know you are inside. Come out!” Kelly shouted arrogantly. The noise started to attract the neighbors’ attention.

“You dare shout at me again and I’ll kill you right here, right now.” 

The door suddenly flew open and Richard stared coldly at the group. When he saw Lora, Richard knew why they had come to him. It was the woman whose ass he’d kicked yesterday.

“Excuse me, I don’t believe… oh my go…”

After letting out a piercing scream, Kelly’s thin frame collapsed to the floor, curled up like a shrimp, and rolled from the door to beside Lora’s feet. With just one kick from Richard, Kelly was floored. 

“You…” Looking at the clear footprint on Kelly’s clothes, Lora and Edith were frozen in shock. They had considered many scenarios, some possibly including violence. But they never imagined that this young man was so violent that he would just hit Kelly so directly. They had no time to react.

“I’ll give you to the count of three to disappear from my doorway. Or you will regret it for the rest of your lives.”

Richard looked manic, staring coldly at the three women. He had been up all night planning how to steal the activation potions without alerting the police, but it seemed almost impossible. This made him rather upset and he was not in a good mood. Thus, when confronted with the annoying woman at his door, he couldn’t help lashing out. 

“You’re an animal! Just you wait here. I’m calling the police!”

Keeping a worried eye on Kelly, Edith took out her phone, dialed, and hissed at the voice on the other line, “You two, get here now! The man’s hurt Kelly. Yes, he’s here, at the front door of the house.”

Hanging up the phone, Edith gave Lora a wink and held her white cat tight to her chest. As they had planned, Kelly would bring two policemen as back up, who would obey her husband’s orders. Meanwhile, Edith would bring her white cat to scratch the young man’s wife and baby. They weren’t able to enter the house yet, but the policemen would be helpful in that regard.

Before long, two policemen ran up to the house, one tall and wiry, the other shorter with a strong build. 

“Who’s the attacker? Was it you? Show me your hands! You’re under arrest!”

The strong one rushed at Richard and tried to catch his arm, but to his surprise, Richard dodged him with a swift move to the side.

“How dare you? You don’t even wanna ask me what happened?” Richard said coldly.

“Woh, easy Steve, relax. Let me talk to him.”

The tall cop was a little younger than the strong one, in his forties. He had a big mouth, two eagle-like eyes, with a wide forehead and face. He made a deliberate show of touching the gun at his waist so that Richard couldn’t miss it. 

When he noticed that the policemen had guns with them, Richard was delighted.

Guns. I need guns! Richard thought to himself.

He was thrilled. As long as he had a gun, the activation potions wouldn’t be a problem. In peacetime, guns were useful weapons. In the doomsday, with mutant creatures everywhere, guns were like a second life to survivors. Richard had been thinking about how to get hold of a gun, and now he had the chance. 

“I think there must be some misunderstanding officers. Why don’t you come inside and we’ll talk about it?”

Richard smiled sincerely, though in his mind he was determined to kill them. Neither of the policemen had noticed a knife drop down to Richard’s hand from inside his sleeve. Memories from his doomsday life provided him with plenty of methods to attack. The knife was just a precaution, but he wouldn’t hesitate to use it.