Chapter 3 Wariness and Confusion
1049 Words
The sharp rip of tearing fabric cut through the air—it shattered the last line of defense that kept my power intact.
An old, trembling voice suddenly rang out. "Megan, have you lost your mind? Do you even realize what you're doing?"
Roderick stared at my ruined state, his eyes blazing with rage. He tried to rush over and help me, but Megan's men pinned him roughly to the ground.
Megan said, "Dad, don't even think about protecting this b***h right in front of me."
Roderick stared at his once proud daughter, trembling with disbelief. "Megan, are you insane? Natasha is an angel sent by heaven. How can you humiliate her like this? This is nothing short of disrespect toward the divine."
Megan let out a cold snort. She pressed her military boot hard down on the back of my hand.
The sole ground against my soft skin, sending sharp pain shooting through my whole body and making me shake uncontrollably.
She looked down at me, her gaze filled with contempt and cruelty. "Insane? I'm just rooting out the parasite hiding inside Ark Bunker. For years, we've worked ourselves to the bone and risked our lives gathering supplies — all just to feed a useless girl who does nothing but wear pretty dresses and pray? You only act this entitled because you've wrapped my father around your finger. How does it feel to meddle in another person's family and get spoiled rotten?"
Tears streamed down my face, and I shook my head over and over in desperation. "I didn't... I'm not like that..."
Megan slapped me hard across the cheek. My face swelled up instantly, stinging badly.
At the sight of my tearful, battered look, she threw her head back and laughed loudly. Her shrill voice blared through every speaker across Ark Bunker, echoing into every corner.
She said, "Everyone, see this now? This is the angel we've honored and fed for eighteen years. Monsters fear her? I'd say those creatures are just plain cowards. She's nothing but a liar. She uses cheap tricks to live off our hard work and drain all our resources dry."
Megan bent down to pick up a rusted short blade, then hurled it hard right in front of me. The metal clanged loudly against the concrete floor.
"Pick it up," she said in a harsh tone. "This is the end of the world, and everyone has to earn their right to live. Go kill one monster. Prove you're not worthless. If you can't, Ark Bunker doesn't keep idle freeloaders—you'll stay outside forever and become monster food."
I stared at the rusted blade stained with old blood, shaking my head in terror as tears poured down even harder. "I can't... I really don't know how to use a knife, and I'm too scared to try..."
I had never even held a gun in my life. Everyone had always shielded me growing up, keeping me far away from bloodshed and fear. There was no way I could ever bring myself to kill a monster.
Megan scoffed in disdain. She turned and grabbed an assault rifle nearby, aimed it straight at the monsters beyond the wire fence, and pulled the trigger.
Three gunshots rang out. The heads of three monsters burst open at once. Dark red blood and rotting flesh splattered everywhere, and a few drops landed directly on my bare shoulder and cheek.
The putrid stench churned my stomach instantly. I gagged and tried to back away, but Megan grabbed my arm and dragged me forcefully over to the wire fence. "See that? Monsters are nowhere near as strong as you made them out to be."
She pointed at the fallen creatures and shouted toward the live broadcast speakers. "For years, we've all been fooled by a useless girl who can't even fire a gun. She gets the best canned food, sleeps in the softest beds, uses unlimited purified water, and spends all day just closing her eyes to pray. What about us? We fight outside and toil underground day in and day out. Where's the fairness in this?"
She grabbed my hair and forced me to lift my head.
Then she dragged my entire body right outside Ark Bunker's outer wall, making me stare straight at the endless horde of monsters crowding beyond the fence.
The monsters fixed their cloudy gray eyes firmly on me, letting out low gurgling growls from their throats. Their rotten stench drifted right through the wire mesh, thick and sickening.
Megan said, "Take a good look. This is the real end of the world—not some pampered greenhouse you've lived in all these years."
She let go of my hair all at once. I crashed heavily onto the cold concrete ground, slamming my forehead hard enough to leave a bleeding gash. Blood trickled down my cheek and dripped onto the ground below.
Then something strange happened right before everyone's eyes.
The monster closest to the wire fence had been snarling and ready to pounce forward. The second it caught the scent of my blood, it froze completely in its tracks.
It stiffened up and stumbled two steps backward, trembling violently as if facing something it feared more than anything.
One after another, a second monster, a third monster—whole swarms of them backed away rapidly, too afraid to step anywhere near the spot where my blood had fallen.
The watching residents all gasped in shock.
Their once dismissive looks turned into wariness and confusion.
"Could we have misunderstood her all along? Has Natasha really been protecting Ark Bunker this whole time?"
"Is it true that dressing her in fine gowns and letting her pray to heaven really keeps the monsters from attacking us?"
Megan's eyes widened slightly. Her fingers clenched tight, and for the first time, strong doubt and unease stirred deep inside her.
This was no ordinary coincidence.
What she had just seen completely shattered every judgment she'd made so far.
She couldn't help but question herself.
'Have I truly been in the wrong all along? Could Natasha really possess some hidden power that scared monsters away? Is she never just a kept girl? Has she truly been praying to the heavens day after day, begging divine protection for all of Ark Bunker?'
- Writer
