Apocalypse: The Ice King Returned

Chapter 31: Joselyn

To calm down his sister and Clark, Luther spoke further, "I found there were other survivors in this building. Constance, you probably just saw another survivor."

"A survivor?" She shook her head, not believing him.

"Forget it, I’ll just show you what I found. Follow me."

Luther turned around and searched the different rooms. He was pretty sure there were others around. But he couldn’t know for sure if they were enemies. He kept his stepped lightly, keeping silent. When the hallway forked into three, he saw an unlocked door in the left corner.

He saw a head peering out from behind the door. It was staring straight at Luther.

It wasn’t a ghost, but a child. Her eyes were wide open.

"Hey sweetie. Are you alone?"

"No, I’m with my mom and my dad. My mom is sick and I have to find someone to help her." The child spoke very quietly. Her voice was high and soft. Luther felt embarrassed because he had trouble discerning if the child was a boy or girl due to her sloppy appearance.

The girl stepped out of the room and stood in front of them. Their lights were on her, showing her pale complexion but proving she wasn’t scary to look at. But there was no blood on the white gown she wore, which puzzled Luther.

Did Constance lie or did her eyes deceive her?

Luther looked at his sister but she didn’t seem confused, so he ignored the question that popped up in his mind.

Both Constance and Clark breathed a sigh of relief when they saw a normal girl instead of a ghost. She felt sympathy for this girl who had to be about fifteen years old. 

Doomsday was so cruel to everyone. When it came, the children were the most miserable victims. They had no way to protect themselves. They didn’t know how to survive, and they didn’t have anyone to turn to for help. Even they found a rescue team, they might have been neglected or even rejected by the team.

"What's your name, sweetie?" Constance didn't care now about how the girl’s white clothes now didn’t have blood on them. 

Maybe I just saw it wrong. She thought.

Constance walked towards the little girl. Luther stopped her and shot a glance at her, warning her to be careful.

Constance nodded and patted the saw strapped to her back, and spoke in a low voice, "Don’t worry. I can protect myself."

Luther looked back at the girl before he let Constance get closer.

Constance walked up to her and brushed her hand on the girl's cheek, "What's wrong with your mother?"

The girl stepped back. It seemed that she was afraid of Constance. Her eyes began to tear up. The girl spoke, "My name is Joselyn. My mother, she’s been bedridden for a while now. Dad is in the room taking care of her."

As Joselyn pointed to the side room, Constance followed the direction of her finger. She saw a man in the room feeding a woman under a quilt on the sofa.

Her family reminded Constance of her parents who had passed away long ago, and her mother had died of a deathly illness as well. She felt sad thinking about this.

Constance couldn't help but wipe a tear from Joselyn's face, "It’s okay, I’ll go check up on her."

Luther frowned and said, "Constance, don’t get attached."

"It's okay, you’re here. We’re safe." Constance smiled. Luther didn't say anything. He knew Constance was thinking about their mother. He couldn’t be cruel enough to tell her no.

Luther had no choice but to agree, "Okay, let's go have a look."

Luther had taken good care of his sister, and she knew that it was hard for him to let her do something like this after what they’d been through. She smiled and kissed his cheek.

Constance’s kiss made Luther froze.

Clark felt a little puzzled by this. After all, he knew that Luther and Constance were not lovers. But Constance hadn’t kissed him before now.

Of course, Clark turned away and acted as if he didn’t notice, busying himself with humming softly and inspecting the walls.

Clark's humming made Constance realize what she had done and she blushed badly.

What would Luther think?

She sneaked a glance at Luther, but he only coughed and said, "Let's go and take a look at Joselyn's mother."

Constance felt both lost and relieved by Luther’s reaction. She felt as if a large weight had simply disappeared from her shoulders now that she had expressed her appreciation for him.

No one noticed Joselyn’s vicious smile when she turned around.

Constance followed Joselyn into the room. Luther and Clark followed behind them. The room was a little dim. To avoid pointing the searchlight into Joselyn's parents' eyes, Constance removed her headlight and placed it on the glass table in the living room.

Luther and Clark took off their headlights and looked around the dark room. There wasn’t a lot of furniture inside. It was just a simple living room.

Joselyn now took Constance to her parents, and she said politely, "I'll get you a glass of water."

Luther watched Joselyn walked into the side kitchen and didn't think much of it. He turned around and noticed Joselyn's parents. Her father had his back facing him and was still holding a bowl on the sofa to feed the woman, but it seemed his behavior was a bit stiff.

Constance stood at the father's side and asked, "Hi. What’s wrong with her?"

When Luther heard his sister say ‘hi,’ he realized that didn’t Joselyn’s father come out to welcome them before. And during a time as horrible as this, why would he let his daughter go speak to strangers?

Luther looked closely and found that the bowl Joselyn's father, but he was feeding his wife there without knowing it. Until now, the parents Joselyn said didn’t make a sound.

A bold little girl with quiet parents. Something was off about this family, but he couldn’t put his finger on it. Luther frowned.

“Constance, come...”

Luther hadn’t finished talking before something bad happened. He saw that the woman who was lying on the bed suddenly lifted the quilt and revealed her skinny frame. She used a fruit knife to stab Constance.

Constance was so shocked she could only stare at the knife inside her. She didn't think that something like this was going to happen.

She was shocked, but Luther ran to her when he realized what happened. He tried to push Constance away, but he was too late. Constance gasped as she fell to her side.