Be Careful What You Wish For: A Zombie Apocalypse-Chapter 414: Come In Handy

Tank’s sleep had been uneasy for the entire night, Hattie’s words playing on repeat in his head.

One of the guys had left her? Was that even possible? If it involved a part of her soul, and it had to if it affected her here, then it had to be one of the Sins. But those guys were pretty hardcore when it came to her.

Hell, the seven of them were such a tight-knit circle that it was practically impossible for him and Chang Xuefeng to even enter their inner circle. The two of them were outsiders, and that feeling was made perfectly clear by each one of them.

Even Dante had slowly drifted away from him and toward the Sins.

So, how the Hell had one of the Sins broken off? Why would they do something like that?

And what did it mean for Hattie?

He wasn’t an idiot; he could see the change in her. She was more like a doll than she had ever been before. Don’t get him wrong, she was still there, he could see her every time she looked at him or spoke. But it was like her emotions were encased in a brick wall to protect her from the fallout.

However, if that was what was needed to keep her mentally okay while he hunted down the Sin that fucked up, then he would make sure that she stayed behind that wall until she was good and ready to come out.

And when she did, he would be the first person she would see.

-----

It felt like his eyes had just shut when the door to their room burst open and a team of seven soldiers stormed in, their guns raised as they hid behind full tactical gear. Pads and armor covered every point of their body but joints, and a blacked-out helmet concealed their identity.

But it was fine. Tank didn’t need to know who they were before killing them.

Jumping out of bed, he shielded Hattie’s body from the intruders before conjuring hellfire in his hands. Fuck playing by the rules. They were a threat and would be treated as such.

"Get down!" screamed out one of the men. Letting his gun drop to his side, he pulled out a fire extinguisher and started to douse Tank in the chemical mist. "Get down! Get down! Get down! Get on the ground, face down."

Tank scoffed at their pathetic attempt to tame his flame. As if to prove that the soldiers were barking up the wrong tree, he called even more hellfire, creating a half wall between him and the intruders.

"Can someone turn off that fucking alarm?" demanded Hattie, her eyes still closed as she rolled over. Pulling the blankets up higher, she snuggled back into the bed. "Tank," she whined. "It’s cold."

The soldiers stepped back, looking at each other as a single man strolled through their ranks to the front of his men. "Stand down," he announced, holding up his hand.

"Unadvisable," said the man’s second. "We had reports that the male here demanded medical attention for his female companion. We have good reason to believe that the man is protecting a zombie. Both male and female should be treated as a threat until a new assessment can be made."

"She’s not a zombie," stated the captain as he removed his helmet and smiled at Tank. "She’s my wife... right, Tank?"

-----

There wasn’t enough coffee, candy, and cake in this world to make me want to get out of bed, and yet, here I was, walking down the hallway of the quarantine building.

"Sorry about that," smiled Eric as he looked down at me. I blinked, trying to figure out what he was trying to say.

"He’s sorry for barging in and waking you up," translated Tank as he walked just behind my right shoulder. "As he should be."

I could feel the pris—I mean... no... prisoners was a good word for us. I could feel the prisoners emerging from their cells around us, their guards opening the doors to those who responded to them. If anyone didn’t, then they were treated with the whole SWAT entrance that I was, but at the end of the day, not a single one of us turned out to be a zombie.

I was almost upset over that fact until I saw the man strolling out of his cell. It was Alicia’s father, the one who had been in front of me in the line. He adjusted his suit, making sure that everything was in place even as he looked down at the rest of us.

It seemed like last nights sleep worked wonders for him, and he was back to being a douche to anyone who so much as glanced his way.

"What are you looking at?" he sneered.

"An idiot," I replied without thinking, but when he smiled at me, I froze, unable to go forward. "You can hear me," I announced, cocking my head to the side as I looked at him. "Interesting."

I hadn’t been around anyone long enough to see if my wishes wore off, but I was 99% sure that they didn’t. So, how was it that, after being granted his wish to never hear me again, he now could?

The man huffed, pushing past Tank and Eric so that he was the first one from our cell block to leave the building.

"Interesting," I murmured again. After talking to Hattie 2.0, I was lost. I had no idea what I could or should do, or what my next move needed to be.

But with Alicia’s father in the mix, at least I would no longer be bored until I figured out my next move.

No longer walking, Tank and Eric stopped beside me. "Everything okay?" asked Eric, looking down at me with a concerned look. It was the mirror image of how Tank was looking at me, and I couldn’t say that I didn’t mind it.

More and more prisoners pushed past us, eager to get to the outside world.

"Do you have any cans of Raid?" I asked, shaking my head. "Or like 50?"

"Not that I know of," replied Eric, his brows furrowing as he tried to make sense of what I was saying.

"Pity," I sighed. "You might want to find some. It’ll come in handy later."