The Countess Lives Twice in the Apocalypse-Chapter 43: Forty-two

"Do you know where they kept the key for this chain?" Jannah asked the captured, turning her head to look at them.

"That man has it." A woman with brown hair was brave enough to let her know, pointing a finger on the dead man by the stair, "I don’t know if he still has it, but you should check."

"Thanks." Jannah nodded her head towards the woman.

True to the woman’s words, the key was indeed on the man’s pocket. It was a rusty, old key. She was quick to free the leopard from her chains and lead her to the cell.

The women and children simultaneously let out terrified gasps and trembled at the sight of the large animal, but it was well-mannered, some of them relaxed when they realized it only followed Jannah’s order.

It stood still by the cell’s door and turned around, turning her back on the captured.

"Stay here." They heard Jannah said to the leopard, "Don’t let anyone hurt them until I get back, okay? If things got worse, run out of the building and howl as loud as you can, I’ll come running back to give you a hand."

"Meoraw." The leopard responded, letting Jannah know that she understands her.

"Good." The Countess breathed out, patting the mother leopard on the head with gentleness before she stepped away from the cell.

She merely lifted the man by his collar, dragging him up the stairs to get out of the basement.

The women and children watched with byth amazement and bewilderment, wondering who the woman was. Why did she kill the man? Why did she help the animal? Their friend? What did she do to her? What is she?

"Meoraw." The leopard mew at them, making them look at her with both wariness and reluctancy.

"Meoraw, meoraw, meoraw." The mother leopard continued to mew at them, as if she was telling them something great because of the shine in her slitted eyes.

"We don’t understand what you’re saying." The boy who has her mother in his arms decided to let the leopard know.

"Meoraw." Was the only response he got before she turned away from them, going back to guarding the cell with all seriousness.

The captured exchanged looks, wondering what’s the problem with the leopard.

On the other hand, Jannah barely made it out of the mail house’s basement when a man came inside, untying his belt with a wide and dangerous smirk on his face.

"Jano! Bring out my wife and her little friend with her." The man chuckled out.

Before he could push pants down, Jannah had strike him across the back of his neck with the back of her hand, narrowing her eyes at him.

His knees buckled under his weight as his eyes rolled to the back of his head, collapsing on the floor with a silent ’thud’, Jannah’s hand grabbing ahold of his hair so he wouldn’t make too much sound.

Have they been sexually abusing the women here? Jannah’s face scrunched up in both disgust and anger, since she’s still holding the man by his hair, she decided to twist the man’s head, hearing the faint sound of his neck breaking.

Such man can’t be let out of this place alive. She dropped the body on the ground, not caring if it made a sound.

She looked at the map, watching the red dots walk past the structure she’s in and waiting for them to pass by. Once they are one block away, she muttered the skill under her breath and she slipped through the door.

She looked around the street, observing the men scramble to deliver the arrows from the blacksmith shop to the watch tower.

"Grrr!"

She could hear the snarls and growls of the zombies outside the wall, slamming their hands on the wood, and smacking their heads against it, an attempt to get inside the town to feast on the people.

The sun is up, she could only guess that it would be noon soon because of how bright and warm the sun light was on her skin.

Without wasting more time, she made her to the watch tower. As she approach the tower, she could hear yells and orders coming from someone.

"Bring more arrows!"

"Shoot properly!"

"Don’t miss!"

"I need more arrows!"

"Are we out of gunpowders?!"

A group men are screaming at each other, asking one thing after another. She watched them struggle to aim and shoot the arrows in their hands, guessing unmistakably that they probably missed their target.

Jannah watched them with calculating gaze, should she end them right there and then or kill them off one by one?

The thought of the women crying and begging for mercy as they get cut open, getting prepped to be the men’s meal— it left a nauseous feeling in her gut. 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

She doesn’t know what to do, but thinking about them helped her made up her mind.

She approached the nearest man. He was busy tucking the arrows inside the quiver, his fingers and knuckles are torn and pale, but he was quick to do his job.

She grabbed his head, making his eyes wide in shock and fright. Before he could let out a scream, she was fast enough to twist his head to the right in an insane amount of speed, ending his life.

He dropped on the ground, but no one paid attention to him because they were distracted with the zombies outside the gates.

She went to the next man, he was stationed at the stairs of the watch tower.

As long as she won’t withdraw her sword or dagger from their sheath, the skill wouldn’t deactivate itself. She will have to do things with her hands if she didn’t want to trigger the men.

Slowly, she approached the man by the bottom of the stairs. All she did was grab him by the ankles, pulling him towards her which made him fall down and slam his head on the wood, knocking the air out of his lungs for a second.

"Ack!" He groaned, making his friend look at him.

"Don’t slack off!" The man by the upper part of the stairs barked at him, not noticing the pained look on his face.

Jannah immediately grabbed the man on the head and twisted his neck, hearing the satisfying crack resonates in the air, but got brushed off by the men around her.

She ascended the stairs, grabbing the next man by the waist, making him yelp and look behind him.

At that moment, his eyes landed on his unconscious friend by the stairs.

Jannah smiled, watching as the realization set itself on his face, but as much as she wants to make him suffer, she can’t have him scream.

So, in an instant, she broke his neck and pushed him off the stairs.

It would have alarmed the others because the sound of his fall was loud, but they didn’t care and was focused on shooting the zombies outside of the wall.

She ascended the stairs once more and finally reached the top. There are three men in front of her, each one of them has a bow in their hands and we’re shooting arrows to the zombies below.

She inspected the arrows by the hip of the third man, seeing that he only has six arrows in the quiver. The second man has ten arrows and the first one has eight.

She stepped over to the edge, being careful to not be touched by one of them, to look at the zombies.

They’re good shooters. She praised their skills with the bow when she saw that there are dead zombies laying on the ground, several arrows on different parts of their body.

They have talents and I would like to keep them, but they need to die. Jannah shrugged to herself, turning her head to scan the man beside her.

He looked like the same man you would mistake as a loving son, husband, and father, but knowing what they did to the women and children of the town, she knew to think otherwise.

"Say bye." Her voice made the man flinch, his eyes wide and face pale as he turn his head to look at her, but she stood still, knowing that the skill is still activated.

"Did you guys hear that?" He asked to his friends, a chill running down his spine.

"Hear what? Those bastards?" The second man asked, releasing an arrow from the bow, inevitably missing the target because of the sudden disturbance.

"Not them!" The first man hissed, dropping the bow, "I heard a woman’s voice!"

"You probably need your wife." The third man commented which made the second man scoff and laugh.

"You really can’t keep it in your pants, huh?"

"Shut up! That’s not what I meant!" The first man growled at them.

"Then what?" The second man taunted him, lowering his how and turning his attention to the first man with a glare on his face.

Jannah had enough of them so she took the dagger out from its sheath, digging the blade into the first man’s neck without hesitation.

The second man’s eyebrows creased when the man in front of him didn’t answer, only coughing out blood which made him step back, the man fell down as Jannah’s form slowly appeared.

"What are you—"

"Petrify." Jannah muttered, her bloody red eyes turning into slits as she locked gazes with them, turning their body into stones.