The Countess Lives Twice in the Apocalypse-Chapter 46: Forty-five

Twack.

Twack.

Twack.

"Grrr.."

The snarls, growls, and the quiet whistling of the arrow filled the air.

Jannah continued aiming for the zombies’ head, letting the arrow fly and hit its target— the forehead.

She missed some of the target and hit their shoulders instead, some received the arrows to their faces, and some on their hands or arms.

They were persistently trying to reach her and it disrupt her supposedly skillful aiming.

Twack.

She released another shaft, and thankfully, it hit a zombie this time.

She reached for another arrow from her quiver, but her hand froze mid-air when she heard a gasp. It was sharp and shaky, as if the person who let it out was startled and shocked.

"What the hell happened here?"

Jannah didn’t have to turn around to find out who asked the question, she continued to take the arrow from her hip, slipped it through the bow and let the nock touch the bowstring.

She hears fast and heavy footsteps, their boots thudding loudly against the ground before it reached the wooden staircase of the watch tower.

The wood creaked in protest as the owner of those heavy and quick footsteps made their way up.

Jannah inhaled calmly, aiming her arrow to the zombie below, she stared at the snarling and gruesome sight of the infected with fiery determination, then, she released the arrow once more.

Twack.

"This flesh eating.." Jannah hissed under her breath, eyeing the arrow that missed its target. It pierced through the walking corpse’s shoulder.

She looked away from the zombies outside the walls and turned her head to look at the people she called.

"What happened?" Jeriel’s eyebrows are furrowed with a bewildered look in her eyes, "Did you kill those—"

"Those men with severed limbs and cut in half? Yes, I did." Jannah finished her little sister’s sentence with a small shrug of her shoulders, "They were asking for it, called me a witch, a monster and all."

"But that wasn’t it.." The crease between Jeriel’s eyebrows deepened as she shook her head towards Jannah, "Was it?"

"You wouldn’t kill them in cold-blood like that, my lady." Kirie spoke up, a look of adoration and sadness crossed her eyes for a moment, she saw that, but as soon as she did, it disappeared, replaced with a knowing look.

"She’s right." Jeriel agreed with Kirie’s statement, "I only told you about them locking the women and children in the basement...."

No sound were made by the three person in front of the Countess.

The silence was suffocating, a intangible presence in the air seemed to press down on them. The tension was thick she could practically cut it with the nasty men’s blade, the words hanging between them unspoken, but heard louder than any shout.

"They..? Did they touch them?" Jeriel felt something in her throat as she choke out those words.

Jannah’s expression was grave and solemn as she looked away from them, her lips pressed together in a thin, firm line.

Her eyebrows were drawn together in a frown. She stand stiffly in her spot, her shoulders tense and her gaze fixed firmly on the massacre she caused below the watch tower.

Jannah knew how much those women and children meant for Jeriel based on her earlier argument with her. It was why she decided to kill them on the spot instead of letting them go, Jeriel would have kill them herself and she didn’t want that.

Jannah could hear the cogwheels turn inside of Jeriel’s head, trying her best to process the information and reconcile it with her previous knowledge, exposing her thoughts and emotions through her eyes.

"I don’t know about the kids.. But one of the men I killed back there was looking for his wife and for another woman." The Countess decided to break the silence and fiddle with the bow, "He showed his dick and waited for them, but I killed him."

"Son of a.." The Duke’s eyes showed his anger, but he was quick to cover his mouth, turning away from the Countess.

Another silence fell between the four of them, palpable, heavy and thick like a dense fog that blankets everything in a shroud of discomfort.

Jeriel tries to keep her face impassive, but the muscles in her jaw tense involuntarily, betraying her inner turmoil. It’s almost suffocating, and she feels the urge to break the silence, to say something, anything to make it better.

"I called the three of you out here to let you see how serious the situation is." Jannah decided to be the bigger person and break the silence again, "As you can see, I made a mess downstairs. I don’t know how I’ll clean it by myself because I don’t have any skill that will help me."

The Duke inhaled sharply, looking down to the bloody mess before he looked back at her, "I can clean it up— move the bodies somewhere, and uh, you know? Hide it for now."

"Great." Jannah smiled softly towards him, "I knew I could count on you."

She watched the Duke’s eyes widened, as if he realized something and looked away as fast as lighting, making her feel bad for his neck, feeling like she had a whiplash for him.

"You always can count on me." The Duke stammered out, covering the lower bottom of his face with his gloved hand.

"I can help him lessen the smell of blood, my lady." Kirie spoke up, tearing Jannah out of her staring on the Duke’s face, "I don’t know if I’ll manage to remove all the stains, but I’ll do my best."

"Right." Jannah forced a smile as she look down on the bloodstream below them. She inspected the blood stains on the wall, on the makeshift craft for the arrows, on the ground, and on the haystacks beside the gate.

"I’ll give you a reward if you managed to remove the stains." Jannah chuckled awkwardly, looking back at Kirie, feeling bad at the bloody aftermath of the usage of [Punisher].

"It would be my honor, my lady." Kirie lowered her head and placed a hand on her chest, showing both respect and gratitude.

"Great." Jannah exhaled sharply as her gaze landed on her little sister, "I’ll leave the women and children to you, Jeri. I don’t think they’ll like to see me after what happened down there."

Jeriel snapped out of her trance, blinking rapidly as the words of her sister sinked into her brain, "What happened down there?"

Jannah laughed nervously, eyeing the Duke and the maid. They seem to get the hint and nodded their heads, excusing themselves wordlessly to her by lowering their heads and descended the stairs without a sound.

She waited until she could see them by the bodies before she turned back to Jeriel.

"I received a lot of skills." Jannah breathed out, slipping the bow to her head and let it rest on her shoulders, "You see, before we left Kentucky, something popped up in front of me."

Jeriel’s eyebrows furrowed as she tilted her head to her left slightly, "Okay.. And?"

"This thing stayed and blocked my view for hours." Jannah sighed exasperatedly, "I had to silently resign my safety to Duke Zacharias because I can’t look past the thing."

"You.. Trusted that man?" There was a underlying disdain in her voice before she forced out a cough and a smile, "Anyways, what happened next?"

Jannah saw the look of disgust in her sister’s face, and all she could do is smile genuinely, feeling the heaviness around her heart dissipate slowly.

"The thing finished scanning my "status" which I don’t know what, by the way." Jannah raised her hands and made a quotation mark in the air, "Thinking back about it, it was funny."

Jeriel’s smile turned genuine, it was small, but it’s sincere.

"I call this thing system, and it gave me a map, skills, and.. Uh, missions? It’s how I knew where to find you and the others." Jannah suddenly felt like she’s saying things she shouldn’t.

To ground herself, she grabbed the bowstring and fiddled with it, "The skills helped me sneak in and the leopards helped me keep my rational thinking because I was losing it when the system gave me the mission of saving you."

"Oh, sis.." Jeriel opened her arms, reaching out to Jannah and pulled her into her arms, embracing her tightly.

"I was so worried that I let the knights and the Duke make themselves as the bait just so I could sneak in." Jannah sighed out, wrapping her arms around her little sister and let her worries out that she kept inside for the past several hours.

"And I was being a jackass to you about that leopard, huh? Way to go, Jeriel." Jannah heard her little sister mumble to herself.

"Hey, you didn’t know." She pulled away from the hug and lightly comforted her little sister, "It’s okay. I understand. You were having a rough time— you were worried about the women and children. I know."

Jeriel smiled softly and sighed, "What did I do to deserve such a kind and gentle sister like you?"

Jannah rolled her eyes, and was about to retort something as cheesy as her little sister’s question, but stopped when she heard a panicked yell echo in the air.

"KYAA! A LEOPARD!"