The Apocalypse Took Everything, This Time I Hoard It All First
Chapter 24: Taking Care

Chapter 24: Chapter 24: Taking Care

She had checked all three floors, and they were all empty.

Luna cursed inwardly. ’What rotten luck. These guys actually like sleeping in the basement.’

She couldn’t help but look at Evan Olson. "Are all of them like this? Afraid of the light?"

Evan Olson looked embarrassed. "Not really. They’re probably just being extra cautious..."

Down on the first basement level, they knocked on the first door to the left of the security room. Not a sound came from inside.

Luna suddenly tapped her head. "Hold on," she whispered. "Let me try to sense things."

Luna then stood in place and closed her eyes, slowly sending her spiritual threads out to fill the two basement levels.

When she opened her eyes again, her gaze was sharp and clear. "There’s someone in this room and the one across the hall. And in both rooms on the second basement level. They’re alive, but I think they’re unconscious."

A look of shock crossed Evan Olson’s face. He quickly whispered, "What kind of superpower is that? A perceptive ability?"

Luna blinked and said, "I don’t know. Something like a Spiritual Ability, I guess? A different type of Space Perception. I’m just not very good at it yet. I have to concentrate really hard to sense anything."

Evan Olson gazed at Luna, his eyes filled with admiration. "That’s incredible!"

With that, he took the lead and opened the door. The bedroom was decorated in an extremely minimalist style.

The heavy, dark gray, blackout curtains didn’t let in a single sliver of light from the light well.

Kevin Keane was nestled in the light gray bedding, deep in an unconscious slumber.

His tall frame was stretched out on the bed, his skin unnaturally flushed from a high fever. His long eyelashes rested quietly, casting small shadows beneath his eyes.

His breathing was slightly labored, his chest rising and falling faintly. With every breath, the contours of the muscles beneath the bedding shifted slightly.

He exuded a contradictory aura—a blend of strength and vulnerability, vitality and deathly stillness.

Luna murmured, "Coach Keane’s eyelashes are unreal."

Evan Olson chuckled softly and reached out to feel Kevin Keane’s forehead. It was alarmingly hot.

Luna immediately took a large box of cooling pads from her storage space, leaned over, and applied one. "Don’t go frying your brain," she warned. "There isn’t much difference between a deranged Superpower User and an Aberrant Zombie."

Evan Olson added thoughtfully, "We should leave some Snickers bars, bottled water, and glucose by the bed. If they’re out for a few days, they can replenish their energy when they wake up."

They left the food, then went out and entered the room across the hall. The decor was more or less the same, exuding a cool indifference.

Luna pouted as she looked at Lynn Shelby on the bed. "I was too embarrassed to get a good look at these guys last time. Today, I’m definitely going to take a nice long look..."

Evan Olson laughed at her antics, reaching out to ruffle her hair.

Lynn Shelby was also unconscious. He had fair, cool-toned skin, so delicate that it made the fine beads of sweat on his forehead seem almost crystalline.

His fox-like eyes were gently closed, their corners naturally tilted upward. The mole on the bridge of his nose stood out starkly against his pale skin. He was a classic beauty.

The pair went from room to room, applying cooling pads to the men’s foreheads and leaving food by their bedsides in a repeated cycle.

Blake Blue had classically handsome and righteous features, like the main hero in a television drama. He exuded an aura of noble integrity.

His fingers were clenched tightly around a corner of the blanket. As Luna’s fingertips brushed his forehead, he furrowed his brow slightly in his sleep, a purely unconscious reaction.

Even in his deep slumber, his muscles remained faintly tense, radiating a vigilance he couldn’t shake, as if he could snap his eyes open at any moment to deal with an emergency.

The youngest of them, Aaron Palmer, had exceptionally large, bright eyes and sharp, well-defined features.

He was currently sprawled on the bed in a casual posture. His usual sharp edges were softened by sleep, giving him a gentler air.

The high fever seemed to have no effect on him at all; his breathing was deep and even, and he slept particularly soundly.

After taking care of the men, Luna and Evan walked slowly out of the villa.

"How could they all fall unconscious at the exact same time? It’s like girls in a dorm room getting so close their periods sync up."

Evan Olson couldn’t help but let out a hearty laugh. "Hahaha, they’re plenty close. They knew each other in the military, and then they spent a few years together as mercenaries in the same organization."

Luna was a little curious and asked offhandedly, "A few years? How old are they?"

Evan Olson listed them off. "Kevin Keane and Blake Blue are both twenty-eight, Lynn Shelby is twenty-nine, and Aaron Palmer, the youngest, is twenty-six."

Luna grumbled, "Minus one point for each of my ’excellent’ employees. They didn’t even introduce themselves to their boss. I had to ask myself..."

They had just walked out of the garden and closed the gate, Luna still lost in her litany of complaints.

Evan, however, had sharp eyes. In his peripheral vision, he caught sight of a van lurching erratically from behind a wall and hurtling toward them.

He quickly pulled Luna aside, dodging just as the vehicle slammed straight into the high wall by the villa’s main gate.

Thick smoke immediately began to billow from the front of the van.

Through the windshield, they could see a man in the driver’s seat. He looked to be in his thirties and was wearing a well-tailored black suit.

His eyes were a milky gray and his face was contorted in a snarl as he chewed on a large chunk of bloody flesh.

His head was twisted back at a bizarre angle, and his arms were bent unnaturally as he repeatedly reached for the back seat.

In the passenger seat sat a middle-aged woman. A gruesome, ragged tear ran from her left cheek down to her neck, and blood from her carotid artery had sprayed across the front windshield in a glaring splash of red.

Amid the gore, the neat alignment of the teeth in her mouth was clearly visible.

The left side of her chest was a mangled mess, shredded flesh clinging to her open sable coat. A glimpse of exposed ribs could be seen...

Although the woman was dead, her brain and spine were intact. It was only a matter of time before she turned into a zombie.

"Ah... ah!"

"...Help! Help us!"

A wave of screams suddenly erupted from the car.

The moment Luna heard the high-pitched screams, her eyes turned cold. She pulled an exquisite, double-edged dagger from her storage space.

She strode forward, yanked open the car door, and grabbed the man’s short hair with one hand, forcing his head back. With her other hand, she viciously stabbed the dagger into his temple.

With a single, swift motion, the gurgling sounds from the man’s throat ceased.

"Shut up if you don’t want to die!"

Gone was the playful woman who had been bantering with Evan Olson moments before. Now, Luna’s eyes were filled with nothing but chilling killing intent.

The two young women in the back seat felt a sudden, inexplicable chill. They clamped their hands tightly over their mouths, their screams turning into muffled sobs.

The older of the two had not only panic and fear in her eyes, but also a flash of displeasure.

’How dare someone scold me like that!’

The moment Evan saw Luna’s move, he opened the passenger door, drew his own dagger, and decisively plunged it into the dead woman’s eye socket.

As he withdrew the blade, he deftly wiped the blood on the woman’s clothes, his own expression turning hostile as he glared at the two in the back seat.

Seeing the immediate danger had passed, Yolanda Kramer and Shay Kramer took a moment to compose themselves before shakily getting out of the van.

Both were wearing cute loungewear. Although the sets were thick and fleece-lined, the outdoor temperature in Kensington was twenty to thirty degrees below zero. The girls’ teeth chattered, making a clicking sound.

It was hard to tell if they were shivering from fear or from the freezing temperature.

The moment they got out of the van, they lunged toward the dead woman in the passenger seat, crying out in unison, "Mom... Mommy!"

"Don’t leave us... sob... WAHHH..."

"What are we going to do... without you?"

...

After a few moments of wailing, the sisters exchanged a look. As if suddenly remembering something, they both turned to stare at Luna and Evan.