Apocalypse Villainess? Nah, I'm Nice

Relationships are built by spending time together.

Blood ties are only as important as you make them. And as they spent more time together, they came to understand each other better, their bond growing ever deeper.

It was thanks to Wendy Lowell’s companionship that Paige Summers stopped dwelling on things she couldn’t change, and her spirits lifted.

Her only remaining worry was Marcus Monroe.

But before Marcus Monroe could return, the base received some unexpected guests.

When Paige Summers saw Evan Carter and Norman Ross standing at the entrance to her base—disheveled, covered in blood, and followed by some twenty young Superpower Users—she was utterly astonished.

"Let them in!"

At her command, the guards opened the gate.

Evan Carter managed a pained grin. Before she could ask a single question, the young people behind him collapsed, some slumping to the ground, others simply lying down flat.

Seeing this, she pressed her lips together. Without another word, she called for help to carry them to a large room in the residential block and had food and water prepared.

Those who were merely exhausted were at least able to eat after a short rest. They were clearly famished, and the sight of them wolfing down their food made Wendy Lowell’s heart ache when she arrived. She kept handing them bowls of soup, afraid they might choke in their haste.

Others were in slightly worse condition; some had collapsed from exhaustion, and some had lost a great deal of blood, but these were manageable cases. The most severe were those with internal injuries. They wouldn’t recover anytime soon and would need a long period of rest.

The only silver lining was that none of the injuries were life-threatening.

Paige Summers called over Sean Raines and Levi Young. It took them quite some time to get everyone settled.

Two large rooms were filled to capacity with the new arrivals, some sitting, some lying down.

The oldest among them were barely in their twenties, the youngest only seventeen or eighteen. Once the blood was wiped from their faces, their youth was apparent, yet their open eyes were already filled with a world-weary sorrow.

"We escaped..."

Norman Ross was among those in the best condition. He had simply been too tired and hungry to stay on his feet. After eating his fill, he had enough energy to begin telling Paige Summers about their plight.

"Back when the City Lord was still alive, we were given a secret mission: to guard some guests who had supposedly traveled all the way from Southreach. I don’t know who they were, but they had to be important. Their residence was already well hidden, but the City Lord still assigned five squads, including ours, to protect them. The order from above was to ensure their absolute safety."

"We weren’t allowed to enter or leave the area freely; we were only responsible for guarding the perimeter. We were basically cut off from the outside world, so we didn’t have much information. All we knew was that a few of the guests left at one point and then returned. But it wasn’t long before everything went wrong... The Power Corps’ First Division suddenly swarmed our position and attacked, calling us traitors. They wouldn’t listen to any of our explanations. We were under strict orders to protect those guests—a direct, kill-or-be-killed command from our superiors. We had no choice but to fight back against the First Division."

"There were only about a hundred of us, so we were already at a disadvantage. Then they told us the City Lord was dead. By that point, our superiors had vanished, and there was no one left to give us orders. Evan Carter and I talked it over. If we kept fighting, we were sure to die. But if we had to die, we wanted to know why! We’d rather die on a battlefield fighting Zombies and Mutant Beasts than be killed by our own people!"

"We couldn’t worry about the guests anymore. We fought with everything we had to break through their encirclement. We were originally trying to get to the Citadel, but then some people from the Second Division showed up and started trying to kill us, too..."

"Back then, I felt like the whole world had gone completely insane!"

Lost in the memory, Norman Ross let out a breath of confused and resentful air before quickly continuing, "This is Evan Carter’s squad. I was in a different unit, but he pulled me into his group so we could hide out together. We took over a house in the city, and it was only then that we found out... the City Lord was really dead. The Power Corps was conducting a secret, city-wide search. We couldn’t stay any longer, so we had to flee the city. We didn’t dare go to any other bases, afraid they would report us... so we could only come here..."

His eyes grew redder the more he spoke, until his voice trailed off into silence. Norman Ross lowered his head, saying no more.

Paige Summers’ brow furrowed.

After a long moment, she spoke. "In any case, you should all stay here for now. Focus on recovering. We can talk about everything else later. I don’t have much information myself, so I’m not sure what’s really going on. I’ll send some people to do some digging."

"Yes..." Norman Ross breathed a sigh of relief.

Only after Paige Summers left the room did he lie back on the bed, still fully clothed.

As he drifted into darkness, he had one last thought: ’Thank god. Thank god Evan Carter and I got our brothers out of that city alive!’

Walking along the path outside, Paige Summers took a deep breath, which finally quelled the nausea.

It couldn’t be helped. Ever since she’d gotten pregnant, the smell of blood was almost unbearable. It was a miracle she hadn’t thrown up.

She glanced back, her eyes filled with pity.

’These poor kids have the worst luck. One moment, they were the City Lord’s personal guard, the envy of everyone. The next, they’re branded as traitors and being hunted down.’

’No wonder Norman Ross was so distraught.’

’They should have seen it coming, really. The moment Leo Joyce died, they became orphans. And precisely because he had treated them so well, no one else dared to "adopt" them. Besides, they’re all too young, too impulsive. Anyone who took them in would worry about raising a tiger that would turn on them, or that their efforts would backfire spectacularly.’

’Rather than leaving such a potential threat unchecked, it was simpler for the new powers-that-be to just ruthlessly eliminate them.’

’So it seems the entire Southern Army has turned against him...’

’Leo Joyce must have been deeply unpopular.’

’To have his own forces bought out so quickly!’

’Maybe he knew all along that those people weren’t the most trustworthy. That must be why he started training his own personal guard so early.’

’He just never expected to die so mysteriously!’

’Those poor kids.’

’They were nearly wiped out as cannon fodder before they even understood what was going on...’

As Paige considered all this, a sudden smile touched her lips.

’It’s a good thing they knew to come to me!’

’Since no one else dares to take them in, I’ll be happy to keep them all for myself!’

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