Building a Safe Zone with My Harem In The Post-Apocalyptic World

The only sounds Gideon could hear were his own breathing, the footsteps of his men against the wet ground, and the occasional drip of water echoing somewhere in the darkness.

None of them could tell where the water was coming from, which somehow made the sound even more unsettling.

The mine was almost completely dark. The flashlights mounted on their heads illuminated the path ahead, but even with them, their visibility barely reached fifty meters.

Gideon could sense the nervousness coming from the four men behind him, though nobody said anything at first. Talking too much in a place like this was a good way to miss something moving in the darkness.

Then Petter broke the silence.

"Chief?"

Gideon glanced back.

Petter cleared his throat. "I mean... Boss. Is the rumor actually true?"

"What rumor?"

"The one about you sleeping with Boss Jade and the other four women."

Someone immediately elbowed Petter, followed by a quiet, "Ow, fuck."

Gideon couldn’t help chuckling. "That’s true. Is a man having a harem really that uncommon these days?"

The men went silent for a moment before Nick cleared his throat.

"No, Chief. Don’t mind that idiot. He just hates silence and, for some fucking reason, always feels the need to fill it."

"It’s fine," Gideon said with a shrug. "The silence is starting to annoy me too. Might as well get to know each other."

He turned his head slightly and noticed the tension in their shoulders finally ease.

Addam was the first to take advantage of it.

"Well, this is already better. I hate Aaron’s serious-leader bullshit. He’s fun when he isn’t in charge."

Nick immediately smacked him on the back of the head. The sound echoed through the mine.

Everyone chuckled.

"You deserved that," Jasper said. "Aaron’s strict because he doesn’t want us getting killed."

His gray eyes shifted toward Gideon. "Though our new leader doesn’t seem particularly worried about that."

The sarcasm was obvious.

Nick clicked his tongue. "Don’t mind him. He’s always like this. Somehow depressing, arrogant, and annoying all at the same time."

"Of course I am, I’m the best fighter here," Jasper shot back. "I’ve killed more aberrants than all of you combined."

"You’re the lead assaulter," Addam replied. "Of course you get the first shot at everything."

He snickered. "Well, you’re not anymore."

The others laughed again.

Gideon heard Jasper release a long, heavy breath, but the man wisely decided not to continue the argument.

That was enough for Gideon.

In less than a minute, he had learned more about the group than he probably would have through an entire formal briefing.

Petter was the one who couldn’t tolerate silence and joking around too much, Addam was the troublemaker, Nick was the peacemaker, and Jasper was the arrogant one who could potentially become a problem if things went badly.

Useful information.

Gideon turned his attention forward again.

"Jasper is right. I’m not worried about any of you dying."

The laughter immediately faded. He let the silence stretch for a moment before continuing.

"But for a completely different reason than Aaron. You’ll find out soon enough." A grin spread across Gideon’s face. "I just hope you all enjoy the surprise."

He chuckled and faced the darkness ahead.

Then his expression changed.

Something had moved in the distance. It was faint enough that his men couldn’t hear it yet, but Gideon could.

And whatever was making that sound was getting closer.

The sound came again, faint and distant, almost swallowed by the dripping water.

This time, Gideon could make out a word.

"Jasper?"

The man behind him stopped so suddenly that Petter nearly walked into his back. Gideon turned and saw the change in Jasper’s expression immediately.

The arrogance that had been there only moments ago was gone, replaced by confusion and something much more vulnerable.

"Did you hear that?" Jasper asked quietly.

Nick frowned. "Hear what? I didn’t hear anything."

"My brother." Jasper stared into the darkness ahead. "That was my brother’s voice. I know his voice."

Petter glanced at Gideon before looking back at Jasper. "Your brother? I thought you said he died years ago."

"He did." The answer came too quickly.

Another voice drifted through the tunnel.

"Jasper, where are you?"

Jasper’s breathing became heavier. His fingers tightened around his rifle as he took a hesitant step forward.

"That’s him," he whispered. "That’s really him."

Gideon immediately caught his shoulder.

"Don’t move yet."

Jasper turned toward him, his expression suddenly irritated. "Chief, I know what my brother sounds like. I don’t need you telling me whether I should recognize his voice."

"I didn’t say you were wrong about the voice. I said you shouldn’t follow it."

Jasper opened his mouth, but Gideon continued before he could argue.

"Look around you. We’ve been walking through this mine for several minutes, and none of us saw another living person entering with us. Yet suddenly your dead brother starts calling your name from somewhere ahead. That’s not a coincidence."

Jasper’s jaw tightened. "You don’t know what happened to him."

"No, I don’t," Gideon replied calmly. "But I know something is wrong here."

The others remained silent, though Gideon could feel their uneasiness growing. The fact that even grown men like Jasper were so deeply affected by the voice suggested that the parasite was attacking their brains or perception, much like it did with the infected.

The question is, how?

Then, the walls around them had begun to change.

Thin, pale growths spread through the cracks in the stone, crawling around old wooden supports and disappearing beneath the wet ground.

They looked almost like fungal roots, except they were too smooth and too wet, with faint movements that made Gideon wonder whether they were actually contracting.

The deeper they went, the more of them appeared.

"Chief..." Petter whispered. "Was that stuff there before?"

Gideon glanced at the wall. "I don’t think so."

Petter swallowed. "Then what the fuck is it?"

"I don’t know. Don’t touch it."

Before anyone could say anything else, another voice came from the darkness.

"Petter?"

Petter froze. His face immediately lost its color.

"My wife."

Addam stared at him. "What?"

"My wife just called me."

Nick grabbed Petter’s arm. "Your wife is back in Climber Rift."

"I know that! But what if they kidnapped her?"

The voice came again, this time softer.

"Petter, please. Come here."

Petter’s eyes began to water.

Gideon stepped closer to him. "Petter, listen to me. Whatever you hear, don’t follow it."

"But that’s her voice, Chief. That’s exactly how she sounds."

"I believe you."

That answer made Petter look at him.

Gideon kept his voice steady. "That’s precisely why you shouldn’t follow it."

A third voice echoed through the mine, calling Addam’s name. Then another called Nick.

Within seconds, the darkness around them seemed filled with familiar voices, each one coming from a different direction.

Some sounded frightened, others relieved, while a few simply called their names as if they were waiting for them to return home.

Gideon remained unaffected enough to think clearly, but the others were struggling.

Then figures began appearing ahead.

At first, they looked like ordinary people standing in the darkness.

The flashlight beams reached them gradually, revealing familiar faces beneath the dim light.

Peter saw his wife. Addam saw an old friend. Nick saw someone Gideon didn’t recognize. Jasper saw his brother.

The figures approached slowly, their bodies formed from pale biological tissue that had been shaped into crude human forms.

Their faces were almost convincing, but only in the darkness. Their proportions were slightly wrong, their movements too stiff, and their expressions remained unnaturally fixed.

Yet Gideon could understand why the others were affected.

The parasite wasn’t creating perfect copies. It didn’t need to.

It only needed to manipulate what they saw just enough for their brains to complete the image themselves.

Jasper stepped forward again. His brother’s imitation smiled at him.

"Jasper, you promised you’d come back for me."

Jasper’s breathing broke. "I..."

His voice trembled, and Gideon could finally see what had been hidden behind all of his arrogance.

"What happened to him?" Gideon asked quietly.

Jasper didn’t answer. The imitation took another step.

"You left me there."

Jasper lowered his weapon.

"I was supposed to come back," he whispered. "I told him I would."

Nick looked at him with concern, but Gideon raised one hand, stopping him.

The figure continued.

"You heard me calling, didn’t you? You knew I was still alive, but you ran."

Jasper’s eyes became wet.

"I didn’t know," he whispered. "I thought you were already dead."

"You didn’t even look."

Gideon finally understood. This wasn’t simply showing Jasper someone he loved.It was showing him his guilt.

The parasite had found the wound and was pressing directly against it.

Jasper took another step. Gideon’s hand tightened around his shoulder.

"Jasper."

"Let me go."

"No."

"Chief, that’s my brother."

"No, it isn’t."

Jasper turned sharply toward him, anger finally breaking through his grief.

"You don’t know that!"

"I know because your brother is dead, and whatever is standing in front of you just told you exactly what you were afraid to hear."

The figure’s smile slowly widened.

Gideon stared directly at it, rifle raised.

"So that’s your trick. It’s so cheap and disgusting."

The thing didn’t respond. It simply stood there wearing a dead man’s face.

His hand tightened on his rifle as the voice of gunshot and scream filled the space.

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