Magic Space: Struggling to Survive in the Apocalypse

"Come out."

A deep, cold voice came from behind them. Quincy jumped, and before he could see who it was, a force yanked him out of the shed.

Seeing Ronan Kendrick in front of him, Quincy clapped a hand to his chest.

"You scared the hell out of me! Whispering in my ear like that, I thought you were a ghost."

Ethan Dawson also sized Ronan Kendrick up. "Did you come looking for us specifically?"

Ronan Kendrick nodded. "I just got here. What’s the situation?"

"Ethan Dawson and I just infiltrated a thug crew under the Black Dragon Gang called the Tiger Squad. It’s like the protection rackets from before the apocalypse, but they’re a full-blown gang. They forcibly collect food, and if you don’t give it to them, they beat you. If there are any young women, these bastards violate them." Quincy ran a hand through his hair in frustration. "Ronan, this place is beyond saving. Everyone here has gone crazy."

"Where are your pistols?"

"I have one on me, and Ethan Dawson has one. Luckily, we hid our other things on the way here. The moment we joined the Tiger Squad, those guys confiscated our backpacks. Thankfully, there were only two sets of clothes and a bag of black flour inside, so it wasn’t a huge loss."

Ronan Kendrick nodded. "Do you want to stay with the Tiger Squad, or come back with me first?"

"What about Evelyn Ford?"

"She’s at the small house in the residential area. Oh, and we ran into Annie."

Quincy paused for a moment. "The child Serena Lynch and Chase Underwood adopted?"

"Yes. He’s with Evelyn now. Have you made a decision? Go back to the Tiger Squad or come with me?"

Before meeting up with them, Ronan Kendrick had paid a visit to the Black Dragon Gang’s headquarters. He’d had a stroke of luck today and managed to see their leader, Drake.

Quincy glanced at the shed. "Of course we’re going back with you. John Miller is dead. If the two of us go back to the Tiger Squad, we might be treated as suspects. Besides, we have a general understanding of the situation there now. By the way, what about Serena Lynch and Chase Underwood?"

"I don’t know. Let’s go."

Quincy pointed inside. "What about the woman in there?"

"I’ll go check." Ethan Dawson went back to check on the situation while Ronan Kendrick and Quincy waited for him around the corner.

Inside the shed, Wendy Lawrence had packed up all her belongings. She used the last of her water to wash her hands and tied up her messy hair. With Joyce wrapped in a bedsheet and tied to her back, she picked up her luggage, ready to leave.

The floor was a river of blood. John Miller and Quinn Zane lay decapitated.

The moment Ethan Dawson appeared at the entrance, Wendy Lawrence jumped. She gripped her chipped machete tightly, her bloodshot eyes fixed on him.

"What... what do you want?"

Ethan Dawson glanced at Wendy Lawrence, seemingly oblivious to her wary and hateful stare.

"This is for you."

He took a lighter from his pocket and stuffed it into her luggage bag. Without a light source, moving around in the polar night would be nearly impossible.

Wendy Lawrence kept staring at Ethan Dawson, her eyes filled with vigilance and hatred. The man before her was also a member of the Tiger Squad; just a moment ago, he had been standing right behind John Miller.

Ethan Dawson didn’t offer any explanation. After stuffing the lighter into her bag, he left. As for John Miller and Quinn Zane, even a single glance felt defiling.

When Ethan Dawson returned to the corner, Quincy was still rambling on about the internal workings of the Tiger Squad, while Ronan Kendrick stood listening with his arms crossed.

"Is it handled?"

Ethan Dawson shook his head. "I didn’t handle anything. The woman left."

"Left? To where?"

"She’s probably leaving the refugee camp to bury her daughter outside," Ethan Dawson said. Ronan Kendrick then took out his watch and checked the time.

"Let’s go. Evelyn Ford must be getting anxious."

Quincy nodded. "I’m starving. Let’s go get our stuff that we hid on the way, before someone else takes it."

The three of them left through a narrow side path, retrieved their belongings, and departed from the refugee camp.

「The small house.」

Evelyn Ford looked at the three men tied up securely before her, their mouths sealed with black tape.

Half an hour earlier, after Annie had fallen asleep, Evelyn was brewing medicine when she suddenly heard voices outside the house. Grabbing a knife, she went up to the second floor and found three men sneaking around outside.

The three were whispering, plotting how to break into the house and steal. Evelyn stood on the second floor, observing them. After putting on her night-vision goggles, the men’s movements below became perfectly clear.

"Picking the lock is safer. I have a master key," one of the men said, pulling out a piece of wire. He held a burlap sack in his other hand.

"Let’s throw the Eagle Claw Hook onto the rooftop railing and go in through the second floor. The window up there can just be pushed open, it won’t make a sound."

Evelyn glanced at the windowsill. Ronan Kendrick had already removed the glass from the window.

"To think there’s a nice little house like this here. We’ve hit the jackpot."

"Quiet down. Let’s just pick the lock. The Eagle Claw Hook is too risky. Last time, you didn’t get a good grip with it and nearly got yourself crippled."

Evelyn couldn’t believe she’d run into such incompetent thieves. They had been deliberating for almost ten minutes and still hadn’t reached a consensus. She put away her knife, casually went back downstairs, and prepared to brew a pot of tea to wake herself up.

She put the medicine pot that had been warming on the stove into her space and replaced it with a teapot. Annie was sleeping soundly. Evelyn wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, then leaned back in her chair, planning to rest her eyes for a bit.

A noise came from outside, but Evelyn paid it no mind. A fully loaded pistol was resting on her lap.

The wire wasn’t very effective. It took the man more than ten minutes to finally get the front door open. However, when they opened the door, the three of them were dumbfounded.

The first floor was lit. To prevent the light from seeping out, Evelyn had stuffed rags under the door. In the corner to the right was a folding bed with someone lying on it. On the floor were a storage battery, a power strip, and a meter-tall floor lamp. And by the stove, someone was leaning back in a chair.

The three men were about to run, but just then, Evelyn’s eyes snapped open and locked onto them.

"Th-this is a robbery." The three men, who had been about to flee, instantly changed their minds. ’A young, slender woman like her is surely no match for the three of us, and we can’t bear to leave with so many good things around.’

Evelyn still didn’t move. She poured herself a cup of tea. Being ignored, the three men looked at each other in confusion. One of them closed the door, put on a vicious expression, and pulled out a knife strapped to his back, pointing it at Evelyn.

"Don’t move! We don’t kill people. We’ll just take the stuff and go. If you want to live, don’t make a sound."

Evelyn picked up her pistol and looked at them. "Take whatever you like."

Seeing the pistol, the three men froze.

Seeing their dumbfounded expressions, Evelyn raised an eyebrow. "Go on, take something. Don’t you see anything you like? You argued for nearly half an hour and took more than ten minutes to open the door. Are you really planning to leave empty-handed?"

Now the three of them were truly dumbfounded.

"You... you knew we were here all along?"

Evelyn nodded, blew on her tea, and took a leisurely sip.

"Sorry, we’ve got the wrong house. We’ll leave right now."

One of them had already recognized that the gun in Evelyn’s hand was real. He grabbed the other two and was about to bolt for the door when Evelyn suddenly stood up.

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