Be Careful What You Wish For: A Zombie Apocalypse-Chapter 284: A Price For Everything

If you really thought that I was dumb enough to actually grant a wish in front of an entire lineup of desperate humans, then you really didn’t know me as well as you thought you did.

I watched the illusion of the family of five walking away past everyone as those in the line stared at them. More than half of the people around me simply stared at them, a look of fear on their faces as if they were looking at a future version of themselves.

"They were probably duds," whispered the woman behind me. I really wanted to turn around and tell her that we had different ideas of what a ’whisper’ actually was, but she was back to looking at the woman beside her. "I heard that only those who could contribute to the sanctuary would be let inside."

"It’s either that or they were rude to the guard," whispered the other woman back. "I hear that the head guard is here today going through the line; that means we can’t bribe our way in either."

I raised an eyebrow but didn’t join in the conversation. Instead, I took a look around the outside of New Dawn Sanctuary with new eyes. Where we stood was completely empty. There was no place to hide and no way to sneak off without alerting suspicion.

And I suppose that anyone who had made it here wouldn’t all of a sudden run away without some type of guilty conscious. Plus, it would make it really easy for those in the towers to put a bullet in their brain without obstacles in their way.

Since I was about halfway to the gates, it was hard for me to actually see what they looked like, but I could only assume that they were similar to the walls.

The walls were probably over 20 feet tall with a mixture of earth and metal making the structure itself. From there, even I could see the thorns and spikes of the plants growing on the outside. Those things had to be more than a foot long and about the circumference of my fist for me to be able to see them so easily.

Climbing the wall was definitely not an option if you wanted to get inside.

On either side of the line was two sniper towers, each manned with four riflemen. There were two guns constantly moving back and forth. One was centered on the lineup of refugees while the other one scanned the no-man’s-land. The other two men had binoculars, helping to spot any other threats.

When I felt their gaze on me, I raised my hand and waved to them with a bright smile on my face.

Maybe this place wouldn’t be too bad after all. It seemed like everyone here could use a bit of chaos in their lives. ƒreewebɳovel.com

Another group of three men were sent packing, and we moved up another few steps.

"I’m bored," I whined, looking down at Tank. Letting go of the leash, I pulled off my backpack and took a lollypop out of it before returning it to my back and picking up the leash again.

Unwrapping it, I stuck the cherry lollypop in my mouth as the kid in front of me burst out crying. "Mommy!" he screamed, his voice grating on my nerves. "Mommy! She has a lolly! I want a lolly! I demand that lolly! It’s mine!"

Yeah, that really wasn’t happening, kid. You had a better chance of surviving by yourself in a pit of zombies than you did trying to take my lollypop from me.

The mother, a woman a little too done up for the current situation, spun around and looked me up and down. She was wearing a massive hat that didn’t seem at all practical with the bright pink fabric flower on the brim.

She was even wearing a pink flowing midi skirt and a white blouse without a single speck of dust on her outfit. The man beside her gave me a brief look before sniffing and turning back around. He was wearing a black pinstripe three-piece suit with a blue dress shirt underneath, the top button undone.

"You heard him," snapped the woman, forcing my eyes to go from her husband back to her. "Give my son your lollypop," she continued as her boy made an ever bigger fuss. Tank growled low, but I hushed him with a hand to the head.

"I mean, I could," I replied, pulling the piece of candy out of my mouth. "But I would expect his head in return. Are you sure you still want it?"

"Excuse me?" asked the man, finally turning around to look at me. "What did you say?"

"Oh, I’m sorry," I replied, my eyes big as I looked at him. "I didn’t realize that you were deaf. Sorry that I don’t know any sign language, but if you can read lips, read mine. If your son wants something that is mine, he needs to give me his head in return. Did you catch that?"

The woman gasped as if I was being unreasonable before looking at her husband. "Are you going to let her speak to your son like that?" she demanded, stomping her kitten heal on the ground as if that was going to prove her point.

"Can he really stop me?" I sighed. Tank growled again and stepped forward as his eyes started to glow. "Hush, baby," I said, crouching beside the massive hound’s head. "That kid probably tastes bad."

Tank sat down, but his eyes never left the family in front of us.

See, this was why I no longer did people. They were stupid.

"Give my son your sucker, and we won’t cause you any more trouble," sighed the man, clearly not wanting to listen to his wife or kid.

"I wasn’t worried about you causing me trouble," I assured him. "But I also wasn’t kidding about taking his head. There is a price for everything. Are you willing to pay it?"

"Do you know who I am?" demanded the man, as he narrowed his eyes and gave me his full attention.