City A
"Shit! when will this rain stop?" In a dimly lit room, a few candles flickered. Under the candlelight, three big men were boredly playing poker. The middle-aged man, the oldest among them, laid down a pair of Aces. His name was Li Lao Da, with a body full of muscle.
Meanwhile, the gloomy atmosphere outside the window added to their dissatisfaction.
And who were the two young men beside him?
Li Lao San and Li Lao Er, almost identical twins. They were his younger brothers, both in their early thirties. While Li Lao Er worked as a security guard, tall and skinny with a stern face, Li Lao San was just a common thug in society.
At the onset of the zombie outbreak, Li Lao San fled to where his two brothers were. Since then, the three brothers had been hiding out in a small store, barely scraping by.
"Pass!"
Li Lao'er passes. Then, he glanced at the dwindling supplies in the room and turned to his eldest brother.
"Bro, if we keep this up, we'll starve to death here. We need to figure something out!"
"Figure something out? Ha."
Li Lao Da shot Li Lao Er a disdainful look and threw down a straight. Then, he looked towards four women huddled in a corner not far from the room.
"If things don't improve, we could eat them. What do you think?" Li Lao Da said, half-jokingly.
Li Lao Er was left speechless at the suggestion.
"Are you kidding me?"
And then he followed suit with a straight. The three brothers complained about their current predicament while playing cards.
Meanwhile, the four women in the corner of the room were shivering against the wall. Two of them were in their thirties and quite beautiful - one named He Li, the other Zhang Yu. They were feeling the chill, but they didn't even have suitable warm clothes.
Another woman, He Hua, was He Li's younger sister.
The last one was Zhang Xiao Lei, Zhang Yu's daughter.
They were all survivors trapped after the zombie outbreak, thinking they were safe from the undead but falling into the hands of these despicable three brothers. Despite being former colleagues of Li Lao Da and Li Lao Er, the two women were now at the mercy of the brothers.
In fact, they had already been harmed by them, if not for their desperate protection of the two girls, they would have been harmed long ago.
However, the reason these scum of the earth didn't harm the two girls wasn't because they had a change of heart. It was purely a strategic move to use the girls as leverage to control the women.
After all, in this era of dwindling resources, sitting idly meant death. Going out to find food was too risky with hordes of zombies outside. So, the three brothers had no choice but to send the two women out to scavenge while they enjoyed the spoils. If the women dared to escape, they knew the hellish memories waiting for their sister and daughter would be unbearable.
"Damn it, this is boring, I'm out!" Li Lao Shi swept the cards off the table in frustration and headed into the back room where their supplies were stored. From one of the crates, he took out three loaves of bread and tossed one to each of his brothers. They sat on the side, devouring the bread hungrily. Meanwhile, the four women in the corner watched with longing.
Seeing their reaction, Li Lao Da indulged even more in his meal. After he finished every last crumb, he swaggered over to the women in the corner.
On the other hand, Li Lao Da took a particular interest in He Li's sister, He Hua. Zhang Xiao Lei couldn't help but gulp nervously as she watched Li Lao Da eyeing her and her mother, noticing their dirty bodies and the stench from lack of bathing. Surprisingly, Li Lao Da seemed to lose interest momentarily.
Meanwhile, Zhang Xiao Lei instinctively grabbed Li Lao Da's sturdy right hand, realizing that compared to her mother, her aunt, who had not been insulted yet, was much cleaner. Li Lao Da's eyes shifted, and he reached over to grab He Hua's long hair.
"Ahh!!"
He Hua screamed in agony as her hair was forcefully pulled, attempting to alleviate the pain.
Seeing this, He Li, who usually bowed her head, couldn't stand it anymore.
"What are you doing? You promised not to harm her!!"
She scratched and clawed at Li Lao Da like a mad cat, but due to her lack of food, she had no strength.
"Bang!!"
Li Lao Da kicked her two meters away without any pity. Nearby, Zhang Yu dared not intervene but held her daughter Zhang Xiao Lei tightly, fearing the wrath might be directed at her daughter. Gritting her teeth, she glared at Li Lao Da.
"You promised not to touch my sister..."
Her voice was hoarse and desperate.
Only then did Li Lao Da release He Hua's hair and threw her to the ground. Not far away, He Li, who had been kicked to the ground, watched Li Lao Da approach her with a disdainful smirk.
"Did I promise? I don't recall."
If a look could kill a person, then Li Lao Da must have been hacked to pieces by He Li by now.
"Slap!!"
The slap resounded loudly, immediately disheveling He Li's hair.
"We're running out of food. Understand?"
He Li didn't say anything, just clenched her teeth and stared at him.
"Damn it, are you still glaring at me? You've got some nerve! Do you know who's providing for you?"
After cursing a few more times, Li Lao Da got to the point.
"If you really want us to treat you well, go find some food. I'll give you two days. If you don't bring anything back in two days, you know the consequences."
"..."
He Li didn't say a word, just gritted her teeth and lowered her head.
"Damn it, did you hear me?!!!" Li Lao Da roared.
He Li's body trembled suddenly.
"I heard. I'll... I'll go now."
Finally, she struggled to get up from the ground. Supporting her wobbly body, she opened the makeshift fence outside the convenience store and stepped into the rain. After He Li left, Li Lao Er and Li Lao San went into the inner room. As they entered, Li Lao Er glanced at Zhang Yu. Zhang Yu happened to make eye contact with him.
"What are you waiting for? Get in!"
Li Lao Er impatiently shouted.
Zhang Yu hesitated for a moment. Despite being reluctant, she ultimately set down the daughter in her arms and followed inside.
"Hey, you two, be a little restrained and pay attention to hygiene," reminded He Lao Da.
Not long after, there came a commotion from the inner room.
Li Lao Da sat on the sofa, looking at the menu of a restaurant in his hand, ignoring the noise from the inner room, as if he hadn't heard anything. Or perhaps he was just accustomed to it. Meanwhile, He Hua, in the corner, could only hold the trembling Zhang Xiao Lei in her arms.
Zhang Xiao Lei was crying silently, too scared to make a sound because every time she cried before, it was followed by a beating. When would this kind of life end?
He Hua was slowly sinking into despair over her current situation.Yet she could do nothing, only being protected desperately by her sister like a burden.If only someone could save us... Where were the heroes and saviors of the fairy tales now?
The girl could only pray silently, knowing deep down it was just wishful thinking.