Right now at Manish's house, the three men lay on the sofa groaning in pain. You ever since their last unsuccessful attack on my house, their plan to forcibly take medicine also failed now without the treatment of antibiotics and other drugs; couple with new injuries and the reopened old ones.
Their wounds had started to fester, giving a disgusting stench that wafted through the entire living room. Ben had been racking his head trying to find a solution- I guess Diana forgot to comeback and treat them after I gave her the medicine pack- after all he was still so young and had even gotten wife yet; he didn't want to die so soon.
If it were just simple scratches it might not have been a big issue. But they were wounded by bullets-you couldn't just slap on a Band-Aid and say 'oh I'll be fine in two days~'. So without the use of antibiotics their wounds would only get worse.
Fueled by desperation Manish asked Ben "Can you please go plead with Ash for us, just try again maybe he'll listen to you. Otherwise we're all going to die!"
But ben waved his hand 'I'm out of ideas okay! Ashok is not easily persuaded so just let me think."- You've heard it here first folks, idea guy is out of ideas.
…On Abhay's side…
With the bounty still looming over his head like a guillotine, Abhay had begun to feel restless. He even dreamt that he would be ambushed by his subordinates in the middle of the night.
So in order to increase manpower went out using 'meat' and his pistol to 'persuade' some residents to join his camp, and after hearing from those 'willing' people that there was food many other people willingly joined him.
I who was watching via drone wondered 'Even if you have many people in your camp. What do you think they're going to do when there's no food left?'
Then I called Diana asking her on a situation report, but I what Diana told me was "Abhay has gone crazy; the existing food has been eaten up. They are preparing to start robbing house again; your neighbors have already become their victims…"
Then after recounting how Abhay took over my neighbor's house, she pleaded "Save me! I haven't eaten anything in 2 days; I won't hold on much longer if this keeps up…"
I actually had to take this seriously this time, after all Diana was a surgeon in the nearby grade-3 hospital, and more importantly the only doctor in this neighborhood. With doctors hard to find I can't afford to let her die.
So first I had to calm her down "don't worry once I this is over with, I assure you won't have to worry about anything…"
*Bang*, *Bang*, *Bang*…
I was rudely interrupted by someone banging the door, and guess what it was Manish-I guess I'll drop my shotgun- and clearly he had become hysterical. I could tell because after I asked him what he wanted through speaker he started yelling "Ashok you coward come out! I know you won't help us after what we've done but Khushi is starving to death while you're still hiding in there. Are you a man!?"
At this point this wasn't even funny anymore… just sad. I know that when a guy simps he becomes slightly retarded, but this guy I'm willing to call one of the last simp of the apocalypse- the king of Simps.
I felt like I should help him wake up to reality, even if for the sake of once being in a slightly similar position. I said flatly "You're still thinking about Khushi at time like this? You should think more about yourself you fool; given your current situation tetanus has spread all over your body. I feel that even if I gave you antibiotics it would be useless."
Now I'm not sure if it was my words giving him a cold splash of the reality, or the fact that standing in freezing cold whether while feeling sick finally caught up to him. But he fell down like a house of cards.
After taking a moment to ensure he didn't die on me I continued "I remember you've been a simp to her for so many years right? Ask yourself; have you've ever even held her hand? Have you!? So instead of waiting here to die, you might as well do what you want to do."
Hearing all I had to say he suddenly realized something; he had the look of enlightenment. He struggled to get up before staggering back home muttering "I'll do what I want to. I'll do what I want to…"- I have a good and bad feeling about this… so egg fried rice or risotto for dinner then… hmm I'll try both?
Now back to Manish, who had just burst into Khushi's room and knelt down before her scaring the shit out of her.
Khushi was terrified; for good reason to. He looked like a mad man and smelled like a zombie. She yelled "Manish what are you doing!?"
Manish's eyes were bloodshot; staring at her intently "Khushi will you marry me?"
Khushi recoiled in disgust; she also instinctively pinched her nose "I WON'T." She tried to distance herself from Manish to one "Get out of here, you smell like a corpse."
'I have to go find the others' she thought, but that wasn't stopping her mouth from running wild "who do you think you are? You're useless; not even worth as much as a spare tire! You're…"
Hearing insult's the raining down on him, Manish finally broke down.
Thinking back on how he had given so much for Khushi even with his own life at stake; then realizing Khushi never had even the smallest heartfelt love for him from beginning to end. He and his sanity were finally pushed to the yandere side.
In desperation Manish grabbed Khushi's neck tightly shrieking hysterically "NO! You love me! You know I'm going to die soon right~? Let's go to hell together forever~"
Khushi was horrified, slapping, clawing, kicking doing anything that she could do to distance himself; get his hands off "Let me go! Get away from me! You're disgusting"
Manish only grew more determined "Oh so I'm disgusting? You dare call me smelly as well? Isn't it because of you that I ended up like this!?"
Khushi's face was turning purple as she struggled desperately; she coughed up the words "Who's to blame if… you're a useless… desperate… l-loser."
…
Back on Abhay's side, Diana finally prepared to put Ash's plans into action. She knew it was a test from Ashok; although dangerous, if she didn't do it she wouldn't last long under Abhay's rule. With this thought Diana slowly walked towards the kitchen.
Then she told Abhay that she wanted to help in the kitchen causing Abhay to think Diana had come to her senses. So he gave a nod of approval "…that's for the best; I knew you couldn't resist. Now you have more use to me now."
She care turned her head and tried to maintain composure "I simply don't want to die." Abhay relaxed further; then he waved his hand non-chalantly telling his men "Let her into the kitchen."
Once inside, Diana picked up an Axe and started to chop wood- he took from others houses. With gas-lines not working and electricity scarce these days, cooking can only be done by burning furniture.
The reason she chose this task in particular was that although she had 'agreed' to Abhay's terms, she couldn't help but feel a bit hesitant about this kind of meat. After a while one of the men asked Diana to watch the fire, and ensure it didn't go out. Then he left to prepare the ingredients.
Seeing her chance she pulled out a small bottle from her pocket; then poured all the liquid into the pot. She then carefully stirred the pot while resisting the sick feeling in her stomach.
When meal time came she was also asked to serve everyone a large bowl of cannibal's soup. Abhay looked at the tender pieces of 'meat' in his bowl smiled 'I never thought she would actually join us."
In order to gain their trust- since they were all giving her 'the look'- Diana also served herself a bowl of soup. Then quietly picked it up and went back to her room; waiting silently for the drug to take effect.
She'd done her part and the drugs would do the rest; now all she had to do was wait and pray that Abhay wouldn't notice she had tampered with the soup.
It was a success; in no time Abhay and the others fell asleep. Diana snuck out of her room and after being sure EVERYBODY was asleep, she took a deep breath and…
To Be Continued