Those were my terms, and if she still wouldn't agree she could only sacrifice something else. Then had another idea; I said "I can provide you the medicine and food but don't come over just yet. You have to do me a favor and keep an eye on those neighbors. Soon they will definitely take action; I need you to be my spy to acquire their action plans so… the choice is yours now."
I laid down my terms. "You can be a bystander or you can choose to side with me… choose wisely~"
For a moment Diana fell silent. She knew that if she chose me she would have to face all the homeowners in the building along with me- what she didn't know was that my house had long been turned into a fortress. Even if they came with a tank, they still wouldn't break in.
But that gave the perfect chance to test her; while I waited for her reply idea guy -whose name I still can't remember- sent me a final ultimatum.
A cold smile appeared at the corner of my mouth. This guy had overstepped his bounds I responded "Sorry everyone but unfortunately, I don't have anything for you as I gave the last of my chicken bones to a pack of stray dogs. I'd still have had some dog food but they wouldn't share it with you."
Idea man blew his top; I could almost sense his teeth grinding. He made it clear in his message he got the message I hid in there "Wow! Very good Ash, that's okay you still dare to act tough and mock people even when death is imminent. Just remember you brought this upon yourself; don't say we didn't give you a chance."
Soon a chat group was established by Abhay to take me down was made. His opening message had a very solemn tone. "Everyone first thing I will make clear is that, for this operation to eliminate Ash I only need half of the supplies. After getting the supplies I swear I won't harm anyone anymore."
Idea guy was the first to speak "Let's all put our past grudges aside for now, our primary goal is to take down Ash…"
Back on my side I was oblivious to this- though I could already guess. Diana finally agreed to my terms; she was very clear in her heart that she alone couldn't hold out for long without clinging to a strong figure in this apocalyptic world.
Soon I received a message from her "Yash, Abhay and his gang have decided to launch an attack at 12:00Am tonight."
I for obvious reasons was not panicked at all. But I was curious about what kind of mess this group would to make at this point.
Diana who was panicked didn't take my silence as a good thing "Ash! Those people have gone crazy. Aren't you going to come up with a plan?"
But I just glanced at the guns laid next to me- my trusty shot gone and a few others… and wondered if I should laugh.
I messaged "All this fear would only make sense if I had inadequate firepower. So you don't have to worry; just remember not to follow along with their actions. I'm only warning once"
With that said I picked up a gun sat back and got ready to enjoy the show; soon it was 12:00am in the morning. A group of people armed with weapons came marching towards my house.
"Today we must kill that selfish bastard!" Surprisingly it seemed they learned something-I thought they were incapable of that- from last time; soon the entrance of my house was surrounded by Abhay and gang-though I wonder why I no one found my wide open gate strange?
After keeping a 'safe distance' he bellowed "come out if you don't want to die Ashok. This is your last chance."
I didn't give then a reply so he sent his men to try break the door down, but what I saw from the surveillance couldn't help but make me laugh. It also confirmed that I was right, they are incapable of learning- what did I see? A bunch of fools attempting to break down my door with METAL tools they held with BARE hands.
Since they didn't learn anything I decide to teach them again. I turned on the high voltage device and set it to max.
Just as the first thug tried to break down the door, they got electrocuted. I found funny as he was emitting a puff of black smoke like what you'd see in a comedy.
But I guess the other thugs didn't have a sense of humor. After seeing this, the others were frightened and they tried to escape.
The key point is they tried to. But as soon as they turned around they were blocked by Abhay pointing his gun at them. Then he acted like some famous general saying "When you dare to enter the battle, you must be prepared to die. Keep smashing the door! I don't believe he can keep his high voltage electricity running forever."
Then idea guy quick came forward to diffuse the tension and encourage, in likeness with a politician he told them "Don't be afraid everyone! We must avenge our fallen comrades; as long as we work together to break this iron door…"
He wasn't done talking he too acted like a great army general "Remember what awaits us inside! Cozy fireplaces and endless food"-He sold my house off like it was the Promised Land.
Encouraged by his words the residents who originally wanted to leave were instantly filled with fighting spirit. They picked up wooden tools this time and began smashing my door; with hope for a bite of food everyone was exerting all their strength.
Listening to it I found it quite rhythmic, and so I also became interested. Then I retrieved a large speaker from the space, and shouted "Are you even trying? Put your backs into it; I mean seeing you all so hardworking I'll even play a tune for you."-In my defense you would all have done the same thing
What was really surprising… is that it worked? Hearing the battle song team assholes and simps-I think that a good name- were banging on my door like they took crack.
However no matter how many songs I played; after half an hour of relentless beating a few of them were panting and fell to the ground. "What kind of door is this? We've hitting it for so long but only a tiny scratch was left. It seems we won't able to break it open even if we tried for years"
At this moment one of the residents who works at a bank stepped forward; examined the scratch marks immediately identified it as a bank vault grade door. He said "such a door can't be breached even by hitting with sticks. We'd a lot of explosives just to break it down; this is type of door might even be stronger than the vault in the bank I work in. So even then it might not break."
The others looked shocked; and Abhay asked "Ben is there no way to open the door?" only for ben to reply "unless we can find the world's top locksmith, there's no chance to open it."
While he was explaining I had already come to the door with my crossbow- not a gun since this is more silent.
"Nope, professional help is cheating." I murmured, then I shot an arrow at him; seeing the man get shot the other residents panicked.
"Ash actually has weapons? Abhay didn't even tell us." And so the game had begun, they ran fast and my finger was faster- oh and I changed to my shot gone at some point.
Anyway I stopped after shooting a couple of them down I stopped turned. Of course partly to give them the impression I ran out of bullets. Seeing those human 'sieves' I made I felt no guilt 'If they want my life there's no need for me to be care for theirs'
Then after taking the bait ides guy-who turned out to be ben once again had… you guessed it an idea!
Ignoring the pain of being shot for the second time in his life he shouted "Everyone don't panic I have a plan."- Here we go again…
Getting their attention he continued "Ash's steel door might be thick, but wall is still made of cement bricks. I don't believe we can't break it down right?"
Manish who somehow managed to avoid getting shot was already onboard "we have so many people; we can definitely break his wall in less than half an hour. Let's do it!"
And so team assholes and simps regrouped; mustered up their strength and started smashing the wall with vigor. All while idea guy… *cough* I mean ben kept encouraging them- from a safe distance.
Sure enough in a little while cracks started appearing on the wall, and they broke through the concrete. A big man got excited and smashed the wall with even more force but a metallic clang echoed.
Ben rushed forward, but not to check on the man, but to confirm his fears; he swore "DAMN IT!"
It was as he feared the wall had steel plates in them too. Abhay was shocked, as the boss construction company he knew how much it would cost for a building this size-Who uses steel plates for wall construction anyway… me.
They still didn't give up though; instead they randomly hit different parts of the wall hoping to find a weakness.
I was getting tired of them wall breaking, so I told them a message like customer care "I'm sorry to inform you that the outer walls of my house are reinforced with half a meter thick high-quality steel. Please refrain from pointlessly swinging your hammers and wasting time."
Then Ben finally realized that I must have known about the apocalypse in advance; which is why I built such a sturdy fortress. But that just made him angrier; the more he thought about it the worse it felt. "The bastard knew about the snow disaster all along! This selfish, narrow-minded person only caring about himself ignored the lives of everyone else. He's built this knowing this might happen; we can't break in."
Some people couldn't bear this and started to cry, but Abhay stepped out from the crowd. "What are you crying for? His walls are made of steel, but does that mean the ceiling is too? We'll split up and start tearing down the place; I refuse to believe Ash could have built it to be impregnable."
The neighbors who were crying earlier were re-energized; fueled by desperation they went up and down my house hammering, anything they could with all their might.
But unfortunately after pounding for a while they once again fell into despair. They realized that as it turns out I did build my house into the ultimate fortress. Without the right power tools they wouldn't have any chance of breaking in.
The thought of the food I must have kept in my house made the stomach of a neighbor who hadn't eaten for 4 days start grumbling. He wanted nothing more than to eat a large piece of meat; thinking of meat an idea suddenly popped into his head. He looked at a neighbor beside him and drooled at the thought.
But after realizing what he was thinking he awkwardly turned his head away unaware the person he was looking at had done the exact same thing.
Ben on the other hand was in despair 'are we really going to wait for death in this apocalypse? That damn Ash is so cruel; why can't just he sacrifice himself for the good of everyone else.'
While he was lamenting a random person said, "Take a look at this everyone, Ash has windows on his balcony. We can try breaking in from there."
And so everyone decided to give one last try; they got together and started moving towards my balcony using planks…
....................................... To be continued.