The woman was curled up in the corner, filthy from head to toe. Her hair was matted together, and her eyes were full of fear.
She clamped a hand tightly over the mouth of a small boy she held in her arms. The child looked about seven or eight, his eyes wide as his body trembled slightly.
When the woman saw that the intruders were two women, her body suddenly relaxed. But the moment she noticed the guns pointed at her, she jerked in fear again and shielded the child tightly.
"Please… please don't hurt him. I'll give you all the food. Take it, just please…"
Her voice was dry and hoarse. It was obvious she hadn't had water in a long time.
Calista's gun lowered slightly as she froze for a moment.
She hadn't expected to run into living people here—especially a woman with a child.
Leah studied the woman in front of her, then glanced at the terrified boy in her arms. Her brows drew together tightly.
In an abandoned gas station, how had such a fragile pair survived?
She slowly lowered her rifle as well, though the vigilance in her eyes did not fade.
"Who are you?" Calista asked, puzzled. "Why are you here?"
The woman only shook her head desperately, tears running down her dirt-streaked face as she hugged the child even tighter.
"Relax," Leah said, deliberately keeping her voice calm to reduce the woman's fear. "We're not here to rob you. We're just passing through, looking for a place to stay the night."
The woman seemed unable to hear anything she said. She just kept repeating "please, please," nervously.
With her free hand, she pointed wildly toward several empty cans in another corner of the shack, indicating they could take them.
Leah frowned slightly and relaxed her shoulders just a little. She turned her head toward Calista and spoke in a low voice.
"Looks like just a scared mother and kid. Doesn't seem like a threat."
Even so, her rifle was not completely lowered.
Calista nodded, but the tension in her chest remained.
It had already been two months since the apocalypse began. Anyone who had managed to survive this long—especially a woman with such a young child—could not have done so through luck and begging alone.
"Just the two of you?" Calista pressed, staring sharply at the woman.
The woman nodded frantically, tears flowing even harder, almost as if she were about to kneel.
"J-just us. We've been hiding for so long. Thank goodness you're two women, otherwise…"
At that exact moment, everything changed.
The half-closed wooden door of the shack was suddenly smashed open from outside.
Three large men burst in, holding rusty but deadly pistols and machetes.
They had clearly been lying in ambush nearby, waiting for this moment.
Almost at the same time, the woman who had been crying moments ago lost all traces of fear and pleading. Her face twisted into a vicious, feral expression.
She shoved the child toward the door and screamed,
"Hide!"
Then she sprang up—not to escape, but to lunge directly at Leah, grabbing for the M4 carbine in her hands.
The boy reacted incredibly fast. Like a slippery eel, he darted out the door while shouting,
"There are two people here!"
"Damn it! It's a trap!" Leah snapped instantly.
She clamped down hard on her rifle and drove her knee upward, slamming it into the woman's stomach.
The woman let out a muffled groan, but her grip didn't loosen at all. Instead, she opened her mouth and tried to bite Leah's wrist.
The three men who had rushed in were clearly experienced at this kind of ambush.
Two immediately raised their pistols toward Leah, who was locked in a struggle with the woman, while the third grinned viciously and charged at the comparatively smaller Calista.
"Well, well! Look what we caught—two lost little kittens!"
The man rushing at Calista had a greasy beard, yellow teeth, and eyes filled with disgusting greed and lust.
"Don't shoot them dead! Take them alive! Haven't had any fun in ages!"
"Buck, you horny idiot! The boss said kill them all!" another gunman shouted, still aiming at Leah, sounding conflicted.
"Bullshit! You want to waste goods like this?" Buck had already reached Calista, his filthy hand grabbing toward her hair.
In that split second of disagreement, Calista and Leah seized the opportunity.
Calista suddenly dropped low, dodging Buck's grab, and kicked the fallen filing cabinet beside her with all her strength.
The cabinet scraped across the floor with a harsh screech, briefly blocking the shooting line of the other gunman.
Taking advantage of the moment, she rolled behind the cabinet, cocked her pistol, and fired at Buck.
Buck reacted quickly and dove behind a table.
The first few bullets missed him completely.
Once he had cover, he returned fire toward Calista.
The two of them fell into a tense standoff, neither daring to expose themselves.
Leah's situation was even more dangerous.
While struggling with the woman for control of the rifle, Leah suddenly twisted her body, yanking the woman completely off the ground and shoving her forward as a human shield toward the two hesitant gunmen.
Bang!
A shot rang out.
The bullet struck the woman Leah was using as a shield directly in the chest. Her body jerked violently, disbelief filling her eyes as her grip on Leah instantly went limp.
Leah did not hesitate for even a second.
Almost at the exact moment the shot was fired, she used the momentum from throwing the woman aside to stabilize the rifle and fired a quick burst toward the shooter without even properly aiming.
Rat-tat!
The gunfire echoed deafeningly inside the small shack.
A burst of blood exploded from the man's forehead. He didn't even make a sound before collapsing backward.
"You bitch!" the other gunman shouted in shock and fury.
Just as he was about to pull the trigger, Calista saw what was happening from behind the filing cabinet and fired toward him.
Bang!
Her aim wasn't as precise as Leah's. The bullet meant for his chest struck the gunman in the abdomen.
He screamed in agony as his pistol slipped from his hand. Clutching his wound, he collapsed to his knees.
Buck, still hiding behind the table, was stunned by the sudden reversal.
He realized they had run straight into someone far tougher than they expected.
Leah's rifle was now pointed directly at him.
Seeing his companions fall in seconds and Leah standing there like a killing machine, Buck's lust vanished instantly under the cold fear of death.
"Fuck this!"
He screamed and ran for the door, scrambling out in panic.
Leah immediately pulled the trigger, but Buck had already bolted outside like a frightened rabbit.
Bang!
Another shot rang out from outside the gas station—clear and sharp, unlike the echoing gunfire inside the shack.
A moment later, Wells' calm voice came through the radio.
"One ran out the door. Taken care of. What's your situation inside?"
Calista stood up from behind the filing cabinet, breathing heavily.
"Inside's under control. Not sure if anyone else is hiding. Tell Carver and the others to stay alert."