The Last Evolution

Chapter 6 — A Dangerous Woman & Traitor's Karma: Debt Paid

The black pistol barrel behind the iron bars shifted as it searched for a target. Max yanked Mia by the shoulder and pressed her behind the concrete pillar beside the door.

"Quit hiding, you bastard!" Derek barked, slamming the butt of his pistol against the bars. "Toss that big backpack out here right now, or I'll shoot the woman next to you!"

Chloe stood behind Derek with her arms crossed. The shock on her face had given way to a smug sneer now that her boyfriend held a gun.

"I can't believe you're still breathing, Max," Chloe mocked. "Three days ago, you were crawling like a dog when Derek kicked you out. Now you think you're tough just because you picked up an iron pipe?"

Behind the pillar, Mia clutched her jacket, her face pale. "What if he actually shoots through the bars?!"

"Relax. Guys with plenty of bullets don't bark like cornered dogs," Max replied, raising his voice on purpose.

He eyed Derek's trembling hand. The two spent casings on the asphalt outside showed just how little ammo the man had left.

"You want this pack, Derek?" Max taunted coldly as he twirled his iron pipe. "Go ahead and pull the trigger. Let's see if you have enough bullets to kill us and the zombie horde behind you."

"Shut your mouth, loser!" Derek snarled. "Don't think I won't—"

Bang! Bang! Bang!

A burst of rifle fire erupted from the outer parking lot and cut Derek off mid-threat.

The loud gunshots echoed between the buildings. A second later, the roars of a zombie horde from the side alley thundered into the loading bay.

"Damn it! Who's shooting in the parking lot?!" Chloe shrieked in panic as over a dozen undead sprinted in from the end of the lane. "Derek, protect me! They're coming this way!"

Derek went pale and fired his pistol at the front of the pack, barely fifteen feet from the door.

Bang! Bang! Click! Click!

Two zombies dropped, but the next pulls of the trigger only clicked on an empty chamber. He was out of bullets.

Realizing the stolen backpack on his shoulder was weighing him down, Derek dumped Max's old pack and the empty pistol right by the steps of the barred door.

"Derek, help me run!" Chloe screamed hysterically and grabbed her boyfriend's arm.

"Let go, you stupid bitch! You be the bait!" Derek snapped.

To save his own skin, Derek shoved Chloe with all his might straight into the oncoming zombies fifteen feet from the warehouse door.

"Kyaaaa—! Derek, are you crazy?!"

Chloe hit the asphalt hard, and two zombies tore straight into her thigh. Yet as Derek bolted away from the door, a legless zombie under a box truck lunged out, clamped onto his ankle, and ripped into his calf.

"Arghhh! My leg! Get off!" Derek howled before crashing to the pavement far from the exit, where three zombies piled on top of him.

Derek and Chloe's piercing screams and the spray of fresh blood drew every zombie in the lane toward them, leaving the space right in front of the barred door wide open.

My turn, Max thought sharply as he spotted the opening.

He wedged his iron pipe into the emergency door's chain and yanked back with all the power of his newly evolved muscles.

Crack! Clang!

The heavy links snapped apart. Max kicked the emergency door open and pulled Mia out onto the concrete steps behind the feeding frenzy.

A straggler at the back of the pack turned its head at the creak of the door. Before it could even let out a growl, Max drove his pipe straight down into the crown of its skull and dropped it without a sound.

Further down the lane, with zombies chewing into her bloodied thigh, Chloe crawled across the asphalt and spotted Max on the steps.

"Max! Help me, Max!" Chloe sobbed hoarsely, reaching a bloody hand toward him. "Back when I had a fever, you went hungry just to take care of me, remember?! I know you still care about me!"

"Derek forced me to set you up! Save me, and I swear I'll do whatever you say!" she pleaded.

"This woman has no shame at all," Mia whispered in disgust, while Max simply looked down from the steps with eyes as cold as ice.

"The idiot who took care of you died three days ago, Chloe," Max said flatly.

Without needing to step anywhere near the horde, Max bent down and picked up his old backpack along with the empty pistol Derek had tossed beside the steps.

"I've got my stuff back," Max added as he slung the pack over his shoulder and tucked the pistol into his waistband. "Enjoy your lunch with the strong man you chose."

"N-no! Max, don't leave me! Arghhh—!"

Two zombies that had just finished tearing out Derek's throat turned and dragged Chloe back into the bloody pile. Max turned his back without a second glance and led Mia down the opposite side of the lane toward the parking lot.

"Let's move. Don't waste time looking at trash," Max said flatly.

The moment they sprinted out into the open parking lot, Max stopped short near a row of cars.

Beside a black SUV, four zombies lay dead with bullet holes in their skulls. A grown woman in a tight leather jacket stood there holding an assault rifle.

Hearing their footsteps, the woman with shoulder-length hair spun around and leveled her rifle barrel straight at Max's chest.

"Hold it right there, looter," she hissed. "I heard pistol shots from inside. You're with the bastards who lured those zombies to the ground floor, aren't you?"

Mia flinched in terror, but Max didn't budge an inch and met the gun barrel with an icy stare.

"If you're going to shoot, make sure the first bullet kills me, lady," Max replied calmly. "Miss by a hair, and that nice rifle of yours will be in my hands in two seconds."

The woman in the leather jacket raised a brow, looking both surprised and amused by his nerve.

"Quite a mouth on you for a supermarket looter," she shot back. "You think that bent iron pipe is faster than my bullets?"

"Depends on how fast your finger pulls the trigger before my foot kicks that rifle out of your grip," Max answered without looking away.

She let out an amused snort. "Are you really not afraid of dying, or are you just crazy?"

"W-wait, Miss! Don't shoot!" Mia stepped between them in a hurry. "He's not one of the robbers! He just saved me from the armed couple who locked the building—they're being eaten by zombies out back right now!"

Taking in Mia's earnest plea and the two backpacks they carried, the woman finally lowered her rifle.

"Is that so? Call me Raven," she said briefly. "I only stopped here for medicine and a working ride. I'm heading to an old research facility that reportedly held bite victims with strange physical mutations."

Bite victims with strange physical mutations? Max noted inwardly while keeping his face blank.

"The pharmacy inside is crawling with zombies, but I have spare medicine if you've got a map with a safe route out," Max offered, tossing her a small box of antibiotics.

Raven caught the box and looked Max up and down with a teasing smile.

"Not many men stay that calm with my gun in their face, much less with a glare that cold," Raven teased as she tossed a folded map back to him. "Keep the map, handsome. Hope you're still breathing the next time we meet."

After Raven drove off alone in her black SUV, Mia let out a long breath. "That woman was terrifying, though the way she looked at you definitely wasn't normal."

Max didn't answer as he unfolded the map Raven had left him. His gaze locked onto a red circle marked: Impact Zone — Restricted Area, the site where the meteor had struck right before the outbreak began.