LOGIN"Jasmine's the one who dropped it!" Ellen snapped, turning around. "What does that have to do with me?""Cut the crap," Donnie shot back from behind her. "You slammed into her.""I saw it, too," Charlie added. "Jasmine could barely carry that thing to begin with, and you knocked right into her. I've never seen someone so stupid."Ellen clenched her fists, shaking with anger.Jasmine, Jasmine, Jasmine.Everyone always took Jasmine's side.Not a single person stood up for her."I'll go back and carry another one," Jasmine said quietly.Ellen didn't respond. She flung her hand impatiently and marched straight to the fifth floor.Up above, Hayley watched the little drama unfold without saying a word. There weren't many people in this group, but there was no shortage of scheming and tension.About ten minutes later, most of the planters had been carried upstairs.Meanwhile, the zombies below kept piling higher.The two-floor gap was roughly twenty feet.At first, it had been im
Large waves of zombies rushed up to the third floor.Then, they began falling. One after another, they tumbled down the broken stairwell like a herd of antelope running off a cliff.Bodies slammed into the zombies below. Some crashed into the railings, while others dropped straight onto the growing pile beneath.Not a single one made it up to the fifth floor.Within minutes, the tall stairwell was packed solid with them.The zombies writhed below like creatures trapped in a deep pit, craning their necks upward."Raarh… Raarh…"They stared at the living people above them with relentless hunger.Warren and the others instinctively backed away from the railing.Hayley stayed where she was, gripping the stair rail and looking through the gaps at the massive swarm. Her brows tightened."Liam, how much longer?""We've found the records room," Liam replied through the headset. "Looking for the files now. Twenty minutes at most.""Make it fast."Hayley didn't say anything else. Sh
"I'm fine."Jasmine pulled away from Warren, her voice cold. She then moved off to the side on her own.Warren hadn't even said anything yet when Ellen exploded again."Did you see that? She almost got us all killed, and now she just walks away like nothing happened. Who does that?""Shut up!" Warren snapped."I almost got killed because of her!" Ellen shouted. "And you're telling me to shut up? How can you take her side like that?"Warren didn't bother arguing with her.He noticed Jasmine clutching her stomach as she limped upstairs. She was clearly hurt.He followed after her.Behind them, Ellen dropped straight into a dramatic tantrum."What double standards!" she yelled. "Jasmine loses our supplies, and you don't punish her. My stuff gets stolen, and you don't even stand up for me!"While they were still arguing, Hayley suddenly heard something.It was a faint sound, like an eggshell cracking.Down on the first floor of the building, the entrance was packed with zombie
After the world fell apart, people like Ellen were everywhere.Give them the smallest bit of kindness, and they would cling to it like a drowning person grabbing driftwood, squeezing every last drop out of it.The moment the kindness stopped, they would treat you like an enemy for life. In their eyes, everyone owed them something.Hayley glanced toward the stairwell.Donnie and Charlie were helping a thin woman to her feet."Jasmine, you shouldn't have bothered with Ellen," Donnie muttered. "She's crazy. Always jealous of somebody."Charlie nodded. "You never should've helped her in the first place. You save her life, and what do you get? She spends all day talking trash about you."Jasmine didn't answer them. She simply raised a hand in a small gesture and slowly walked upstairs by herself.Just then, Ellen's voice rang out from above. "Jasmine! Go water the plants downstairs!""What's wrong with you?" Donnie snapped immediately. "You just shoved Jasmine down the stairs, and
"The next day, Theo and Larry's girlfriends came looking for Jasmine and beat her up. If Warren hadn't stepped in to protect her, we would've thrown her out of here a long time ago."Ellen Alvarez's face twisted with jealousy as she spoke, her expression growing more animated by the second."She just thinks she's special because she's pretty. Those guys must be blind. Someone like me, they don't even look at twice. But they're all chasing after Jasmine, that quiet little tramp. If I had a face like hers…"Just then, a rough male voice echoed from outside."Ellen! What are you doing in there?"Ellen froze mid-sentence. She looked at Hayley quickly. "I'll tell you more next time. Give me that bar."Hayley tossed her the chocolate bar.Clutching the five chocolate bars she had collected, Ellen hurried toward the door.But the moment she stepped out, a man outside blocked her path.Hayley heard the arguing first. Then, suddenly, Ellen was yanked off balance and flipped backward, h
"Yeah." Hayley slipped a hand into her backpack. When she pulled it back out, a chocolate bar appeared in front of the woman.The woman's eyes instantly lit up.Chocolate!It was sweet, rich, and full of fat and sugar. It was the kind of high-energy food people used to take for granted.She hadn't seen something like that in years. For a moment, it looked as if she might leap forward, snatch it, and stuff it straight into her shirt."Alright," she blurted. "Ask whatever you want. I'll tell you everything.""How many of you are there?""Fifteen.""The guy talking earlier, is he your leader?""Yeah. His name's Warren Burgess. Used to be the general manager at a real estate office on the seventh floor.""You've been living here the whole time?"The woman's eyes stayed locked on the chocolate bar. "Yeah.""For three years? What have you been eating and drinking?"This time she looked up sharply, her expression suddenly guarded. She wanted the food, sure, but she wasn't stu
Liam was nothing like that idiot, Alex, who nearly got everyone killed last time.Once everything in front of them went quiet, he gave the order, "Clear one shop at a time."Just then, Wallace stepped forward. "Captain Caldwell, we'll start with the back two rows.""Hold it."At that moment, the
Leonard watched Hayley raise a hand and sweep whole rooms of equipment into her inventory like it was nothing. He nodded seriously. "I'm on it!"He rushed off to open the remaining doors for her and grouped anything he could find into neat piles to make it easier for Hayley to collect everything
"Raarh!""Raarh!""Raarh!"The starving zombies below snapped their jaws up at Hayley.But the danger wasn't just under her feet. It was also above her.Zombies were still hurling themselves out of the sixth floor, one after another.Just as Hayley steadied herself, one zombie dove straight to
Rat-tat-tat!Rat-tat-tat!Boom!Hayley controlled the entire battlefield alone from the top of the armored truck.Inside the vehicle, the rescued survivors watched through the windows as wave after wave of zombies threw themselves at the truck but never managed to break through. The nonstop ex







