3: Kill Or Be Killed

“Dan, he’s probably not around here. Look at his clueless face. He must have thought he could get supplies from this supermarket,” the shortest guy among the three said, he took out his knife and licked it while looking at Ace.

“I want to rip that face of his. I dislike good-looking rats,” he added and glared.

Another guy with a tiger tattoo on his arm patted the shorty’s head. “Calm down, Simon. Once we get rid of him, I’ll carve out his face and make a mask out of it. You can have the mask if you want,” he told Simon and grinned.

“They’re out of their minds,” Ace whispered, holding the strap of his backpack, tightly. He examined the tattoo on the guy’s arm, trying to remember where he saw it.

“Enough. You’re making me lose my appetite with that poor imagination of yours, Greg. He’s build isn’t that bad. We could use him as our errand boy. The boss will be happy to have a useful slave,” Dan, the biggest among the three, said.

Ace pressed his lips when the men gave him a nasty look. He had no intention to argue with them so he decided to give his backpack before they started causing him more delay. Time was running and he couldn’t afford to miss every minute while his family could be in danger.

It was true that he had no idea about the gang taking over the supermarket in the area. He wondered if they were giving the other survivors food. Raising his hand, Ace slowly put down his backpack and took out the cash he had in his wallet, leaving only his IDs.

“What are you doing?” The guy who was called Simon asked Ace with a furious look on his face.

“I don’t want to fight. I’ll return the supplies I got and will give you all the money I have,” Ace said, his voice remaining calm to avoid more conflict with the gang.

“Oh? Is that all you have? The others saw you drive a truck in the building. If you’ve decided to give everything, you should include the key to that truck,” Dan said, eyeing Ace’s pocket.

Ace rubbed the back of his head. He couldn’t get along with the gang but he needed to remain clear-headed, otherwise, he might be in trouble. “That truck is old. I doubt it would even last a mile. It had been through a lot when I was trying to get out of the city this morning,” he said, hinting to the gang that his vehicle was no good after using it recklessly.

“Err! No wonder it reeks of blood. Did you kill those zombies? You’re crazy!” Greg commented, shaking his head in disgust. “I couldn’t stand this guy, Dan. He’s killed the zombies and yet he’s acting like he did nothing,” he continued, taking out his knife.

Ace frowned. “You think I’m crazy to kill the zombies? They’ll kill and eat me if I don’t fight them. Maybe you think you’re capable just because you’ve taken control of this area. But I’ve seen what the hell looked like. The city turned into a graveyard of countless corpses that died almost at the same time when the explosion happened,” he grumbled, clenching his jaws.

“These supplies would be useless if you don’t survive. Those zombies are coming out from the cracks of the ground that randomly appear. If you have the strength to fight them, then do it instead of picking a fight with me who’s only trying to live another day,” Ace added, his eyes filled with rage and disappointment.

Ace didn’t intend to fight so he even offered to pay them for the supplies. But the gang wanted to get everything he had on him while talking about making him their errand boy. Ace used to be soft-hearted but after getting betrayed by the people he trusted, he started to harden his feelings to keep going instead of wallowing in self-pity while the world was ending.

He had a family waiting for him so giving up was not an option for Ace. Aside from his parents, his younger sister was studying in Chicago, 200 miles away from their home. Ace’s parents were old and he was the only one who was capable of taking his sister back so they could reunite.

“This runt knows how to run his mouth and annoy others, huh? Let’s get rid of him!” Dan ordered his men and the other two charged toward Ace with their knives.

Ace’s body moved by instinct, avoiding each thrust from the enemies. He was surprised to be able to pull it off, so while he was on defense, he took out a weapon from his dimensional storage.

“What the heck?” Simon exclaimed when Ace suddenly blocked his attack with a knife. They were sure he didn’t have any weapon earlier.

“Do you think I will let you do what you want? I’ve tried to solve the problem peacefully,” Ace said, his voice was low and dangerous. “Don’t blame me for doing this. I just want to survive,” he mumbled, before jumping and thrusting his knife into his enemy’s chest.

“Simon! You bastard, I will kill you!” Greg rushed to attack Ace after seeing his dead friend. However, Ace already had his other weapon ready.

“In this world, I can’t let bastards like you run freely while there are some who struggle to survive,” Ace stated, cutting off the guy’s head like he did with the zombies, only that he didn’t smash it.

Ace swung his axe and put it back in his storage. He turned to face the last one who was about to escape. “I’m not letting you go after what you’ve seen,” he said, throwing his knife and hitting the last guy on the back.

“Ah… I’ve done it,” Ace breathed, wiping the blood off his cheek. His face was void with emotion as he walked out of the supermarket with his backpack.