Apocalypse Ground Zero: Refusing To Leave Home

Chapter 320: Hiding Behind Monsters

"I think they’ve seen enough."

The vines around the workers’ houses moved before any of Gu Han’s men could figure out whether I was talking about them or not.

Branches scraped against the windows while roots pushed through the cracked road below. One of the watchers tried to back farther into the house, but a vine slipped through the open window, wrapped around his waist, and yanked him back hard enough to knock the binoculars from his hands.

The others didn’t do much better.

One reached for his rifle, thinking that would help the situation. Another vine snatched it through the window before his fingers could close around it, like the plants had decided he wasn’t responsible enough to own a weapon.

Smart plants.

A third man made it all the way to the back door before roots broke through the floor and wrapped around both ankles. His screams grew louder as he was dragged through the house, down the front steps, and across the road.

A few minutes later, all five of Gu Han’s men were lined up beside the woman with the shaved head.

They looked a lot less impressive without walls to hide behind.

The plants held their wrists behind their backs while smaller vines wrapped around their legs. Anyone dumb enough to run was going to meet the road face-first.

I slowly walked down the porch steps.

Yuche moved with me, the bloody bat still resting against one shoulder. Lingyun followed on my other side, humming under his breath like we were out for a nice afternoon walk instead of stepping through what was left of a massacre.

Zhou Chenghai and Xu Zhenlan stayed a few steps behind us. They were close enough to reach me if something happened, but not so close that they were breathing down my neck.

Gu Han’s men looked at all four men, then they looked at me. Good. At least they understood who they were supposed to be scared of.

I stopped in front of the line and pointed toward the road. "Look."

None of them moved until the vines tightened around their legs, demanding their attention. Then every head turned at once.

The plants had already cleaned most of the road, but there was still enough left to make the point. Blood filled the cracks in the pavement, broken weapons sat in neat piles, and twisted pieces of the trucks covered the side of the street. A hand disappeared beneath a group of flowers, followed by a loud crunch that made one of Gu Han’s men flinch.

"Don’t look away," I warned him. "You’re here to report, so lets make sure that you get it right."

His eyes snapped back to the road so fast that I almost laughed.

The woman with the shaved head pulled against the vine holding her. "You don’t know who you’re dealing with. The East River Raiders have hundreds of people," she hissed, her eyes turning venomous.

"Then you should’ve brought the smart ones," I replied, not caring.

Lingyun snorted beside me, while the woman turned toward Gu Han’s men. Hope flashed across her face so quickly that it was almost painful to watch.

"You work for Gu Han," she rushed out. "You saw what they did. You can’t let them kill me."

The man closest to her kept his mouth shut.

She leaned toward him as far as the vine allowed. "Take me back with you. East River will owe him. We’ll owe all of you. That might just be the difference between life and death."

"We were told to only watch," the man finally replied.

Her face went still. "You watched. Now it’s time to do something."

He glanced at the plants wrapped around his arms. "We weren’t told to step in."

The woman stared at him like she couldn’t believe what she was hearing, but it made perfect sense to me. Gu Han had sent them to see what would happen. He didn’t care how many people East River lost while helping him find out. The more I kill, then less will attack him later.

Men like him loved poking dangerous things with someone else’s stick.

Too bad Yuche had noticed.

I stepped closer to the five men. "You’re going to tell Gu Han everything you saw. Period. End of story."

All five men were already nodding before I could even finish speaking.

"Every red marker comes down," I continued. "If I see red, you’ll see blood. Understand?"

The five men nodded again.

"If he sends anyone else, they die. If he comes himself, so does he." Behind me, one of the flowers opened, showing off several rows of teeth.

Gu Han’s men stared at it for a few minutes before they went back to nodding.

I loved it when things went this smoothly.

"That goes for everyone," I added. "No exceptions."

The woman with the shaved head laughed like she had just heard the funniest joke in the world. "You think he’ll listen to you? Men like Gu Han don’t take orders from women hiding behind monsters."

I looked around me, noting where all the guys were standing. Yeah, they were in front of me, but... "I’m not hiding," I said. "You just aren’t worth my time."

Her laughter stopped and she turned toward Gu Han’s men again. "Help me! I can tell you where East River keeps its supplies. Weapons, fuel, food. Whatever you want."

But before they could say anything, the vine around the woman’s wrist began dragging her toward the road. Her boots scraped across the pavement as she twisted and kicked, trying to pull herself free.

"No. Wait. I can be useful," she screamed out. One of Gu Han’s men turned his face away, but the vine around his neck forced him to look back.

"You were sent here to watch," I reminded him. "So watch."

Roots wrapped around the woman’s legs and dragged her toward the flowers. She clawed at the road until her nails broke, but the plants didn’t slow down.

Lingyun leaned closer to me. "Do you think they’ll remember everything?"

"They’ll remember."

The first flower closed around the woman’s legs. The second caught one arm, and the largest opened in front of her before swallowing the rest.

Her screaming stopped.

Gu Han’s men stood completely still while the flowers settled back into place. One of them had started repeating my warning under his breath, probably hoping that remembering every word would prove he was worth keeping alive.

I looked down the line. "Did you understand?" The five heads nodded like little bobbleheads.

"Good."

The vines let them go. For a moment, none of the men moved. They stared at their free hands and the open road behind them, waiting for the plants to change their minds.

I pointed toward the end of the street.

"Now, run."