Doomsday Revenge: Payback Time (Josie) novel Chapter 33

The residents of Highland Heights scrambled downstairs to the courtyard, eager to see the military patrols.

But the moment they saw the bodies–limbs twisted at impossible angles, skulls cracked open, eyes wide and staring blankly at the morning sun–they

lost it.

They were actually puking.

Dozens of rich, entitled neighbors were doubled over the manicured flowerbeds, retching their guts out until they were dry–heaving bile.

Someone wiped their mouth, whispering frantically. This is insane. This is straight–up, cold–blooded murder. Is there no law anymore?!”

‘But the families are all saying the exact same thing–it was an accident! They swear they just fell out the window,” someone else hissed back, their eyes darting nervously toward Building 3. “Besides, you want to call the cops? Go ahead. Be my guest. I’m not doing it. I’m not trying to be the next one to accidentally‘ fall out a fcking window!”

As soon as those words hit the air, the crowd went dead silent. Cowardice won out over justice.

Right then, a man staggered into the courtyard from the main gates.

He was deathly pale, covered in black grease and dried blood, looking like he had just crawled out of a mass grave.

Someone recognized him and shouted, “Mr. Chase! Where the hell have you been?!”

Don’t even ask,” the man rasped, collapsing against a stone fountain. “I just got back from the outside.”

How is it out there? Did the army wipe out the Undead yet?” One of the neighbors actually looked hopeful. They genuinely believed that because their ;ated complex was quiet, the rest of the world was resetting back to normal.

Wipe them out?” Mr. Chase shot the man a look like he’d completely lost his mind. “What fcking planet are you living on? A third of the human race

as already turned. You don’t just ‘clear‘ those kinds of numbers. It’s an ocean of meat out there.”

What did you say? The crowd froze.

We’ve lost all contact with the outside world,” Mr. Chase said, his voice hollow. “My wife and kids are in the next city over. I tried to go get them, but he roads are completely gone. There’s no way through.”

Wait, Mr. Chase, talk to us. What do you mean the roads are gone?” The panic in the crowd flared. “Tell us what’s happening!”

The airports, the train stations… they’ve collapsed. They’re swarming with millions of Undead. There isn’t a single living soul left there.”

The highways are just one long, burning graveyard of pile–ups. People either got bitten and turned, or they burned to death in their cars. Either way,

o one’s left alive.”

Fort City has fallen.”

If I hadn’t moved fast, I’d be zombie food by now. A retreating military convoy had to escort me back.”

We’re only safe right now because we’re physically close to the neHe… he had a terrible nightmare,” the terrified woman stammered, her entire body shaking as she pulled the silk sheets up to her chin. “He got up in the middle of the night, opened the balcony window himself, and… and he just fell. It was a tragic, horrible accident!”

Josie smirked. The cold, apocalyptic wind whipped through the open window, tossing her dark hair.

She liked it when people knew how to play the game. Survival of the fittest usually meant survival of the smartest liars.

She patted the woman’s trembling shoulder with her free hand. “Didn’t your husband say I was a motherless brat? That no one raised me right? How about I send you down there to join him, so you can ask my mom yourself? See if she raised me right.”

I’m sorry! Josic, please! I messed up, I swear! Just let me go! I’ll never do it again!” Gareth screamed.

He was dangling outside the twentieth–story window, kicking his legs frantically over the dizzying, terrifying drop. He was begging for his life, so atterly paralyzed by fear that he had literally pissed his silk pajama pants. The warm liquid dripped down his leg and vanished into the dark abyss below.

Let you go? Who was going to let me go when you were trying to feed me to the military?” Josie asked, her voice eerily calm as she began peeling his desperate, sweaty fingers back from her wrist. One by one.

I never messed with you. But you and your little keyboard–warrior friends? You came at me like a pack of rabid dogs. You earned this drop, Gareth.”

I’m sorry! I won’t do it again! I’m so sorry!” Only one of his hands was holding on now. He was hanging by a literal thread, his knuckles turning white.

Too bad I’m not your mother,” Josie whistled softly, totally relaxed. “I don’t have to forgive you just because you remembered how to say you’re sorry. t’s not my job to teach you how to be a decent human being.”

She leaned over the ledge, looking directly into his terrified, bulging eyes.

In your next life, remember to keep your damn mouth shut. Otherwise, I’ll just have to kill you again.”

Josie, NO-!‘

Bye–bye. Josie effortlessly pried off his last finger.

She gave a cheerful, mocking little wave as he plummeted into the dark.

A few agonizing seconds of silence passed.

Then, a heavy, sickening THUD echoed from the concrete courtyard hundreds of feet below.

Ooh. Josie let out a low whistle, turning back toward the bedroom, looking completely unfazed. “Music to my ears. Don’t you think?”

Gareth’s wife was a total wreck, snot and tears smeared across her pale face. She was shaking so violently she could barely sit up, but she didn’t dare ross the monster standing in her bedroom. She just kept nodding frantically. “Yes! Yes, exactly!”

I’ll tell them he fell! I’ll tell everyone it was a tragic accident!” the woman stammered, her teeth chattering. “He… he has a history of severe sleepwalking.

tried to grab him, but I wasn’t fast enough. I couldn’t save him!”

Perfect,” Josie said, a satisfied smirk spreading across her face. “I love a girl who knows how to survive. Well, go get some shut–eye. Goodnight, ma’am,”

With that, Josie turned on her heel and walked out of the apartment, leaving the front door wide open.

The woman waited until the heavy sound of Josie’s combat boots was long gone before she finally collapsed. She scrambled to the window on her Lands and knees, looked down at her husband’s mangled, unrecognizable body on the pavement, and broke down, sobbing uncontrollably.

‘lenty of people in the luxury complex knew Josie, but nobody realized she was this fcking unhinged.

f they had any idea what she was truly capable of, they never would have provoked her. Not in a million years

But Josie wasn’t done.

One by one, she paid a personal visit to every single person who had talked sht about her in the group chat that morning

Every last one of those loudmouths got a one–way, non–refundable ticket off their luxury balconies.

With the job done, Josie hummed a little tune and headed back to her apartment.

A creepy, wavering song echoed through the empty, pitch–black hallway:

‘One, two, three, little ones in the snow…

11:42

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Four, five, six, with nowhere to go.

The book is shut, the song is done…

Half–caten sweets, and now there are none.”

The song was already a dark horror nursery rhyme to begin with.

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Mens

To make matters worse, Josie was completely, unapologetically tone–deaf.

Hearing that twisted nursery rhyme in her off–key, echoing voice made it ten times more terrifying. Her singing bounced off the marble walls, ringing through the entire building like the grim reaper’s personal soundtrack.

Not a single person on that floor dared to close their eyes that night.

It was pure, unadulterated nightmare fuel.

1am

the l’irate

14 of the Inhere

Adam Blake travelled into the future over two thousand years later in the era of great interstellar development and became

a small, down–on–his–luck lord of a planet in the Milky Way Galaxy. He activated the pirate system, and from then on became a…

I am the Pirate Lord of the Universe

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w Command HQ, That’s the only reason they sent anyone to clear the Undead from our lawns. Every other neighborhood in the city? They’re completely on their own.”

Some districts are completely gone. Total dead zones. Not a single pulse left.”

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