When the World Ends, She Begins novel Chapter 36

He looked at the hyped-up neighbors and sneered inwardly. Hope that lunatic wipes out a few more of these people fighting over supplies.

Double the supplies? Only if they lived long enough to get them.

Once the men were dead or wounded, all the food would be his. The rest—the elderly, women, and kids—what chance would they have against him?

Tiffany stood in the crowd and caught the faint, almost imperceptible smile on Owen's face. She cautiously tugged at Braxton's sleeve and whispered, "Braxton, that guy's up to no good."

Tiffany and Braxton had seen enough of Natalie's toughness before. Braxton's arm still hadn't fully healed from that knife wound.

He murmured in agreement, "Let's just hang back at the end and wait for everyone to split the supplies."

Tiffany nodded. "Every little bit counts. Worst case, after the food's divided, we can sneak the rest from the wounded."

They were on the same page and deliberately fell back to the rear.

Soon, the crowd spilled out from 1302, swaggering up to the 14th floor like they were marching into a banquet. They acted like, in a few minutes, mountains of food would magically appear.

Meanwhile, Natalie had already polished off a hearty breakfast hours earlier: seared ham, lamb chop, mushroom soup, and cheesy egg toast.

She made sure to eat well—better full now than weak when anyone tried to kick down her door.

After eating, she changed into her training clothes, warmed up, and waited quietly for the short-sighted neighbors to show up.

The group hit the 14th floor and quickly tried to pry open the stairwell's steel door—but inside was another layer: a blast-proof armored door.

"What kind of door is this? Looks pretty fancy."

"Who cares if it's fancy? Pry it open!"

Yesterday, they'd pretended to politely borrow supplies on the 15th floor. But after a whole day starving, they'd ditched manners completely, trying to force their way in.

After struggling for a while, they realized the lock wouldn't budge.

Not everyone knew how to crack a door like Leandro could.

The crowd grew impatient. "Forget the door. Just smash it!"

Hammers and axes came out, banging and clanging against the door.

After a while, their hands went numb from the vibrations, and all they'd managed were a few scratch marks.

"This isn't working. It's a reinforced door. There's no way to break it."

They'd been at it forever, and still, no sign of anyone inside.

From the back, Tiffany leaned forward and whispered, "If the door won't give, what about the wall?"

The few at the front's eyes lit up. "Smart girl!"

They'd been stuck in one-track thinking, focusing only on the door, almost forgetting they could just tear through the wall.

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