After being pounced on by a tiger, acrid bodily fluids splattered onto Miles‘ face. Miles‘ expression changed. He tried to escape, but
then a wild wolf lunged, sinking its fangs into his calf! His skin began to turn ashen at a visible rate. “Save… save me, for the… for
the child’s sake.” Miles crawled towards me on his knees, his eyes already cloudy with desperation.
My finger on the trigger trembled slightly. In a hazy flicker, I saw him again – his twisted face from that night in the delivery room in
my previous life, demanding my life amidst the chaos.
Miles knelt on the ground, his calf torn to reveal bone. His cloudy eyes suddenly widened, a gurgling sound escaping his throat. He
struggled to crawl towards me, his mangled fingers dragging long bloodstains on the floor. “Olivia, save… me.”
My gun barrel slightly lowered as he crawled. The gunshot echoed, shaking rust from the ceiling. A bloody hole appeared in Miles‘
forehead. His final, frozen expression was one of… relief.
Sienna didn’t even wait for me to pull the trigger; the wild wolf had already severed her carotid artery. Her meticulously styled curls
were soaked with blood, and a pearl earring rolled to a stop at my feet.
After both of them were killed by the beasts, the men, still consumed by unquenchable rage, stormed into the warehouse. Gunfire
erupted like a torrential downpour, every bullet emptied into their mangled corpses. Her manicured fingers still gripped Miles‘ arm
tightly, her nails dug deep into his shredded flesh.
Ethan kicked aside Sienna’s twisted corpse, then handed a jerry can of gasoline to me. “Will you light the fire yourself?”
I took the jerry can. Its cold touch reminded me of the temperature of the corridor tiles the night Miles dragged me from the delive-
ry room.
The moment the flames erupted, a wave of heat swept a tattered rag doll from the corner. It was a doll I had secretly sewn from old military fatigues, meant as a gift for the child when they were born. Now, as it burned, it looked painfully similar to the little life
that never got to grow.
The fire intensified, the heat distorting the air. I stood amidst the inferno, yet felt no warmth. I realized then that revenge was not a sweet fruit, but searing ash, scalding my throat and choking back all the unspoken curses and questions.
In the distance, the muffled sobs of new team members could be heard. They would never understand that this conflagration con- sumed more than just two foul bodies; it devoured a wife’s entire faith in her husband, and a mother’s every hope for her child’s
The fire intensified, the heat distorting the air. I stood amidst the inferno, yet felt no warmth. I realized then that revenge was not a sweet fruit, but searing ash, scalding my throat and choking back all the unspoken curses and questions.
In the distance, the muffled sobs of new team members could be heard. They would never understand that this conflagration con- sumed more than just two foul bodies; it devoured a wife’s entire faith in her husband, and a mother’s every hope for her child’s future.
As the first golden rays of dawn pierced through the clouds, I stood atop the newly rebuilt watchtower, overlooking the revitalized docks. In the distance, a newly formed children’s choir began to practice, their innocent voices drifting through the morning light.” The flowers blooming from the ruins are more vibrant than the roses before the war.” Though the grief for lost loved ones had not entirely faded, hope had already broken through the soil, pushing towards the sun.
