Chapter 85: Chapter 85: Complicated Love Life
Nyra’s eyes landed on Darren, then Meira. Her lips pulled up into a strange smile. Zerra didn’t mistake the flash of annoyance in her eyes.
"Do you want me to get out of here so that Isryn can treat her?" She asked in a flat tone, her face expressionless.
"No, stay there." Darren immediately said. He tried to shake Meira off forcefully. Laziel, who originally had displeasure written all over his face, was quick to act. He helped Darren and took Meira into his arms.
Meira, who looked like she was disoriented, snapped awake. "Ah?"
"S-sorry, Mr. Valez!" She immediately apologized profusely. "I didn’t mean to do that to you... I-I thought you were Azi..."
Her face flushed in embarrassment and shame. Darren didn’t answer; instead, he was looking at the taciturn Nyra, pursing his lips.
Meira was confused that he hadn’t responded to her for a while, so she followed Darren’s line of sight. Her eyes found Nyra’s figure.
Zerra’s earlier distress from making her first bloody kill dispersed. She even had an urge to take out a popcorn and share it with Cassias beside her..
But that would make it too obvious she was enjoying the drama, so she took out a small candy and put it in her mouth. She blinked when she sensed someone staring, turning her head.
"Do you want one?" She whispered, offering some candies in her palm.
She thought Cassias would refuse. Surprisingly, he took one.
Now, her gaze was back on Meira, whose eyelashes trembled; her eyes pooled with tears again. Anyone who didn’t know what was happening would think that someone had bullied her.
"Thank you, Nyra..." she paused, wiping the tears from her eyes. "If not for you, they would have taken me away."
Nyra’s lips curled up a little, and she said bluntly, "Yeah. I didn’t help you. They still took you away."
"No, you have tried. I-I am really serious. You are very powerful. You could have escaped, but you..." she sucked in a deep breath. "But you fought for me and also got taken away."
As she continued to blabber on, a tinge of impatience appeared on Nyra’s face. She muttered indifferently, "You should let a doctor check you."
Her words were completely normal, but her tone... held some kind of insinuation and a little sarcasm. As if she were referring to the fact that Meira wasn’t just physically sick.
Without warning, Nyra jumped out of the car. Darren reflectively held out his hands; Nyra accepted them without any qualms. However, when Nyra wasn’t looking, Darren’s eyebrows were knitted together.
It was as though he wasn’t satisfied with her reaction. If Nyra didn’t feel anything when seeing him stay so close with another woman, then...
It meant that she wasn’t interested in him.
Zerra blinked in surprise. They weren’t really interested in each other? Woah, this plot really got confusing and so messed up.
The love life of the adult world was really complicated... It was no wonder that her master once told her she was too young to understand.
Nyra got into the other car. Laziel looked torn, but he still helped Meira to get inside the car and lie down beside Isryn. That was also how Meira became their additional member on this journey to the Capital.
"She is alright, no wounds." Isryn was done examining her not long after. "She was just shocked after what had happened."
Meira pursed her lips. "Yes, I am alright. I merely feel a little weak and scared."
Since Laziel had already asked Darren’s permission to bring Meira along with them, she was allowed to stay on the folding bed with Isryn. Eryx would ride in another car.
When they asked, Meira narrated her experience. "They didn’t really treat us women like humans at all. When they just arrived in this area, they were lawless and always stole others’ supplies."
"Later, I found out from their conversation that they are actually the criminals who had escaped from the prison," Meira added. A tinge of fear crossed her eyes.
Zerra’s eyes flashed. She had concluded something from their conversation. Meira must have told Nyra what happened when they first met–she was chased by those men, and Nyra guessed that there would be other victims.
When the kidnapping happened, Nyra let herself get taken away to free the poor women from the criminals.
However, to make her suffer, the plot tripped her up and added a lot of powerful opponents.
Thankfully, they were all dead now.
"Did you left your items at the supermarket?" Zerra asked. "We can retrieve them."
They had driven the cars through the closest road to the abandoned house. After they helped the poor women, they would let them go.
Even though they felt pity toward the survivors, there was nothing they could do. The trip this time wasn’t for picking up survivors.
As for the women who were kidnapping victims, they had done their best to help them too. What would happen next following their survival was beyond their control. At most, they could tell them and other survivors about the location of the human base.
They went back to the supermarket and packed everything. Zerra gave the promised reward to the man who had informed them of the criminals’ appearance.
After that, they continued their journey and bid the survivors farewell.
It was almost noon when they started entering the forest area. The surrounding trees and occasional critter noises made them alert.
"Will there be mutated animals in this place?" Isryn voiced what everyone worried the most.
"It’s impossible not to have mutated animals..." Zerra muttered. Her eyes looked out at the scene outside the window.
If it were before the apocalypse, the dense green foliage and occasional breeze could refresh their minds, but... looking at the darker shade of green on the vegetation brought an eerie feeling.
As if something were lurking among the trees and shrubs.
On top of that, the frequent road blockage told them that no one had gone through this road after the fog. Now, it was the third time ever since they had to get out of the car and clean the fallen trees for the past hour.
"Do you notice that the surroundings have gotten quieter now? The critter noise from before has gone," Isryn whispered.
"Don’t jinx it, Isryn," Zerra muttered.
Cassias stopped the car. More fallen trees had blocked their way.
However, after they got out of the car, they belatedly realized that it wasn’t fallen trees that had made other cars in front of them stop.
The massive, cold-blooded predator stared at them sinisterly.