NOVGO.NET Chapter 40 Ethan Hale
Chapter 40: Chapter 40 Ethan Hale
The audacity!
Ethan scoffed as he tore into the chunk of roasted meat he had been enjoying before those annoying people interrupted him.
Imagine barging into someone’s hideout and casually telling them to leave with you.
Who the hell did they think they were?
He wasn’t going anywhere.
Not until he found those beasts masquerading as men who had taken his precious sister away.
There was no certainty she was even alive anymore.
Deep down, he already knew the answer.
Still...
Something inside him kept whispering that those bastards were.
And if they were...
He would hunt every single one of them down.
He would rip their throats open with his own hands, pull out their esophaguses one by one, and roast them over an open fire.
Only then...
Only then would his heart feel even the slightest bit lighter.
It wouldn’t erase the pain.
Nothing ever could.
But at least he would sleep peacefully knowing such animals no longer walked this earth.
Ethan Vale still remembered that day as though it had happened yesterday.
Maybe it actually had.
He couldn’t tell anymore.
Time no longer flowed the way it used to.
Sometimes morning stretched on endlessly as though the sun had forgotten to move.
Other times, night arrived too quickly, bringing with it terrifying creatures that crawled out from every shadow imaginable.
Neither helped him keep track of the days.
Eventually...
He simply stopped trying.
What he did remember clearly was waking up after being stabbed.
He had been certain he was dying.
The blade had gone deep into his stomach.
He remembered the unbearable pain.
The blood.
The darkness swallowing his vision.
Yet somehow...
He had opened his eyes again.
Alive.
His bleeding had completely stopped.
The wound had vanished without leaving behind even the smallest scar.
Almost disbelieving, Ethan slowly placed a hand over his stomach.
Smooth.
Perfect.
His skin felt softer than before.
Cleaner.
Even healthier.
It was as though the injury had never existed.
That was when he realized something was terribly wrong.
But before he could think any further...
His sister’s face appeared inside his mind.
The memories came crashing down all at once.
Her screams.
Her terrified eyes.
Those disgusting men dragging her away while he lay helpless on the ground.
He broke.
Completely.
Tears streamed endlessly down his face.
His body shook violently as guilt crushed every remaining piece of him.
It was his fault.
If only he had been stronger.
If only he had fought harder.
If only...
His sister wouldn’t have disappeared right before his eyes.
He screamed until his voice became hoarse.
He cried until breathing itself became painful.
At one point, the noise attracted a group of zombies that immediately began chasing him through the ruined streets.
He barely escaped with his life.
It wasn’t until he accidentally passed a shattered mirror that he froze.
The reflection staring back wasn’t his.
Or rather...
It was.
But it wasn’t the Ethan he remembered.
His once brunette hair had turned completely silver.
His eyes matched it perfectly.
Even his face...
It looked unreal.
Every feature had become flawlessly sculpted, almost like someone had carved him out of marble before bringing him to life.
He looked less like a human and more like one of those impossibly handsome celebrities printed on expensive magazine covers.
For a long time...
He simply stared.
Unable to believe that person was him.
He had never considered himself ugly.
But he certainly hadn’t been anything close to this.
Something had changed him.
Whatever had healed him from death...
Had also transformed him.
From that day onward...
Only two things mattered.
Survival.
Revenge.
Nothing else.
He stopped caring about strangers.
Whenever he saw people getting ripped apart by monsters...
He simply walked away.
Why should he help?
When his own sister had been dragged away screaming...
What had everyone around him done?
Nothing.
They watched.
Some looked away.
Others simply continued walking as though witnessing someone’s life being destroyed was perfectly normal.
Not a single person had tried to save her.
So why should he become some hero now?
He was merely returning the favor.
Eventually, his wandering led him to this place.
Judging from what remained, Ethan guessed it had once belonged to the elites inside the former safe zone.
The buildings had mostly collapsed, but several reinforced sections remained intact.
Perfect hiding spots.
He widened a few openings himself and connected them together, slowly turning the abandoned structure into something resembling a home.
It wasn’t comfortable.
Far from it.
But it kept him alive.
And for a while...
Nobody bothered him.
Until today.
"Whatever game those people are playing..."
He tore off another bite of meat.
"They can find someone else."
"I’m not interested."
Still...
His thoughts refused to leave them alone.
He remembered hearing footsteps earlier and sneaking out to investigate.
At first he’d assumed they were tourists.
A bunch of idiots wandering around instead of trying to survive.
Then he noticed their condition.
They were clean.
Well-fed.
Healthy.
Especially the woman dressed entirely in black.
She looked rich.
That alone irritated him.
But what truly unsettled him wasn’t her appearance.
It was the way she looked at him.
Like she already knew exactly who he was.
Like she’d been searching specifically for him.
She never even asked his name.
Yet somehow...
She carried herself with complete confidence.
As if finding him had been inevitable.
"I don’t even know her..."
He frowned.
"So how does she seem to know me?"
It couldn’t have been from before the apocalypse.
He barely had friends back then.
And after arriving here...
He hadn’t spoken to anyone.
Then how?
The question continued bothering him.
The more he thought about it, the stranger everything became.
"Come to think of it..."
He sighed.
"I should’ve asked her."
"What the hell was that?"
He looked down at the roasted meat inside his hands.
Suddenly...
He wasn’t hungry anymore.
Perhaps chasing them away had been the wrong decision.
Especially since they now knew where he was hiding.
Just then...
A loud bang echoed outside.
Then another.
Followed by a deep monstrous growl.
It sounded unbelievably close.
Right outside his hiding place.
"Shit..."
Ethan’s entire body stiffened.
"They didn’t attract a zombie... did they?"
His throat tightened.
No matter how long he survived in this broken world...
He never truly got used to those monsters.
Every encounter still made his skin crawl.
He forced himself to stay still.
Maybe...
If whatever it was couldn’t find anyone...
It would eventually lose interest and leave.
That sounded far better than fighting.
After convincing himself, Ethan lay back down on the cramped floor he had long since gotten used to.
He closed his eyes.
Trying to sleep.
Trying to ignore the noise.
But it only grew louder.
The banging became more violent.
The growls deeper.
More horrifying.
Each sound echoed through the walls until it became impossible to ignore.
Finally...
He snapped.
"Fuck this."
"I can’t sleep with all this damn noise."
Grabbing the heavy hammer beside him, Ethan slowly stood up.
If a monster wanted trouble...
Then it’d get exactly that.
He had barely taken two steps.
BAM!
An arm suddenly slammed straight into his face.
Stars exploded across his vision.
His head spun violently as he staggered backwards.
Before he could regain his balance...
A familiar figure casually stepped into view.
Luna.
She flexed the hand she’d just used to punch him before giving him a satisfied smile.
"I had to do it, dude."
She shrugged.
"Besides..."
"I always get what I want in the end."
Ethan wanted to curse.
Instead...
His vision blurred.
His knees buckled.
Darkness swallowed him whole.
He collapsed unconscious onto the floor.
Luna dusted off her hands as though she’d merely finished another ordinary task.
Then she looked toward the others.
"Our stay here is over."
"Time to—"
She stopped mid-sentence.
A massive shadow slowly passed overhead.
Everyone instinctively looked up.
Something enormous was descending from the sky.
At first glance it resembled a plane.
But no aircraft moved like that.
Its enormous body drifted downward while producing an ear-piercing mechanical scream mixed with something disturbingly organic.
The sound resembled a woman screaming during childbirth.
Only far louder.
Far more horrifying.
It echoed across the ruined city like the announcement of death itself.
Then...
Another shadow appeared.
And another.
And another.
Four.
There were four of them.
The moment one spotted their group...
It unleashed a deafening shriek.
The others immediately followed.
Their gigantic bodies angled downward before diving toward the ground with terrifying speed.
Luna’s expression instantly darkened.
"Adrain!"
"The portal!"
"Now!"
"We’re getting the hell out of this death zone!"