Chapter 6: Scumbag at the Door

Ada's POV

The uninvited visitor outside was none other than my boyfriend, Brad Whitaker.

In my last life, on the tenth day after the virus broke out, he knocked on my door just like this. I was sweet-talked into taking him in, and I foolishly shared my meager supplies with him too.

A few days later he brought back a girl, claiming she was his neighbor's younger sister. On the pretext that they weren't familiar with the area, they relied on me alone to go out and search for food and drink every day.

Untill one day I came home early and heard them flirting through the crack of the door. Only then did I learn that the two of them weren't just cheating on me behind my back—they were mocking me as a simple, stupid fool.

I couldn't take it anymore and threw them out. But later, cause I let my guard down for a moment, they plotted against me and lured me into a horde. If I hadn't been quick enough to sense the danger and pull back, I would have died in a zombie's jaws long ago.

Later I bound him to a wooden post and, with a small knife, carved the flesh from his body slice by slice. His warm blood sprayed across my face. To this day I can still see his blood-red eyes, brimming with hatred, in the moment before he died.

And now here he is at my front door again — alive, in the flesh — his eyes full of greed and calculation. No doubt he saw the news that I'd won the lottery, and now he wants a piece of the pie.

Unfortunately for him, I'm not as easy to fool as I was in my last life.

I slowly took hold of the doorknob, turned to reassure Leo, then pulled the door open a fist's width, braced one foot behind it, and showed only half my body through the gap.

When he saw me open the door, the faint impatience on Brad's face quickly turned into a gentle smile.

"Darling, what did you do today? I came by to see you several times and no one was home." As he spoke he tried to push the door open and come in, but I blocked him outside.

"Whatever it is, say it here. I didn't ask you in."

A flicker of annoyance crossed Brad's face, then he immediately put on that fake smile again and leaned in, trying to take my hand.

I dodged without hesitation and leaned against the doorframe, looking at him coldly.

Brad was stopped in his tracks by my unusual behavior. He tried to look past my shoulder into the room; I shifted my body to block his line of sight exactly. He had no choice but to look back at me, and the warmth in his face finally faded.

"Ada, are you still angry because I haven't replied to your messages these past few days? You know I'm at a critical moment for my promotion—unlike you, who has so much free time every day. I've just been too busy to reply in time."

Brad put on a tired look and frowned with an air of grievance. "You know all of this is for our future life together. Don't sulk with me, okay?"

Watching him force down his anger and grovel so insincerely, I almost laughed.

"Save that talk for someone else. I've never asked you for a thing," I said mockingly. "I've never gotten so much as a holiday gift from you, and you've got the nerve to ask your own girlfriend for spending money. I'd like to ask, what exactly have you ever done for me?"

Brad was clearly struck dumb, a flicker of panic in his face, as if he couldn't understand why I was being so cold and unfeeling today.

But then he remembered my enormous lottery payout maybe, he clenched his jaw and suddenly dropped to his knees, tears welling in his eyes: "Not messaging you for so long really was my fault. If you're truly this angry, hit me, curse me, do whatever you want. Ada, I can't lose you. You know I love you!"

His voice took on a thick, tearful rasp, as though I had done him some monstrous injustice.

I blinked without changing expression. "Okay, got it. What's next?"

Hearing my flat voice, Brad froze completely.

I saw his expression slip for a moment, rage surging out of his eyes that he couldn't hide, and a beat later he spoke in a hoarse voice, straining to keep it level:

"I know you won a huge amount in the lottery. Something's gone wrong at work and I need money to cover the shortfall. Why don't you lend me five million to tide me over, and I'll pay you back once it's sorted out."

I was amused by the man's sheer self-importance: "So what you're saying is, you won't be paying me interest, you're not going to write me an IOU, and I should just hand you five million dollars?"

Brad cleared his throat awkwardly, as if I'd punctured his little scheme. "We're the closest people in the world, and will get married one day. Why be so precise about it? Don't you want me to succeed at work and give you a stable home sooner?"

"Sounds like a you problem."

I couldn't be bothered to watch him perform any longer. I tossed out that last line and moved to shut the door. But Brad panicked, lunged forward and jammed his hand into the gap, and I slammed it shut on him.

A hideous scream rang out. His hand was probably ruined.

I only found him noisy. I kicked him out and slammed the door behind him.

"It's fine, just took out some trash," I explained over my shoulder to Leo, who looked puzzled.

Leo nodded and didn't ask more. He had always trusted me; as long as I wasn't in danger, he didn't interfere much in my life.

My revenge for the last life was settled. I had no intention of getting tangled up with these people again — but if they thought they could keep using and hurting me and my family, I wouldn't mind flaying them alive a second time.

Leo and I sat at opposite ends of the sofa, pen and paper in hand, listing the supplies we needed to stockpile, one by one.

Food, of course, was indispensable — but there was plenty else that had to be hoarded.

"To make it easier to scavenge supplies later, we need an off-road vehicle modified to be tough enough, plus plenty of gasoline. With a way to get around, we can go anywhere."

I circled "gasoline" on the list. "But you can't stockpile much of this stuff. Even if we go buy it, we'd have to hit one station after another, it's time-consuming and may draws a lot of attention."

Leo curled the corner of his mouth into a smile. "Leave the fuel and the modified car to me. I have a client in that business. It shouldn't be hard to ask him a favor."

My eyes lit up. It had been so long that I'd forgotten — Leo was a vehicle dynamics engineer himself. His connections were certainly broader than I'd imagined.

"All right, then it's on you. Besides that, we need to start preparing to move. We'll talk it over with my brother when he's back." I checked my phone; it was nearly midnight. "It's about time. Let's head to the airport."

The airport is a fair distance from here. We need to leave early, in case something goes wrong on the road.