Jamila Allen (2)

The everlasting twilight flashed in the gaps of the improvised wooden planks that blocked the broken window.

Jamila sighed, immersed in her own thoughts.

It had been only two days since she was attacked by that huge spider and things had only gotten worse. After she threw the dead insect over the window, watching as the thing splashed in the ground down below, just to assure it was dead. She then decided to look out for food in the nearby apartments. To her dismay, nothing of much use was found, only a couple of canned food and a lot of rotten food and dead bodies.

Resources were thinner by the day and yet she refrained from going down the floors. More and more she felt like living inside a horror movie, why was that all happening? She had no idea and now she pondered her next move, to stay alive, should she really go down and outside of the building? Her apartment was any longer safe. She soon realized that many monsters had the ability to get there.

Just yesterday she had faced the worst moment of her life: A big ape entered through the window using the nearest three branch and found her inside the bathroom! It was a weird moment but she had to fight. It was hard and she almost died many times. The beast's punches were able to break the wall, fortunately she was able to throw the beast out of the apartment.

[I should go outside!] Jamila decided as she looked over the destruction left by her last fight against the gorilla.

After a few minutes, she got her belongings: Two cans of food, a bottle of water, some clothes, a pistol that she had found in one of the rooms and a metal pipe that she would use as her main weapon. Jamila didn't know how to use a gun, but decided to leave it in the holster, exposed, as she knew it had its own uses. Oh, and the cultivation book is, of course, her most cherished belonging.

*********

The first step is always the hardest. It took an enormous amount of courage for her to take the first flight of stairs down. The smell of blood filled her nose even before she could see the carnage in the corridor of the ninetieth floor.

Her legs momentarily trembled as she saw what she feared the most. [Why? Why does it have to be spiders once again!? Nope, I'm not going there!]

In the middle of the corridor, three big spiders were gnashing into the leftovers of some human bodies. Fortunately they were too occupied to notice Jamila's presence. At the same time, it seemed that the beasts had decided to use the place as their new home as dozens of new webs hung around the place.

Quietly, Jamila continued going down the stairs, finding many of such sights on the floors. Many bodies lay dead on the ground, with parts missing and big wounds, but she could be sure if all of them were caused by the beasts. On one floor she saw no beast and decided to take a look, finding an improvised spear made with a knife, which she gladly took with her.

Fortunately for her, nothing major had happened until she reached the entrance hall.

"Give me all your food and that technique book or else your carcass will become food for those mutated animals!" A strong and demanding voice echoed out in the hall.

[Shit!] Jamila thought, she had ran out of luck.

********

Inside a barely lit hall, five strong men faced three cornered others.

The hall was spacious, even more so after all its furniture had been smashed and nothing was left but shards of glass, pieces of wood and dried blood. Giant spider webs were strewn across the lobby and the monster that produced it lay dead in a corner of the room. Some of its legs had been torn off and eyes pierced, spreading a green liquid around the place.

On the opposite corner which Jamila was, there were eight men.

Clearly part of two distinct groups, the first with five members reminded Jamila of some kind of military group... only poorer. The five had shaved hair and wore khaki pants, but only the one in the center contained a gun, which was pointed in the direction of the other group. The remainder contained makeshift weapons such as batons and machetes.

The other group of three young men were in even worse shape. It was as if they had just come out of an intense fight, their hair was disheveled, sweat dripped from their body and mixed with blood from their wounds. Apparently nothing too serious. The man in the center, with long black hair and a strong chin, carried a medieval sword and wooden shield that god-knows-where he might have found, fearlessly faced the gun pointed at his head.

Jamila watched them from afar, it was the first time that she had seen a human being… alive actually, in a week. She didn't know how to react.

"We gave our blood for that manual, we are not going to give it to smugglers!" Said the leader strongly.

"What did you say!" shouted one of the opposite party. "Just kill him, captain!"

"You're too young to realize your situation, lad." The captain, the one holding the gun, just smiled at the insult. "You are not part of a stronger group, no one will miss you, no one will cry for you and no one will come to avenge your deaths! You see, in this new world, the weak are not supposed to walk around alone. You are like little lambs and we are the wolves. Now please give me your stuff and I'll let you live, this is the last time I'll say this."

[Ugh, disgusting!] Jamila thought to herself, the man's speech was giving her the urge to vomit. The man was like any stupid villain from a generic movie. [Wait, what is that small aura around them? Is that Qi!?]

Suddenly, Jamila noticed that her vision was not normal, it was weird, but she could see faint traces of Qi in every men. Yet, the trio had more Qi inside their bodies.

[Ah, I see…] It didn't take long for her to realize that this was related to their cultivation levels. The five smugglers, she now fully believed they were just that, had faint traces, they were weak and compared to her own Qi, didn't achieve the First Stage of Body Tempering yet.

"Hey, shouldn't we just give them the book, Sakeem? As long as we survive we can find more…" Whispered one man of the cornered group.

"I'll only say two simple words…" The shield bearer ignored his friend and faced the opposite party leader with range. "F**K YOU!"

"Well, die than..." The smuggler shrugged.

*BANG!*

A sharp sound resounded throughout the hall.

"What!?" Jamila had closed her eyes and could only hear the surprised shouts from the men.

[Oh gosh, he just killed a man in front of me!] She was terrified to open her eyes, yet as the situation seemed to get worse from the sounds she heard, Jamila decided to take a look.

And she became even more terrified.

The shield bearer man, now known as Sakeem was not dead, as the sharp sound did not came from a shot. However now he was fighting to the death with… a tiger?

Or was it an oversized cat? Jamila couldn't be sure but the fur colors didn't match that of a tiger. But the beast was more than five feet long and leapt back and forth nimbly, avoiding all the blows from the group.

Five men lay dead in a pile of blood, it seemed the cat had cut their necks with its sharp claws and now ripped out chunks of wood from the shield with each swipe of its claws!

The remaining group tried to surround the beast, but they were too tired to succeed. Their Qi was ending and they wouldn't be able to hold on for much longer. Not only that, but she soon noticed the huge amount of Qi swirling around the cat/tiger, it should have the strength around the Second Stage of Body Tempering!

[What do I do? What do I do?] Jamila held her new spear tight but was scared shitless, that beast was too fast! However, contrary to her own expectations her legs were already moving on their own, now she was running towards the beast! [Oh God, what the hell am I doing!?]

"Ah! Dieeee stupid cat!" Jamila screamed with all her might as she suddenly jumped forward thrusting her spear, her body fully utilizing every sing bit Qi she could muster.

"What!" the group screamed in bewilderment.

The cat, caught by surprise, was in the middle of a jump and could evade the spear that came towards its belly.

*SPLASH!*

The spear pierced the cat easily, and the point came out the other side of its body, killing it instantly!