Chapter 20: Weapon… in the pants?

Wrapped in Ray’s oversized shirt so that only her small face peeked out, May murmured a quiet thanks and accepted the skewer of meat, taking small, careful bites.

She could feel the weight of every gaze around the fire, an invisible net closing in from all sides until there was nowhere left to hide.

[Someone save me. This meal is more exhausting than the Last Supper.]

[Their eyes are like X-rays. Do they want to see straight through me or what?]

[Boss’s shirt is actually pretty comfortable... except his scent is so strong it feels like I’ve been dunked in a jar of pure man-smell.]

Across the fire, Ray sat in silence, methodically cleaning his combat knife. Yet the corner of his long eyes never left the small figure opposite him.

His own shirt hung loose on her—sleeves long enough, hem brushing her thighs. The sight was strangely satisfying, like a quiet, undeniable claim.

The meal passed in strained silence, everyone chewing without tasting a thing.

Night deepened.

They cleared out the gas station’s storage room and turned it into a makeshift bedroom.

"Everyone hits the floor. Line up like sardines. Anyone who moves around gets tossed outside for the zombies."

Seven people spread sleeping bags and blankets across the concrete and lay down side by side. For the injured party’s safety, May was placed against the wall—wall on her left, Ray on her right. Next to him slept Jack, the kind of heavy sleeper who could sleep through anything.

Midnight. Absolute silence.

In his sleep, Jack’s brow suddenly furrowed. He was dreaming of the village from his childhood. Under the big oak tree by the entrance, a little girl in a floral dress smiled at him, pure as mountain spring water. She held out her hand and said softly, "Jack, come play with me."

He reached for her—only for the girl’s face to slowly shift into May’s. She still smiled the same way, eyes bright and clear, voice soft and sticky-sweet.

"Jack..."

Boom—

Something inside Jack’s head snapped. A surge of heat exploded from his lower abdomen and flooded every nerve. His entire body went rigid in the dream; certain... physical changes followed without his permission.

He shifted restlessly, trying to ease the restless heat, and in the darkness his large frame turned toward the person beside him—

Then settled, solid and heavy, against his neighbor’s backside.

Ray’s eyes snapped open the instant contact was made. As the absolute core of the team, he slept lightly; the slightest disturbance was enough to put him on full alert.

He felt something pressing against his back. His body locked into combat readiness. Thoughts raced.

Ambush?

Assassination attempt?

What kind of weapon?

A dagger?

A silenced pistol?

Muscles tightened inch by inch. Killing intent gathered in his eyes. Slowly, almost without a sound, he turned his head.

When he recognized the honest, sleeping face behind him—expression pure and peaceful—he froze completely.

Jack.

The most loyal man in the unit. The one he could turn his back on without a second thought.

Ray’s brain short-circuited for three full seconds.

Betrayal? Impossible.

Then what the hell was this?

His gaze dropped—

A wave of pure, absurd fury mixed with the sharp sting of being violated crashed over him.

"Jack!"

The roar tore out of him. He flipped over like a lion finally pushed past its limit, seized Jack by the collar, and hauled him straight out of sleep.

"B-Boss?!"

Jack’s soul nearly left his body. Sleep vanished. He stared blankly at the enraged man holding him. "W-what’s wrong?"

The shout jolted everyone awake. Mitch, Theo, Ace, and Alex sat up one after another, eyes still bleary, staring at the scene in confusion.

"What the fuck do you think is wrong?!"

Ray’s eyes were bloodshot. He pointed straight at the obvious problem and forced the words out between clenched teeth.

"What kind of weapon are you hiding in your pants?! Trying to stab me in the back so you can take over as leader?! Or are you planning to kill me and take her for yourself?!"

Weapon... in the pants?

Jack looked down in the direction of the finger. Memory of the dream and the current state of his body slammed together.

His face exploded into color from the neck up, as if he’d been dropped into a pot of boiling water and cooked through.

"N-no... Boss, I—I didn’t..."

He was so panicked he nearly cried, hands flailing as he tried to explain—but how the hell was anyone supposed to explain this?

"Didn’t?!"

Ray laughed in pure rage. "Then what the fuck is that?! Take the pants off! I’m checking it myself right now—see what kind of secret ultimate weapon you’ve been packing!"

Jack’s mind went completely blank. He couldn’t connect the furious man in front of him with... that.

"Boss, I really... I just..." He stammered, unable to form a single coherent sentence.

"Well, well. What kind of nonsense is this?"

Mitch sat up, eyes flicking between Ray’s pitch-black expression and Jack’s obvious predicament. A distinctly malicious smile stretched across his face.

"Jack, you little shit—sleeping with controlled weapons now? Planning a coup?"

Theo’s gaze lingered behind his glasses on Jack’s sleeping bag for a moment.

"Boss, don’t rush. Hold him steady first—don’t let him move around."

"From a purely biological standpoint, it does rather resemble a new type of offensive weapon... with considerable penetrating power."

"For everyone’s safety, I believe a thorough inspection is necessary."

Alex listened from the side, eyes curved into smiling crescents.

"Theo’s right. What if it’s something that explodes? We’d all be finished in one blast."

May shrank further into the corner, wrapping herself tighter in Ray’s shirt until only a pair of wide, rolling eyes remained visible. Watching the living masterpiece unfolding in front of her, her shoulders started shaking. She was one second away from laughing out loud.

[Someone help me. What’s wrong with these men?]

[Theo, you damn scoundrel!]

[And Alex, with tea-spilling skills like that, you should be a head butler in a cheesy romance drama!]

Already on the edge, Ray found his suspicion only deepening under Theo and Alex’s tag-team commentary.

"If you don’t let me see exactly what you’ve got hidden in those pants tonight, I’m hanging you up and beating the truth out of you."

"Boss, I really don’t have anything—I just... I had a dream."