Building a Safe Zone with My Harem In The Post-Apocalyptic World

Elaine laughed so hard her shoulders trembled, the lingering heaviness of the aberrant meat she had eaten earlier shifting unpleasantly in her stomach.

The situation was absurd to her. Piggy, of all people, is hesitating to pull the trigger. It should have been simple. It had always been simple for them.

And yet here she was, still breathing.

It irritated her more than anything.

Before she could push further, a gunshot rang from the hallway near the stairs, sharp and sudden enough to cut through the tension in the room. Both of them turned their heads at the same time.

"Go. Clean that up," Piggy said without raising her voice, glancing at the man behind her.

He obeyed immediately, stepping out to bark a few orders at the others before returning as if nothing had happened. The calmness of it all only confirmed what Elaine already knew.

’Gideon,’ she thought, her lips curling slightly. ’You really can’t sit still for a second, can you?’

That meant her time was limited.

"You’ve been hesitating all this time," Elaine said, her voice turning sharp again as she looked straight at Piggy.

Then she spat, the motion deliberate and full of contempt, her saliva landing on Piggy’s cheek.

"Even after you and the others betrayed me. Fuck you and your twisted sense of justice. You should have killed me the first time I came here asking for a deal."

Piggy did not react the way most people would. She simply wiped her cheek with the back of her hand, her expression calm, almost bored.

This was not new to her. Elaine had always known how to provoke her, and Piggy had always responded with that same infuriating patience.

"Stop acting like a child," Piggy replied evenly. "We didn’t betray you. You left because we had different visions. What part of that is so hard for you to understand?"

Elaine’s jaw tightened. That tone, that composure, always got under her skin. She prided herself on control, on keeping her emotions buried beneath a clean and professional mask, but with Piggy, it never worked. It was as if the woman could peel her open without effort.

"Don’t twist it," Elaine snapped. "You and she walked away for some man who came out of nowhere, promising a future built on stepping over corpses. You chose that over me. Over everything we built."

Her voice rose despite herself, anger finally breaking through.

"I’m better than all of you. I’m better than that."

Piggy laughed at her, not loudly, but enough to make it sting.

"And here you are, slaughtering my men," she said, shaking her head.

"You’re not as righteous as you think you are. You’re a hypocrite, Elaine. You pick and choose your morals, then pretend you’re standing on higher ground while looking down on everyone else."

Elaine let out a low chuckle, her head tilting slightly as if she found the accusation amusing.

"So what?" she said. "Everyone does. That’s what being human is."

Her smile twisted, a darker expression settling in.

"But look at you," she continued, her voice softening into something more cutting. "Where did all that ’vision’ take you? To the edge of the world, hiding in a hole like this, far away from all the glamour Victoria promised."

She leaned forward as much as the restraints allowed, her gaze locking onto Piggy’s.

"Do you know what I think?" she whispered. "She threw you away. You stopped being useful, so she discarded you like trash. And you’re still clinging to that promise like an idiot."

Piggy’s fingers tightened slightly around the pistol, though her expression remained composed.

"At least," Elaine added with a crooked smile, "I had the dignity to walk away when I saw what you were becoming."

That was all it took to break Piggy’s composure. She shot to her feet and lunged forward, grabbing Elaine by the collar before slamming her fists into her face.

The blows came fast and heavy, unrefined but fueled by anger. Elaine’s lip split open, blood spilling from her mouth as her head snapped to the side.

"Shut up!" Piggy shouted, her voice cracking as she kept hitting her. "I’m only here temporarily! I’ll go back to the base! She promised I haven’t been replaced yet!"

The words were desperate, almost pleading beneath the rage.

And that was exactly what Elaine had been waiting for.

She laughed, low at first, then louder, her teeth stained red as blood dripped down her chin. Every hit, every punch, barely registered against the satisfaction blooming inside her chest.

Her prediction had been right. It always was. In the end, everyone in Victoria’s circle was nothing more than a tool, disposable the moment they stopped being useful.

Piggy was no exception.

Elaine had built that organization once. She had believed in it, shaped it, given it direction. Now she stood here watching what it had become, and for the first time in a long while, she felt no regret for walking away.

There was nothing more satisfying than seeing someone who once looked down on her reduced to this miserable woman stranded in the desert of her own fucking misery.

Even the pain felt distant compared to the sharp, intoxicating rush of being proven right.

But the moment did not last. Elaine’s ears caught the faint sound of boots approaching outside the door. A shadow stretched across the floor, just barely visible beneath the crack. She didn’t need to guess.

’Gideon.’ Her expression shifted instantly, the laughter fading into focus.

The restraints on her wrists and ankles had already been loosened earlier. Now she forced them free in one sharp motion.

At the same time, the door burst open with a loud crash, and a gunshot followed immediately. The man standing behind Piggy dropped to the ground, dead before he could react.

Piggy turned in shock, but it was already too late.

Elaine shoved her hard, sending her crashing onto the floor. In one swift movement, she climbed on top of her and drove her fist down into the fat woman’s back, then again, as if nothing had changed between them.

One punch was enough to make Piggy’s body go limp, her strength already drained from the earlier fight.

Elaine then stopped. ’Too easy,’ she thought, irritation flickering briefly.

Either she had held back more than she realized, or Piggy had grown weaker than she remembered.

"Give me your gun," Elaine said without looking back.

Gideon tossed it to her without hesitation. She caught it cleanly and pressed the barrel against her head, her grip steady.

"What’s your relationship with the Eagle Union?" she asked coldly. "Why did you send them to my friend’s bunker?"

"I-I didn’t!" Piggy stammered, her voice trembling as all traces of confidence vanished. "Stop saying bullshit! I never did that!"

Elaine’s eyes narrowed slightly, but she didn’t answer right away. Instead, she glanced at Gideon.

He stepped forward and crouched in front of Piggy, his expression calm but his voice carrying a quiet threat.

"You’re sure?" he asked. "You’re not lying, right? Because if you are, we have plenty of ways to make you talk."

She shook her head frantically. "I swear! We record everything. Every deal, every purchase, it’s all in the ledger in my office! You won’t find anything about that!"

Gideon held her gaze for a moment longer, then nodded to himself. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

"I’ll check," he said as he stood up. "You can keep her alive and enjoy your little reunion."

With that, he turned and walked out of the room without another word.

Elaine remained still for a moment, the silence settling in after his departure. Questions began to pile up in her mind, one after another.

How long had he been listening? Did what he heard change his perspective about her? Was that sarcasm, or was she overthinking it?

She didn’t know.

Her body moved before she could dwell on it any longer. Almost automatically, she grabbed the restraints and tied Piggy back to the chair, using the same bindings that had held her just moments ago.

Piggy groaned weakly, barely conscious.

Elaine clicked her tongue and tightened the knot, then struck her lightly on the head.

"Fuck... this is why I shouldn’t talk too much," she muttered, irritation creeping back into her tone.

She glared down at Piggy. "This is all your fault."

There was nothing Elaine hated more than being seen and judged. The kind that stripped away everything she built and left only what she truly was underneath.

One conversation was all it took, and the image she had carefully maintained felt like it had cracked overnight.

The composed, kind, and elegant doctor was actually a fraud, a criminal, she was nothing like people thought she was.

Her fingers moved to her braid, absentmindedly. ’What if he tells someone?’

She exhaled slowly, trying to steady herself. Gideon did not seem like that kind of man. He was practical, calculating, and strangely respectful in his own way.

But his tone earlier had been colder than she expected, and that unsettled her more than she wanted to admit.

Because no one truly knew anyone.

People lived behind masks, performing roles shaped by desire, fear, and hypocrisy. She was no exception.

At the very least, she knew one thing about herself was real. She did want to help people. That had never been a lie.

It was the reason she swallowed her pride and came back here, negotiating with Piggy of all people just to secure medicine.

That part of her had not changed.

Before her thoughts could spiral any further, the door opened again.

Gideon stepped inside, a black ledger in his hand, its surface stained with fresh blood. The scent followed him in, heavier now, thicker than before. It was obvious he had dealt with more men while she stayed here, stuck in her own head.

He walked in without hesitation and stopped in front of her.

"She’s right," he said simply. "I didn’t find anything."