Harem Legion: Queens of the Apocalypse-Chapter 142 They Escaped Hell - With Guns and Scars

There were four off-road vehicles parked outside. Around thirteen or fourteen male soldiers stepped out, stunned when they saw a group of women charging out from the stairwell. They froze, unsure whether to fire - after all, women were still considered valuable in this damn world.

The soldiers raised their weapons, shouting for the women to surrender. But Vanessa and a few others, guns in hand and ready to die fighting, didn’t hesitate. They hurled two grenades straight at the soldiers. A moment later, several automatic rifles roared, spraying bullets like fire serpents. More than half of the soldiers dropped instantly.

"Watch out for the centipedes! We’ll take care of them!" Vanessa shouted. On the other side, the grenades exploded with two thunderous blasts. Her group of women lunged forward like they had nothing to lose.

The soldiers who had regrouped quickly fired back. Seven or eight women were gunned down in the blink of an eye. Twenty others were either torn to shreds by the giant mosquitoes from above or tangled up by the centipedes crawling swiftly across the floor.

The off-road vehicles were right ahead! Just make it there!

Vanessa clenched her jaw, laying down cover fire as she sprinted forward. Around her, the numbers were thinning fast, screams piercing the chaos. But she saw only one thing - the off-road vehicles at the end of the fight.

More engines revved in the distance. The whole group of soldiers had been wiped out, and of the original seventy-plus women, just over thirty were still standing. Only four off-roaders remained. They scrambled, desperate, shoving onto and into the vehicles.

Vanessa reached one first, leapt into the driver’s seat, and when there was room for no more, she slammed down the gas pedal. The vehicle surged forward, heading straight for the rear gate of Lightwater Residences.

She knew there were two armored infantry vehicles stationed there - but there was no turning back. The headlights lit up the massive steel doors. Vanessa gritted her teeth, floored the gas, rammed the gates open, and burst out into the open road.

Gunfire erupted from behind. The autocannons on the infantry vehicles opened up, and moments later, one of the jeeps trailing behind her exploded, its fuel tank igniting in a fiery blast.

At 6:30 AM, two off-road vehicles sat alone in the middle of a farmland. Only now did Vanessa finally let out the breath she’d been holding.

She didn’t know where they were. She had no idea where they should go next. The only thing she was sure of - they had escaped. Escaped from Springvale City, that place that had become a living hell for women.

Fourteen women had survived, spilled out of the vehicles. None were Awakened, just regular people who had fought with everything they had.

"Vanessa... What do we do now? Where are we going?" Nora’s voice broke the silence, shaky and full of unease.

Vanessa didn’t speak. She collapsed forward onto the steering wheel, shoulders trembling. The desperation, the fight, the lives lost - they weighed down on her chest like a stone. The other women began to cry too, their sobs raw, more than just grief. There was also relief - they’d escaped that nightmare.

After a long time, once the tears had slowed, Nora sniffled and spoke again. "I know a place... A place with only women. No men at all..."

*****

Ashbrook Town. Underground grain storage. 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

A week after Cliff’s convoy left, Ashbrook Town had enjoyed a rare stretch of calm. For days now, every day brought five or six new survivor teams looking to trade food and water. Many of the teams were regulars - some had been here three or four times already.

The smaller ones, with less than a hundred people, had even settled their weak, old, and children right here in Ashbrook Town. The men went out scavenging, then came back to trade whatever they found for food and water, keeping their groups alive this way.

Inside a luxury RV’s lounge, Emily, Sophia, and the others were seated. This was their makeshift office - whenever they weren’t busy, they gathered here.

Magnus usually joined them too if there was nothing pressing, to discuss things together.

"Magnus..."

Liana strode in quickly, dropped onto her usual spot on the couch, twisted open a bottle of mineral water and took a swig. She frowned, "We’ve already got plenty of supplies. Some of it, we’ll never even use. But they’re still bringing junk to trade for rice. Should we keep exchanging?"

"We should," Magnus said as he set down the map he was holding.

"Why?" Liana looked puzzled. "Why do we need so much trash? It’s useless."

"It is useless," Magnus admitted, taking a long breath, stretching his legs numb from sitting too long, and standing up. "But that rice? We can’t finish it either. If we don’t trade it out, it’ll just rot."

Emily nodded, "Exactly. We just let them starve while we watch?"

"Then why not just open up the storehouses and hand it out?" Liana pushed. "Why make them risk their lives for stuff we don’t even need?"

Open the storehouses?

Magnus paused. Before he could say anything, Sophia cut in, "If we start just handing out food, who’ll still go scavenge for us? And trust me, the moment we do that, they’ll come asking for water next."

"She’s right," said Charlotte, who had just walked in and heard Sophia’s words. "Kindness is the last thing we need in a world like this. You think those people out there are pitiful, but they’re the same ones who loot, kill, and do worse. There’s no one left who’s innocent."

In this world, the kind-hearted were the first to die. Anyone still alive now - there was blood on their hands.

Magnus paced back and forth in the lounge for a moment, then turned back, picked up the map again, muttering, "Maybe opening the warehouses isn’t impossible..."

The others looked at him in surprise. He put the map down again, pulled a cigarette from his pocket, lit it, took two slow drags, clearly deep in thought.

"Charlotte - any idea how many of those small teams, under a hundred people, are out there now?"

"Five or six at least. Why?"

"Let’s treat them like Evan’s old unit."

Then he turned to Liana. "Liana, find some buses or junk vehicles, gut the seats, turn them into sleep shelters for them."

"What for? You really plan to feed them?" Liana didn’t get it.

"Feeding them could work," Magnus said slowly, thinking it out as he spoke. "So long as they follow orders..." Then he looked back to Charlotte. "Charlotte, have someone round up the leaders of those small teams. I want to talk."

"...Alright." Charlotte gave him a wary look, then stepped out of the RV.

Just as she did, Margaret came running up, panting, "Magnus! A group of women showed up outside - they say they escaped from Cliff in Springvale City and want to join us. I didn’t let them in since none of them are Awakened, but instead of backing off, they rammed our barricade. We’ve got them detained now... but I swear, they seem totally unhinged. You better take a look."