Chapter 137
One Week Later
The apartment complex felt eerily quiet, except for the occasional groan of hunger and whispered conversations in the dead of night. The residents looked thinner, their faces pale, their eyes hollow. The little food they had left was rationed to the extreme—crackers split into quarters, canned goods stretched to last days, water measured to the last drop.
Karl observed it all in silence. He had expected this.
From his window, he could see the empty streets below, abandoned cars rusting under the sun. The outside world had become a graveyard. The power had flickered out two days ago, leaving them in darkness. Now, the only sources of light at night were candles and weak flashlights running on borrowed batteries.
And the food situation was only getting worse.
It was inevitable.
Another meeting was called.
Karl made his way downstairs, stepping into the dimly lit lobby where a group of residents had already gathered. The tension in the air was thick—people shifting uncomfortably, whispering among themselves. The hunger had made them restless, desperate.
Evelyn stood at the center again, arms crossed, her sharp eyes scanning the room. She looked worse than before—thinner, more feral. But her confidence hadn’t waned.
Julia, standing near the back, had her arms wrapped around herself, her expression tight with unease.
Emmet, the former maintenance worker, leaned against the wall with his arms folded. His body was thinner, but his posture was still solid.