Harem Apocalypse: My Seed is the Cure?!

Chapter 366: Mei Attacked

"Enjoying yourselves?"Both of them froze.

The voice was deep, sudden, and far too close.

They turned at the same time.

Williams was standing there in the doorway, wearing that crooked smirk of his.

For one heavy second, nobody said a word.

Mei felt her stomach drop. Tommy went still beside her. They were both thinking the same thing at once.

Had he heard them?

If he had caught even half of what they had just said, then it was over. No escape plan, no second chance, nothing. Everything would die right here in this room.

Tommy’s grip tightened slightly around the weapon in his hand, subtle enough that maybe Williams wouldn’t notice, but ready all the same. Mei stayed silent. There was nothing smart to say yet. All they could do was wait and see which way this was going.

Williams stepped farther into the room, slow and casual, like he had all the time in the world.

"What are you doing here?" he asked.

The question hit them both with immediate relief.

Not too much, not enough to relax, but enough.

If that was what he opened with, then he hadn’t heard. Or at least not the part that mattered.

"She spilled food on her dress, so I brought her in here to clean it," Tommy said, pulling himself together fast and forcing some normalcy into his voice.

Williams looked from Tommy to Mei, then down at the stained dress.

"Oh, she spilled food and you accompanied her," he said, nodding slowly. "I see. But if that’s right, why is she still wearing clothes?"

Tommy blinked. "What?"

Williams grinned wider, showing those large teeth of his as his eyes settled on Mei in a way that made her skin crawl.

"If the dress is stained," he said, "then take it off."

"Go to hell," Mei shot back, glaring at him.

She turned immediately. "I’m leaving."

She barely made it a step.

Williams crossed the distance fast, moving with ugly confidence. "Now, now," he said, still smirking, "don’t rush off. Let’s have some fun, little girl."

"Callighan said we don’t touch her!" Tommy cut in at once, panic slipping through despite himself.

He moved toward Mei, putting himself more in Williams’s path, his face suddenly hard.

"We don’t touch her," Tommy repeated. "She’s a valuable prisoner."

Williams let out a rough little laugh.

"Valuable prisoner?" he said. "Funny. Weren’t you the one fucking her before I came in?"

Mei shot him a look full of disgust and moved behind Tommy, trying to get around both of them and make it to the door.

Williams’s mouth twisted.

"We don’t—"

Tommy didn’t even finish.

Williams’s fist came from the side like a hammer.

It struck Tommy across the face so hard his whole body snapped with it. He went down instantly, crashing onto the floor as blood sprayed from his mouth.

"Hey! What the hell are you doing?" Mei shouted, horror and anger breaking out of her at once.

Tommy groaned and tried to push himself up, dazed, blood running from his mouth and across his chin. He managed to lift his arm, trying to bring the weapon up toward Williams.

Williams saw it and brought his boot down hard on Tommy’s arm.

A groan tore out of Tommy.

"C—Callighan will—"

Williams didn’t even let him finish.

His foot swung again, this time into Tommy’s head ruthlessly.

The blow shut him down completely. Tommy’s eyes rolled back and he collapsed flat, unmoving.

For a second, the room seemed to tilt around Mei.

Tommy was out cold.

She couldn’t believe he really did that.

And Williams turned to her with an ugly grin.

"Now," he said, "let’s have some fun."

Mei stepped back instantly, then turned to run.

She almost made it.

Williams lunged after her and caught her arm in one hard grab.

"Let go, you filthy beast!" she shouted, twisting violently, trying to wrench herself free, but his grip was like iron.

"I think I’ve waited long enough," Williams said with a sick smirk. "You’ve been eating well these last few days. My turn to get something good out of you."

He yanked her toward him and threw her down.

Mei hit the ground hard with a grunt, pain shooting through her side. Her heart was beating so fast it felt violent. She scrambled backward on her hands and knees, trying to get distance, trying to get anything between them.

Williams came after her.

He bent toward her, reaching—

And Mei’s hand found the empty bottle lying beside her.

Without thinking, she grabbed it and smashed it straight against the side of his head.

"Ugh—!"

Williams recoiled with a grunt, stunned more than seriously hurt, but it was enough.

Mei shoved away from him and scrambled free, then forced herself up and ran.

She burst out of the house, desperate now, not even thinking straight anymore beyond one thing: get away, find someone, anyone, before he got hold of her again.

She barely made it a few steps before a brutal tug jerked her backward.

Her scalp lit up with pain.

Williams had her by the hair.

"You bitch!" he snarled. "You’ve got me bleeding!"

He dragged her back and threw her to the ground again.

Mei cried out as her knees slammed into the concrete. Pain shot through both legs. She twisted around at once, but he was already on her, pinning her down with his weight.

"No! Leave me alone!" She shouted, kicking, thrashing, fighting with everything she had.

It wasn’t enough.

"Yeah, that’s it," he said with a twisted laugh. "Fight back."

He caught both her wrists and forced them down as she struggled beneath him, panic rising so hard she could hardly breathe.

"Don’t worry," he said, grinning in that revolting way of his. "You’ll change your mind soon enough."

Then he reached for his belt.

"Once I fucked your brains out."

"N—No!!" Mei screamed, her voice cracking hard enough to hurt her throat.

She kicked and twisted under him, trying to throw him off with whatever strength she had left, but Williams had her pinned too solidly for it to matter. His weight crushed down on her hips and stomach, one forearm driving her into the floor while his body blocked out half the light above her. He felt heavy, all brute force and filthy breath and heat, and every time she tried to wrench free he only settled harder, like he enjoyed feeling her struggle weaken underneath him.

Williams looked down at her with that ugly little smirk still on his face. Blood from the earlier fight had gotten into his hair, turning a few of the loose strands dark and sticky where they had fallen across his forehead. He licked his lips once, slow and disgusting, staring at her like he had all the time in the world.

Mei’s chest heaved. Her hands pushed at him, scraped at him, struck wherever they could reach, but none of it did anything except make her own panic worse. Her wrists felt weak. Her legs kept jerking uselessly under him. She could hear herself breathing too fast, hear the fear in it, hear the way it had stopped sounding like anger and started sounding close to breaking.

Then he lowered his head and grabbed hold of her blouse.

The fabric tore apart with a sharp rip.

Mei’s eyes went wide.

Cold air hit her skin immediately. Her blouse hung open, ruined, and the white bra underneath was suddenly exposed in a way that made her whole body lock up for half a second. Horror flashed across her face so nakedly she couldn’t hide it even if she wanted to. She tried again to shove him away, harder this time, desperate enough to ignore the way her muscles had already started to burn, but he barely moved. One of his hands caught her arm and slammed it back down before she could get any leverage.

"No! get off—!"

She squeezed her eyes shut when she felt him moving lower, and tears gathered before she could stop them. Her face tightened. Her whole body had gone rigid with dread.

Then something cracked against the back of Williams’ head.

"Nguuh—"

His weight shifted violently off balance.

Mei’s eyes snapped open through tears and blur, and for a second the room swam before it steadied enough for her to make him out. Keith stood behind Williams with a chair in both hands, chest heaving, his face twisted furiously.

"You piece of shit!!"

He swung again.

The chair slammed into Williams’ head with a wooden crack, and this time Williams gave a rough groan and lurched sideways, one hand flying up too late to shield himself. The blow didn’t knock him clean out, but it stunned him enough. Enough for Keith to move.

Keith kicked him hard in the ribs, shoving him off her fully, then dropped the ruined chair and bent toward Mei without wasting another second.

"Come on!!"

Mei stared at him for one shocked heartbeat, still trying to catch up, then grabbed his hand with both of hers. Keith hauled her up fast, almost too fast for her legs to cooperate, and she stumbled into him before managing to steady herself. She yanked her torn blouse together with her left arm, trying to hide as much of her upper body as she could, while Keith pulled her forward toward the way out.

They ran.

Or tried to.

Mei’s steps were messy and panicked, her knees still shaking, Keith half dragging her when she nearly tripped over broken debris underfoot. Her pulse hammered so strongly she couldn’t hear clearly for a second. The surroundings felt too loud and too close all at once.

Then something sliced through the air with a thin whistle.

Mei turned at the sound.

The bottle hit Keith in the back of the head and shattered.

"Aghh!"

His whole body jerked. The impact dropped him instantly, like somebody had cut his legs out from under him. He crumpled to the floor hard, glass exploding around him in bright, sharp pieces that skittered across the ground.

"Keith!"

Mei dropped beside him at once, knees slamming into the floor. Her face went pale when she saw the blood already running down from the back of his head, darker by the second, threading through his hair and slipping onto the side of his neck. Her hand hovered over him for a moment, trembling too badly to know where to touch first. He looked dazed, barely able to push himself up, one arm shaking under him.

"Keith!! Get up, please—"

She barely got the words out before she heard footsteps behind her.

She turned and saw Williams coming at them.

His face had changed. Whatever joy had been there before was gone, beaten out of him by the chair. Now he just looked enraged.

He was going to do worse to Keith.

"L—Leave him!" Mei cried, scrambling halfway in front of Keith on instinct alone.

Williams shoved her so hard she went skidding sideways across the floor.

Pain shot through her shoulder when she hit, but she forced herself back up on one elbow just in time to see him grab a fistful of Keith’s shirt. The fabric twisted tight in his hand. Keith barely had a chance to lift his head before Williams drove his fist into his face.

"Ughh!"

Keith’s head snapped to the side and blood spilled from his mouth. A red streak hit the floor. Williams punched him again before he could recover, then again, each hit full of ugly, angry force. Keith tried to cover up, tried to twist away, but he was too disoriented from the bottle. His arms were slow. His body kept failing him by a second.

Mei felt her breath turn jagged. Her hands dragged uselessly against the floor as she looked around for anything, any weapon, any piece of broken furniture, any bottle that hadn’t shattered, any blade, any pipe, any damn thing she could grab before Williams caved Keith’s face in right in front of her.

But before she found anything, a voice cut through.

"Williams."

Mei snapped her head toward it and saw Callighan standing there.

He had appeared almost quietly compared to the chaos around him, but the stillness in him made the whole room shift at once. Williams stopped with his fist halfway drawn back for another hit. Keith lay bloodied under him, barely moving, while Williams turned his head toward Callighan with a look caught between annoyance and caution.

Then he straightened slowly and let his arm lower.

"Callighan, came to see me beating the shit out of him—"

Bang!

The gunshot rang out so hard it made Mei flinch.

Williams let out a harsh groan as blood burst from his arm. The force of the shot spun him off balance and tore the rest of his words apart before they could leave his mouth. For a second he just stood there, stunned, staring at the wound like his body hadn’t caught up yet.

The bullet had gone clean through his arm.

Then the pain landed all at once.

Williams stumbled back, clutching the injured arm with his other hand, blood already slipping fast between his fingers as he reeled away from Keith.