Be Careful What You Wish For: A Zombie Apocalypse-Chapter 485: A Master Preformance

The roar came again...closer this time. It sounded deeper, almost hungrier. I would have made a sarcastic comment or two about wondering what it was hungry for, but I was pretty sure that I was the only thing on the menu today.

Or at least, the only thing worth eating.

The trees and leaves around Papa Khaos and I shook with each footstep the creature took. The only thing I could really think of was that this thing had to be big, maybe even bigger than Rexy. Huh, I wonder if Rexy wanted a friend...

After all, it couldn’t be easy being a T-Rex in today’s society.

And above us, the canopy shifted—only slightly, but enough to make it feel like the sky itself was leaning in to watch whatever drama was about to unfold.

However, I didn’t so much as flinch.

The vines at my feet curled like living snakes, slithering into archways and spirals, forming a throne-shaped structure behind me. They weren’t shielding me. They were presenting me like a name card at a buffet, letting the creature know it was ready with dessert.

"Okay," I muttered, brushing dirt from my dress. "You brought me out here to fight," I grumbled under my breath. "You said this was a walk."

"It is," Papa Khaos said, a bright smile on his face as he looked at me with amusement. "It’s an educational walk with better scenery."

"Educational walks don’t usually come with roars and bone-shaking death in the trees... and the scenery shouldn’t want to eat me," I pointed out even as the earth under our feet shook again. Now that it was getting closer, the effects it was having on its environment were even easier to see.

Like the fact that there was now a giant chasm on the path in front of us.

"That’s what makes it memorable," purred Papa as he brushed a curl out of my face. Okay, so if this was how I acted around the guys before I got my soul mostly put back together, I probably owed them an apology.

Crazy was not an attractive look on anyone.

Another branch cracked overhead, as something big came through the trees. It towered over me, bigger than a panther.

"Tell me this isn’t a setup," I asked through gritted teeth. If I wasn’t so sure about my inability to die, I would have easily turned around and run in the other direction.

"This?" Papa grinned. "This is a lesson."

I rolled my shoulders. "Of course it is."

"And that attitude is why you’re failing the course," Papa replied smoothly, side-eyeing the jungle. "You keep thinking like a mortal. This is a test."

I arched a brow. "Of what?"

"Of what happens when the Devil stops hiding her teeth."

I opened my mouth to respond—but the forest beat me to it.

The trees ahead split with a sickening crack. Not like wood snapping... more like ribs breaking. A wall of undergrowth peeled back as something forced its way through, not with speed, but with the arrogance of a creature that never needed to hurry.

The beast was massive. Wrong. A fusion of evolution’s worst accidents—its body stretched too far, legs jointed in ways that made no anatomical sense, like it had crawled out of a dream that had rotted from the inside out. Insectoid limbs clicked against bone-plated haunches, and its neck coiled like a whip made of armored vertebrae.

Its face—or what counted as one—opened in layers. It didn’t have what I would think of as a jaw, more like an unfolding. Mandibles scraped together over rows of jagged teeth, each one black and glistening like obsidian soaked in blood.

And its eyes. There were way too many eyes watching me from every angle. And they were all hungry.

Behind the creature stood a girl, quiet and still. I couldn’t help but notice that she was watching me, not the beast, and I didn’t need Papa to tell me what I was looking at.

She was the test.

A reflection. frёeωebɳovel.com

A lie.

"Is that Balance?" I asked, cocking my head to the side as the girl mirrored my actions. If I said that she was the opposite of me in every way, I wasn’t being sarcastic.

She had pitch black hair, to my blue-ish white, bright red eyes, to my white ones, tall to my short. I honestly think the only similarities we shared was that we were both females, with two arms, two legs, and a head.

Papa chuckled as he shook his head. "No, darling. That’s what the universe thought Balance should look like. Neat. Controlled. Forgettable. But the jungle didn’t accept her... I didn’t accept her. She never called me like you did. Not once."

He looked at me, eyes glowing faintly.

"You’re the Balance. The only version that ever worked."

I stared at the girl. She was made of hesitation. Her body spoke of waiting, her eyes of wondering. She didn’t burn. She just... existed.

But most importantly, she wasn’t me.

"Mine," I whispered, a slight smirk on my face.

The very jungle around me hissed in approval as the air around us got hotter.

The beast lunged, its claws tearing into the dirt as it tried to gain traction.

In response, I stepped forward.

I was not known for backing down from a fight, and I wasn’t about to start now.

I didn’t hesitate; I had no fear.

All I had was a burning need to... restore.

As if reacting to my emotions, the vines all around me seemed to pulse with heat. The ground beneath me darkened as leaves started curling at the edges for a moment before turning to ash. The scent of burning earth filled the air—sweet and metallic, like something ancient had stirred from sleep.

Papa Khaos didn’t move. Didn’t flinch.

But his grin sharpened. "Careful, now. This jungle is wild, but it remembers you. This beast isn’t here to die—it’s here to learn a lesson, just like you. Let the fire teach both of you."

Papa Khaos tilted his head toward the girl. "And let her see what Balance looks like when it finally stops pretending."

I tilted my chin.

If this was a performance, I was going to make it a masterpiece.