There weren't many people left living in this building. The corpse downstairs was no longer fresh. The stench of rot filled the air, and maggots squirmed on the remains. But it didn't look like a beast attack. If a big predator had done this, the bites would've been cleaner. Instead, this looked like something with dull teeth had chewed on the body bit by bit. Natalie studied it for a moment. When she was sure it wasn't a beast, she relaxed and headed back upstairs. She had just reached the 14th floor when she saw a human figure crouched by her door. Natalie quickly raised her gun. "Who are you?" The figure slowly turned at the sound of her voice. "Pretty girl?" Natalie squinted, needing a couple of seconds to recognize him. "Brandon?" No wonder she didn't recognize him right away. His hair was greasy, stuck in clumps over half his face. The bottom half was covered in patchy black stubble. Brandon grinned, blood still staining his teeth. "Pretty girl, what are you doing with that toy gun?" Natalie frowned. "Why are you here?" He laughed, showing a mouthful of blood foam. "I finished eating everything I had. So I came upstairs to borrow something from you." Natalie's grip on her gun tightened. "That body downstairs—was it Dorothy?" Brandon nodded. "That's my mom." Then he tilted his head, like he suddenly remembered something. "But she didn't taste good." Natalie's stomach turned. "You ate your own mom raw?"Brandon nodded without shame. "My dad's jerky is all gone. And nobody could cook my mom for me, so I had to eat her raw." Natalie almost gagged. She'd seen cannibals. She'd even seen parents trade their kids for food. But never someone chewing on their own mom raw. She swallowed her disgust. "There's nothing to eat on the 14th floor. Go look somewhere else." For the first time, some emotion flickered in Brandon's blank eyes. "I don't care! You killed my mom. So now you have to take care of me!" Natalie narrowed her eyes. "When did I kill her?" "You tied her outside, and she got heatstroke. That's how she died." Natalie looked at him for a long moment, then glanced at the door behind him. "Fine. I'll get you some food. Come with me downstairs." Brandon frowned. "Why downstairs? Shouldn't we go to your place?" "I keep my supplies in a storage shed outside," Natalie said evenly. At that, Brandon grinned. "Okay. Thanks, pretty girl!" Natalie studied him, wondering if he was stupid. Still, she kept her gun steady. "You go first." No way was she letting him walk behind her. Brandon obediently led the way down. As they moved, Natalie asked, "Why did you throw your mom off the building?" He smacked his lips. "She didn't have any meat left. Why keep her?" Natalie couldn't even process that kind of thinking. She just told herself he had lost his mind after his parents died. Step by step, she guided him outside the gates. "Pretty girl, how much farther to the shed?"Natalie didn't answer. "Pretty girl, will you marry me? My parents are dead. Nobody's here to take care of me." Natalie still didn't answer. He started to turn his head toward her ... Bang! A bullet went straight through his skull. He dropped instantly. Natalie fired once more, making sure he was dead, then left him on the ground like trash and walked home. By then, more people had gathered around Building 6, gossiping about the bloody skeleton. Natalie pointed at two men. "You two, get rid of that body. Dump it somewhere else." They glared up, ready to refuse—until they saw Natalie's face and the gun in her hand. Their expressions flipped in an instant. "Yes, right away." Natalie waited until the crowd scattered before heading upstairs. The two men carried the bones out of the complex, gagging as they went. "This is disgusting. It's already full of maggots!" "Shut up and carry it! If we don't, that psycho will make sure someone's carrying us instead." "You're right. And she's got a gun." "Gun or not, nobody could beat her even before. Don't forget—they call her the chainsaw maniac!" "You think she killed this body, too?""Wouldn't surprise me ... " They stumbled outside, only to find Brandon lying there with his skull blown open. "See? That's what happens when you mess with the psycho." After that, things quieted down. Outside, the world baked like a giant oven. The heat climbed to 140°F for over a month before dropping back down to 120°F. Natalie remembered it well. During the extreme heat waves, the temperature always swung like this—shooting up into 140°F, then falling back into 120°F, again and again.