William suddenly burst out laughing as tears streamed uncontrollably down his face. He laughed without pause, without reason, as though something deep inside his mind had finally snapped. The desperate man who had fought tooth and nail to protect his family was gone.

From a distance, both Leo and the alien watched him, completely unable to guess what he would do next. The alien had momentarily halted the advance of the horde, bringing the entire battlefield to a sudden, eerie standstill.

"Hahaha... hahaha... gone... gone... both of them are gone... hahaha..." William muttered, the phrases incoherent and broken.

Suddenly, he bolted. In an instant, he reached the exact spot where the Stalker had just thrown Lily. His fists blurred as he began punching rapidly, his raw, unnatural strength blasting the zombies that were tearing into Lily’s corpse into bloody pieces.

When the frenzy cleared, William looked down at what was left. There was no longer even a semblance of the cute, shy little girl who used to run to the door and sweetly call out, "Papa," every time he came home.

William bent down and gently scooped Lily’s lifeless body into his arms. Even though she had stopped breathing long ago, he looked at her face and spoke as if she could hear him.

"MY DARLING BABY, THERE’S NO NEED TO BE AFRAID. PAPA HAS COME TO SAVE YOU. HE WILL ALWAYS PROTECT YOU FROM NOW ON."

He pressed a tender kiss to her forehead. He received no response, but he kept talking anyway.

"Oh, you miss Mommy. Okay, let’s go find her, and then we’ll go home. I’ll have Mommy make all your favorite dishes."

Carrying Lily’s body, William began looking around wildly, his eyes scanning the area as if searching for Elena.

"My dear, where are you? Lily is hungry. Let’s get back home."

Suddenly, his gaze locked onto a group of crawlers still gnawing on Elena’s corpse. He closed the distance in a flash, delivering two swift, brutal kicks directly to their heads. The crawlers’ skulls instantly burst apart, splashing thick blood and gore across William’s face and body. He didn’t even flinch; he just licked the blood from his lips and smiled maniacally.

Though it hadn’t been long since Elena was killed, the crawlers had been thorough. Looking down, William saw there was barely any flesh left intact—only crushed bones and pools of deep crimson.

"Honey, why are you sleeping on the ground here? What if you get sick? You are difficult to handle when you’re sick." William scratched his head, his voice dropping to a gentle whine. "No, you got me wrong. I will take care of you well even when you’re sick. Now stop being stubborn, and let’s go home."

While this horrifying scene unfolded, Leo took advantage of the alien’s curiosity. The creature seemed amused, willing to wait and see what William would do, which allowed Leo to quietly slip around the halted horde.

Reaching William, Leo cautiously placed a hand on his shoulder. His chest tightened, a deeply complicated expression crossing his face.

"William, they are gone."

The moment Leo’s hand touched him, William spun around and threw a savage punch.

Leo had just seen what those fists did to the zombies. Even though his own physique was much stronger than an average human’s now, he had no desire to test his durability against that kind of monstrous strength. But William was too close; there was no room to fully dodge.

With no other choice, Leo swung his crowbar up to block the incoming fist.

TONG!

The heavy impact rang out like two steel beams colliding at high speed. The sheer force tore the knuckles on William’s hand wide open, exposing the white of his bone. But Leo’s beloved crowbar took the brunt of it, bending at a bizarre, useless angle. It had saved his life, but barely.

William screamed, dropping Lily’s body as he howled in pure agony.

Leo immediately tried to back away and create some distance, but William moved with terrifying agility, closing the gap in the blink of an eye. Before Leo could even register the movement, William grabbed him with both hands, lifted him effortlessly off the ground, and launched him like a ragdoll toward the truck.

Bang!

Leo crashed hard against the truck’s windshield. The impact was violent enough to spiderweb the glass with fine cracks. It was a terrifying display of strength—even during the brutal fight against the One-Horned Demon, the earlier clashes with the horde, and the truck’s actual crash into the building, that windshield hadn’t taken a single scratch.

"Aagh, fuck!" Leo cursed, forcing himself up from the ground. A thin line of blood quickly trickled from the corner of his lips.

"Cough... Cough..."

He started coughing violently, his legs trembling and wobbling until he couldn’t even stand straight. He spat sideways onto the asphalt. The saliva was thick with bright red blood. A dull, throbbing ache in his chest and a ringing in his ears made it clear—he was suffering from internal injuries and a nasty concussion from hitting the truck.

"Die... Die... You all are trying to harm my Elena and Lily. You should all die."

Leaning heavily against the side of the truck, Leo wiped his mouth and watched William closely. That’s when he noticed it: thick, dark veins were rapidly bulging and spreading across William’s face, crawling down toward his neck.

The further those black veins spread, the more deranged William became. Losing all sense of reality, William dove headfirst back into the zombie horde, tearing the undead apart limb from limb with his bare hands.

Realizing William was completely lost to his madness and preoccupied with the monsters, Leo dragged his aching body toward the cab. He quietly sneaked back into the vehicle. Only inside the heavy frame of the Apocalypse Truck could he find any real sense of safety right now.

But looking out at the carnage, Leo could only wonder if the truck could actually withstand the insane, monstrous strength William was now unleashing.