Michael Joke's pupils shrank a smidge too.

  No doubt about it, he was just as gobsmacked.

  Before them were gory scenes straight out of a horror flick.

  Women, drenched in blood, were strung up in the air.

  Some were still clinging to life, writhing in agony.

  Moans and groans spilled from their lips, and their dangling bodies quivered like leaves in a storm.

  You could practically feel their pain.

  It wasn't hyperbole to say they were living a nightmare on earth.

  In the corner, a grisly pile of human bones loomed.

  No wonder they hadn't laid eyes on a single woman in the villa.

  Turned out, here, women were treated like cattle bound for the slaughterhouse.

  It was barbaric, beyond belief.

  These monsters couldn't even pass for human.

  They were more like demons straight from the fiery pits of hell.

  “Woo-hoo…”

  The ghost corpse's spine-tingling wail, part sob, part cackle, started up again.

  It circled the poor women like it was sharing in their torment.

  Michael Joke's eyes darkened as night.

  Tiny, supercharged electric wires shot from his fingertips, zipping through the skulls of the still-breathing victims, putting them out of their misery.

  “Who'd have thought that old hag was such a venomous snake and a few cards short of a full deck.”

  Billy Jean was revolted to her core.

  Just then, the villa's alarm screeched to life, blaring through every nook and cranny.

  “Ring, ring, ring…”

  Then a stampede of footsteps thundered their way.

  “We're busted.” Michael Joke said.

  The ghost corpse sprang into action, yanking up the floor tile that led to the tunnel.

  Its all-white eyes locked on Billy Jean, frantic, like it was begging her to take cover.

  Billy Jean shook her head.

  She flashed a grin and said,

  “Si… ster, thank… you. Hang… tight… I'll get even for you.”

  “Boom…”

  The door was bashed open like it was made of paper.

  Once again, a dozen guns were leveled at Billy Jean and Michael Joke.

  The big bad in the lead was still Panther.

  The second the door flew open, the ghost corpse scaled the ceiling like a lizard on a hot tin roof.

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  Nobody bothered to look up and spot it.

  “Guns… again. What a pain in the neck.”

  Billy Jean's raspy voice was like nails on a chalkboard.

  “Raise your hands and play nice. Otherwise, don't blame our bullets for finding you.”

  Panther bellowed.

  If it wasn't for the young lady's strict orders not to mar that pretty face, he'd have given the order to fire ages ago.

  “Oh… I'm shaking in my boots.”

  Billy Jean's smile was more of a smirk, and it sent chills down Panther's spine.

  His gun hand started to tremble like a leaf.

  Out of nowhere, a blood-red blur dropped from above him.

  Its razor-sharp claws ripped his gun arm clean off.

  “Ah…”

  Panther howled in pain.

  His arm went flying, and blood spurted like a geyser from the stump.

  Everyone was caught off guard, frozen in shock.

  “Shoot! Take down that freak!” Panther roared.

  Immediately, all guns zeroed in on the ghost corpse and let loose.

  “Bang, bang, bang…”

  The ghost corpse was a blur, leaping and bounding around the room so fast your eyes couldn't keep up.

  Billy Jean knew the ghost corpse was taking the heat for them.

  No way was she going to let that kindness go to waste.

  “Time… to chow down.”

  A bloodthirsty glimmer lit up Billy Jean's eyes.

  She pounced on the crowd like a bolt of lightning.

  Her claws sliced through throats like butter, and blood sprayed everywhere.

  Michael Joke wasn't twiddling his thumbs either.

  The electric wires dancing at his fingertips stretched out like deadly tentacles, strangling five lives in a blink.

  Bodies hit the floor with a thud.

  Panic spread like wildfire.

  The gun barrels swung from the ghost corpse to Billy Jean and Michael Joke, itching to fire.

  At the back of the pack, Panther screamed,

  “Take them alive! Don't touch that pretty face!”

  Billy Jean sneered,

  “Oh… well… thanks a bunch.”

  Then she and Michael Joke went on a rampage, cutting through the enemy like a hot knife through butter.

  The ghost corpse wasn't one to sit on the sidelines either, popping out now and then for a sneak attack.

  With more and more bodies hitting the floor, forget capturing them alive.

  These goons couldn't even lay a finger on Billy Jean and Michael Joke.

  Wave after wave of reinforcements charged in, but they were no match for the duo.

  Panther's face was turning purple with rage.

  If this kept up, they'd all end up six feet under, courtesy of these two.

  He didn't waste another second.

  “Shoot! Kill them!”

  “Bang, bang, bang…”

  Bullets rained down like hail.

  Billy Jean and Michael Joke each snatched a human shield, front and back, and backed away.

  The poor suckers took the brunt of the bullets and dropped like flies.

  They ditched the bodies and ducked behind a pillar.

  “Bang, bang, bang…”

  Sparks flew as bullets pinged off the pillar.

  Panther waved his arm, and his crew inched closer, surrounding the pillar.

  Just then, the lights flickered and dimmed.

  Something was blotting out the window outside.

  Everyone's heads whipped around.

  All the color drained from their faces, and a bone-chilling dread shot up from their toes to the tops of their heads.

  “Cannibal crows! It's a horde of cannibal crows!”

  Someone shrieked.

  “Wha…t the hell!”

  Billy Jean was caught off guard too.

  Why the heck had these nasties shown up again?

  These things were like a plague, swarming in massive numbers.

  They didn't discriminate, munching on humans and zombies alike.

  They left a trail of terror wherever they went.

  Michael Joke's face was as serious as a heart attack.

  He turned to Billy Jean and said,

  “I'll hold them off. You make a break for it.”

  “Wait… wait.”

  Billy Jean's eyes widened as she stared out the window.

  Surprise and delight lit up her face.

  “Wha…t the hell! Zompige is a badass!”

  Amid the swirling, dark mass of cannibal crows pecking at the window, a lone pigeon stood out like a sore thumb.

  It was perched on the back of what looked like the king of the crows, a behemoth compared to the others.

  Michael Joke was floored.

  He never expected to see a pigeon cozying up to a bunch of bloodthirsty crows.

  “Boom…”

  The window shattered, and the crows poured in like a black tide.

  “Ah… They're coming in!”

  “What are you standing there for? Shoot!” Panther yelled.

  Instant chaos.

  Guns fired willy-nilly, spraying bullets everywhere.

  With that many crows, it was like trying to empty the ocean with a bucket.

  Already, the crows were tearing into people, their sharp beaks ripping flesh like paper.

  “Ah… Get away! Leave me alone…”

  “Don't come near me! Scram! All of you, scram, ah, ah…”

  “Ah… My eyes! Help… Help me!”

  In the maelstrom of crows, you could see people flailing, screams ripping through the air.

  They watched helplessly as their flesh was devoured, bit by bit, until the pain was too much and they died.

  Over by Billy Jean and Michael Joke, it was like a different universe.

  Not a single crow came near them.

  The ghost corpse was getting the runaround from the crows.

  Seeing it was safe by Billy Jean and Michael Joke, it hightailed it over.

  The Zompige saw a bloody beast closing in on its friend and sprang into action.

  It ordered the king of the cannibal crows under its feet to go play bodyguard.

  “Coo… Mess with my friend, you're asking for trouble."