Apocalypse: King of Zombies

”Queen Laura!” Big Ears was so startled that he stumbled back two steps.

”You... what are you doing here?”

”Why wouldn’t I be here? The real question is, why are you still hanging around?” Laura replied with obvious disdain, clearly not thrilled to see him.

”Wait, weren’t you just at the graveyard?” Big Ears asked hurriedly.

Laura looked at him like he was crazy. ”I was at the graveyard earlier, but I’ve been back for a while now.”

Big Ears frowned deeply at her response.

He knew Queen Laura was fast, but this? This felt like she was messing with him.

Something wasn’t right.

Something was definitely off.

There had to be a problem at the graveyard.

Even though Big Ears couldn’t figure out what was going on, he decided it was best to report this to Ethan.

...

Back at the house, Ethan listened to Big Ears’ account. He wasn’t particularly surprised—issues popping up in newly expanded territory weren’t exactly unheard of.

Still, this situation was odd. Big Ears swore he’d seen two Lauras, but Laura insisted she hadn’t seen him at the graveyard at all. She chalked it up to Big Ears’ imagination.

Now, the two of them were downstairs, still arguing about it.

Ethan, curious about the whole thing, decided to check it out for himself. With a single thought, his figure vanished from the room.

The next moment, he appeared on the street below.

The bickering Laura and Big Ears immediately fell silent when they saw him.

”Boss, I swear everything I said is true. Every word! I’m not lying to you,” Big Ears said, rushing forward.

”But I didn’t see him at the graveyard,” Laura countered.

Nearby, the burly Bulldozer was watching the drama unfold, chuckling to himself. ”Maybe you got possessed or something, Laura. Maybe you saw him but didn’t realize it.”

”Do I look like you?” Laura shot back, clearly annoyed.

”Enough,” Ethan said, cutting through the noise. ”Let’s go check it out and settle this.”

The group of zombie kings nodded in agreement and followed Ethan as he led the way toward the graveyard at the edge of their territory.

...

By now, the sun had fully set, and the sky was a dull, oppressive gray. A cold wind swept through the streets of the post-apocalyptic city, howling as it passed.

Terrifying zombies roamed the streets, but when they saw Ethan, they all bowed their heads in submission, showing him the utmost respect.

The group crossed the river bridge and arrived at the edge of their new territory. Ahead of them stretched a dense forest, the mountains looming in the distance. In the dim light, the forest looked pitch black, the trees swaying in the wind like shadowy figures beckoning them closer.

Gravestones stood scattered across the clearing ahead, lonely and desolate, exuding an eerie sense of abandonment.

”Boss, it was right there!” Big Ears pointed to a spot in the middle of the gravestones. ”That’s where I saw her earlier this afternoon.”

”But there’s nothing here,” Laura said, her sharp eyes scanning the area.

Bulldozer scratched his head. ”Big Ears, are you sure you weren’t the one possessed? Maybe you just imagined it.”

Ethan ignored their banter, focusing instead on his surroundings. He extended his senses, but there was no sign of any living presence nearby. The area was completely silent, unnaturally so.

And yet, there was a faint feeling—something was here, lurking just out of sight.

Ethan stepped forward, his gaze falling on two zombie corpses lying among the gravestones. They looked freshly dead.

Their deaths were strange. Their bodies were completely intact, with no visible injuries. But their skin was covered in grotesque, tumor-like growths.

The growths were dark red, uneven, and bumpy, almost like clusters of warts. They were so densely packed that they covered nearly the entire surface of the corpses, some even layered on top of each other. Just looking at them was enough to trigger a sense of revulsion.

”What the hell is this?” Ethan muttered. With a wave of his hand, a tachi appeared in his grip. He raised the blade and sliced into one of the largest growths.

To everyone’s surprise, there was no explosion of blood or gore. Instead, the inside of the growth was white, with a texture resembling mushroom fibers.

”Fungus?” Ethan thought to himself. It seemed these zombies had been killed by some kind of parasitic infection. Fungi weren’t part of the animal or plant kingdoms—they existed in their own strange, parallel domain.

But before he could think further, a figure suddenly staggered out of the dark forest.

It was thin, with disheveled short hair and a horrifying face.

And yet, that face was identical to Laura’s.

”Look! There it is!” Big Ears shouted, pointing with a trembling hand before quickly retreating behind the other zombie kings in fear.

Laura tilted her head, her sharp, menacing eyes narrowing as she studied the figure. It really did look exactly like her—down to the clothes.

”Well, I’ll be damned. There really is one.”

”Raaahhh—”

The fake ”Laura” let out a raspy growl and began shambling toward them, step by step.

”Oh, come on, look at you acting all tough...” Bulldozer muttered, completely unfazed. Unlike the others, he hadn’t evolved the capacity for fear, so he wasn’t the least bit intimidated.

”Boss! I’ve been wanting to knock her down a peg for ages. Let me handle this!”

Ethan nodded calmly. ”Go ahead.”

”???” The real Laura turned to Ethan, her face full of question marks.

What did he mean by that?

Before she could say anything, Bulldozer’s massive frame surged forward. With just a few powerful strides, he closed the distance and swung a heavy fist at the fake Laura. His speed was incredible, and with his enhanced strength, the punch packed a devastating amount of force.

”BAM!”

The punch landed squarely on the fake Laura’s face, sending her flying around 10 feet.

But to everyone’s surprise, her head didn’t explode, nor did her bones shatter. Instead, her face caved in like it was made of rubber or clay.

”Huh? Tough little thing, aren’t you?” Bulldozer grinned and charged again, pinning the fake Laura to the ground. He began pummeling her relentlessly, his fists slamming down like hammers.

It was clear that the imposter wasn’t very strong—probably just barely at a B-rank level. Against Bulldozer, she didn’t stand a chance.

Even Big Ears, if he’d mustered the courage, could’ve taken her down. But his fear of the real Laura had kept him from making a move earlier.

In no time, Bulldozer had beaten the fake Laura into an unrecognizable mess. With one final, thunderous punch, there was a loud ”CRACK!” as her head finally burst open.

But instead of blood and flesh, her insides were filled with white, thread-like fibers.

Unbothered, Bulldozer grabbed the remains and tore them apart like he was ripping up a piece of foam.

”Boss, all done!” Bulldozer announced proudly, standing over the shredded remains.

”Hmm...” Ethan nodded, his expression calm and thoughtful.

Big Ears squinted at the remains, his fear now replaced by curiosity. ”What was that thing? And how did it manage to look just like Laura?”

”Probably some kind of mutated fungus,” Ethan replied, though he didn’t sound entirely sure. ”The source of the fungus isn’t in the graveyard—it’s deeper in the forest. If we go far enough, we might find the root of the problem.”

The zombie kings scratched their heads in confusion. They’d heard of mutated plants and mutated beasts, but mutated fungi? That was new.

Ethan, however, was more concerned. While the creature wasn’t particularly strong, it was still a potential threat. If left unchecked, it could become a bigger problem down the line.

The issue was that fungi weren’t like vines or trees—they didn’t have a single root to trace back to. That made dealing with them much trickier.

”Forget it. Let’s head back for now,” Ethan said, turning to leave.

”Alright,” Bulldozer replied, though he sounded a little disappointed. ”I wasn’t done punching it yet...”

Laura shot him a sideways glance, her expression growing darker the more she thought about it. Something about this whole situation didn’t sit right with her.

Without warning, she raised one of her sharp claws and, with a swift ”SHNK!”, stabbed Bulldozer right in the butt.

”AAAHHH!”

Bulldozer’s scream echoed through the graveyard.

...