Apocalypse: King of Zombies

Inside Genesis Biotech.

Nathan was on edge the entire time. Using a drone, he kept a close watch on Ethan’s movements. Sure, Ethan had gone off to the shelter, but who’s to say he wouldn’t come back to finish him off?

It wasn’t until the swarm of zombies returned to their hive and the chaos settled that Nathan finally let out a small sigh of relief.

He had also recorded the battle that took place at the shelter.

”Brutal. Just brutal,” Nathan muttered, shaking his head repeatedly. Watching as tens of thousands of humans at the shelter were devoured by the monsters, their screams of despair and helplessness painted a vivid picture of the apocalypse. It was a scene straight out of a nightmare.

The fight between Ethan and Azure Scaled—the two zombie kings—was nothing short of spectacular.

But in the end…

Ethan won. Again.

And with every victory, their strength only grew, making them an even bigger threat to the company.

This gave Nathan a massive headache.

Still, during the battle, he had spotted Griff and a group of dozens of bio-engineered creatures locked in combat. Among them were elite zombies—company prototypes—with hyperactive cells and reinforced skeletal structures, tearing through their enemies like unstoppable war machines.

Nathan couldn’t help but feel a twinge of guilt about it all.

”But hey, it’s not entirely my fault…” he mumbled to himself. On the bright side, the battle had provided invaluable real-world data on the viruses, something that was hard to come by.

Later, he had to attend the monthly meeting—one of those mandatory check-ins with headquarters. At least now he had something to report.

...

Nathan had already planned how to handle the meeting. He sat down in his chair, activated his VR setup, and entered the virtual conference room.

Just like last time, his vision went dark for a moment before the surroundings shifted. When the visuals stabilized, he found himself in the familiar meeting space.

Beams of light flickered and began forming humanoid shapes, gradually solidifying into the figures of other regional branch managers from major cities.

In the North American division, these end-of-month meetings were a routine affair, where everyone gave updates on their recent work.

At the head of the conference table, a middle-aged man appeared, dressed sharply in a tailored suit with slicked-back hair that gave him a no-nonsense, efficient vibe.

This was Richard, the head of the North American region.

He was the one who always chaired these monthly meetings.

”Is everyone here?” Richard’s sharp gaze swept across the room.

”All here,” came the collective response, with everyone nodding in agreement.

Richard allowed himself a small smile. ”Good. The fact that you’re all present is already a win. At least it means you’ve managed to survive another month in this apocalypse.”

”Uh…” Nathan broke into a cold sweat, thinking to himself, I came pretty close to not making it this time.

Richard’s eyes landed on him. ”Nathan, why don’t you start us off this time?”

”…Alright,” Nathan replied awkwardly, nodding.

It wasn’t hard to figure out why he was being called on first. Over the past few meetings, everyone had learned about the powerful zombie king wreaking havoc in Los Angeles. Things weren’t looking great for his branch, and it seemed like Richard was giving him the ”let’s hear from the struggling student first” treatment.

Clearing his throat, Nathan began, ”Uh, well… everything’s been fine on our end. Business as usual.”

”Wait, what?” The others turned to him with surprised looks, clearly not expecting that answer.

”Mr. Nathan, you’re not just throwing in the towel, are you?”

”What about that zombie king? What’s the situation there?”

”Did you deal with it or not? Didn’t Sophia go to help you out?”

”…”

The room buzzed with chatter, but no one seemed to notice that Sophia, sitting quietly in her seat, had her head lowered. She wasn’t saying a word, and the usual confidence she carried was nowhere to be seen.

Richard raised an eyebrow, also surprised by Nathan’s claim of ”business as usual.”

”What about the G-virus samples headquarters sent you last time? Any results from the experiments?” Richard asked.

”Uh… yeah, we’ve already injected all the test subjects. The results look promising. I can transmit the data back to HQ right away,” Nathan replied smoothly, sounding more confident now.

Richard’s brow lifted slightly in approval. ”Not bad. That’s progress compared to last time.”

”Wow, you found test subjects that quickly? Impressive. I’ll give you some credit for that,” Richard said with a nod of approval.

”Uh… well, it’s not like we’re the ones who did the injections,” Nathan added, his tone casual but with a hint of mischief.

”???” Richard froze, visibly confused. Something about that didn’t sound right. ”Then… who did?”

”Well, you’d have to ask Sophia from our San Bernardino branch about that,” Nathan said, his voice dripping with mock enthusiasm. ”One of her so-called Four Knights of Bernardino, Griff, is quite the bold one. He took half my G-virus stockpile, used it all up, and even injected himself with it. Talk about commitment, huh?” His exaggerated tone and sarcastic delivery made it clear he wasn’t exactly thrilled.

Sophia’s expression darkened immediately. Her brows furrowed, and her fists clenched so tightly that her knuckles turned white. She was clearly furious, though she kept her composure—for now.

The other branch managers exchanged surprised glances. They all knew the consequences of injecting the G-virus. It turned people into grotesque bio-monsters, stripping away their humanity entirely. And the transformation was irreversible.

”Wait, seriously? He injected himself with it?”

”Man, Sophia, your team’s got some real daredevils.”

”Yeah, that’s… uh, bold. Let’s call it bold.”

”...”

Sophia’s fists tightened even more, and her face was practically steaming with anger.

”Griff volunteered to inject the G-virus,” she said through gritted teeth, ”because he wanted to take down that zombie king.”

”And… did he succeed?” one of the managers asked, curiosity laced in their voice.

”...” Sophia fell silent again. She took a deep breath, trying to calm herself, before recounting the events.

She explained how, after boasting in the last meeting that she’d help Nathan deal with the zombie king, she had sent two squads to Los Angeles, including Jessica. At the time, she had been confident they’d eliminate Ethan. But things had gone horribly wrong. What she thought was a victory turned out to be a massive blunder, and the losses were catastrophic.

Griff’s situation was even worse. Despite transforming into a bio-monster, he had still fallen to Ethan. Both squads were completely wiped out.

”Pfft!” Some of the managers struggled to suppress their laughter. The absurdity of the situation was almost comical, but they knew better than to laugh out loud—it was a tragic failure, after all, and laughing would come off as disrespectful.

Richard, however, didn’t laugh. He leaned back in his chair, deep in thought.

”So even you, Sophia, couldn’t handle that zombie king?” he finally asked, his tone serious.

”Griff managed to pin him down. He was this close to finishing him off,” Sophia replied, her voice firm. She had reviewed the battle footage and knew how close they had come.

”Hmm…” Richard nodded slowly, though it was clear he understood just how powerful the zombie king was.

”So, what’s your plan moving forward?” he asked.

”That zombie king absorbed Griff’s crystal core and has been hunting other high-tier zombie kings. He’s even stronger now. I can’t handle the situation in Los Angeles anymore. Nathan can deal with it himself!” Sophia snapped, clearly still fuming. She threw her hands up, effectively washing her hands of the matter.

Richard turned to Nathan. ”Nathan, what’s your plan?”

”Oh, so she just throws her hands up after handing him free kills? Fine, whatever. I don’t have the resources to deal with that zombie king anyway. For now, I’ll just focus on keeping the company running as smoothly as possible,” Nathan said with a dismissive wave, clearly bitter. He had no intention of sticking his neck out any further.

Before Jessica and Griff had shown up, the zombie king hadn’t been nearly as strong, and Nathan had been able to manage. But now? The situation had spiraled into something far more dangerous.

Sophia’s anger flared again. ”What do you mean I handed him free kills? Didn’t you give the zombie king the X-virus and Y-virus?”

”Me? I didn’t give him anything! Those viruses never even passed through my hands!” Nathan shot back, his voice rising.

”Oh, really? Never passed through your hands? Then what about the G-virus? Are you going to deny that the zombie king stole ten vials of it?”

”I…” Nathan, who had been on the offensive just moments ago, suddenly found himself at a loss for words.

Richard quickly stepped in to defuse the situation. ”Alright, alright, calm down, both of you. Let’s not turn this into a shouting match. Honestly, it sounds like neither of you is in a position to point fingers right now…”

...