Apocalypse: King of Zombies

The group chatted and laughed along the way, making the journey anything but dull. Since their aircraft was flying at a high altitude, no brainless mutated flying beasts dared to cause trouble.

Everything was going smoothly.

About an hour later, they reached Texas airspace.

The aircraft began to descend, switching to low-altitude flight.

Through the windows, they could see the desolate land below. Occasionally, they passed over ruined cities, where the distant howls of zombies echoed. Some mutated flying beasts circled in the sky, scanning for prey.

In this post-apocalyptic world, most places were still overrun by the undead.

”Where are we headed?” Oliver, the pilot, asked.

Ethan thought for a moment. He couldn’t just charge straight into Blackhand City—that would be way too conspicuous, especially with thousands of Awakeners inside.

Caution had always been his style.

”Let’s scout around the outskirts of Blackhand City first. See if we can find any isolated teams.”

”Got it.” Oliver immediately understood his intent.

He activated the AI scanner, which began identifying lifeforms on the ground.

The aircraft hovered in the sky, scanning every inch of land below.

Before long, they found something.

Lately, the Black Hand Legion had been running rampant, frequently venturing out to pillage and slaughter. They took everything—medicine, food, crystal cores… even people.

To them, humans were just another resource.

At first, the Black Hand Legion had been more discreet, luring survivors into Blackhand City through scams—fake promises of abundant food, clean water, even the temptation of beautiful women. Many fell for it. But once they arrived, they realized they had walked straight into hell, subjected to unspeakable horrors.

As word spread, people wised up. No one fell for their tricks anymore.

So the Black Hand Legion stopped pretending. Now, they just went out and took what they wanted—by force.

”Scanning in progress... Detected thirty-six humans below.”

The aircraft’s AI announced its findings.

On the display screen, several red boxes highlighted a section of the ground, locking onto the targets.

Oliver immediately reported, ”Boss, we’ve got thirty-six people down there. Would you call that ’isolated’?”

”Yeah… close enough,” Ethan replied.

...

On the ground, a group of people was indeed moving.

They were members of the Black Hand Legion, and they had just returned from a successful raid.

They had ambushed a small scavenging team from a nearby shelter—taking everything. Supplies, weapons… even the people.

The victims consisted of two men and two women. They had only been out in the wilderness to forage for wild vegetables, pick fruit, or maybe hunt some small mutated beasts.

But luck wasn’t on their side.

They had managed to avoid the zombies—only to fall into the hands of the Black Hand Legion.

Among them was a young couple.

The man had been beaten down, and right in front of his girlfriend, one of the Black Hand thugs had kicked him so hard in the groin that his ”eggs” had burst.

Now, he was barely conscious, blood pouring from his mutilated body. His face was deathly pale, his entire body trembling uncontrollably. Heavy iron chains bound him as he was dragged along like livestock.

”Ugh… ughhh…”

His girlfriend sobbed uncontrollably, her face streaked with tears, her eyes swollen from crying. Despair consumed her.

One of the Black Hand Legion members sneered at her misery, taking twisted pleasure in her suffering.

”Go on, cry. The louder, the better.”

”You fucking animals!” the wounded young man rasped, his voice weak, his body shaking as he fought through the agony.

The Black Hand thugs just laughed. They had heard it all before.

”Heh. If we’re animals, then what does that make you? Less than nothing.”

”Just wait till we get back. We’ll run a train on your girl right in front of you.”

”She’s got a pretty mouth. Bet it’ll sound real sweet when she begs us to stop.”

”Let’s see how much she loves you when we’re the ones making her moan.”

”You sick fucks!” The young man’s bloodshot eyes burned with rage. He wanted nothing more than to tear them apart with his bare hands. But the chains held him down. He was powerless. The only thing he could do was spit at them.

One of the Black Hand thugs smirked and casually kicked him—right in the same ruined spot between his legs.

”AAAHHHH—!”

The scream that tore from his throat was pure agony.

The pain of having your balls crushed? It was said to be worse than breaking a thousand ribs at once. Worse than giving birth to a hundred children at the same time.

”No! Please, no!” The young girl at the front sobbed helplessly, her cries raw with desperation.

The Black Hand Legion thugs only found it more amusing.

Once these captives were dragged back to Blackhand City, they’d either be put to work as laborers, sold off as slaves, or used as bargaining chips to extort supplies from nearby shelters.

Of course…

Most of the time, the ”exchange” was just a scam. The shelters would hand over the supplies, but the prisoners were never released. Hell, sometimes the ones delivering the ransom got kidnapped too.

And if someone was deemed completely worthless?

They’d be chopped up and fed to the dogs.

”Help us! Somebody, please!” The captives wailed, their voices breaking as they imagined the horrors waiting for them in Blackhand City.

The Black Hand thugs just laughed.

”Scream all you want. Even if God himself showed up, he couldn’t save you!”

But the moment those words left his mouth—

A sharp, whistling sound tore through the sky.

A bright light streaked toward them at high speed.

”Huh? What the hell is that?” One of the thugs squinted up at the sky. The object gleamed in the sunlight, almost blindingly bright.

The whistling grew louder.

It was getting closer. Fast.

”Shit… you don’t think it is God, do you?”

”Are you fucking stupid? This is a sci-fi apocalypse, not a damn movie.”

”Oh… yeah, good point.”

”.....”

The group murmured among themselves, watching the approaching object with growing unease.

As it neared, they finally got a clear look—

A sleek, silver aircraft, its design futuristic and cutting-edge.

”Wait… is that Genesis Biotech?”

”What the hell are they doing here?”

”It’s not time for the delivery yet, is it?”

Their curiosity deepened.

The aircraft’s thrusters cooled as it descended smoothly, landing with precision.

With a sharp click, the hatch slid open.

Ethan stepped out, his expression calm, his gaze indifferent as he took in the scene before him.

His eyes swept over the captives, then the Black Hand thugs.

”This is all you’ve got?” His voice was flat, unimpressed.

One of the gang’s lieutenants stepped forward, frowning.

”Hey, you’re with Genesis Biotech, right? We agreed on the 10th for the delivery. It’s only the 6th—why the hell are you here early?”

Ethan tilted his head slightly, studying the man.

Then it clicked.

So Blackhand City had dealings with Genesis Biotech?

And when they said ”cargo”… they meant people.

Genesis Biotech was known for its experiments. They always needed fresh test subjects.

Well, wasn’t this a nice little surprise?

He hadn’t even stepped off the aircraft for five minutes, and he’d already stumbled onto something very interesting.

How considerate of them.

At that moment, Mia and the others jumped down from the aircraft.

”We’re not with Genesis Biotech,” Mia said, her tone casual but firm. ”We’re Awakeners from a shelter.”

The lieutenant’s eyes widened in shock.

Then narrowed in suspicion.

His hand twitched toward his weapon, ready to fight if necessary.

Mia kept walking, completely unfazed.

”Oh, and that ’cargo’ you were talking about?” She smirked.

”That’s you.”

...