Apocalypse: King of Zombies

Ethan and the others followed Kirra into the house. The place was cramped and bare, barely more than four walls and a roof. The whole structure was made of wooden planks, and with the recent rain and humidity, the air reeked of damp rot.

But what really caught their attention was the table in the middle of the room.

It was covered with syringes and IV tubing, the lines snaking into glass bottles filled with a thick, crimson liquid—blood. Three of them, nearly full. The sight was downright chilling.

Koa’s eyes went wide. ”Kirra, what the hell are you doing?”

”I... I wanted to offer more tribute,” Kirra said weakly, her voice barely above a whisper. ”I was hoping the town guards would go into the forest to rescue you.” She forced a smile. ”Oh, right. The town gave me a bunch of food too. Let me get it out for everyone.”

Koa’s heart clenched. ”You...”

He couldn’t even finish the sentence. Just imagining what might’ve happened to his sister if he hadn’t made it back made his stomach turn.

He turned to Ethan and the others, gratitude flooding his chest. If it weren’t for them...

He quickly introduced them to Kirra, and the siblings bowed their heads in thanks, their voices full of emotion.

Mia frowned. ”Is it just me, or is there something seriously off about this town?”

”You’re not wrong,” Ethan said, picking up the thread. ”Because this place isn’t some ’Blessed Grounds.’ It’s a corpse nest. And those guards? They’re not even human.”

”What?” Chris and Brandon’s jaws dropped.

”No way.”

”What do you mean, not human?”

”Yeah, they look and act just like people!”

”Are you saying... they’re zombies?!”

”...”

They’d all seen intelligent variants of the infected before, but even the smartest ones still looked and acted noticeably different from humans.

Well... except for Ethan. He was a whole different category.

Ethan continued, ”They’re infected with a mutated strain of the virus. It lets them keep their minds—and even their memories from when they were alive.”

”So the humans in this town? They’re just livestock. Being kept here under the illusion of protection.”

”Holy shit...” Chris muttered, glancing around the tiny room, then at the jars of blood. Suddenly, it felt like they were the ones in a cage.

Thinking back on the way the town was set up, it all made a twisted kind of sense.

Mia raised an eyebrow. ”Damn. You figured all that out?”

Ethan gave a smug little grin. ”What can I say? I used to run a farm.”

Mia rolled her eyes. ”Of course you did.”

Koa and Kirra stared at them, completely lost. They didn’t understand a word of the English being spoken, and their confused expressions made it obvious.

”What are you guys talking about?” Kirra asked hesitantly.

”We’re just discussing the town,” Oliver replied.

”Oh, okay!” Kirra smiled and nodded eagerly. ”So? Not bad, right? Pretty good place to survive, huh?”

Oliver hesitated, then repeated Ethan’s words almost word for word. ”Your town... it’s a corpse nest.”

Kirra’s smile froze. Koa’s face went pale. The shock hit them like a punch to the gut.

”No... No way! The Blessed Grounds can’t be a corpse nest! The guards protect us—they can’t be zombies!”

The gap between what they believed and what they were hearing was just too massive. The siblings stood there, stunned, unable to process it.

Sean watched them with a raised brow, his sharp eyes taking in every flicker of emotion. One second they were smiling, the next they looked like they’d seen a ghost. They were babbling in their native tongue, completely incomprehensible.

He sighed inwardly. What a pair of idiots...

But just then, footsteps echoed outside—slow, deliberate, getting closer.

Thud. Thud. Thud.

A heavy knock rattled the door.

”Open the door!” a voice barked in the local dialect.

Inside, Chris and the others exchanged tense glances.

Someone was here.

Koa immediately jogged over and pulled the door open with a creak. Standing outside were the same four guards they’d seen earlier beyond the fence wall.

”H-Hi there!” Koa forced a smile, but it came out stiff and unnatural. After what Oliver had said—that these guys weren’t even human—he couldn’t help but feel uneasy, even if part of him still didn’t want to believe it.

Because if it was true… that was just too terrifying to wrap his head around.

The lead guard, the Captain, gave him a cold glance. ”You brought outsiders here. They don’t get the town’s protection for free. They need to offer tribute too—do their part to help defend the town.”

”Uh—what?” Koa’s face twisted in discomfort. ”I don’t have any crystal cores right now. Could you give me a few days? I’ll go hunting and bring some back as soon as I can.”

”Fuck off,” the Captain snapped, shoving Koa aside without a second thought. He and his three men barged into the house like they owned the place.

They’d already noticed Ethan’s group back at the perimeter—loaded with survival gear, alloy weapons, and the kind of confident posture that screamed prepared. No way these people didn’t have crystal cores.

And now that they were inside the town? Time to strip them clean before another squad got the chance.

The four guards scanned the room with pale faces, slightly pointed teeth, and a faint red gleam in their eyes. Their expressions were smug, arrogant, like they were already counting their loot.

”Doesn’t matter where you came from,” the Captain said, eyes narrowing. ”You’re in our town now. That means you follow our rules. Hand over your crystal cores. Now.”

”Boss, he wants us to give up our crystal cores,” Oliver translated, glancing at Ethan.

”Oh?” Ethan nodded slowly. Truth was, he’d understood everything. These guys weren’t human—they were zombies. And when they spoke, they emitted a unique brainwave frequency that only other infected could pick up.

Zombies didn’t need translators.

”They want crystal cores from me, huh?” Ethan muttered, glancing out the window. The sky, already overcast, had darkened even more. Night was falling fast.

”Tell them to come over. I’ll give them what they want.”

”Got it.” Oliver nodded, then turned to the guards. ”My boss says you can come get it. He’ll hand it over.”

”Good, good. That’s more like it,” the Captain said, clearly pleased. He didn’t suspect a thing—why would he? This was their nest. No one would dare challenge them here.

He strode forward, eager, completely unaware he was walking straight into the jaws of death.

”Hand it over,” the Captain said, holding out his hand.

”Sure thing,” Ethan replied casually, like he was handing over spare change.

Then, without warning, he raised his hand and drove his fingers straight into the Captain’s skull.

With a flick of his wrist, he yanked upward—and a crystal core popped out, gleaming between his fingertips.

The Captain didn’t even have time to react. His pupils went glassy, and his body crumpled to the floor like a puppet with its strings cut.

Ethan stood there, calm as ever, like he’d just cracked open a soda.

”See?” he said, holding up the core. ”Told you I’d hand it over.”

...