Apocalypse: King of Zombies

The other three guards froze for a second, their expressions flickering with shock. They still had human intelligence—along with the capacity for fear.

”Captain’s dead?!”

”What the hell just happened?”

”Kill them! Now!”

But it was already too late for pretending. The red glow in their eyes flared, veins bulged across their faces, and sharp fangs burst from their gums. In seconds, they’d fully transformed into monsters.

One of them tilted his head back, ready to let out a piercing howl—a signal to call in reinforcements nearby.

But before he could make a sound, a blade sliced through the air, aimed straight at his throat.

Mia’s Stellar Fang katana flashed in her hands, the razor-sharp edge cutting clean through flesh and bone. His head flew off his shoulders in a spray of blood.

”Why the hell are you yelling so loud?” she muttered, flicking the blood off her blade.

On the other side of the room, Brandon activated his ability—Blood Burst—locking the other two monsters in place. Griffin didn’t waste a second. He stepped in and brought his sword down hard, cleaving one of them in half.

At the same time, Sean’s iron fist smashed into the last creature’s skull, shattering it like a melon.

The whole fight was over in a flash. Their teamwork was seamless—deadly efficient.

Four bodies hit the floor of the cramped room, blood splattering across the walls and pooling underfoot. The air reeked of iron and death.

Koa and his sister stood frozen, staring at the carnage like they’d just been struck by lightning. Their world had just cracked open.

Those glowing red eyes, those twisted faces—there was no denying it now. The guards were monsters.

”Wait... does that mean this place—this so-called ’Blessed Grounds’—is actually a nest of the dead?”

”Oh my god... what do we do now?” The siblings were panicking, their voices trembling.

The rest of the group, though, stayed calm. Aside from the surprise that the whole town might be a corpse nest, the fight itself had been nothing out of the ordinary for them.

Elara crouched down, pulled out a syringe, and drew some blood from one of the corpses. She loaded it into a portable analyzer she carried on her belt.

”The virus they’re infected with—it’s the same strain we found in those bats back in the forest. This pretty much confirms the mutation’s behavior.”

”When it infects a human, it preserves their intelligence and memories. But it also makes them bloodthirsty, violent, emotionally dead. Aside from looking human, they’re basically zombies.”

The others let out low whistles, clearly impressed—and a little disturbed.

”Still looking human after infection? That means they’re damn good at blending in,” Brandon said, glancing at Chris. ”Uncle Chris, you better keep your eyes open.”

Chris scoffed, clearly offended. ”What, you think I can’t tell the difference? I’ve been in this town for days and haven’t been fooled once.”

”Oh, I’m not saying you can’t tell,” Brandon replied with a smirk. ”Actually, I think your instincts are spot-on.”

Griffin jumped in, grinning. ”Yeah, Uncle Chris, you’ve got a real talent for sniffing out the weird ones.”

”Hey—what the hell, you two?” Chris shot them a look, half annoyed, half amused. Griffin was laying it on thick, full drama mode, and Brandon was clearly enjoying the show.

But Koa and his sister weren’t laughing. Their nerves were shot. It all made sense now—why no monsters ever attacked the town. Because the town was the monster nest.

And they’d been living here for months, completely unaware. The thought alone was enough to make their skin crawl.

”We need to get out of here. Now,” Koa said urgently. ”This place is way too dangerous.”

Oliver shook his head. ”Not yet. It’s not time to leave.”

”Not yet?! We just killed four of them! Maybe we’re safe tonight, but by morning, the mayor’s gonna know something’s up!” Koa’s voice cracked with panic.

Oliver stayed calm, thinking for a moment before replying. ”What if... the mayor doesn’t live to see morning?”

Koa and his sister stared at him, stunned. And slowly, they started to understand what he meant.

...

Night had fully fallen.

Thick clouds still blanketed the sky, plunging the world into a deeper, suffocating darkness.

Every house in the town had its doors shut tight, candles snuffed out, not a single light in sight. The whole place was dead silent.

Only the cold night wind whispered through the empty streets, its low, mournful howl like the wailing of ghosts.

A perfect night for something to go horribly wrong.

Yeah—this was shaping up to be another blood-soaked evening.

Chris and the others couldn’t help but feel like they hadn’t had a single moment of peace since landing on this godforsaken island. First, they crash-landed in the forest and got swarmed by mutated beasts. Barely made it out alive, only to stumble straight into a nest of the undead.

And that was just the outskirts.

Who knew what the rest of the island had in store?

One thing was clear—this place was dangerous as hell.

If their team hadn’t been as strong as it was, they’d all be dead ten times over by now.

”I’m gonna scout ahead,” Ethan said, already moving toward the door.

”We’ll wait for your signal,” Mia nodded, calm and focused.

Then, right before their eyes, Ethan’s body dimmed and vanished into thin air.

Koa’s jaw dropped. He looked like he’d just seen a ghost. That ability of Ethan’s—it was freaky as hell. And after what they’d just witnessed, one thing was crystal clear to him now: you didn’t need to cut someone open to get the parasite eggs out...

...

Ethan slipped out of the house using his Domain of the Dead ability, his presence completely erased. Not a sound, not a trace.

The night air was damp and cold, brushing against his skin like the breath of something long dead.

He scanned the area. The buildings nearby were pitch black, but the air was thick with the stench of blood. People inside were draining themselves, offering up their blood like tribute.

Just down the street, two guards were patrolling. Of course, they weren’t human—zombie-like creatures, more active and aggressive at night than during the day.

They were doing their rounds, collecting jars of blood from each house, stopping at the ”chicken cages” to pick up the full containers.

Ethan silently fell in behind them, keeping his distance.

He wanted to see where they were taking all this ”food.” Maybe he could help himself to a little inventory. Blood wasn’t the only thing they were hoarding—there were probably crystal cores too. And Ethan’s operation was growing fast. His resources were burning just as quickly.

Back when they took down Genesis Biotech’s North American HQ, they’d seized nearly ten thousand Crystal Core Firearms. If he activated them all at once, the cores would burn at a rate of thousands per second.

So yeah—he needed more.

The two guards had no idea they were being tailed. They were even chatting, laughing like a couple of coworkers on a night shift.

”These humans, man... we drain them dry, and they still think they’re living the good life.”

”Yeah, and even if they figured it out, what could they do? Nothing. Just more pain for them, that’s all.”

”Guess that’s the curse of awareness—more you know, the worse it gets. Hahaha!”

Their voices weren’t audible in the usual sense—they were communicating via brainwave signals. But Ethan could pick it up loud and clear.

One of them said, ”Oh yeah, a bunch of Americans showed up in town today.”

”Oh? Where from?”

”No clue,” the first one shrugged. ”But they’re loaded with gear, look pretty juicy. Strong too. Not that it’ll help them. They won’t last long.”

”Then we better loot ’em early,” the other one chuckled.

In this town, strong humans weren’t allowed to stick around. Anyone who reached A-rank strength? Gone. Erased. Just like that.

Like fattening a sheep before the slaughter.

That was their real business model. The blood they collected daily? Just snacks.

The two guards kept talking as they walked, eventually stopping in front of a massive structure.

Ethan’s eyes narrowed.

A towering fortress loomed ahead—forty-two stories tall, built in a grand, medieval European style. It looked like some ancient beast had curled up in the middle of the town and turned into stone.

The exterior gleamed with gold and marble, lavishly decorated like a royal palace. It was stunning—breathtaking, even.

And it stood in stark contrast to the squalid ”chicken cages” where the townspeople lived.

Ethan’s gaze swept over the building.

So this was where the mayor lived.

And judging by the look of it... there was a whole lot of good stuff inside.

...