Apocalypse: King of Zombies

Ethan was getting real tired of dealing with end-of-the-world bullshit. Sure, stepping in usually didn’t cost him much—but sometimes, even a small favor could spiral into a mess.

Like that time with the girls holed up in the Walmart. He’d helped them kill the bastards who’d raped them. No big deal, really. But the aftermath had left a sour taste in his mouth.

Still, when he saw the bruises on that mother and daughter—saw the way they looked at him, equal parts hope and terror—he sighed. He wasn’t heartless. Not yet.

”Sean,” he said, voice flat. ”Go in there and kill the three men.”

”Got it.” Sean nodded, then turned and kicked the door in with a single, brutal stomp. He stepped inside without another word.

Ethan led the rest of the group toward the next house.

This one had its door wide open. Looked like a fight had broken out—furniture overturned, blood smeared across the floor. But the freezer inside was still stocked with beef.

”Clean this place up,” Ethan said. ”I’ll be in the kitchen making stew.”

”Hell yes,” someone said, and the mood instantly lifted. Nothing like the promise of hot beef stew to make the apocalypse feel a little less grim.

Back in the first house, Sean’s sudden entrance had sent all five people inside into a panic.

”Wh-what do you want?!” one of the men stammered, backing up.

Sean didn’t answer. He’d kicked the door off its hinges like it was cardboard—clearly Enhanced. That alone was enough to make the men sweat.

He took one look around the room and pieced it together fast.

No hesitation.

The barbell bar in his hand moved in a blur—three swings, three skulls crushed like overripe melons.

The two women huddled together, shaking, too terrified to scream.

Sean frowned. Ethan had told him to kill the men. Nothing about the women.

Which probably meant: leave them be.

He glanced at them. ”Lock the door. Don’t let any zombies in. Wait for help.”

And with that, he turned and walked out, leaving the two women staring after him in stunned silence.

...

Safe Zone...

After the Safe Zone Authority was established, all decisions within the zone fell squarely under the control of Mayor Marks and his circle of government officials. They held the keys to everything that mattered—food, water, fuel, medicine. Colonel Daniel Reyes, the last surviving high-ranking officer in the military, led what remained of the National Guard. But with the government hoarding all the essentials, and not wanting to spark a civil war, Reyes had no choice but to play along.

To keep the military in check, Mayor Marks passed a new rule: all crystal cores harvested from zombies had to be turned over to the government. Every mission was now supervised.

The military didn’t hold back. They swept the area clean, and within weeks, there wasn’t a single zombie left within three miles of the Safe Zone. The zone kept expanding, swallowing up more land, more buildings, more survivors.

On the surface, things were looking up.

But not for everyone.

For most people, a zombie-free zone was a blessing. For others—especially the Enhanced and Awakened—it was a problem. They needed to kill zombies to get crystal cores, and now the only way to find any was to venture farther out, into more dangerous territory.

There was another option, of course: join the Safe Zone Authority.

Mayor Marks made the offer clear—sign up, follow orders, and you’d get all the crystal cores you needed.

Plenty of people took the deal. Temptation was a hell of a thing.

But not everyone was willing to be leashed. Some had bigger ambitions. Others just didn’t like being told what to do.

Vivian and her team were a prime example.

Every day, she led her squad beyond the perimeter, hunting zombies, growing stronger. But no matter where they went, one person always tagged along—someone who wasn’t part of their team, someone they couldn’t shake, and definitely couldn’t kill.

That tagalong was the reason Mayor Marks found out Vivian was Awakened.

And once he knew, he turned up the pressure.

He made it clear—subtly, persistently—that he wanted her on his side. Vivian was sick of it.

She wanted to leave the Safe Zone altogether, take her team and disappear. But with that guy shadowing them, every move they made was tracked. If they didn’t return by sundown, a car would show up to bring them back.

Such thoughtful service. Vivian could just kiss his whole damn family.

Too bad her team, while strong, wasn’t strong enough to go toe-to-toe with the Safe Zone Authority.

What really got under her skin, though, was how many of her people had already been flipped.

Mayor Marks had a gift for recruitment. In just a few days, several of her teammates had started nudging her—gently, insistently—toward joining the Authority.

Now Vivian finally understood just how dirty Mayor Marks played.

Connor was in the same boat.

He wasn’t Awakened—no special powers—but his team had grown strong fast. After just a few days, every one of them had reached Tier 3 as Enhanced. Connor, Miles, and a few others had already broken into Tier 4.

A squad like that? Mayor Marks wasn’t about to let them slip through his fingers.

And these were college kids—smart, idealistic, but green. They hadn’t seen the real rot of the old world. Marks was confident he could reel them in.

...

Ten miles outside the Safe Zone, Vivian’s team was moving fast down a cracked, overgrown highway.

”Vivian, aren’t we going a little too far out?” a middle-aged man jogged up beside her, frowning.

”What’s the matter, Mr. Jennings?” Vivian shot him a cold look. ”You monitoring our route now, too?”

”Of course not,” Thomas Jennings said, hands raised in mock surrender. ”Just saying—if we’re too far out, it’ll be harder to get backup to you in time.”

”I don’t recall ever needing your backup,” she snapped. ”The Authority cleared out all the nearby zombies. If we want to kill any, we have to go farther.”

”Still, no need to go this far. There are zombies all over the place—you could fight them anywhere.”

”I like it out here. Got a problem with that?” Her voice sharpened.

”Uh, no, just... offering a friendly suggestion,” Jennings said, awkwardly backing off.

”Vivian,” Nate murmured, tugging at her sleeve. ”Maybe we should stop here. If something goes wrong, we’re really out on a limb.”

She glanced at him, then sighed.

”Fine,” she said, pointing toward a cluster of houses in the distance. ”We’ll hit that neighborhood.”

”Got it.” The team—nearly two hundred strong, all Tier 3—moved with purpose. Vivian herself was already at the peak of Tier 4. With her abilities, she could go toe-to-toe with a Tier 5 zombie.

And she needed to. She needed to get stronger—strong enough to stand against the Safe Zone Authority.

...

Elsewhere...

Connor’s team had just come out of a brutal fight. Over a thousand zombies, two of them Tier 4, dozens more Tier 3. They’d won, but at a cost—more than ten of their own were dead.

Connor stood over the bodies, grief etched deep into his face.

Some of them had been on his college basketball team. Guys he’d known for years. They’d stuck with him since the first day of the apocalypse, followed him out of Starlight State University.

He’d promised he’d get them through this.

And now they were gone.

Miles stood beside him, face grim. He didn’t need to ask what Connor was thinking—he already knew.

”Connor,” came a soft voice behind them.

A woman approached—delicate features, calm eyes. ”Maybe if you’d taken my offer yesterday, this wouldn’t have happened.”

”Can you not?” Miles said, his voice ice-cold.

She shrugged and turned away. She knew when to push and when to back off. No need to overplay her hand.

Connor stared at the blood-soaked ground. ”Miles... do you think if I’d agreed to join the Authority yesterday, they’d still be alive?”

Miles froze. Then he turned to face him, eyes steady. ”Don’t forget what you said.”

”I haven’t. That’s why I keep saying no. But... is freedom really worth more than their lives? If we had the Authority’s support, maybe they’d still be here.”

”If it were just about joining the Authority, I wouldn’t be so against it,” Miles said. ”But Mayor Marks? He’s a damn tyrant.”

”Tyrant? What do you mean?”

”I mean this whole thing’s a trap, Connor. The deeper you go, the harder it is to get out. It’s not just about losing freedom. It’s about losing everything.”

Miles stepped back, voice low but firm. ”I hope you drop this. Because if you don’t—if you really decide to join them—I’m out.”

He turned and walked away, leaving Connor standing alone, lost in thought.

...