Apocalypse: King of Zombies

Finally, after two or three minutes of mental tug-of-war, the struggle in the mutated Bengal tiger’s eyes began to fade. Its gaze turned hazy—then, when it looked at Skinny Pete, that haze shifted into something else.

Obedience.

”Haah… it worked!” Skinny Pete dropped straight to the ground, wiping the sweat from his forehead, his face lit up with pure excitement.

”No way… it really worked!?” Chris said, stunned.

The others stared at Pete, wide-eyed and grinning.

”Yeah, it’s done. I can feel the link in my mind. If I give it a command—even if I told it to die—it wouldn’t be able to resist.”

”That’s insane,” Chris muttered.

”It is. But the link’s constantly draining my mental energy. The rate’s already higher than my natural recovery. If I don’t keep feeding it crystal cores, I’ll be tapped out in less than 24 hours. And when that happens… I don’t know what’ll happen to the bond.”

”…”

”Then you better keep your mental energy topped off,” Chris warned. ”Last thing we need is that thing flipping on us mid-fight. We’d be screwed.”

”Yeah, I’ll be careful,” Pete nodded. ”Didn’t expect it to burn energy like this, though. Guess controlling a whole army of mutant beasts is off the table.”

”Oh, give it a rest,” Sean said, smacking him lightly on the back of the head. ”This tiger’s already a monster. You want a whole army now? What’s next, world domination?”

”Hey, a guy can dream,” Pete said with a sheepish grin.

”Speaking of your new pet,” Henry cut in, ”you sure it doesn’t need healing?”

”Oh—right! Henry, quick, patch it up! If we wait any longer, it’s gonna die!” Pete jumped up, suddenly remembering.

”I’ll heal it,” Henry said, ”but only if I get to ride it after.”

”No problem! It’s huge—plenty of room for a few of us,” Pete said without hesitation.

”Cool. Ethan, can you pull the combat knife out of its neck?” Henry asked.

”Yeah.” Ethan nodded and stepped forward, carefully gripping the embedded combat knife with his telekinesis.

He slowly drew it out.

As the blade slid free, the tiger’s body twitched violently, and blood gushed from the wound.

Henry immediately cast a healing spell, a soft glow washing over the beast.

The bleeding stopped, and the wound began to close rapidly.

Still, Henry didn’t fully heal it—just enough to stabilize. No one wanted to risk it going berserk again.

Fortunately, Pete’s Beast Control held strong. Even after regaining some strength, the tiger didn’t lash out. It simply lay down beside Pete, calm and docile.

”Not bad,” Ethan said with a grin. ”We paid a heavy price, but the payoff’s huge. This tiger alone doubles our squad’s combat power.”

”Damn right,” Pete said proudly. ”We had to bust our asses just to survive. Anyone else? They wouldn’t stand a chance. If we let this thing loose, it could wipe out a whole city.”

”Let’s rest up and eat something before we move,” Ethan said. ”We’ll have the tiger lead the way after. I need a real break.”

”Got it. No problem,” Pete replied.

Miles opened his pocket dimension and pulled out a stash of food—jerky, bread, and other rations.

Everyone sat down right there on the ground and tore into the food like starving wolves.

The fight had drained them to the bone. Their bodies were screaming for fuel.

After eating, they headed back to the highway and started digging for crystal cores.

They’d taken down over ten thousand zombies in this battle—plenty of cores to harvest.

And after how many they’d burned through today, even their deep reserves were running low.

No matter how many they had stored, they couldn’t afford to waste a single one.

While Ethan used his Telekinesis to swiftly dig out crystal cores with the combat knife, Miles walked up beside him.

”Captain,” Miles said quietly, ”you’re really not worried at all?”

”Worried about what? Skinny Pete?”

”Yeah. That tiger’s way too strong. With it under his control, Pete’s basically the strongest in the squad now. And don’t forget—he used to roll with Sean and Big Mike. If the three of them ever turned on us…”

Ethan chuckled and turned to look at him. ”Let me ask you something. If one day your power surpassed mine, would you betray the Fallen Star Squad?”

”Of course not!” Miles shook his head without hesitation. ”I’m not that kind of person. And besides, that day’s never coming. I’ll never be stronger than you.”

”Exactly. If you wouldn’t, then neither would they.”

Ethan’s voice was calm, but firm. ”I brought them out of Starlight State University myself. I know what kind of people they are better than anyone. And even if they did have second thoughts… you really think that tiger alone could take me down?”

He smiled faintly. ”I’ve got Teleportation. If I don’t want to fight it, it can’t touch me. But if I want someone dead? That tiger won’t save them.”

Miles nodded slowly, a flicker of admiration in his eyes. ”Now I get why you chose Teleportation instead of some flashy offensive ability. The versatility is insane.”

”Miles,” Ethan said, his tone softening, ”your concern isn’t wrong. But you’ve got to learn to trust your teammates. If you can’t, you’ll never really be part of the squad. And right now? Everyone in Fallen Star Squad is still worth trusting.”

”Yeah. Got it.”

...

Elsewhere…

”Yo, Skinny Pete,” Sean called out casually, ”how’s it feel having a badass pet like that?”

”Freakin’ amazing,” Pete grinned, rubbing the mutated Bengal tiger’s massive head. ”With this beast by my side, I feel like I could mow down a whole horde of zombies without breaking a sweat!”

”Mm-hmm. Starting to feel like you’re stronger than Ethan now, huh?”

”Holy shit, Sean! Don’t say that out loud!” Pete flinched, looking around nervously. ”If the captain hears that, I’m dead meat!”

Sean gave a small nod, then his tone turned serious. ”Skinny Pete, I want you to remember something. We owe our lives to Ethan. Everything we have now—our powers, our survival—it’s all because of him. Without Ethan, we’d be long dead. We wouldn’t be living like this.”

”Sean, I know that. Why are you bringing this up all of a sudden?” Pete blinked, then his eyes widened. ”Wait—hold up. You think I’m gonna turn on the squad just because I got a tiger? Come on, man! You know me better than that! I swear on everything, I’d never even think about something like that!”

”Good.” Sean let out a breath. ”Just making sure you’re not getting carried away.”

”Do I look like I’ve lost my damn mind?” Pete said, exasperated. ”Ethan’s got Teleportation. Chris can go invisible. Either of them could take me out in seconds. You think this tiger’s gonna save me from that? Hell no.”

He shook his head. ”Besides, this tiger’s only scary for now. Give it a few days—once everyone hits Tier 7, it’s just gonna be a deterrent. That’s it. Don’t set me up, man. I like living.”

Sean chuckled. ”Relax. Just giving you a little reality check. Don’t get too flashy.”

”Yeah, yeah. Got it.”

...