Apocalypse: King of Zombies

”You… all deserve to die.”

Chris’s voice was low, cold—and then he vanished.

”—!!”

”Another Awakened?!” Blake’s eyes went wide as he scanned the area, weapon already drawn, body tense.

But it didn’t help.

A sudden, searing pain tore through his arm—then his forearm was gone, spinning through the air in a spray of blood.

”AHH—!”

Blake screamed, clutching the stump, eyes locking onto Chris, who had reappeared right in front of him.

”Kill him! Kill that bastard!!” Blake roared.

At his command, the Enhanced behind him surged forward, weapons drawn, charging at Chris.

Chris didn’t flinch.

He moved like a ghost—flickering in and out of sight, each appearance marked by a flash of steel and a spray of blood. Every strike was lethal. Every time he moved, another head hit the ground.

There were nearly two hundred of them—most Tier 4 Enhanced, with over a dozen Tier 5s mixed in.

Didn’t matter.

Against Chris, they were nothing but meat.

The fight wasn’t a battle—it was a massacre.

Heads rolled. Blood soaked the dirt. The workers watching from the sidelines were frozen in place, horrified by the slaughter unfolding before them.

”T-Tier 6… He’s a Tier 6 Awakened?!” Blake’s voice cracked with disbelief.

What the hell was a Tier 6 doing here?!

Panic surged through him. A Tier 6 wasn’t someone they could handle. Not even close.

Blake’s eyes darted toward Joe, still unconscious in Henry’s arms. He gave a subtle signal to a few of his men—grab the old man.

They nodded and began creeping toward Joe.

But before they got close—

Shunk!

A machete whistled through the air and sliced clean across their throats. They dropped instantly, blood pooling beneath them.

”—!!”

Blake’s heart stopped.

Another Tier 6?!

He was frozen now, completely rattled. His feet started to inch backward, trying to slip away unnoticed.

He made it two steps.

Thunk!

A machete slammed into the ground right in front of him, so close it grazed his leg. He froze, body locked in place, sweat pouring down his face.

The slaughter continued.

Chris was a blur of motion, his combat knife flashing like lightning. Anyone it touched died instantly—no injuries, no second chances. Some didn’t even see him before they dropped, their lives ended in a blink.

The Enhanced began to break.

Their formation collapsed. Fear overtook them. They turned and ran.

Chris didn’t let up.

He chased them down, cutting through them like a storm, his rage fueling every strike. He wasn’t just fighting—he was purging.

Ethan shot Garrick a look.

Garrick nodded, then dropped to one knee and pressed both palms to the ground. Instantly, the earth trembled—then sank. Thick walls of packed dirt shot up in a ring, sealing off the entire area and trapping the fleeing Enhanced inside.

”Another… another Awakened?!” Blake’s voice cracked, trembling with fear.

By the time Garrick let the ground settle and the walls receded, the fight was over.

All two hundred-plus Enhanced were dead.

Chris stood in the center of the carnage, soaked in blood, breathing steady. Then, slowly, he walked toward Blake.

Blake’s legs gave out, and he dropped to the ground, scrambling backward. ”It wasn’t me! I didn’t touch him! It was them! They did it!”

”Oh yeah?” Chris said coldly.

”I swear! I never laid a hand on him!”

”Don’t believe him,” a nearby worker—the one who’d spoken to Joe earlier—suddenly called out. ”Your dad ended up like that because he crossed Blake. Everyone knows it.”

Blake whipped his head around and glared at the man, who instantly shut up and backed away.

”Lies! He’s lying! That’s not what happened!” Blake stammered, panic rising.

Chris didn’t respond.

He just sliced.

Another arm hit the dirt.

”AAAHH—!”

Blake screamed again, clutching the bleeding stump.

Just then, a large group of people came rushing in from outside the compound.

”Blake! I heard you had some big news for me—what is it?” the man in front asked, grinning as he approached.

Then he stopped dead.

His eyes swept over the field of corpses and severed heads. His smile vanished.

”Knox! Help me!” Blake cried out like a drowning man spotting a lifeboat.

”This… this is your big news?” Knox’s face darkened.

”...”

”Knox, wait, I can explain—”

”Save it. We’ll deal with you later.” Knox turned to Ethan’s group, eyes narrowing. ”Who the hell are you people? Where are you from? You think you can just waltz into my compound and start killing?”

Chris stepped forward, voice like ice. ”You’re the one in charge here?”

”That’s right,” Knox said proudly. ”I run this compound. Everything here happens because I say so.”

”Perfect.” Chris gave a cold snort—and vanished.

”—!!”

”Invisibility-type Awakened?!” Knox’s eyes narrowed. He waved his hand, summoning a glowing energy shield around himself. Then he barked to his men, ”Grab the others! Force him to show himself!”

Hundreds of armed men surged forward, charging at Ethan’s group.

”Uh… Ethan?” Big Mike asked, glancing over. ”Can we fight back now?”

”They’re already trying to kill us. What do you think?” Ethan said flatly. ”Chris has probably vented enough. The rest of them? Yours.”

”Hell yeah!” Big Mike grinned, then launched a massive Rain of Flames into the crowd. Screams erupted instantly.

”Another one?!” Blake shrieked from the back, on the verge of a breakdown.

”What do you mean, ’another one’?” Knox snapped.

”Knox… they’re all Awakened. And I think… I think they’re all Tier 6!”

”—!!”

”The fuck are you talking about?!” Knox roared.

But the moment he saw what came next, the rage drained from his face.

Sean’s arms morphed into gleaming metal, and he punched a man’s head clean off.

Garrick summoned Earthen Spikes from the ground—each one rising with deadly precision, impaling enemies from below in the most painful places imaginable.

Mia unleashed a wave of freezing energy, locking enemies in place.

Skinny Pete’s Wind Cutter sliced through Enhanced like paper.

Miles fired off searing Light Beams, while Henry, usually the calmest of them all, unleashed a devastating Void Beam that vaporized everything in its path.

Everyone except Ethan had joined the fight—and the moment they did, the enemy forces collapsed into chaos.

Knox stood frozen, watching his men get torn apart.

”This… this can’t be real… They’re all Tier 6?!” His voice shook. ”L-Look, maybe we got off on the wrong foot. Let’s talk this out, yeah? We can work something out—”

”Work this out,” a voice whispered right next to his ear.

A flash of black light.

Chris reappeared behind him, and in one clean motion, his dagger shattered Knox’s energy shield and took off his arm.

Blood sprayed. Knox staggered back, eyes wide in shock.

His shield—his Tier 5 energy shield—had been sliced through like wet paper.

But to his credit, he didn’t scream. He clenched his jaw and held it in.

”I don’t know what we did to offend you,” he said through gritted teeth. ”But I apologize. If you want compensation, take whatever you want from the warehouse. We’ve got supplies—”

”Offend us?” Chris stepped into view, pointing at Joe, still unconscious in Henry’s arms. ”You recognize him?”

Knox followed his gaze.

He did.

That was one of the laborers. He remembered seeing the guy getting beaten half to death more than once.

He hadn’t cared. In this compound, his men had full authority over the workers. Whether they lived or died wasn’t his concern.

But Chris’s next words hit him like a bucket of ice water.

”He’s my father.”