Apocalypse: King of Zombies

Hearing her younger brother Henry’s voice, Emily sprang up from the couch like she’d been shocked, staring at him in stunned silence as tears began to stream down her face.

She’d always had a gentle, soft-hearted nature. After the world ended, she fled with their parents from one hellhole to another—until she watched them die right in front of her. That broke something inside her. Since then, she’d been hanging on by a thread, hiding the trauma under forced calm. But now, seeing Henry again, she couldn’t hold it back anymore.

She ran straight into his arms, broke down, and cried like she couldn’t stop—like every tear she hadn’t shed came pouring out all at once.

Henry’s eyes were red too. It had only been, what, seven, eight months since they last saw each other? But in the apocalypse, that felt like lifetimes.

For most siblings, a reunion like this might be awkward. But not them. Emily’s quiet personality and their small age gap meant Henry had always felt more like her big brother than the other way around.

Ethan saw what was going on and quietly closed the door, motioning for Chris and Mia to step back with him.

They moved into another room, giving the siblings some space.

”Where’d you even find Henry’s sister?” Chris asked, curious.

”Total fluke,” Ethan said. ”Ran into a Recovery-type Awakened while heading back. I was thinking about recruiting her—and turns out she’s Henry’s sister.”

Chris laughed. ”Yeah, that’s crazy lucky.”

”She’s a Recovery-type?” Mia asked, puzzled. ”And Henry’s got a healing-type ability too. That’s a weird coincidence. Or is there some kind of genetic link?”

”Beats me,” Ethan said, shrugging. ”Maybe there’s some underlying rule, who knows. Not like they give us a manual for this stuff.”

Chris leaned back, grinning. ”Man, no wonder Henry never showed us a photo of his sister during college. She’s gorgeous. Probably worried we’d get ideas.”

”Yeah, no wonder,” Ethan said, smirking. ”Back in the dorms, he was always weirdly protective.”

”You sound pretty interested yourself,” Mia said, cocking an eyebrow at him.

Ethan snorted. ”Not my type. If anyone’s a threat here, it’s Chris.”

”Hey,” Chris said flatly. ”I’m emotionally unavailable. Permanently.”

”Right,” Ethan snorted. ”Until your next five-minute crush.”

”...”

Mia gave him a sly look. ”Didn’t you say you liked sweet girls? Lola only pretended to be sweet, but Henry’s sister? She’s the real deal. A little shy, a bit ditzy. Sounds pretty close to your type.”

Chris perked up. ”Seriously?”

”You’ll see for yourself when you talk to her,” Ethan said, grinning.

”Looking forward to it.”

”Didn’t you just say you weren’t into women?” Mia teased.

”That was five minutes ago,” Chris said. ”Doesn’t count anymore.”

”…Wow,” Mia muttered.

”Figures,” she added, giving him a look. ”Men change their minds like the weather.”

”Hey,” Ethan cut in, mock-indignant. ”Careful with the generalizations.”

”Oh?” Mia tilted her head. ”Then what’s your type?”

Ethan looked her straight in the eye. ”Pretty girls.”

”...”

Right then, Sean and a few others came back through the hallway.

”Hey, Ethan, you’re back!” Sean called. ”What are you guys doing out here?”

”Where’ve you lot been wandering off to?” Ethan asked, smiling as he looked at the group.

”Gathering intel, Captain,” Big Mike said seriously.

”Oh yeah?” Ethan raised a brow. ”Then tell me—what’d you find?”

Big Mike rubbed his hands together. ”I was just about to! We did some digging and found out there are several zones in Clearford City crawling with zombies. Rumor is, there’s a Tier 8 lurking in one of them.”

He lowered his voice, eyes gleaming. ”The military’s prepping for a sweep of those areas. But I figure we hit them ahead of time—take out the Tier 8 first.”

Chris blinked. ”Wait… you guys actually were scouting?”

”What else would we be doing?” Big Mike said defensively.

Chris narrowed his eyes. ”Call me crazy, but I figured you were out there trying to ’rescue’ working girls.”

”Do we look like that kind of guy?”

”Nope. You are that kind of guy.”

”...”

Ethan clapped his hands once. ”Alright, knock it off. Did you mark which zones the Tier 8s showed up in?”

”Of course,” Big Mike said proudly.

”Good. We’ll check them out tomorrow.”

”Got it.”

Sean looked around. ”By the way, where’s Henry?”

”Inside,” Ethan said. ”Catching up with his sister.”

”His sister?!”

”Yeah, ran into her while we were out. Brought her back. Let’s give them some space.”

”Cool.”

Everyone waited outside for more than two hours before the door finally opened. Henry stepped out with Emily. Both of their eyes were red.

”Thanks, Ethan,” Henry said sincerely, turning to him.

”Come on, no need for that between us,” Ethan replied with a smile. ”Introduce her to the team.”

”Yeah.” Henry nodded, then looked around at the others. ”This is my sister—Emily.”

He went on to point out each person, giving Emily a quick rundown of everyone by name.

Emily bowed politely. ”Nice to meet you all. And… thank you for looking after Henry.”

”Emily, no need to be so formal,” Chris said quickly. ”Honestly, if anyone’s been taking care of anyone, it’s Henry patching us up. Without him, we’d be dead five times by now.”

”Exactly,” someone else chimed in. ”We’re all one team here—no need for thanks.”

Then Big Mike squinted at Henry, a suspicious look on his face. ”Wait… she’s really your sister? Like, real sister?”

”Yeah. What, you don’t believe me?”

”No, I mean… you don’t look that great, but your sister’s, like… actually beautiful. She’s almost at Mia levels.”

”...”

Henry rolled his eyes. ”I may not be some pretty boy, but I look better than you, easy.”

”Yeah, seriously, Big Mike,” Chris jumped in. ”Don’t talk if you don’t know how.”

Meanwhile, Chris kept sneaking glances at Emily.

Some things are fine as long as nobody points them out.

Once they do, it’s hard to stop thinking about it.

And yeah… watching Emily stand quietly to the side, eyes still a little watery but gentle and sweet—Chris couldn’t lie to himself. He was kind of into her.

”Alright, enough messing around,” Ethan said suddenly. ”Henry, I’m planning to bring your sister into Fallen Star Squad. What do you think?”

”Really? That’s… that’s awesome!” Henry looked stunned—and thrilled.

He’d originally planned to take Emily back to Fallen Star City’s central compound, where she’d be safe.

But this? Joining Fallen Star Squad? That was a whole different level.

He was part of the squad himself, and he knew exactly what that meant. Being in Fallen Star wasn’t about just surviving—it was the path to becoming a top-tier elite. There was no comparison.

”Her ability will be a huge help to us,” Ethan added. ”She’ll grow faster with us than anywhere else.”

”In that case, I’m all for it,” Henry said, nodding hard.

But Emily spoke up, voice soft but clear. ”Um… Henry, I can’t join Fallen Star Squad. I’m already with Silverfox Squad. I have to go back.”

”No way.” Henry’s tone hardened, all the softness gone. ”You’re my sister. I’m only comfortable if you’re with me.”

”I know Silverfox rescued you, and I appreciate that—but they don’t get to keep you from making your own choice. I’ll handle it. I’ll give them a few crystal cores as thanks for helping you out. I’m sure they’ll be fine with it.”

He had just found her again—there was no way in hell he’d let her walk away now.