Apocalypse: King of Zombies

Ethan and Sean stepped back into the house to find dinner already laid out on the table. Mia had everything prepared—and everyone else was clearly just waiting for them.

”Captain! You’re finally back! I’m starving here,” Big Mike groaned, wearing a miserable expression. ”Do you have any idea how torturous it is to have your stomach growling like mad while staring at a full table of food you can’t touch?”

Sure, high-tier Awakened could resist hunger way better than normal people—could go five or six days without eating, even—but that only applied when they weren’t burning energy.

And today? They’d spent the whole damn day cutting down zombies—over a hundred thousand of them. They’d run themselves dry more than a dozen times. Emily had patched their stamina up again and again, but their bodies had already been pushed beyond the limit. At this point, they were starving—gut gnawing at spine-level starving.

So yeah. Sitting around waiting for dinner wasn’t just frustrating—it was pure torture.

”If you’re hungry, eat. I didn’t tell you to wait for me,” Ethan said, shaking his head. ”We’re not exactly formal around here.”

”I wanted to eat!” Big Mike griped. ”Mia’s the one who wouldn’t let me. Said we had to wait for you.”

Mia shot him a death glare. ”You really think it’d be okay eating before the Captain came back?”

”…”

”Ethan,” Chris spoke up curiously, ”what took you two so long?”

”Ran into something on the way. Let’s eat first—I’ll talk while we eat.”

”Got it.”

Everyone dropped into their seats fast and dug in without hesitation.

As they ate, Ethan filled them in on what had happened earlier. His update immediately cast a shadow over everyone’s mood—and added a whole new level of pressure.

Dinner done, the group followed their usual routine: early to bed, up during the night to absorb the mysterious energy under the stars, then back to sleep for a few more hours once the starlight faded.

By 8 a.m. sharp, they were all up again for breakfast.

After eating, they packed their gear and headed out.

Mornings at the Clearford City compound were always busy; tons of people could be seen streaming out of the gates.

All comings and goings had to be logged, but it was different for elite squads—team leaders could just hand over a list of names ahead of time, which sped things up.

As Ethan’s group appeared at the gates, all eyes turned to them. Within seconds, the crowd instinctively parted, making way.

Yeah. That was the kind of treatment you earned by proving yourself.

Once outside the compound, Skinny Pete took the lead, guiding them south.

About halfway along the route, Ethan had Skinny Pete summon Bengal Tiger Goldie and the American Jaguar, Speckles. Everyone mounted up.

It was a tight fit with the full squad—definitely a bit more crowded than usual.

Mia and Emily rode the orange tabby mutant, Pumpkin. Sean, Garrick, and Big Mike—being the bigger guys—climbed onto Speckles. Ethan, Chris, Henry, and Skinny Pete all got on Goldie.

They galloped south, covering about six miles before crossing into a danger zone—an area the military hadn’t cleared.

The increase in zombie presence was immediate. Packs of them showed up more and more often.

Ethan activated True Sight and led the way, steering the group around any mobs they could avoid. When they couldn’t, they just cut a bloody path straight through.

This trip was about finding the Void Realm, not wasting energy on endless skirmishes.

After two solid hours of travel, they finally left the city limits of Clearford and reached a remote little town.

That’s when Skinny Pete suddenly let out a sharp breath, eyes wide.

”What is it?” Ethan, seated behind him, asked with a frown.

”Captain—Golden Eagle Nugget... it’s hurt. Badly. I can feel its life force—it’s so faint now.”

”!!”

Ethan’s heart lurched.

Nugget was a Tier 9 mutant beast. A flying Tier 9. What the hell could injure something like that?

Even when they’d taken it down, it had cost them a fortune in strength and resources—and that was only possible because Ethan had Teleportation in his arsenal.

”It got hurt in the Void Realm,” Chris said, brow furrowed. ”Does that mean there’s something alive in there?”

”Could it be the Silverfox Squad?” Henry asked.

”No way,” Ethan said firmly. ”Silverfox Squad doesn’t have what it takes to injure Nugget. If it got hurt, that means there is something living inside the Void Realm.”

His tone grew heavier. ”And whatever that thing is, it’s at least Tier 9. Maybe even... Tier 10.”

Hearing Ethan mention Tier 10, everyone’s heart skipped a beat.

Tier 10—none of them had ever encountered anything like that. No one even knew what kind of power it meant.

”Captain... what do we do?” Skinny Pete asked, a hint of worry in his voice. ”Are we still going?”

”We’re going,” Ethan said without hesitation. ”With the power we’ve got now, we should be able to handle a Tier 10.”

”But what if it’s something above Tier 10?” Chris asked, brows tight with concern.

”…”

Ethan paused. Then: ”Doubt it. If it was that terrifying, Nugget wouldn’t still be alive.”

”True,” Chris nodded slowly. ”That makes sense.”

”Let’s keep moving.”

They pressed on, riding for another thirty minutes or so before arriving at a stretch of low mountains. Below the hills sat a nameless, ruined town.

The place had long since fallen apart—what awaited them was nothing but decay and zombies, not a single living soul in sight.

”Captain, it should be close now,” Skinny Pete said, checking their surroundings.

”Yeah,” Ethan nodded, signaling for the mounts to halt.

They dismounted quickly.

”Everyone spread out,” Ethan ordered. ”Focus on anything that feels... off. Look for spatial distortion or any areas that seem strange. If you find something, flag me down right away.”

”Got it.”

With that, everyone dispersed, scanning the area with sharp, trained eyes.

Ethan stayed on Goldie, circling the hills while keeping True Sight active, combing every inch with focus.

These hills were different from the ones back in Redwood County. Over there, the mountains were tall and thick with trees.

But here? The terrain barely qualified as hills, and the vegetation was sparser—though, maybe because of the mysterious energy, what trees were here had grown huge despite the low elevation.

There were mutant beasts tucked away among the slopes, but they were on the smaller side—no huge threats. And thanks to Goldie and the others giving off serious Tier pressure, the local mutants kept well out of sight.

Everyone searched diligently for nearly an hour. And—unsurprisingly—it was Ethan who finally found something.

No one else could compete with those eyes of his.

He called the squad over to a slightly higher hilltop. Floating about six feet off the ground above the peak, they could all see it now—spatial distortion. A visible warping in the air.

This one was big enough that even Chris and the others, without a detection ability, could clearly tell something was off.

”Pete…” Ethan turned toward him. ”Is Nugget still alive?”

”Yeah, but it’s bad,” Skinny Pete said, expression tense. ”It’s hanging on by a thread.”

”Alright.” Ethan scanned the group, his tone turning serious. ”Get ready. This Void Realm might be completely different from the last one.”

”Understood,” they all nodded, eyes sharp.

”Same as before—I’ll go in first. You all stay here. If it’s clear, I’ll come back and bring you in.”

”Be careful, Captain!”

Ethan gave a tight nod, pulled out his poleaxe, took a deep breath—then jumped straight into the distorted space.

The others stood at the ready, eyes glued to the warping above them, nerves tight as they waited for Ethan to return.

Less than two minutes later—bam.

A rough silhouette tumbled out of the distortion and hit the ground with a heavy thud.

”Captain!”

The group rushed forward in alarm, quickly helping Ethan to his feet.

”Son of a bitch…” Ethan spat out a mouthful of grass, face scraped. ”Gear up! We’re going in to kill those bastards!”

Everyone: ”???”