Apocalypse: King of Zombies

Clearford City’s compound…

Chris and the others rode Golden Eagle Nugget and Dire Eagle Pebble, making it back from that unknown little town in under half an hour.

Eight people, two flying mutant beasts—two riders on their backs, and each of them grabbing one person per claw.

Perfect fit.

Yeah, the guys dangling from their talons were going to have their arms yanked off by the time they landed, but this was way faster. Suck it up for a bit and you’re home.

If they’d gone with Bengal Tiger Goldie or the jaguar Speckles, they would’ve been a lot slower. And they’d have had to deal with zombies the whole way.

Luckily, no other flying mutant beasts showed up to pick a fight.

Pebble and Nugget were both Tier 9 mutant beasts. On Earth, for now, Tier 9 was still basically the top of the food chain.

Most mutant beasts didn’t have the guts to mess with them.

Once they reached Clearford City, they headed straight for the center of the compound.

They’d rushed back because they suspected Sophia might bring that pack of Titan Apes to Clearford’s compound.

They needed to warn General Cross so the compound could prepare ahead of time.

They’d been here long enough that, honestly, they didn’t want to see this place get wrecked.

Even though against Titan Apes, the compound’s defenses were basically useless…

But at least they could intercept early. As long as they could stall until Ethan got back, there was still hope.

When the soldiers along the route saw Chris and the others, they waved them through without hesitation.

Fallen Star Squad—who the hell would dare stop them?

The group moved unimpeded all the way to the compound’s core: the Military Command Center.

General Cross and Director Vaughn were already waiting inside, along with the others. A soldier must’ve notified them in advance.

”You’re finally back.” General Cross hurried over the moment he saw them. ”You disappeared for days. I was starting to think you’d left the city for good.”

”Sorry, General Cross.” Mia answered politely. ”We didn’t expect to be gone that long. We made you worry.”

”It’s fine, it’s fine.” General Cross waved it off, then paused, frowning. ”Huh? Where’s Ethan?”

”Our captain’s got something to handle. He’ll be back a little later,” Mia said.

”General Cross,” Chris cut in, face serious, ”we came because there’s something important we need to tell you.”

”Oh?” General Cross’s expression tightened. ”What is it?”

Seeing how grim Chris looked, General Cross and the others all tensed up.

”On the way back, we ran into a group of extremely strong mutant beasts. They’re heading straight for this compound right now. By my estimate, they’ll arrive in at most two hours. I’m asking you to get the defenses ready ahead of time.”

General Cross’s brows knit together. ”If Fallen Star Squad is calling them ’extremely strong,’ then they’re not ordinary mutant beasts. Don’t tell me they’re… peak Tier 9 mutant beasts?”

Chris shook his head, voice low.

”The highest… Tier 11.”

”What?!” General Cross and the others shot to their feet, staring at Chris like he’d just spoken another language.

”That’s impossible!” Director Vaughn blurted. ”At this stage, how could there be Tier 11 mutant beasts?!”

”Forget Tier 11,” Colonel Mitchell said, shaking his head. ”We haven’t even seen a Tier 10 mutant beast yet!”

”Um…” General Cross asked carefully, clearly struggling to believe it. ”Are you sure you didn’t misjudge them?”

”There’s no way,” Chris said, firm. ”If we could misread a mutant beast’s strength, we wouldn’t have made it this far.”

”This…”

General Cross and the others still couldn’t quite accept it. But Chris and his team didn’t look like they were joking, either.

They exchanged glances, seeing the same shock in each other’s eyes.

Could Tier 11 mutant beasts really already exist?

General Cross took a deep breath, then spoke again. ”I trust what Fallen Star Squad says. But if you’re telling me they’re still two hours out, that means they’re pretty far from here. How can you be sure they’ll come to Clearford City?”

”Uh…” Mia hesitated. ”Because there’s someone traveling with those mutant beasts. Someone who used to belong to this compound.”

”Who?”

Mia met his eyes. ”Silverfox Squad’s captain… Sophia.”

”—!”

”It’s her?!”

”How is she with mutant beasts?!”

”We’re not really sure how she’s managing to move with them,” Mia said. ”Maybe she had some kind of… crazy stroke of luck out there. Either way, we’re about eighty percent sure she’s coming back to Clearford’s compound.”

General Cross shook his head, a tired kind of helpless on his face. ”To be honest, we haven’t even seen a Tier 10 zombie yet. We don’t even know what Tier 11 really means. With the strength this compound has right now, we don’t have even the slightest chance against mutant beasts at that level.”

He exhaled slowly.

”If something like that attacks the city… the only thing I can do is disperse everyone before they arrive. But if we do that, out of these three hundred thousand survivors, the number who make it… might be almost none.”

”General Cross, you don’t have to panic yet,” Chris said firmly. ”As long as we can hold out until our captain gets back, I believe he can handle them.”

”I trust Ethan’s strength,” General Cross said, brow furrowing. ”It’s just… Tier 11…”

”Don’t worry,” Chris pressed on. ”Even if it’s Tier 11, our captain will have a way. For now, send people to observe that direction. If they’re really coming, do whatever you can to stop them on the road—don’t let them get close to the compound. Just stall until our captain returns. We’ll help.”

At the end of the day, this whole mess had started because of them. There was no way they could stand aside and watch.

”And it’s not guaranteed they get here first,” Sean added, trying to lighten the mood. ”Our captain might make it back before they do. Then those mutant beasts are basically just coming here to die.”

They had more than enough confidence in Ethan. Even if his plan didn’t work out, with Ethan’s raw strength—and with them backing him up—killing a Tier 11 Titan Ape wasn’t some impossible dream.

Of course, that assumed the compound could hold the other Titan Apes off for at least a little while.

Seeing how confident Chris’s group was, General Cross finally straightened, that commander’s steel returning to his posture.

”Fine. If you’ve got that much confidence, then I can’t be the one who backs down.”

He looked at Chris. ”Do you know what those mutant beasts look like? About how many?”

”They’re about the size of gorillas,” Chris said, laying it out with blunt precision. ”Black fur all over. Thick arms. Around four hundred total. One is Tier 11. Eight are Tier 10. Tier 9… close to ninety. Most of the rest are Tier 8, with a small number of Tier 7.”

The moment he finished, the compound’s leadership all looked like they’d swallowed something sharp. A few people’s mouths actually twitched.

They almost couldn’t believe they were talking about the same world.

In their experience, Tier 8 creatures were already incredibly rare. Tier 9s were practically unheard of.

But the way Chris described it, Tier 9s sounded almost… common.

Like they weren’t even fighting on the same server.

General Cross swallowed, then asked again, just to make sure. ”You’re certain you didn’t misspeak?”

”Of course not,” Chris said. ”We’ve dealt with them plenty. We know exactly what we saw.”

”…”

General Cross drew another deep breath, forcing himself to settle.

Then he turned sharply to the side, face hardening as he looked at Colonel Mitchell. ”Colonel Mitchell. Immediately deploy recon. If they confirm it’s real, plant mines along the route they’ll take—use the most powerful mines we have in the compound. Also, pull every zombie you can from the surrounding area and lure them onto that same route.”

His voice dropped into something cold and absolute.

”At any cost, slow them down.”

”Yes, sir!”

Colonel Mitchell snapped a salute and hurried out of the Military Command Center.

Chris and the others watched General Cross move with crisp, decisive force, and all of them nodded to themselves.

No wonder even Ethan respected this man.

He’d earned it.