Apocalypse: King of Zombies

After leaving the Military Command Center, Ethan and Mia went straight back to the mansion.

Inside, Chris and the others were playing cards, while Emily was making breakfast.

When there wasn’t a fight going on, life for the Fallen Star Squad was always this laid-back.

”Captain, you’re back. Did you get the satellite phone?”

The moment they saw Ethan, everyone hurriedly set their cards down and came over.

”Got it,” Ethan said, pulling out the satellite phone. ”But there’s only one.”

”…Seriously? Just one?”

”Hey, having one is already not bad,” someone said. ”Atlas City keeps a tight grip on this stuff. If General Cross didn’t still have some pull, regular people wouldn’t get their hands on one.”

”True,” another chimed in. ”We’ll take it back to Miles. When we’re out here, we can still borrow phones from other compounds to contact them.”

Ethan nodded.

Then the group’s eyes lit up, excitement creeping into their voices. ”So, Captain… can we head back to Fallen Star City now?”

”You guys wanna go back that bad?” Ethan laughed.

”Honestly? Yeah. A little.”

”Not yet,” Ethan said. ”At least not until we deal with them.” He tilted his head toward the backyard and lowered his voice. ”Those white-furred apes are basically a ticking time bomb. If we bring them back and one day they wake up in a bad mood and decide to go on a killing spree… Fallen Star City’s the one that gets wiped.”

The truth was, the strength of those white-furred apes had already moved beyond what Ethan could fully control. They had to be handled carefully.

Everyone nodded. They understood exactly what he was worried about.

”Man… it’s a shame I still can’t control Stage C mutant beasts,” Skinny Pete muttered, clearly annoyed with himself. ”If I could, this wouldn’t be such a headache.”

”It’s fine,” Ethan said. ”Once you’re stronger, you’ll get there.”

Skinny Pete took a breath. ”So what do we do now, Captain?”

”We go back to that Void Realm.”

”…Back to the Void Realm?” Everyone stared at him like he’d grown a second head.

”Yeah.” Ethan’s tone stayed calm, like he’d already run the numbers a dozen times. ”The zombies out there are lower-tier than we are now. Using their crystal cores to level up doesn’t work anymore.”

”But if we rely only on absorbing mysterious energy by watching the stars every night…” He shook his head. ”Honestly, our growth speed might not even match theirs.”

He glanced toward the back again. ”Those white-furred apes have a strong bloodline. I watched their absorption rate last night. They pulled in more mysterious energy than we do even when we’re fully focused.”

”So if we’re trying to beat them through mysterious energy absorption, we’re probably screwed. That means crystal cores are our only real option.”

He looked back at the group. ”There are still plenty of Tier 10 mutant beasts in the Void Realm. I’m guessing there are Tier 11s too.”

”Perfect timing,” Ethan continued. ”We’ll use those apes in the Void Realm and go harvest a bunch. While we’re at it, we’ll bring back a stockpile of high-tier crystal cores and boost Fallen Star City’s overall strength. I’ve got a feeling it won’t be long before a war breaks out between the compounds.”

”War between compounds?” someone blurted. ”It’s the apocalypse and humans still wanna fight each other?”

”No choice,” Ethan said flatly. ”People are never satisfied. Atlas City wants to take control again, but a lot of regular people have already tasted what it feels like to rule—living like kings. Trying to shove them back into the old system? That’s basically impossible.”

He let out a short, humorless breath. ”Once human nature gets let off the leash, it’s not easy to chain it back up. Same with us. If someone tried to put us under their thumb again, we wouldn’t agree either.”

”So if Atlas City really goes down that road, there’s gonna be blood everywhere,” Ethan said. ”And Fallen Star City won’t be able to stay out of it.”

Everyone went quiet for a beat, then nodded.

”Got it. Strength is what matters,” someone said. ”If we’re strong enough, Atlas City won’t dare touch Fallen Star City.”

”Exactly.” Ethan clapped his hands once. ”Alright—eat breakfast first. After breakfast, we’re heading back into the Void Realm.”

”Okay!”

”Right,” Sean spoke up, hesitating. ”Ethan… about our parents…”

”Relax.” Ethan’s voice softened a notch. ”I already had General Cross make the call. They’ll help look. If they find them, we’ll go pick them up and bring them straight to Fallen Star City.”

Sean’s shoulders loosened. ”Okay. Thanks.”

”What’re you thanking me for?” Ethan said. Then his expression turned serious again. ”But same thing I told you before—prepare yourself. It’s been a long time since the apocalypse started. You need to be ready for any outcome.”

Sean and the others nodded hard. ”We understand.”

Ethan looked at Big Mike. ”Big Mike, we still haven’t been able to reach anyone back in your hometown. But I already had Ironhaven City ask around on their side. They’re not that far from where you’re from. If they hear anything, they’ll let us know.”

”Yeah,” Big Mike said, voice low. ”Got it.”

After breakfast, Ethan led the group—and the few white-furred apes—back toward the Void Realm.

Along the way, everyone inside the compound only dared to watch from a distance.

Mainly because the way those white-furred apes kept staring at the crowd… it was weird. Wrong, somehow. Like they were sizing people up. Nobody wanted to get close.

Before long, Ethan and the others exited the compound.

At the Military Command Center in the heart of the compound, General Cross and the others received the report almost immediately.

”They went out again, General Cross. Should we send scouts—”

”Don’t.” General Cross cut him off without even looking up. ”If you want to die, don’t drag the whole compound with you.”

”Uh…” The man choked, then forced himself to continue. ”I’m just… curious. Where did those mutant beasts even come from? I’m 100% sure there shouldn’t be anything that level anywhere nearby. I even asked the other compounds—strongest thing they’ve seen is Tier 10. And now Tier 12 just shows up? General Cross, you’re not curious?”

”I have a pretty good idea where they came from.”

General Cross’s calm answer hit the room like a flashbang.

”You do?” Michael and the others’ eyes widened. ”General Cross—you know?”

”Yeah.” Cross nodded once. ”Yesterday I talked to an old buddy over in Atlas City. He said they found a distorted space. You go in… and it’s another world.”

He paused, letting that sink in.

”The last couple days, Atlas City’s already sent a lot of Enhanced in to explore it.”

”My buddy said it’s a completely independent world, with a culture that isn’t anything like Earth’s.”

Cross’s gaze went distant. ”If I had to guess, those Titan Apes—including these white-furred ones—came out of a place like that. Because those mutant beasts aren’t from Earth. Not originally.”

”There’s a place like that?” someone blurted. ”Then why haven’t we found it in all these years? Back when tech was still booming, we should’ve found it even easier.”

”It probably appeared after the apocalypse,” Cross said. ”Or… the apocalypse is tied to those spaces in a very direct way.”

”If that’s true, humanity’s situation just got a whole lot worse,” Colonel Mitchell said, frowning.

Michael looked confused. ”Why?”

Mitchell’s voice stayed steady. ”You think those white-furred apes are strong?”

”Strong,” Michael said immediately.

”If creatures like that start pouring out in batches from those space-worlds one day,” Mitchell said, ”do you think we can still hold the line?”

”…”

”And from the looks of it,” Mitchell went on, ”there isn’t just one of those worlds. There are probably a lot. Which means there are definitely worse things in there—more terrifying mutant beasts… or intelligent species.”

The room went cold.

”Thinking about it now doesn’t help,” General Cross said, then let out a heavy sigh. ”The only thing we can do is raise our strength as fast as possible. Only when we’re strong enough will we have any ability to resist when the bigger disasters come.”

”Understood.”

”And one more thing,” Cross added, eyes sharp. ”We must stay on good terms with the strong.”

”General Cross… you mean the Fallen Star Squad?”

”Yes.” Cross didn’t hesitate. ”With their strength, they could walk all over people even in Atlas City. Our relationship with them is still decent right now. We keep it that way. If anyone provokes them, don’t blame me when I get nasty.”

One of the directors swallowed. ”General Cross, just saying—if Atlas City ends up in conflict with the Fallen Star Squad… which side do we stand on?”

”Do everything you can not to pick a side,” General Cross said. Then his eyes hardened, the answer coming out like steel. ”But if we have to choose… I’ll choose the Fallen Star Squad.”

Director Vaughn and the others stared at him, stunned. After a long moment, they slowly nodded.

”Understood.”

”Good.” General Cross leaned forward slightly. ”Yesterday’s battle boosted our compound’s strength by a lot. Next—Colonel Mitchell. Take the soldiers and speed up the sweep of Clearford City. Wipe out every last zombie in the city as soon as possible. Gather more crystal cores. We’ll need them when we deal with Atlas City.”

”Yes, sir.”