Apocalypse: King of Zombies

At the compound gates, Ethan and the others hopped down from their mounts. Staring up at the towering, imposing entrance, even they looked a little surprised.

”Miles really pulled it off,” Chris said with a laugh. ”This fast and he’s already got the compound built? Just this gate alone, I’ll give it an eight out of ten. Docking two points so he doesn’t get cocky.”

”It is solid,” Ethan said, amused. ”And it looks even bigger than what he originally planned.”

”Haha. It’s our compound. Might as well make it impressive.”

”Come on,” Ethan said. ”Let’s go in and take a look.”

They headed for the gates.

By now, the entrance was packed shoulder to shoulder.

Over this stretch of time, Fallen Star City had grown to more than fifty thousand people—most of them picked up during sweeps through nearby counties.

And in Fallen Star City, those fifty thousand were practically all Enhanced.

The difference was, here, anything below Tier 7 basically counted as ”ordinary.” Those people usually handled construction and day-to-day compound work.

Only Tier 7 and above got assigned to squads and sent out on zombie-clearing missions.

The Tier 7 cutoff existed for a simple reason: Fallen Star City didn’t have many Tier 6-and-below Enhanced left.

With massive crystal core reserves—and the Energy Absorption Technique that let people raise their Tier on their own—even the elderly and kids had been pushed up to Tier 6.

But the compound still needed to be built and maintained, so the Tier 6s—who would’ve been core fighters in other places—were just regular labor here.

In Fallen Star City, Tier 7 was the minimum to be considered a real ”Enhanced.”

And that standard would keep rising as the city’s overall strength climbed.

Right now, Fallen Star City’s true Enhanced force had grown from the original ten thousand to twenty thousand.

All Tier 7. With plenty of Tier 8s mixed in now.

A lot of those people had never even seen Fallen Star City’s Base Commander in person.

That didn’t stop the curiosity.

For the original twenty-thousand-plus natives, their worship of the Base Commander was borderline fanatical.

Ever since newcomers arrived, they’d been hearing the same thing nonstop—how incredible the Base Commander was, how terrifying the Fallen Star Squad was.

Even when the Base Commander wasn’t around, all of Fallen Star City was filled with their legend.

Now they were finally seeing the real guy, and people were so excited they looked ready to burst.

And honestly… the entrance alone was enough to shock them.

Those mounts—every single one of them—radiated an aura that screamed predator. Everyone could tell: any of those beasts could casually crush them.

And when they spotted the white-furred apes, hearts clenched all across the crowd.

No need to guess. Those apes were horrifyingly strong.

”Base Commander…!”

”Base Commander…!”

As Ethan’s group approached, everyone straightened up. Eyes bright, faces full of excitement and admiration.

The attention was so intense that even Ethan and the others started to feel a little awkward.

”Alright,” Ethan said, raising his voice. ”Don’t block the gate. Get back to your posts. Later, I’ll have Miles hand out some benefits for everyone.”

”Okay!”

”Appreciate it, Commander!”

Laughing and buzzing, the crowd finally dispersed. They’d only come to catch a glimpse. Now that they had, they were satisfied.

As they walked away, the whispers followed.

”Did you see him? The Base Commander’s so young…”

”Yeah, and he’s handsome too…”

”And the Fallen Star Squad are all young. Pretty good-looking, honestly…”

”You’re just blinded by hero worship. I don’t see what’s so handsome about that guy…”

”Keep your voice down, idiot. If he hears you, he’ll tear you apart.”

As that little group drifted off, Big Mike—the towering man with the permanently dark expression—turned his head and looked straight at them.

His face darkened another shade.

Pretty soon, the crowd at the gate parted again, opening a clear path.

Ethan had Goldie and the other six mutant beasts take the white-furred apes up into the nearby mountains to mess around. He also told a guard to escort Skinny Pete’s parents somewhere to rest.

Then Ethan and the others headed toward the center of the compound.

On the main road leading inward, Jaxon’s group was standing right in the middle—stuck in that awful place where they didn’t dare go forward, but didn’t dare retreat either.

The Base Commander’s sudden return had made the guards completely forget about them. With nobody guiding them, they didn’t have the guts to wander around a place like this.

”Captain…” the woman beside Jaxon whispered. ”Are we really just going to stand here and wait?”

”What choice do we have?” Jaxon muttered. ”You see how scary this place is. If we run around and someone slaps us to death, who are we going to complain to?”

He swallowed, forcing himself to stay steady. ”We wait. Someone will remember us sooner or later.”

Jaxon felt miserable.

Back in Harrison City’s compound, even the government had treated them politely. And now, in some remote city out in the sticks, he’d ended up in a situation like this.

But he didn’t dare show even a hint of dissatisfaction. This place had rattled him too badly.

Just then, he spotted a group walking toward them.

Jaxon let out a long breath. Okay. They didn’t forget us.

He started to step forward—

—and one of his men grabbed his sleeve in a death grip.

Jaxon could feel the guy shaking so hard his whole arm trembled. Sweat the size of beans rolled down his forehead.

Jaxon’s heart thumped. Don’t tell me even scarier monsters are coming…

”C-Captain…” the scout stammered. ”D-don’t… don’t go over. I… I can’t… I can’t see it…”

”What do you mean you can’t see it?” Jaxon frowned.

”I can’t see their… Tier.” The scout swallowed hard, forcing the words out.

”...?”

Jaxon didn’t get it at first.

Then it hit.

His eyes blew wide.

”You mean…?”

The scout nodded, pale as paper. ”My skill can see up to three Tiers higher than me. But them… I can’t see a single one.”

”Hiss…!”

A chorus of sharp inhales rippled through the group as everyone around them processed what that meant.

If he couldn’t see their Tier, it meant every one of those people was more than three Tiers above him.

But he was Tier 6.

More than three Tiers above Tier 6 meant—

Tier 10.

A whole group of Tier 10s?

That was insane. Impossible.

Even after everything this compound had already done to their nerves, it still didn’t feel real.

But whether they believed it or not, Ethan and the others were already in front of them.

Ethan looked at them, puzzled.

”Why are you guys standing in the middle of the road like this?”

”S-sorry,” Jaxon said quickly. Even his voice was trembling now. ”We… we just got here. A guard said he’d take us to see the Deputy Commander, but then he left us here. We didn’t dare wander around, so we just… stood here.”

Jaxon felt guilty in a way that made his skin itch.

Because earlier, he’d been entertaining the idea of taking this compound for himself.

Now, just thinking about it made him want to slap himself.

Was I trying to steal from a place like this? Am I suicidal?

”Oh.” Ethan nodded, like it finally made sense. ”New arrivals.”

Then he waved a hand, casual. ”If you’re here to see Miles, come with us.”

Ethan turned and kept walking toward the compound center. They were headed to Miles anyway.

Jaxon jolted. ”Ah… o-okay. Yes.”

He hurriedly gathered his people and followed after them.