Apocalypse: King of Zombies

”Boss! I missed you like crazy!” Bulldozer lumbered up with his usual booming voice, grinning from ear to ear.

Ethan gestured toward the newcomer. ”This is Mist—he’s the newest member of our Hive.”

”Ohhh…” Bulldozer responded, squinting as he gave Mist a once-over. His eyes narrowed as he noticed the faint black mist swirling around Mist’s body. ”Yo, why’s this guy smokin’?”

”…” Mist’s face twitched. Seriously? That’s how you greet someone?

He wanted to correct him—he wasn’t ”smoking,” he was radiating an aura. A mysterious, irresistible aura, thank you very much.

Ethan moved on. ”So, anything happen while I was gone? Everything good with the territory?”

”All good, Boss. You know I got this place on lockdown,” Bulldozer replied with a proud thump to his chest.

”Alright, cool.”

Ethan gave a casual nod, then with a wave of his hand, released the spoils of their latest hunt.

In an instant, the entire street was buried under a mountain of corpses—an overwhelming, grotesque pile that stretched as far as the eye could see.

”Holy shit!” The other Zombie Kings stared, wide-eyed. That was… a lot.

Leave it to the boss—every haul bigger than the last.

”Dig in,” Ethan said over his shoulder as he turned and headed back toward the building.

The thick stench of blood hit the air like a drug, and the horde surged forward, snarling and tearing into the feast.

The street erupted with the sounds of gnashing teeth, ripping flesh, and guttural growls—a full-blown feeding frenzy.

Mist was right there in the middle of it, high on adrenaline.

He was sure of it now—he’d made the right choice.

”There’s no way we can finish all this… it’s too much,” he muttered between bites.

Just then, a few more zombies pushed their way out of the crowd. Leading them was one with a pair of oversized ears, shouting frantically.

”Quit hoggin’ it! There’s enough for everyone!”

No sooner had he yelled than he dove into the pile, tearing into a chunk of meat like he hadn’t eaten in weeks.

”Uh… guess not everyone’s a badass,” Mist thought to himself, raising an eyebrow.

Big Ears caught him staring and gave him a quick once-over, but his mouth was too full to say anything just yet.

A few minutes later, the feast wound down.

Big Ears, along with two others—Shrimpy and Locomotive—swaggered over to Mist like they owned the place.

”New guy,” Big Ears said, puffing out his chest, ”we’re the OGs around here. If you’ve got questions, you come to us.”

”Whoa, all of you under the boss? You guys are seriously strong!” Mist said, still impressed.

”Damn right!” Big Ears beamed. ”We’re the elite guard—top-tier warriors. We’ve had the evolution serum. And the Bio-Monster Corps? They’ve been injected with the G-Virus. You know the G-Virus, right? I was the one who found it, so yeah—we’re kind of a big deal.”

”Then… why are you so weak?” Mist asked, genuinely puzzled.

”Uh…” Big Ears froze, clearly caught off guard. ”Ahem! Looks like our new friend here hasn’t evolved much yet…”

Shrimpy nodded solemnly. ”Yeah, Big Ears, this guy’s got no clue.”

”Don’t be fooled by appearances,” Big Ears said quickly, trying to recover. ”Strength isn’t everything. We’re part of the Hive’s Overlord Squad—we handle the real important missions.”

Mist’s eyes lit up. Overlord Squad? That sounded badass.

”What kind of missions?”

”Finding the Star Map tablets, of course! You’ve seen the one the boss carries, right? We found that!” Big Ears said proudly.

Bringing back that Star Map tablet had been a huge win—they’d even gotten praise from Ethan himself.

Since then, the three of them had been scouring the ruins for more, never giving up.

But the truth was… those tablets were damn hard to find.

Mist had seen the power of the Star Map tablet with his own eyes—it was no joke. That thing was insanely strong. He couldn’t help but start believing what Big Ears was saying.

”So you guys really are that badass, huh?”

”Now you’re getting it,” Big Ears said with a smug grin. ”So, what do you say? Wanna join our Overlord Squad?”

”Hell yeah,” Mist replied without missing a beat.

”I’m in.”

And just like that, the four zombies started to bond, hanging out more and more, slowly becoming a tight-knit crew.

…

Back at home, Ethan took his time unwinding. He stepped into a hot shower, scrubbed off the grime, and changed into a fresh set of clothes.

Then he poured himself a glass of thick red ”juice” and popped an S-grade crystal core into his mouth.

Pure energy surged through his body, spreading to every limb like a warm current wrapping him in power.

He leaned back into the plush sofa with a satisfied sigh.

”Man, nothing beats being home…”

This last mission had been a goldmine. He’d scored four S-grade crystal cores and over a thousand lower-grade ones.

Not to mention the hundreds of crystal core firearms they’d seized—each one loaded with its own core.

Double loot drop. Jackpot.

Ethan was already planning ahead. He’d equip his elite troops with those crystal core firearms. Those zombies were highly evolved, with intelligence on par with humans. Hell, they even danced at parties—handling guns would be a breeze.

His elite squad had physical stats averaging at B+ level. The only thing they lacked was awakened abilities.

But the crystal core firearms would cover that weakness—and give them serious long-range firepower.

Ethan couldn’t help but get excited imagining it.

Hundreds of elite zombies, armed to the teeth with crystal core weapons.

Next time they clashed with another hive, it’d be a slaughter. The enemy wouldn’t know what hit them.

He sat up and downed the rest of his red ”juice” in one gulp.

Then he grabbed his phone, connected to the shelter’s signal, and shot Mia a message.

”Any luck finding the Star Map tablet?”

”Ugh… I just got to the shelter. And do you even know what time it is?” Mia replied.

”Oh.” Ethan glanced out the window. The sun had completely disappeared, and darkness had swallowed the city. Night was falling fast.

”Alright, get some rest. No rush.”

Mia: ”…”

…

With Ethan back in his territory, life returned to its usual rhythm. He laid low in the Hive, absorbing crystal cores and steadily evolving.

Time passed quietly.

Days blurred together, and before long, more than two weeks had slipped by.

Then came another pitch-black night.

Cold wind howled through the ruins of the apocalypse, whistling through broken buildings like a ghost’s cry.

In Rancho Cucamonga, on a wide, empty street, a massive crater split the ground. The pavement was cracked and shattered, buildings around it reduced to rubble. The destruction still bore the scars of a meteor’s impact.

Four zombies stood at the edge of the crater.

”Mist, bro, I’m not even exaggerating—this is where the Star Map tablet dropped from the sky. I swear, it was like whoosh—BOOM! Thing hit like a damn nuke. I had to break my personal record—hundred meters in three seconds—just to dodge it,” Big Ears said, flailing his arms as he painted the scene.

Shrimpy and Locomotive nodded enthusiastically.

”No lie, we were running too, and next thing we know, Big Ears just whoosh flies past us. Dude was gone. You tell me that’s not impressive.”

”Yeah, that’s pretty badass,” Mist said, genuinely impressed.

Big Ears puffed up. ”Of course, now that you’re with us, we’ve gotta keep pushing. The mission to find more tablets doesn’t stop.”

”So… how exactly do we find them?” Mist asked, curious.

Big Ears frowned, deep in thought. The truth was, those tablets were damn near impossible to track down. They could’ve landed anywhere on the planet. And they’d already scoured every city in their territory—practically swept the ground clean—and still hadn’t found a single clue.

But Big Ears wasn’t the type to give up. His eyes suddenly lit up with a wild gleam.

”Guys… I’ve got an idea.”

”What is it?”

”We stay right here… and wait for another one to fall.”

…