Apocalypse: King of Zombies

Tier 3 zombies were already a nightmare. Aside from Ethan and Chris, no one in the group could guarantee a clean kill in one strike—and in a fight like this, anything less than a one-hit kill meant getting swarmed.

Skinny Pete found that out the hard way.

He swung at a Tier 3, missed the kill by inches, and before he could recover, another zombie lunged from behind and grabbed his leg, yanking hard.

”Shit—!”

He nearly went down, but Sean was there in a flash. His fire axe came down in a blur—one, two, three—severing the grasping hands before they could drag Pete off the car.

But that moment of distraction cost him.

Zombies surged up on Sean’s side. One sank its teeth into his thigh, tearing out a chunk of flesh. Blood sprayed across the hood of the car.

”Ah—fuck!” Sean hissed through clenched teeth, refusing to scream. He gritted it out, swinging his axe in a brutal arc that cleared the immediate threat.

Chris jumped in, covering his flank, and together they stabilized the line.

But the damage was done.

And it wasn’t just Sean. The fight dragged on, and the Tier 3s kept slipping through. Every few minutes, someone got clipped—bitten, scratched, slammed. By the time ten minutes had passed, everyone except Ethan was bleeding from somewhere.

Ethan held his ground like a storm anchor. Tier 2s, Tier 3s—it didn’t matter. None of them could get close. His barbell bar moved like a steel whip, crushing skulls and snapping spines.

But then the black figure appeared—and everything changed.

Ethan was mid-swing, clearing a cluster of Tier 2s, when a zombie in black clothing lunged at him from the side.

He didn’t think much of it at first. Just another one.

He swung.

The zombie raised a fire axe and met the blow head-on.

CLANG!

The sound rang out like a bell struck with a hammer. Ethan’s eyes widened. The force of the impact nearly knocked him off the car.

He staggered, barely keeping his balance.

The black-clad zombie leapt up onto the roof with him, axe already swinging again.

Ethan raised his bar just in time.

CLANG!

The second hit sent a jolt up his arms, numbing them. He stumbled back—and this time, he fell.

”Ethan!!” Chris shouted, panic in his voice.

The others turned, but they were too busy fighting to help.

Ethan twisted midair, slammed his bar into the ground, and flipped himself upright just before he hit. He landed hard, knees bending to absorb the shock, then spun and swept the bar in a wide arc, clearing the zombies that had started to close in.

No time to breathe.

The black-clad zombie dropped down after him, axe already coming down.

Ethan blocked again—barely.

The force drove him back another step.

”Tier 5,” he muttered, face pale. He didn’t need to activate his ability to know. No other zombie could push him like this.

And the others couldn’t help. They were locked in their own brutal fights. Chris was holding off a Tier 4 now, barely keeping it at bay while the rest fended off the swarm.

Ethan was on his own.

The Tier 5 zombie pressed the attack relentlessly. Every time Ethan tried to clear the surrounding undead, the axe came down, forcing him to defend. He couldn’t get space. Couldn’t breathe.

And the thing was strong. Really strong.

Ethan estimated its strength had to be at least 4,000 pounds of force. Every block sent pain shooting up his arms. His muscles screamed. His grip was starting to slip.

He knew it—if this kept up, he was going to die here.

And he had no idea how to break out.

He was surrounded. The others couldn’t reach him. The Tier 5 was faster, stronger, and smarter than anything he’d fought before.

”Holy shit,” Ethan muttered, ducking another swing. ”We just left campus—don’t tell me I’m gonna die already!”

Just then, gunfire erupted in the distance.

A convoy of military vehicles—dozens of FMTV trucks and Humvees—came barreling down the road, engines roaring. The moment they stopped, over a hundred National Guard soldiers in full camo poured out, M4 carbines raised, and opened fire on the horde.

The effect was immediate.

Tier 1 and Tier 2 zombies dropped like dominoes under the precise, disciplined bursts. These weren’t rookies. Every shot was aimed at the head—clean, efficient, practiced. These soldiers had clearly been through this before.

Inside the lead Humvee, two men sat in the front seats, watching the chaos unfold through the windshield.

”What the hell?” the older man muttered, his voice gravelly, his uniform crisp and heavy with authority. ”Why is the horde this thick here?”

”No idea,” said the younger man beside him, maybe twenty-eight, jaw set like stone. ”But this is the main access route to the Starlight State University zone. We’ve got no choice—we clear it.”

The older officer gave a tight nod and raised his binoculars.

”Wait… are those people in the middle of that mess?” he said, squinting.

”People? That’s impossible,” the younger man said, eyes widening.

The binoculars were passed over. A moment later, disbelief spread across the younger man’s face.

”They’re alive. In that?” he said. ”Jesus.”

”They won’t be for long if we don’t move,” the older man snapped. ”Tell the gunners to ramp it up. Those civilians are about to get overrun.”

”On it.”

Within seconds, the heavy machine guns mounted on the vehicles roared to life.

DA-DA-DA-DA-DA!

The sound was deafening. Zombies dropped in waves, torn apart by the .50 caliber rounds. It was like watching wheat get mowed down by a combine.

On the ground, Ethan and the others froze for a heartbeat—then their faces lit up with stunned relief.

Guns. Trucks. Soldiers.

FMTVs. Humvees.

The National Guard.

In America, you didn’t always trust the government. But the Guard? If there was anyone left worth believing in, it was them.

Even the Tier 5 zombie—who had been hammering Ethan without pause—hesitated when the heavy guns opened up. Its eyes flicked to the vehicles, then to Ethan, then to the rapidly thinning horde.

And then, without warning, it turned and bolted.

”...What?” Ethan blinked, stunned.

The Tier 5 zombie vanished into the chaos, slipping through the crowd like smoke.

”It ran?” Ethan muttered, disbelief etched across his face. ”It ran?”

He clenched his jaw, blood dripping from his split knuckles. ”Fine. I’ll remember this. That crystal core? It’s mine. I’ll come for it.”

He wanted to chase it down, but his body had other ideas. His arms were trembling, his grip barely holding. If his barbell bar hadn’t been forged like a tank axle, he’d be in two pieces by now.

Even so, his palms were torn, blood seeping from his tiger’s mouth grip, and his arms felt like they’d been through a meat grinder.

The machine guns kept roaring, cutting down the horde with ruthless efficiency. Within minutes, more than half the zombies were down.

Then the soldiers advanced, switching to controlled bursts as they moved forward. They were careful now—avoiding friendly fire, conserving ammo.

Bullets weren’t infinite anymore.

These weren’t just any soldiers. Most of them were peak Tier 2 Enhanced, and a good number had already reached Tier 3. Their coordination was tight, their movements sharp. They weren’t just strong—they were trained.

With Ethan’s group holding the line and the Guard sweeping in, the tide turned fast. The remaining few hundred zombies were wiped out in under ten minutes.

Chris, still bleeding from his shoulder, finally brought down the Tier 4 zombie he’d been dueling. He didn’t waste a second—stabbed it through the eye, cracked open the skull, and pocketed the crystal core.

As the last zombie fell, the soldiers immediately began collecting cores from the corpses.

Ethan and the others didn’t say a word. They didn’t need to. The soldiers had saved their asses—those cores were well-earned.

Then, from the lead Humvee, two men stepped down and walked toward them.

Ethan’s group straightened instinctively. When they saw the rank tabs on the men’s chests, their eyes widened.

A lieutenant colonel and a full colonel.

And not just that—Ethan could feel it. One was peak Tier 3. The other? Tier 4.

”Damn,” Chris muttered under his breath. ”Guess the military really is the strongest.”

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