Apocalypse: King of Zombies

Victor returned to his private residence, a sleek, high-security villa tucked into the heart of the Safe Zone’s executive quarter. As he stepped inside, a man who looked every bit the polished house manager approached with practiced deference.

”Sir,” the man said, ”your son left a message. He wants you to find a way to gain leverage over Mia Whitmore.”

Victor paused mid-step. ”Mia? He’s still chasing that girl?”

”No, sir. He recently discovered she’s an Awakened. He wants to bring her under his influence.”

Victor’s eyes lit up at that. ”An Awakened, huh?”

But after a moment’s thought, he shook his head. ”The Whitmore family’s too tightly tied to the Guard. With Colonel Reyes keeping an eye on her, we can’t make a move on Mia—not yet.”

He waved a hand dismissively. ”Give it time. When the moment’s right, women like her will be ours for the picking.”

”Tell Ray to stay focused. His own growth matters more than any conquest.”

”Yes, sir.”

...

In the residential zone…

Ethan and his team had been holed up in a mid-rise apartment building all day, slaughtering zombies from dawn until dusk. They hadn’t even stopped to eat properly—just gnawed on compressed rations between kills, blood still drying on their hands.

By the time the sun dipped low, they’d racked up over a thousand kills.

For them, that was actually a slow day. The narrow stairwells had bottlenecked their movement, and clearing out the bodies had been a pain in the ass. Still, the haul wasn’t bad: one Tier 4 crystal core, over twenty Tier 3s, and more than a thousand lower-tier cores.

Henry had finally broken through to Tier 4, joining Ethan and the others at the top. Sean and the remaining three were all at peak Tier 3. Three Tier 4s, three Tier 3 peaks—they were still miles ahead of any other team in the Safe Zone.

But Ethan wasn’t satisfied.

”One Tier 4 core in a whole day?” he muttered, frowning. ”That’s way too slow.”

”Yeah,” Sean agreed. ”Anything below Tier 4’s basically useless to us now. Grinding like this is a waste of time.”

”Let’s head back,” Ethan said. ”Tomorrow, there should be more Tier 4s roaming. We’ll figure out a better approach then.”

”Sounds good.”

The stairwell was completely blocked by corpses, but that didn’t bother them. Back in the apartment, they snapped the security bars off a window, then leapt straight out.

Zombies swarmed the moment they hit the ground.

Too bad for them.

With their current strength, the horde barely slowed them down. They carved a bloody path through the street, sprinting all the way back to their base—a luxury home in Lakeview Estates.

Just as they reached the front door, Ethan caught something out of the corner of his eye.

Movement. In one of the other luxury homes nearby.

He narrowed his eyes and activated his True Sight.

Two figures. Inside the house. Watching them.

”What is it?” Sean asked, noticing Ethan had stopped.

”There are people in that house,” Ethan said, pointing across the street.

”People?”

”Yeah. Two of them. Looks like they’ve been watching us.”

”Huh. We figured everyone in Lakeview Estates had already been evacuated. Guess we never really checked.”

”Tomorrow, we should get up on the roof and take a proper look around the neighborhood.”

”What about those two? Do we do anything?”

Ethan shook his head. ”As long as they don’t come looking for trouble, we leave them alone.”

”Got it.”

Back inside, they finally sat down to a real meal—hot food, clean water, and a moment to breathe. Afterward, they headed upstairs to rest, the day’s blood still drying on their gear.

Ethan stepped out onto the rooftop balcony, the night breeze brushing against his face as he scanned the surrounding neighborhood. From this vantage point, he could see most of Lakeview Estates—row after row of luxury homes, all dark and silent.

All except one.

That same house he’d noticed earlier still had signs of life. Curious, he focused in, activating his True Sight again.

And what he saw made his eyes widen.

In the backyard of that luxury home sat a massive iron cage—easily ten feet tall and twice as wide. Inside it? Over twenty zombies, all of them Tier 3.

But that wasn’t the most shocking part.

Four Enhanced—each Tier 3—were stationed at the corners of the yard, half-hidden in the shadows, keeping constant watch over the cage.

”What the hell are they doing with that many high-tier zombies locked up?” Ethan muttered.

Then a thought struck him, and his eyes lit up.

”No way… they’re raising them?”

”Holy shit,” he whispered, a grin spreading across his face. ”They’re actually raising zombies.”

He let out a low whistle, impressed despite himself. ”Genius. Absolute lunatic genius.”

His gaze lingered on the cage, and the glint in his eyes turned sharp—predatory.

”All those crystal cores… they’re practically gift-wrapped.”

The thief in him stirred.

...

Later that night, the group gathered on the rooftop again, watching the stars in silence. It had become a ritual of sorts—something to remind them the sky was still there, still vast, still untouched by the rot below.

As they turned to head back inside, Ethan cast one last glance toward the house with the cage—and froze.

His eyes lit up.

”Henry, Sean, you guys go get some rest,” he said casually. ”Chris, come with me. I’ve got something good to show you.”

Chris raised an eyebrow but didn’t ask questions. That was the unspoken rule in their team—when Ethan said move, you moved.

Ethan grabbed the fire axe from Sean’s gear and led Chris through the shadows, circling around until they reached the back of the target house. They climbed a nearby tree, branches creaking under their weight, until they had a clear view of the yard.

Chris’s eyes went wide the moment he saw the cage.

”Holy shit,” he whispered.

Ethan held up a hand for silence, then pointed toward the cage. ”See that one near the edge? Gray plaid shirt? That one just broke into Tier 4.”

Chris’s eyes gleamed. ”You want me to take it out?”

Ethan nodded and handed him the axe. ”You’re the only one with stealth. The four Enhanced are in the corners—Tier 3s. They’re dozing off right now. If you time it right, hit the zombie and vanish again, they won’t even know you were there.”

”And if they do?” Chris asked, already grinning.

”Then we kill them all.”

Chris gave a sharp nod. ”Got it.”

He dropped silently from the tree, activated his stealth, and slipped over the wall like a shadow. Moments later, he was at the cage, axe in hand.

He lined up the shot.

One clean swing.

The axe split the Tier 4 zombie’s skull with a wet crunch, and Chris vanished again just as the blow landed.

The cage erupted in snarls and groans, the other zombies riled up by the sudden kill. The four Enhanced stirred, blinking awake, but after a quick glance and seeing nothing out of place—just another restless night—they settled back into their posts.

Chris reached through the bars, fished the crystal core from the corpse’s skull, and slipped away into the dark.

...

Back at their own luxury home, Chris tossed the core into the air and caught it with a grin.

”Easiest Tier 4 crystal core we’ve ever scored,” he said, admiring the faint glow pulsing from within.

Then he turned to Ethan. ”But seriously, why sneak around like this? Why not just take that house? All those zombies would be ours.”

Ethan shook his head. ”Not yet. There’s no way a few people in that house caught all those high-tier zombies on their own. They’ve got backup—someone stronger. Until we know who we’re dealing with, we don’t make a move.”

Chris frowned. ”But won’t they notice one of their zombies is missing? Especially a Tier 4?”

”They might,” Ethan said with a shrug. ”But if we didn’t take it tonight, it’d be gone tomorrow. No way I’m letting a Tier 4 core slip through our fingers.”

”And besides,” he added, smirking, ”that zombie just broke through. They probably don’t even know it hit Tier 4. As far as they’ll see, one of their pets just mysteriously got its head caved in.”

He chuckled at the thought, imagining the confusion on their faces.

”Let ’em wonder.”

Then he stretched, slinging the axe over his shoulder.

”Come on. Time to get some sleep. We’ve got more hunting to do tomorrow.”

...