Apocalypse: King of Zombies

”Holy shit!!”

The second the corpse moved, it startled Ethan so badly he literally jumped.

He’d been praying for it to move, sure—but when it actually did, up close like that? It was terrifying.

And the moment it twitched, Ethan felt the connection in his mind with this thrall suddenly tighten, like a loose thread snapping into a knot.

His face lit up.

”Finally… did it work?”

”All that blood wasn’t for nothing.”

Normally, one bloodletting and one use of the secret technique was enough to control a thrall.

But this one had forced Ethan to bleed for five straight days, casting the technique so many times he’d lost count.

If Ethan didn’t have insane willpower, anyone else would’ve quit ages ago.

He stared at the thrall and gave it a command in his mind.

Stand up.

The instant the order landed, the body shot upright—stiff and wrong, like something ripped straight out of a horror movie.

A chill ran down Ethan’s spine. Cold sweat beaded on his forehead.

”Open your eyes!”

The thrall’s eyes snapped open. They were hollow and empty… but, annoyingly, the guy had pretty nice eyes.

Ethan reached out and pinched the thrall’s body, testing it like he was checking a new piece of gear. He nodded, satisfied.

”Not bad. Not bad at all. From now on, your name’s Dopey.”

Too bad thralls didn’t have any consciousness. Otherwise, hearing a name like that would probably make it turn around and murder its master on principle.

”Alright, Dopey,” Ethan said, barely able to hold back his excitement. ”Show me what you can do!”

Dopey didn’t hesitate. It clenched its fist and punched straight down at the floor beneath its feet.

Ethan suddenly realized something, and his expression flipped.

”Wait—”

Too late.

”BOOM—!”

A thunderous blast rang out. The entire compound shuddered.

Right where Ethan’s mansion had been, a massive crater opened up. The surrounding buildings collapsed in a chain, the whole area caving in like paper.

Chris and the others had been in the living room playing cards and video games.

In the blink of an eye, they were buried without even knowing what hit them.

People in the nearby houses got buried alive too, just as randomly.

”Who am I? Where am I?”

Everyone was completely stunned.

Under the dirt, Big Mike’s shocked voice rang out. ”Holy shit! Enemy attack!”

”Garrick, hurry up—dig us out!” the others yelled, panicked and wide-eyed.

Garrick reacted fast, using his ability to split the packed earth overhead. A second later, everyone came scrambling up, filthy and disheveled, jumping out of the ground like they’d crawled out of a grave.

Once they were out, they stared at the crater where the mansion used to be, faces full of disbelief.

”What kind of power does that?!”

”Jesus… don’t tell me the government cooked up some nightmare weapon again and used us as test subjects!”

”FUCK—when you put it like that, it really could be. Goddamn it, did Maxwell actually try to get us killed?!”

”Come on. Let’s go settle this with him.”

”Uh… cough… don’t.” Ethan’s voice cut in, awkward as hell.

Everyone turned toward him at once.

”Ethan,” they demanded, ”you know what happened?”

”Yeah. It did,” Ethan said, pointing at Dopey standing off to the side.

”That’s the underground thrall!” Everyone’s eyes went wide. ”Captain—did you actually pull it off?!”

”Yeah,” Ethan said, unable to hide the excitement on his face. ”It worked.”

”Then how the hell did he do this to the place?”

”It just… punched the floor.”

”Holy shit!! That’s insane!”

”Then aren’t we basically invincible?!”

All of them stared at Dopey like they were looking at a walking cheat code.

”For now, pretty much,” Ethan said with a grin. ”This thing’s going to be our biggest trump card from here on out.”

”Alright. Someone’s coming. We keep this to ourselves.”

As soon as he finished speaking, Ethan put Dopey away into his spatial storage ring.

A moment later, Maxwell arrived with a huge group in a rush. The instant they saw the enormous crater, everyone just stood there, slack-jawed.

”E-Ethan…” Maxwell stammered. ”What the hell happened here?”

”It’s nothing.” Ethan scratched his cheek, looking a little guilty. ”I was just testing the laser cannon. Didn’t expect it to be that strong.”

”Laser cannon?” Maxwell frowned. ”But we tested it before. The laser cannon shouldn’t be anywhere near this powerful.”

”Oh.” Ethan nodded like that explained everything. ”You guys probably tested it by firing at something far away. I… uh… fired it straight into the floor.”

”…”

Maxwell and the others’ mouths twitched so hard it looked painful.

A single shot from the laser cannon cost an absurd amount of energy. They’d been too stingy to fire it casually—and Ethan used it like a toy?

He’s lucky we can’t beat him in a fight.

”It’s fine, it’s fine,” Ethan said, waving his hand. ”Everybody go back.”

”Uh, General Kane…” someone said helplessly, ”there are still a lot of people buried down there. We need to rescue them.”

Maxwell’s expression screamed Do you have any idea what kind of mess you just made?

”Oh, that?” Ethan said. ”Small problem.”

He turned. ”Garrick—dig them out.”

”Got it.”

Garrick nodded, then pressed both hands to the ground. The earth rolled up in sheets, flipping over chunk by chunk. One dirt-covered person after another got unearthed and yanked into the open.

Some had been eating at home. Some had been drinking tea. Some had been in the middle of using the bathroom. The moment they surfaced, they started swearing up a storm.

Especially the ones who’d been on the toilet—getting buried before they could even wipe. Miserable didn’t begin to cover it.

Once everyone was dug out, Maxwell still had to arrange new housing for all those people. And Ethan’s group had to move too.

Over the next few days, Ethan finally had some real downtime—except Henry, who was still working himself to the bone on his ritual circles like he’d forgotten sleep was a thing.

Ethan had originally planned to take Fallen Star Squad out to look for more Void Realms. But Maxwell told him Atlas City was going to hold a major summit, inviting the leaders of every compound to attend, so Ethan decided to stick around and see what happened.

Searching for Void Realms was too vague, too much like chasing smoke. If he went hunting on his own, who knew how long it’d take. But if compound leaders from all over showed up… maybe he could pick up some clues from them.

And while he was at it, he could also get a look at the strongest fighters each compound had.

While Atlas City’s compound was preparing to invite leaders from everywhere, the Atlas Federation’s other major compounds had already started swallowing each other whole.

Just like Fallen Star City, some compounds that had grown in remote cities—after clearing out nearby zombies—began expanding into surrounding cities.

Meanwhile, mid-sized and large compounds kept annexing smaller ones nearby, snowballing their own strength.

As zombie strength kept rising, the number of zombies that could gather into a horde kept rising too. And the stronger they got, the smarter they became.

Tier 10 zombies, for example, were no longer content to squat in a single city. They began leading zombie swarms across the map, actively hunting for human compounds.

Everyone understood one thing: if you wanted to survive, staying closed off and playing defense wasn’t going to cut it. You had to grow your compound bigger and stronger, or you’d never withstand a gigantic zombie horde.

And the only way to grow was to keep absorbing other compounds.

Most people who’d managed to build a compound in the first place weren’t exactly lacking ambition. They weren’t going to let themselves get swallowed up quietly—so fights between compounds had already started. For now, distance kept most of it localized, flaring up mainly between neighbors.

During this stretch, compounds disappeared every day—either annexed by other humans, or wiped out by zombies.

The true age of survival of the fittest had begun.

At the same time, Void Realms were being discovered all over the world.

Some people went in and came back with massive gains, boosting their entire compound’s strength by several times over.

Others entered… and never came out again.