Apocalypse: King of Zombies

Lil' Shroom guided the fake Bighead forward, the howling night wind whipping through the crumbling city, making eerie, wailing sounds like wolves crying or ghosts mourning.

After a few moments, from the pitch-black street ahead, a wave of murderous energy rolled toward them, mixed with savage, guttural growls.

"What the hell is that?" Lil' Shroom muttered, uneasy. She quickly stopped and focused her gaze. In the darkness of a narrow alley, pairs of eerie green eyes flickered to life.

"Awoooo... woof! Woof woof woof!"

It was a pack of zombie dogs. They growled low in their throats, their faces twisted and grotesque, their bodies covered in bloody gashes. They looked downright nasty, barking and snarling like they were ready to tear something apart.

"Damn, they're vicious," Lil' Shroom whispered under her breath. These zombie dogs were way stronger than your average low-tier zombies—definitely elite-level threats.

Their sense of smell was sharp too. Not quite on the level of a Hellhound, but sharp enough that they seemed to pick up something was off.

Lil' Shroom didn't dare get too close. She quickly circled around them from a distance, mentally counting their numbers. When the real fight broke out, this kind of intel could be a lifesaver.

"Call me Agent Shroom..." she joked to herself as she slipped past the zombie dogs. Around her, the buildings grew taller—thirty stories, maybe more—packed tightly together.

No doubt about it, she was deep into the city now. Before the world ended, this place must've been bustling. Now, elite-level zombies roamed the streets, some of them even showing signs of higher intelligence.

"Hey, Bighead! What are you doing here? Thought you were off getting revenge on those L.A. zombies tonight?"

"Mind your damn business! Get lost, you talk too much!" Lil' Shroom barked back, controlling the fake Bighead with a perfect snarl.

"Uh..." The elite zombie flinched, looking confused. What the hell was up with Bighead today? He seemed way more aggressive than usual...

But the zombie didn't dare argue. He just slunk away, tail between his legs.

Lil' Shroom kept moving. The number of elites around her was definitely growing, and a lot of them tried to strike up conversations. She shut them all down with a sharp, impatient tone, cussing them out until they backed off.

As a result, Bighead's reputation was tanking fast...

Using the density of elite zombies as a guide, Lil' Shroom estimated there had to be at least twenty thousand of them packed into this area. That level of evolution was way beyond a normal zombie nest.

"There's gotta be something big going on here," she thought, climbing up the side of a 34-story building. She perched on the edge, scanning the cityscape. From up here, half of San Diego stretched out before her.

The zombies wandering the streets below looked like tiny ants.

The city, once vibrant, now lay in ruins, swallowed by darkness.

But then Lil' Shroom spotted something strange. Far off in the distance, atop a building, a soft white glow flickered—like a firefly in the night, standing out starkly against the gloom.

"What the hell is that...?"

Even from this distance, the glow looked familiar. She'd seen that kind of light before, back in Ethan's territory.

"Radiant Crystal?"

And right above the glowing spot, she could just make out a circular logo with bold red letters: GB.

Genesis Biotech.

No doubt about it—that was the ruins of a Genesis Biotech branch office, the one that had fallen to the Nightbane zombies and their ilk.

"Jackpot," Lil' Shroom thought, her mimicry-enhanced eyes gleaming.

The building wasn't completely wrecked either. Sure, there were cracks here and there, but no moss or overgrowth. It looked like it had only fallen a few months ago.

That had to be the heart of the entire zombie nest.

It was too far to see clearly from here, so Lil' Shroom decided to get a closer look. With a few quick, nimble moves, she leapt off the building, landing smoothly and sprinting toward the Genesis Biotech ruins.

The streets were still crawling with zombies—and more zombie dogs—but by now, almost every single one was elite-level.

In the ruins of old buildings and along the cracked sidewalks, strange pink flowers bloomed. They looked delicate and harmless at first glance, but if you looked closer, you'd see human skulls tangled in their roots.

"Security's tight as hell..."

Lil' Shroom thought to herself, keeping her cool. Luckily, since she was controlling the fake Bighead—a mimic without any real biological structure—she didn't have to worry about the hallucinogenic pollen floating around.

All she had to do was steer clear of the zombie dogs...

As she got closer to the Genesis Biotech ruins, the zombies around her grew noticeably stronger. Some of them stood tall and proud, their eyes cold and sharp, radiating a brutal, predatory aura like they were ready to tear apart anything that crossed their path.

These were Nightbane's top weapons—his elite enforcers.

"Damn..."

Lil' Shroom grew even more cautious, sneaking glances at them from the corner of her eye. These zombies had clearly evolved a decent level of intelligence, making them extremely dangerous.

Fortunately, they didn't seem interested in Bighead at all. They barely spared him a glance, let alone tried to strike up a conversation.

Besides that, the streets themselves were starting to look... different.

The wrecked cars, the piles of rubble and trash—they'd all been cleared away. The roads were unnervingly clean.

And across the pavement, strange black bloodstains had been painted into bizarre patterns. They looked like chaotic graffiti at first, but the longer you stared, the more you sensed a twisted kind of order behind them. It was unsettling as hell.

"Were these... drawn on purpose?" Lil' Shroom frowned.

This was way beyond anything she'd seen before.

What the hell was Nightbane planning?

She couldn't figure out what the blood patterns were for, but they all seemed to lead in one direction—straight toward the Genesis Biotech ruins, where the Radiant Crystal was glowing.

If she wanted answers, she'd have to get there.

Lil' Shroom glanced around, ready to move forward—

"Stop right there!"

A voice barked out from ahead.

From a thick patch of flowers, the petals began to writhe and shift. A figure slowly emerged—a zombie, but not just any zombie.

It was Daisy, one of San Diego's Four War Generals.

Lil' Shroom narrowed her eyes.

Both she and Daisy were plant-type mutant Zombie Kings—Lil' Shroom through spore parasitism, Daisy through hallucinogenic pollen. Natural-born enemies.

Daisy stepped forward, blocking her path, a strange look in her eyes.

"What are you doing here?" she demanded.

"Outta my way, Daisy. I'm just here for a quick inspection," Lil' Shroom said, controlling the fake Bighead's voice to sound gruff and impatient.

"...Huh???"

Daisy froze, looking completely thrown off.

Did she hear that right?

Was she hallucinating herself?

Bighead was acting way more arrogant than usual today.

"You forget what the boss said? Nobody's allowed in until Kong gets back!" Daisy snapped.

"Kong..."

Lil' Shroom's heart skipped a beat.

The name sounded vaguely familiar, but she couldn't quite place it.

King Kong? she wondered.

She'd spent plenty of time scouting around San Diego's zombie nests, but she'd never heard of a Zombie King named Kong.

Then it hit her.

Among San Diego's Four War Generals, there were Daisy, Falseword, and Hellhound—those three were always out and about. But the fourth one? She'd never seen him. Not once.

Now it made sense.

The fourth War General's name was Kong.

...