Apocalypse: King of Zombies

The Chrome Dome Zombie King was completely stunned. He'd come here planning to ambush the humans—only to walk straight into a trap set by a pack of vicious zombies.

He couldn't wrap his head around it. He'd been so careful, so stealthy. How the hell had his movements been exposed?

Behind him, his underlings were getting antsy, seeing him just standing there, blocking the tunnel entrance.

"Boss, are we there yet? Hurry up and get in there!"

"Get in there, my ass! Run!" Chrome Dome Zombie King barked the retreat order without hesitation. He spun around, trying to scramble back into the tunnel.

But it was too late.

A massive hand clamped down on the back of his neck—his fate sealed in a single grip. Like grabbing a baby chick, the hand yanked him out of the tunnel with brute force.

Chrome Dome Zombie King kicked and thrashed, claws slashing wildly at the arm holding him. His razor-sharp talons scraped against Bulldozer's thick, armor-like skin, but barely left a few faint white marks. They didn't even break the surface.

"You still wanna fight back?"

Bulldozer's fingers curled into a fist the size of a bowling ball, and he drove it straight into Chrome Dome's skull.

BOOM!

The sound was like a boulder smashing into concrete. Chrome Dome Zombie King went limp instantly, arms and legs dangling uselessly.

His head had caved in, grotesquely misshapen from the blow.

Bulldozer followed up with another brutal punch—BOOM!—and this time, the zombie king's skull exploded like a watermelon, splattering gore everywhere.

"Raaaargh!"

Behind him, the elite zombies let out a collective roar and leapt down into the tunnel, launching a full-on assault against the Crossborder zombies below.

"Shit! It's a trap!"

"Boss… is he dead?!"

"Run! Get the hell outta here!"

Chaos erupted.

The Crossborder zombies, thousands strong, were crammed into the tunnel. But now, with panic setting in, retreating wasn't so simple.

Ethan's zombies surged forward. The tunnel was about five feet wide—not exactly cramped, but some of the bigger zombies couldn't even stand upright.

They moved like spiders, crawling along the walls, their twisted faces full of bloodlust as they closed in.

Among them were elite units—top-tier zombies with combat skills far beyond anything the Crossborder group could handle. It wasn't a fight. It was a slaughter.

They tackled the Crossborder zombies to the ground, tearing into them with teeth and claws. More kept coming, wave after wave, relentless.

The tunnel turned into a hellish meat grinder. Screams echoed off the walls, blood sprayed in every direction, and chunks of flesh littered the floor.

The elite zombies emerged from the carnage, their mouths and bodies smeared with gore, crawling out of the piles of corpses like demons straight out of hell.

"Move! We've gotta get out of here!" the Crossborder zombies howled, trying to pass the message back. Their leader was dead, their morale shattered, and now they were facing monsters they couldn't hope to beat.

They finally managed to turn around, stampeding toward the rear in a desperate bid to escape.

The tunnel they'd dug so carefully…

Had become a death trap.

The elite zombies were fast—like starving wolves. They caught up in seconds, pouncing on the fleeing Crossborder zombies and ripping them apart.

Terror gripped the survivors. They kept glancing back, only to see savage faces emerging from the darkness, and then—one by one—their comrades fell, followed by blood-curdling screams that echoed with pure agony.

"This is a nightmare!"

The zombies at the front were in full-blown panic, trampling over each other in a mad rush to flee.

But up ahead, in the pitch-black depths of the tunnel, a shadow had already moved into position.

He rose slowly from the darkness, standing tall like the Grim Reaper himself.

"Hehehehehe…"

Little Shadow saw the zombies charging toward him—and met them head-on with a single swipe of his claw. It sliced through several of them at once, skewering them like meat on a skewer.

As an S-class Zombie King, Little Shadow was an absolute monster compared to these low-tier grunts. His claws tore through them like paper, slicing and slashing with terrifying precision. Every swing was a massacre.

The Crossborder zombies were thrown into another wave of chaos. Panic turned to despair. Screams echoed through the tunnel, mixing with the guttural roars of the dying.

...

Even up on the surface, Big Ears could hear the sounds of agony rising from the depths of the tunnel—like the wails of tortured souls echoing out of hell itself.

"Not bad at all..." he muttered, clearly satisfied.

"Big Ears, you really nailed it this time!" Shrimpy said, full of admiration.

"Eh, I'm used to it by now. Just a little contribution, nothing worth bragging about," Big Ears replied with a casual wave of his hand, playing it cool. They hadn't found the Zombie King they were originally hunting for, but stumbling onto this scheming horde of Crossborder zombies? That was a win in his book.

But then his expression shifted, curiosity creeping in. "Hey... where do you think this tunnel came from?"

"Dug it, obviously," Shrimpy said, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Big Ears frowned. "Yeah, but it's way too long. And they managed to dig it without anyone noticing? That's a serious operation. Something's fishy."

"Then let's go check it out."

"Yeah, alright." Big Ears nodded.

About half an hour later, the screams from the tunnel finally died out. Silence returned. The slaughter was over. Thousands of Crossborder zombies—wiped out. Not a single one survived.

Big Ears and the others approached the tunnel entrance and jumped down without hesitation.

"Holy crap..."

The moment they landed, the stench hit them like a wall—thick with rot and blood. The tunnel was littered with severed limbs, shredded flesh, and twisted heads. It was a horror show.

Big Ears crouched down and dug around in a shattered skull, pulling out a blood-soaked Neurocore and popping it into his mouth.

"Can't let it go to waste."

"Oh... right." Shrimpy nodded, silently thinking, Classic Big Ears.

Most of the Neurocores had already been devoured by the elite zombies during the chaos, but in a fight that messy, there were always a few left behind.

Big Ears was nothing if not "resourceful." He snacked as he walked, picking through the carnage while inspecting the tunnel.

Despite the freezing weather outside, the soil in the tunnel was fresh and loose—clearly dug recently. And there were multiple branching paths leading off in different directions, their destinations unknown.

Big Ears and the others hunched over, creeping forward like sneaky little goblins, exploring the maze-like tunnel system.

"Where the hell are we now?" Shrimpy asked, glancing around.

"No idea," Big Ears muttered, just as confused. He pressed his ear to the wall, listening carefully, eyes darting left and right.

Then he heard it—faint rustling sounds coming from deep within one of the side tunnels.

"This way."

"Oh, oh!" Shrimpy and the others nodded quickly and followed close behind.

Big Ears twisted and turned through the narrow passage, the rustling getting louder with every step. There was definitely something—or someone—still down here.

"What the hell is that?"

Big Ears was burning with curiosity. But with Bulldozer and the other Zombie Kings stationed right above them, they weren't too worried. They had backup.

After a long trek, they finally reached the end of the tunnel—only to find a solid rock wall blocking the way. A dead end.

"Big Ears, there's nothing here," Shrimpy said, puzzled.

"No... something's off." Big Ears frowned and pressed his ear to the rock wall, listening intently.

He hadn't imagined it. The rustling was real—and it was getting louder. Whatever it was, it was coming closer. Fast.

"Shit! It's heading this way!" Big Ears realized, stumbling back a few steps.

The three zombies behind him all froze, eyes locked on the wall. A moment later, they heard it too.

Crack... crackle...

Thin fractures began to spread across the rock face, spiderwebbing outward.

Then—BOOM!—the wall exploded outward in a shower of debris, and a zombie head popped through the hole.

His skin was dark, his eyes beady, a scruffy beard clinging to his face, and two massive, sharp buckteeth jutted out from his mouth.

The zombie blinked, clearly startled to see Big Ears and his crew standing there.

For a moment, everyone just stared at each other—wide-eyed, frozen.

Then Big Ears's eyes lit up like a kid on Christmas morning. He pointed straight at the newcomer and shouted:

"Big Chompers!"

...