NOVEL WEB Chapter 14: The Human Zombie Beacon
The stocky man didn't hesitate. With one brutal kick, he sent his lanky companion sprawling into the ravenous horde.
"You bastard! I trusted—" The lanky man's curse dissolved into wet gurgles as teeth tore through his throat.
The stocky man sprinted for the building entrance—freedom just meters away—when skeletal hands clamped onto his shoulders. He was yanked backward, crashing onto concrete as dozens of rotting mouths descended.
Lucas enjoyed a leisurely lunch of pan-seared steak in his apartment. The rich flavor reminded him of normalcy. Now refreshed, he prepared to raid the supermarket at the complex's entrance.
His current upgrade progress: 18/100 Energy Cores. Simple math suggested needing to eliminate around 137 more zombies. A daunting task, but step by step.
Moving cautiously through the cleared areas near Building 3, Lucas navigated toward the main gate. The path was open, visibility good—yet he still paused at every potential blind spot, waiting for his instincts (or the system) to confirm safety.
Then—a scream.
That scream.
The same shrill, zombie-magnetizing wail from yesterday.
Peering around a building corner, Lucas saw the source: the low-cut-dress woman, now improbably perched in a tree four stories high. Below her, two clusters of zombies feasted on fresh corpses while others circled the trunk.
How had she gotten up there?
No matter. The situation presented an opportunity.
Lucas moved like shadow.
First cluster: Three quick axe strikes decapitated zombies before they registered the threat. A fourth noticed—its head split mid-snarl. The stocky man's half-eaten corpse received a mercy strike.
Second cluster: Four zombies rose as one. Lucas kicked his riot shield into them like a bowling ball, toppling three while his axe crushed the fourth's skull. What followed wasn't combat—it was butchery.
When the last zombie—a bisected torso still snapping its jaws—finally stilled, Lucas wiped gore from his axe.
The woman's screams had quieted to whimpers. She'd served her purpose. Again.
[System Alert]:
6 Energy Cores acquiredCurrent total: 24/100
Lucas eyed the supermarket's glass doors. The real prize awaited.