Chapter 31: Life & Death (Part 1)
A low mechanical hum threaded through the air, rising above the desolate silence as three silver buses rolled steadily toward the cafeteria. Their engines purred, but even that subtle noise echoed ominously across the ruined campus.
The sound was enough.
Zombies began to stir— their growls grew stronger, some staggered out of buildings, few dragging broken limbs as they zeroed in on the noise like moths to a flame.
But they were met with fire.
From the top of the lead bus, Nero stood with one hand raised high. Flameballs spiraled from his palm, lighting up the air with blazing arcs before crashing into the undead with explosive bursts.
Charred limbs flew; mangled torsos rolled. His face remained expressionless, but his eyes gleamed—a golden inferno reflecting the chaos below.
On the left flank, Merek’s Vulture undead charged into the approaching zombies. The armoured wraiths, weaved together with steel and the soul shard of a brutal warrior, slashed, impaled, and crushed without hesitation.
Their movements were too coordinated, too precise, to be anything less than deadly. Each blow was efficient, driven by the cold command of their master.
Inside the third bus, Merek sat quietly, his hand resting inside his coat as he peered out the window.
All four Vultures were hard at work—three of them were level 12, the last one level 13, a recent creation weaved after his fight with the Stage-1 zombie.
With each kill, mists shaped like human silhouettes rose from the fallen zombies and were absorbed into the undead warriors, yet—disappointingly—nothing changed.