Apocalypse: King of Zombies

When the pink petal "mummy" exploded, more than a dozen crystal cores tumbled out of it.

Ethan stepped closer for a better look and saw that some of the cores were from humans, others from mutated beasts—each one pulsing with different kinds of energy.

Clearly, this flower field had been inducing hallucinations, driving creatures to slaughter each other, leaving behind only their crystal cores.

That humanoid figure woven from petals wasn't the real body of the Daisy Zombie King—it was just a medium, a puppet of sorts, capable of transmitting brainwave signals and producing sound...

Aside from the hallucinogenic pollen, she hadn't shown any other offensive abilities.

The Four War Generals of San Diego were supposed to be way more powerful than this.

Ethan silently analyzed the situation.

This entire Zombie Cultivation Ground was designed to lure in living beings, kill them, extract their crystal cores, and then either feed the leftover flesh to underlings or convert part of it into new zombies.

Basically, it was a zombie farm—growing her own little army.

And Daisy's real body would come by periodically to collect the "harvested" crystal cores.

Only this time, she hadn't shown up yet—Ethan had beaten her to it.

"Clever setup..." Ethan muttered, a little impressed. The flower field practically ran itself. When you were running low on crystal cores, you just came by and picked the fruit.

Daisy's hallucinogenic ability was a game-changer in group battles. Her flower fields could help a zombie nest grow stronger and faster.

She was what you'd call a utility-type Zombie King.

And Ethan was pretty sure this wasn't the only cultivation ground like this. There had to be more scattered around the outskirts of San Diego, doubling as early warning systems and defense zones.

"Time to go..." he said to himself.

He figured the Zombie Kings of San Diego already knew where he was. The last thing he wanted was to get swarmed by a massive zombie horde. And if Daisy was just one of the Four War Generals, there were at least three more like her—each probably with their own bizarre and dangerous abilities.

No doubt about it—the rise of San Diego's zombie nest owed a lot to these Four War Generals.

Before leaving, Ethan poked through the corpses of the Japanese Awakeners. He picked out a few whose bodies hadn't been irradiated and took them with him. The rest he left behind—he didn't want his underlings eating junk food...

...

Back in Los Angeles, Ethan filled in his lieutenants about what had happened. There was a good chance the Zombie Kings from San Diego would come looking for payback. With Daisy's hallucinogenic powers, one careless mistake could lead to disaster.

The whole LA zombie nest buzzed with chatter as the news spread. Everyone was on edge, talking strategy and what-ifs.

Bulldozer narrowed his eyes.

"That Zombie King from San Diego can mess with your head—make us turn on each other. Even PhD's mental scans couldn't detect it. So we all need to stay sharp."

Laura grinned and teased, "Yeah, you better stay sharp. Wouldn't want me accidentally taking you out."

"Pfft!" Bulldozer scoffed. "You? Please. I'd like to see you try."

Meanwhile, on a street not far off, a crowd of zombies had gathered.

At the center sat the four members of the Overlord Squad—Big Ears and his crew—holding another one of their "roundtable" meetings, analyzing the situation in their own way.

"I heard there are four Zombie Kings in San Diego like Daisy," Big Ears said. "They call them the Four War Generals."

"The Four War Generals?" Shrimpy's eyes narrowed. "Sounds like they're the rivals to us—the four Overlords of the Squad."

"Exactly! We need to come up with a plan to deal with them," Big Ears said, nodding seriously. In his mind, the Four War Generals were clearly the counterparts to their own squad.

Mist's eyes flicked thoughtfully. "Actually... I've got an idea."

"What is it?" the others asked.

"For now, let's stop looking for the stone tablets," Mist said.

The others nodded in agreement, one after another.

"Smart move! Yeah, let's do that. That's how we'll handle them!"

"..."

As for the rest of the zombies, they didn't really have much to say about it. Their attitude was simple—if they ran into the enemy, they'd just throw down. No need to overthink it.

But when Sprout and Elegy heard about Daisy's powers, they couldn't help but be amazed—and more than a little jealous. After all, their dance parties were seriously lacking a flower-petal effects crew...

...

At that moment, Ethan was at home, standing in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows, staring out at the distant horizon. His eyes were deep, cold, and unreadable.

"To cut the flower, you've gotta pull it out by the roots..." he muttered to himself.

Ever since he'd taken out the bloated Butcher, a clash with San Diego had become inevitable.

But the top Zombie King over there wasn't like Nightmare. You could tell just by looking at the quality of their underlings—there was a clear difference. Compared to that, guys like Scissorhands, Giant Boulder, and Toxin were basically comic relief.

Ethan figured the best way to deal with San Diego's Zombie Kings was to wipe out all the surrounding Zombie Cultivation Grounds first. That would choke off their growth and weaken their forces.

The problem was, those cultivation grounds were extremely well-hidden. If he hadn't been tailing the Japanese Awakeners, he never would've found the one he just raided.

"Do I need to use a few humans as bait?" he thought aloud.

The idea came naturally. Humans, once they caught a whiff of that floral scent, would fall into hallucinations and wander straight into the cultivation grounds on their own.

Crude? Yes. Effective? Absolutely.

And when it came to humans, the first person that popped into Ethan's mind was someone close to his heart—Mia.

Ding ding ding!

Just then, his phone buzzed on the coffee table behind him. Someone had sent him a private message.

Ethan turned around and picked it up. Sure enough—it was Mia.

The message was short and to the point.

"There's something I need to tell you."

"What is it? Did you find the Star Map tablet?" Ethan asked instinctively.

"No."

Mia replied,

"A lot of human shelters can't hold out anymore. They've started migrating. The plan is to gather everyone and build a central shelter."

"It's going to be on Mount Elbert in the Rocky Mountains. The cliffs are steep and hard to climb—even elite zombies would struggle to get up there."

"Huh..." Ethan hadn't expected that kind of intel.

As the apocalypse dragged on and zombies kept evolving, humanity had been on the back foot the entire time. Over the past eight months, countless shelters had fallen.

Some were barely hanging on, running on fumes. So now, they were making a move—retreating and regrouping at Mount Elbert to build a central stronghold.

"You guys moving too?" Ethan asked.

"No. Only the ones who can't hold their ground are relocating," Mia replied.

"..." Ethan was speechless. She sounded kind of... proud about that.

A mass human migration like this was bound to shake things up. It wasn't just a logistical nightmare—it could shift the entire balance of the apocalypse.

Mia continued,

"I might head to the Mount Elbert Shelter for a bit. Gotta deliver some lab equipment and supplies. Also, I'll ask around about the Star Map tablet for you—lots of people are on the move right now, and we've lost contact with some of them."

"No rush," Ethan replied. "So... you messaged me just to tell me that?"

"Yep! That's all. Oh, and—can I borrow one of your aircraft?"

"...Huh??"

Ethan raised an eyebrow. And just like that, the real reason for her message came out. So much for subtlety—she was finally getting to the point.

...