Chapter 149 Into the Heart of the Swarm


    After a flurry of chores inside and out, Kyle finally headed to his room for some rest.


    Theresa, on the other hand, returned to her bunker-she had ns to head into the city the next day.


    Since the world ended, she hadn’t set foot in a city. The zombie hordes in the countryside were nothingpared to what was lurking in urban ruins. She knew she had to be ready.


    So, she opened up the system’s store and went on a serious shopping spree.


    Two AK-47s. Check. Three thousand rounds of ammunition. Check. Then she scrolled a bit further and spotted it-a single RPG-7, a shoulder-fired rocketuncher.


    Price: 10,000 points.


    She didn’t even hesitate. She snagged it.


    Lucas and his crew always had those rocketunchers, and their area-of-effect damage was insane. She needed that kind of firepower, too.


    She paired it with ten rockets-just enough to ensure superior fire support for tomorrow’s mission.


    After gearing up with all the essentials, she checked the specialty shop. The limited-time gear section had been a disappointmenttely, but today there was something new: a zipline kit.


    Price: 100 points.


    Theresa’s eyes


    “Bought!”


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    With supplies secured, there was nothing left to do but head into the city.


    The next day, an armored car tore down a lonely stretch of highway, tires screeching against sun-baked asphalt.


    As they neared the city limits, thendscape shifted dramatically.


    To the right, outboundnes were packed tight with abandoned vehicles-wrecks crunched into one another, twisted metal blocking any hope of passage. Car after car after car, a frozen exodus stretching into


    the distance.


    The inboundnes on the left? Completely empty. Not a single vehicle in sight.


    D


    Everyone had tried to flee. No one wanted to go in.


    Theresa sat in the passenger seat, eyes cool and unreadable as she scanned the desertedne ahead.


    That was when she saw him.


    A man stood in the middle of the road, head lolling to one side, baseball cap still perched crookedly on his scalp. He wore a shredded white T-shirt, blotched with ck-red stains, and designer jeans that hung in tatters. Every breeze fluttered the ripped pant legs like streamers.


    He looked like a handsome, urban trendsetter-until he turned around.


    The flesh of his face was mangled, torn from his jaw up to his throat. She could clearly see the sharp line of his jawbone, and thework of tendons and veins exposed in his neck. It was obvious: someone hadtched onto his chin and ripped the meat clean off.


    His legs were gouged with deep w marks, even slicing through the tough denim like paper.


    This stylish zombie-whatever was left of the man he used to be-locked onto Theresa’s vehicle with a predator’s hunger. His cloudy eyes lit up with bloodlust as he opened his mangled mouth, pus-ck blood bubbling from his shredded windpipe.


    “Raaaaghhh!”


    Wham!


    The armored car smashed straight into him,unching him into the air like a broken mannequin.


    By the time he hit the ground, the car had already thundered several yards ahead.


    Thump!


    Crunch!


    Thud!


    One after another, more zombies appeared-four, five, maybe more. Each one was sent flying under the relentless steel front of the armored vehicle.


    They didn’t stop. Didn’t slow down. Just kept going-straight into Ansford.


    Ever since the outbreak, Theresa had never returned to a city. She’d fled Ansford on the very first day, vanishing into the countryside. Ever since, she’d focused on clearing her territory-methodically picking off lone zombies and wandering clusters.


    But the city? That was another story entirely.


    The number of zombies in rural zones couldn’t even bepared. Theresa had never encountered a true core swarm. She stuck to abandoned farnds, remote woods-ces where zombies were scattered, not


    concentrated.


    Her one brush with a serious horde had been at a food processing nt on the outskirts. That was


    suburbia.


    If the food nt had been a warm-up, Ansford was the final boss. That swarm? A thousand times worse. Maybe ten thousand.


    Urban density meant most people never got out. They either became zombies… or became food.


    A city was more than just ground zero-it was a feeding ground.


    Luckily, Hugo’s research institute wasn’t right in the city center. It was on the outer edge, nestled in a tech park about two miles from where they entered.


    Still, the closer they got, the thicker the undead presence became.


    The moment their vehicle crossed into Ansford, they stirred the hive.


    Zombies wandered near the roadside at first-then turned. Then charged.


    Like a grotesque marathon, they streamed in from alleys, stairwells, rooftops, parking garages. wed hands, rotting teeth, shrieks echoing off ss and concrete.


    “Raaaaghh!”


    “Raaaaghh!”


    “Raaaaghh!”


    Theresa’s armored car didn’t slow down. Didn’t flinch.


    It plowed straight through the chaos, roaring down the highway as the city of the dead woke all around them.


    And atst, Theresa saw it. The aftermath.


    Once-tidy apartment buildings, now hollow husks. Towering condos with weeds sprouting from unfinished rooftops. Storefronts along the highway, mostly untouched-except for grocery stores and pharmacies, which had clearly been looted and smashed.


    Everything else? Sealed. Silent. Dead.