Chapter 234 The Zombie Horde


    Chapter 234 The Zombie Horde


    “Pffi!”


    Theresa pulled back herbat knife and shoved the zombie away, quickly sizing it up. This <b>one’s </b>a mutant zombie–Level 2, with hardened skin.”


    Lucas and Theron exchanged grim looks.


    By now, they had a clear system for categorizing zombies.


    Regr zombies were the baseline. Level 1 mutant zombies showed noticeable boosts in speed and strength. Level 2 mutant zombies


    , though, often possessed some kind of special ability.


    Some were monstrously strong, others terrifyingly fast, some had nearly imprable skin, and a few even demonstrated odd powers.


    Level 3 and above mutant zombies were extremely rare.


    They’d cleared two zones in Ansford without encountering many mutant zombies. Level <b>2 </b>mutant zombies were scarce there, but as soon as they crossed into Branford territory, the situation changed- whether by coincidence or not, they couldn’t say.


    Whoosh<i>. </i>


    Their armored vehicle sped down the highway, leaving a trail of zombies in its wake. They passed under an overpass and looked down to see a horrifying scene in Branford.


    Along a long street, an endless tide of zombies swarmed.


    Groans filled the air.


    The street was packed shoulder to shoulder with the undead.


    Their bodies bore festering wounds that had rotted and oozed pus all winter. Rotten guts spilled yellowish pus. In the sweltering May heat nearing 104/F, swarms of buzzing mosquitoes circled the mass of decaying


    corpses.


    A car passed over the overpass ahead, and zombies instantly fixed their grotesque, disfigured faces on it.


    Their grayish, paper–thin skin clung tightly to exposed bones. One had a massive scalp wound, torn from the hairline down to the nose, revealing raw, deep red muscle fibers. The skull protruded sharply from the brow and nose, making the creature’s face a gruesome mask of flesh and bone.


    And it wasn’t just one. Hundreds, maybe thousands, of zombies looked up as the car raced overhead.


    They stared like worshippers eyeing a feast.


    Whoosh.


    The armored vehicle surged forward through the sea of undead, triggering a frenzy.


    The zombies below burst into a wild chase, racing full speed under the overpass in pursuit of Theresa’s


    <b>1/3 </b>


    <


    Chapter 234 The Zombie Horde


    vehicle.


    A dark cloud of flies rose and twisted like waves, following the zombies in hot pursuit<b>, </b><b>all </b>zeroing in on the single speeding car.


    Inside, Theresa watched the massive, writhing horde from above. Thankfully, the highway was straight ahead, but the road below didn’t run parallel forever. As the zombies reached the end of the road <b>and </b><b>were </b>blocked by rows of apartment buildings, they started to scatter.


    The armored car kept pushing forward, quickly outpacing the relentless tide below.


    Yet Theresa’s frown deepened.


    “The situation in other cities is far worse than we thought,” Lucas said grimly.


    “At this rate, Branford and Crestmont won’t hold. The horde will expand outward, swallowing other. camps.”


    Theresa nodded. “We have to take Ansford before it’s toote.”


    “Agreed.”


    They’d been driving all day. Near dusk, they finally approached the mountains.


    Here, the zombies thinned out a bit. But before they could wonder why, a massive swarm appeared ahead.


    For hundreds of yards around, zombies pressed in on a crossroads about 800 yards ahead.


    Dense, frenzied, and wild.


    “What the hell’s going on?”


    Right in the center of the horde, nine people were surrounded, forced back step by step.


    Six men and three women.


    They formed a tight circle, desperately holding off the surging zombies.


    A shriek was heard.


    An old, white–haired zombie sprinted fastest, lunging with a gaping maw at the tallest, thinnest man.


    At thest moment, the man grabbed a girl beside him and shoved her forward, putting her between himself and the zombie.


    “Ah!”


    She screamed just as a fireball was hurled into the crowd, followed instantly by an invisible energy shield appearing before her.


    Madeline Grace was yanked back urgently.


    A burly man, steady as an ox, pulled her behind him, bracing against the relentless tide.


    Chapter 234 The Zombie Horde


    “Landon, you can’t hold much longer! You shoulde with me! Let them chase us and draw the zombies away!” the man who had just shoved the girl yelled.


    The group all red at him.


    But there was no time for arguing now.