Rewrite the Apocalypse dream (by Dee Cari) novel Chapter 223

Chapter 223 The Zombies Are Being Directed

Everyone settled in while Briggs turned, leading the convoy out onto the open road. As the scenery blurred into a desolate highway, Joanna turned in her seat to look at her core group.

Finished

“Alright, give me details on this ambush coming up,” Joanna ordered, her tone shifting to pure survival mode. “What exactly are we driving into?”

Briggs rested his hands on the steering wheel, a faint pulse of heat radiating from his palms. “It’s a funnel trap. There were only a few cars pulled into the middle of the road. It isn’t a full blockade-just enough to force the vehicles to slow down to a crawl.”

“That’s when they hit us,” Kailee added from the back, her fingers twitching as faint ripples of air and wind power swirled around her knuckles. “The moment the trucks braked, they swarmed from both sides of the tree line.”

Rachel leaned forward, her expression grim as she tapped her temple. “It wasn’t a standard chaotic horde. I used my telepathy to scan the area, and I picked up strange mental conversations from their leader. I could never physically spot him, but he was directing the level-twos from the woods somewhere.”

“Directing them how?” Joanna asked, her gaze narrowing.

“He was issuing short, synchronized commands,” Rachel explained, her voice low. “I distinctly heard him. ordering the horde to ‘attack right flank’ and ‘secure left flank’ to box us in.”

Jake leaned back against the armored interior, cracking his knuckles as he processed the information. “Right flank, left flank… those aren’t zombie instincts,” he commented dryly. “Sounds like possible military terms. Whoever or whatever is running that horde knows tactical formations.”

Rachel stepped forward, rubbing her temples as if still feeling the residual strain of the psychic battle. “I was able to break it shortly which means the zombie was either far away or weak,” she admitted, her voice tight.

“Do you think it’s stronger than you?” Joanna asked.

Rachel shook her head. “It couldn’t re-establish control after I broke it. That tells me it’s a precision problem, not a power problem. If we could pin down its location, I could shut it down for good.”

Joanna stared at the dark highway. “Walk me through the first ambush.”

Briggs tapped the wheel. “Small group. Soldiers handled it with guns alone-didn’t need any of us.” His jaw tightened. “I think that’s exactly what it wanted to see.”

“It was watching,” Joanna said.

“Cataloguing. The second ambush was designed around a convoy that would just shoot back.” He glanced at Rachel in the mirror. “It didn’t account for us.”

Joanna said nothing. The undead had started running reconnaissance.

Soon, the convoy slowed to a crawl as the team pulled close to the coordinates of the first ambush site. The skeletal remains of abandoned cars lined the asphalt, creating a claustrophobic gauntlet..

1/3

10:43 am MWMM.

Chapter 223 The Zombies Are Being Directed

9 Finished

“Do you pick up anything?” Joanna asked, her eyes scanning the dense tree line shifting in the shadows.

Rachel shook her head, her face pale with frustration. “No. But it was exactly like this last time, too. I couldn’t even sense them until they were right on top of us.”

Joanna’s grip tightened on the steering wheel, a tactical plan forming in her mind. “Briggs, pull over right here. Rachel, what if I teleport you directly into the woods? Can you sniff out the alpha zombie’s location if you’re closer?”

Before Rachel could answer, Caleb spoke up from the back seat. “Maybe they’re already gone from here, Boss.”

Joanna looked back at him through the rearview mirror. “Can’t you sense any lurking zombies with your Dreamweaver mental threads?”

Caleb sighed heavily, running a hand through his hair. “No, unfortunately. My threads only work with conscious thought. Even though these zombies are getting smarter and acting on tactical orders, underneath it all, they are still just monsters operating purely on base instinct. There are no human thoughts or dreams for me to latch onto. To my powers, the woods feel completely dead.”

Realizing they were blind to the threat, Joanna made a swift executive decision to limit their exposure. “Alright. Everyone out of the vehicle except Caleb and Briggs. We’re doing this on foot.”

The engine of the lead vehicle idled roughly as Joanna stepped out onto the cracked asphalt. The air was thick with the scent of pine and decay. Ignoring the eerie quiet, Joanna locked her focus on the mangled heap of vehicles blocking their path.

VERIFYCAPTCHA_LABELVerify