The Endgame Chronicles (by Hugh White) novel Chapter 163

Chapter 163

“Raarhh! Arghh!”

A short, elderly zombie staggered forward.

His blood-soaked clothes still faintly resembled one of those linen jackets old men wore while playing chess in the park. His shiny bald spot stretched all the way to the back of his head.

Even so, it was obvious he had been a well-groomed old gentleman when he was alive. The few hairs he had left were styled into a neat little puff behind his head like a trimmed garden bush. And right in the center of his front teeth gleamed a big gold crown.

Screeeech!

That golden tooth scraped across Hayley’s window with a long, sharp, metal-on-glass shriek that made her skin crawl.

Thick black blood smeared across the entire windshield. The old zombie clawed and slammed wildly at the glass, pounding against the car again and again.

On the third hit…

Bang!

A bullet drilled straight into the right side of the zombie’s skull.

The impact jerked its head violently sideways, twisting its neck to a sharp ninety-degree angle before its whole head burst open with a dull crack.

Right after, heavy footsteps rushed in as a group of Liam’s guards sprinted over. They glanced into the car, gave Hayley a quick hand signal, and immediately spread out to take down the rest of the zombies.

Leonard saw that and moved to hop out of the car to help.

“No, stay,” Hayley said, grabbing his arm. She calmly shifted into a better viewing angle, pulled a handful of cashews from her pocket, and went right back to snacking. “They’ve got it.”

Leonard stared at her, speechless.

Outside, waves of zombies poured in nonstop. The convoy had pulled tightly together.

Except for Hayley and the people from Hope Base, who stayed inside, everyone else jumped out to fight in this midnight battle.

Firelight and blood lit up the night in a chaotic mix.

Hayley noticed that among the four small bases, only two even had

very

guns, and few at that.

Gun ownership in Henerland had always been heavily restricted. Even after the apocalypse, there weren’t many firearms in circulation.

Base K1 carried the real firepower. Every one of Liam’s people had a rifle slung over their back or some heavy weapon in hand. They charged the front line, guns blazing.

The smaller bases didn’t have that kind of strength, but they were fighting with everything they had. Element-based Gifted unleashed their abilities, sending fire, water, and metal orbs flying everywhere. Strength-

M

enhanced fighters swung machetes, baseball bats, and anything else they could use, turning into full-on berserkers in hand-to-hand combat.

The handful of people with no abilities at all stayed inside the defensive circle, using whatever weapons, they had to give support.

Everyone was fighting like hell.

Hayley spotted Scarlett. She stood behind Malcolm.

Malcolm was a strength-enhanced fighter, gripping a metal rake and swinging it with enough force to fling four or five zombies with each strike.

The moment he hurled them away, two fire orbs shot into the air, blasting straight onto the zombies. Scarlett’s short hair glowed faintly red at the tips. Her hands curled as if grasping something invisible, her face dark with strain as she kept forming more fire orbs, matching Malcolm’s attacks.

But as the battle dragged on, she started falling behind.

She was only a level 1 Gifted. She could form at most two fire orbs at a time, and every use drained her more. Her already darkened face turned pale from exhaustion.

But the zombies just kept coming.

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