The Endgame Chronicles (by Hugh White) novel Chapter 188

Chapter 188

“What are you doing out here?” Liam strode right up to Hayley.

“I’m here to take some people, “Hayley said as she pointed behind her. “This group of. I want to bring them to my base. Name your price.”

In base-era rules, residents were considered valuable property. No base would casually let people walk away.

Liam’s gaze swept over the group of exhausted civilians.

they’re willing to go with you, then let them go. However, they can’t

take any supplies. Anyone leaving Base K1 leaves everything behind.”

“Fine.” Hayley agreed without hesitation.

That was an apocalypse standard. The base fed you and kept you safe, so everything you owned was technically the base’s property. If you walked out, you didn’t get to take a single grain with you.

And honestly, that was already lenient.

Big bases like Ki still allowed people the right to leave. Most small bases didn’t.

In a lot of places, residents weren’t residents at all. They were assets. Trying to defect meant you were dead.

Hayley’s previous-life base was like that. Ordinary people were the private property of management, and escape was impossible. Leaving meant dying on the spot.

There were exceptions, however.

Some Gifted were too useful to be controlled. They belonged to whichever base offered the best deal. Those bases would fight to recruit them with tons of supplies, because these people were walking strategic weapons.

Most of these elite fighters stayed where they were, but sometimes a rival base offered enough to steal one away.

Hayley had witnessed that once.

Her tiny base had a monster of a man named Thomas Kimmons, the only double-Gifted in the region with fire and metal-

element abilities.

Before the world fell apart, Thomas fought illegal matches in an underground boxing ring. He was covered in tattoos, had a temper like a lit fuse, and was quick to throw hands at absolutely anyone.

What Hayley remembered most was how he loved slapping people senseless. The moment something ticked him off, he would just swing first and deal with the rest later.

He had basically kept the entire base in line with that “special skill”.

When Hayley first arrived, plenty of men tried to mess with her. Thomas spotted it, didn’t say a single word, and slapped several of them across the yard right in front of her before walking off like nothing happened.

Hayley had been stunned, and from then on, she basically adopted the same “slap first, talk later” philosophy.

If someone pushed you, you push back. Respect and status were things you fought for yourself. Never back down.

Thomas wasn’t around for long before another base snatched him away with a huge offer. By the time he left, Hayley had still

never spoken a single word to him.

After all, the man was way too explosive. Every time she saw him, he was either slapping someone or on his way to do so.

Later, Hayley heard that a small survivor base out in Aecraton had recruited Thomas with two truckloads of pasta. She never saw him again after that.

About six or seven years into the apocalypse, Hayley happened to overhear in a base tavern that the small base Thomas had

joined was wiped out by a zombie horde. No one made it out.

By then, nobody even remesubered who Thomas was.

Nobody except Hayley.

In the apocalypse, most people were like fireworks. They showed up for a moment, burned bright for a second, and disappeared

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