The Endgame Chronicles (by Hugh White) novel Chapter 41

Chapter 41

The very next morning, instead of running the border of her current territory, Hayley headed straight for the back mountain.

As she ran, her dogs carried ropes in their mouths to help her mark the boundaries.

In the old days, people staked claims by racing horses across land. Now, it was Hayley and her dogs doing it.

She sent Summer off with Ace, Spade, Diamond, King, Club, Jack, Flush, and Straight to start from the left. Meanwhile, she led East, South, West, North, Heart, Joker, and Front Legs from the right.

Those were the names she had given her newest pack members.

Splitting into two groups, they ran in opposite directions, circling the mountain with ropes as they went.

By afternoon, Hayley and Summer met in the middle. Hayley tied the two ropes together, then worked her way around, knotting each section into a continuous loop.

By the time the sun went down, she had managed to enclose the entire back mountain. The rope was fastened securely to her wire fence. Just like that, she had roughly claimed a mountain ridge with a perimeter of nearly two miles.

Ding!

[Territory area doubled! Reward: 1,000 points!

[First expansion reward unlocked: Territory Link!]

Hayley practically buzzed with excitement.

It actually worked! By actively claiming no man’s land, the system recognized it as hers.

And this was just one mountain. That single effort had earned her 1,000 points. If she claimed a few more nearby ridges, how many more could she rack up?

If she could take down Aecraton someday, 100 million points suddenly didn’t seem so impossible.

Then, she felt the other reward kick in-Territory Link.

When she closed her eyes, the mountain she had just claimed lit up in her mind like a map, seamlessly connected to her shelter.

If anything crossed into her territory, her instincts would immediately warn her.

“Summer! West side, five hundred yards!”

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Chapter 41

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“Woof!” Summer bolted without hesitation.

Half a minute later, Hayley heard the scuffle.

By the time she arrived, Summer had already taken down a stray zombie that had wandered into their land.

Hayley nodded in understanding. So that was how it worked.

She noticed a few more faint gray dots flicker inside her mental map. Grabbing her dogs, she moved in to clear them out.

“Ace, take Flush and Straight south! Club, Jack, Diamond, and King, go west! East, South, West, North-head east! Everyone else, come with me!”

With her commands flying, the dogs scattered. Together, they hunted down every intruding

zombie.

The more Hayley used it, the clearer and sharper the Territory Link became.

The gray dots always meant zombies. Even if they popped up in some far corner of her land, she could pinpoint them instantly.

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