The Endgame Chronicles (by Hugh White) novel Chapter 495

Chapter 495

“What, you’re not welcoming us?” Hayley asked, already turning away. “If that’s the case, I’ll head back right now.

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She pivoted sharply, clearly ready to leave.

“No.” Nathaniel reacted immediately. “All of you are very welcome.”

He forced a friendly smile as he looked at the pack of dogs in front of him.

Dogs were dogs. Animals, nothing more.

Honestly, it was better than her bringing a whole crowd of people. Dogs were easier to deal with.

That thought seemed to reassure Nathaniel. His smile deepened, softening into something that looked almost warm. “Did you raise all of them yourself?”

“Yeah. Every single one.”

“What are their names?” Nathaniel asked, trying to sound casual, trying to get closer.

That caught Hayley’s interest. She straightened up and stood among the dogs, pointing at them one by one.

“This one’s Summer. I raised him since he was little. He’s a German Shepherd. Handsome, right?”

“Yeah,” Nathaniel said. “Very handsome.”

“The rest I picked up over time,” Hayley continued. “This is Ace, Spade, Diamond, King, Club, Jack, Flush, and Straight.”

Nathaniel paused.

“Sounds fun.”

“These here are East, South, West, North, Heart, and Joker,” Hayley went on. “And that last one’s called Front Legs. I was going to name him Flop, but when I found him, his back legs were almost chewed off by zombies. Front Legs just felt more accurate.”

Nathaniel stared at her. For a moment, he genuinely didn’t know what to say.

Those names were….very Hayley’s style.

Weirdly memorable, too.

The more he looked at Hayley, the more intrigued he felt. She never stopped surprising him.

His smile widened. “I’ll remember all of them. I like them a lot.”

Hayley’s eyes lit up immediately. “Perfect. Then I’ll leave them with you for the next few days. You guys can bond.

Nathaniel froze. He clearly hadn’t seen that coming.

Behind Hayley, Griffin snorted and lowered his head, shoulders shaking as he laughed quietly.

Inside the Ark One bunker.

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Hayley followed Nathaniel back inside the bunker once more. She led the dogs along with Griffin behind her, the whole group moving down in a noisy, sprawling line.

“You’ll stay here tonight,” Nathaniel said. “Tomorrow, I’ll take you to Ark Two. Let you see the world a bit.”

Hayley rolled her eyes. “How big a world are we talking about? Am I gonna get a heart attack?”

Nathaniel laughed, clearly enjoying himself. “Stick with me tomorrow. You’ll be fine.”

Hayley mentally rolled her eyes about a dozen times.

Standing among the dogs, she quietly looked around the bunker they had visited before. The bloodstains and zombie corpses from last time were completely gone. Everything had been restored.

The place looked clean, bright, and spacious. You would never have guessed it had once looked like hell on earth crawling with zombies.

Ark One, however, had taken massive losses.

Afterward, the numbers came out. Nearly 30 thousand people had died. They had just over ten thousand left.

The base population had been cut to a fraction of what it once was, yet Hayley couldn’t see much impact on the surface.

Thinking about it, that made sense.

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