The Endgame Chronicles (by Hugh White) novel Chapter 51

Chapter 51

Hayley considered her options.

Expanding north might mean running into people from Base K1, and she wasn’t ready for that. After thinking it over, she decided to push south instead, toward Aecraton.

Once she made up her mind, she didn’t waste any time.

That day, she cleared about 20 acres of land along the highway, wiping out every zombie wandering inside her territory.

Most of what she scavenged came from wrecked cars left behind on the road. She collected four and a half bags of pasta, half a bag of flour, and five crates of instant noodles. Any meat, produce, or bread that had spoiled, she left behind.

The haul wasn’t much, but the point rewards were huge-she got 2,000 points.

The exchange rate seemed to be about 1,000 points for every 10 acres. Clearing residential buildings gave more-like yesterday, when she took over the villa district and earned more than 3,000 points, even though it wasn’t as big as today’s land.

In just a few days, Hayley’s territory had grown four or five times larger. Her total points had climbed close to seven thousand.

She was almost ready to trade for her AK.

Right as she was about to do it, a cluster of red dots appeared in her mental map.

Red dots? Zombies were marked gray.

Her stomach dropped for just a second before she realized what it meant.

Living intruders-and they were heading straight toward her shelter!

Hayley didn’t hesitate. She grabbed her dogs, jumped into the truck, and sped home.

“Captain, hang on! According to the map, there’s a shelter up

“I don’t know… Something feels off about this place.” ahead!”

A squad of about eight men in military-style uniforms was moving through the woods outside Hayley’s shelter. The farther they went, the stranger it seemed.

A wire fence over ten feet high encircled the place topped with rows of razor-sharp blades that glinted cold in the light. In the center stood a giant steel gate at least tz feet tall, thick enough that even a tank might struggle to break through.

Inside the barrier, he could just make out rows of vegetables, coops full of chickens, ducks, and goats, whole orchards of fruit trees, and even fish ponds.

It was like stumbling into paradise.

Fortifications that looked unbreakable. Supplies Beyond counting. This wasn’t a shelter-it was a hidden haven straight out of a storybook!

“There’s gotta be someone inside! I’m going to ask for help!” the man shouted, sprinting

toward the fence.

“Watch out!” his captain yelled from behind.

But it was too late.

With a dull thud, the soldier’s body dropped out of sight. By the time the others rushed forward, he had already fallen into a hidden pit trap