The Endgame Chronicles (by Hugh White) novel Chapter 75

+25 Bonus

Hayley had left Summer behind to guard the base, but the dogs she brought with her were no less powerful. Every single one of them had been a top–tier military K9. They didn’t need Hayley to teach them how to fight zombies–they already knew.

Each dog wore custom armor that protected its belly and vital areas, giving it way more defense in close combat.

The dogs tore through the undead in seconds. The moment a zombie lunged, it was already down, either bitten, ripped, or crushed.

Hayley fought alongside them, swinging and slashing as they moved forward. Her attacks were fast, ruthless, and precise. Wherever she passed, there was nothing left but torn–up corpses and split skulls.

Some zombies carried crystal cores in their heads; most didn’t.

By the time they reached the gas station, Hayley had collected a dozen or so of those crystals, and the area was completely cleared out.

She didn’t even bother checking the convenience store. Her first priority was fuel.

As Leonard drove one of the trucks down the ramp, Hayley quickly absorbed two full tanker trucks into her inventory, leaving one half–empty tanker for him to drive later.

Then, she went for the gas pumps.

There weren’t any big containers nearby, just a few empty barrels. So she tried something new: dividing her inventory into sections.

She focused her mind on the thought, and suddenly, she could feel her mental energy shift–her inventory space was actually splitting apart.

Hayley’s face lit up.

She remembered that when she’d earned her inventory upgrade, it came in 35–cubic–foot blocks. So technically, she could separate them.

And she was right.

She divided her inventory into smaller compartments, then grabbed the pump handle and started siphoning like

crazy.

By the time Leonard bulldozed his way through the wrecked cars with the armored vehicle and pulled up to get her, the gas station’s tanks were nearly dry.

She had drained over 2,000 cubic feet of fuel, which was enough to fill up at least 1,000 cars. It could last her for

ages.

“Boss! I got you!” Leonard shouted as he jumped out of the vehicle.

But before he could take another step, the ground beneath them began to tremble. The oil in the barrels next to Hayley rippled violently.

It felt as if something massive was moving underground, each step making the entire road shake.

Leonard frowned. Was this an earthquake?

“Move! Now!” Hayley barked, her tone sharp and commanding. “Everyone, get in the truck!”

SE

+25 Bonus

She grabbed two barrels of oil and sprinted toward the armored vehicle. The dogs raced alongside her.

Just as they reached the road, a deafening boom exploded behind them.

The spot where Hayley had been standing seconds ago was obliterated.

From the wreckage, a monstrous figure emerged–a humanoid creature easily weighing close to 800 pounds.

It dropped to all fours, snarling as it lunged at the empty space Hayley had just vacated. When it missed, it lifted its head from the folds of its own sagging flesh. Its tiny head was way out of proportion with the rest of its body.

Unlike normal zombies, this one’s face was disturbingly bloated. Its skin hung in heavy folds, and one tiny eye was nearly swallowed by fat while the other bulged grotesquely outward. It looked like a giant chocolate sphere jammed into a mound of flesh, ready to pop out at any second.

Its three chins merged into its neck, the fat forming a pyramid–like mass that covered its entire body. But the worst part wasn’t the layers of sagging meat–it was what crawled between them.

Maggots squirmed in the cracks of its flesh, and tumor–like lumps bulged outward, pulsing as the creature heaved another breath.