The Endgame Chronicles (by Hugh White) novel Chapter 84

Chapter 84

The new drone system could patrol for eight hours straight, switching between batches automatically to keep the base under constant surveillance.

It was basically every survivor’s dream setup.

But the damn thing was crazy expensive. A full system cost 100 thousand points.

After ten days of grinding, Hayley had only managed to save about 30 thousand. For now, she could only stare at i with pure envy.

Her next small goal was clear–get that recon–and–strike drone syst

no matter what.

The system store showed that it was a limited offer, available for just ten more days.

Hayley started crunching numbers in her head. Right now, she earned around 3,000 points a day from expanding her territory and killing zombies.

Killing zombies paid way better than taking over land.

But the problem was that she had already cleared out almost everything nearby. If she wanted more points, she needed to find somewhere with a lot more zombies.

Opening her digital map, Hayley studied the surrounding areas carefully. Her eyes finally landed on a huge grain processing plant near the edge of the city.

A factory.

She remembered that place–it used to be the biggest one in Aecraton, employing tens of thousands of workers.

If even a fraction of them had turned into zombies, that meant thousands of crystal cores waiting inside. One core was worth a hundred points. If she could get just a thousand of them, she’d hit her goal easily.

“Leonard, we’re heading to that factory today,” Hayley said as she stepped out of the shelter.

“Got it,” he replied right away.

He didn’t hesitate, dropping whatever he was working on and following her without question. Leonard was the definition of loyal, and he was extremely hardworking.

Hayley left Summer and a few of the dogs behind to guard the base, then took the armored truck with eight of their dogs and headed toward the factory.

The place was far, but since the whole route was within her claimed territory, the drive was smooth. An hour and a half later, they reached the outskirts of the grain plant.

It sat in a quiet stretch of farmland just outside the city. The area was always pretty empty, and the factory had run on a closed system. Workers lived and ate on–site, only heading into the city on weekends or holidays.

Now, everything around it was eerily silent.

The straight roads leading to the gate were lined with abandoned cars, rusted and half–covered in weeds. One old bus had crashed into a field; its doors were wide open, the seats stained with dried, dark blood, but there wasn’t a single body in sight.

Hayley could picture what had happened the day everything went down. Someone must’ve turned mid–ride, and the driver panicked, slamming the wheel.

+25 Bonus

Eventually, the bus hit the ditch, and the driver opened the doors to let people escape. The chaos that followed must’ve been insane, where some ran and the zombies took chase.

Now, the factory gates stood tightly shut.

Hayley parked the truck in front and glanced around. The security booth was empty, with no guards in sight.

Could the place have been shut down that day?

No way. Even if the plant had stopped production, the workers lived inside full–time, with rotational shifts. There had to be a ton of people–now all zombies.

This place had to be a major infection zone.

“Leonard, hit the gas,” Hayley ordered.

Leonard slammed his foot down, and the armored truck crashed straight through the gates, tearing them open with a metallic screech.

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