The Endgame Chronicles (by Hugh White) novel Chapter 85

“Ace, guard the gate! If anything seems off, bark right away! Hearts, Joker, Front Legs, you’re with me! The rest, go with Leonard!”

“Woof! Woof!”

The dogs split into three groups in an instant. Two stayed outside the dorm entrance while Hayley and Leonard each took three with them.

In front of Hayley stood the wide–open doorway to the dorm building. Right past it was a row of metal turnstiles, the kind you needed an ID card to get through.

Of course, there was no power now, and even if there was, she didn’t have a card.

So, they climbed over.

Hayley and Leonard took opposite sides, scanning their surroundings carefully as they slipped past the turnstiles and into the corridor beyond.

The long hallway was silent. Every door on the first floor was shut tight.

Hayley tossed a chunk of debris down the hall.

Thud, thud, thud…

The sound echoed through the still air.

A few seconds later, muffled noises stirred from behind several doors. Scraping, low growls, but nothing came out into the hallway itself.

“Raaarh…”

“Grrrr…”

“Raagh…”

She waited for three full minutes, perfectly still.

Good. Everything was locked inside. There were no roamers in the hallway.

Once she was sure of that, Hayley and Leonard went to the first room and broke in.

Time to start the cleanup.

Bang!

The door flew open with one kick.

A blast of rot and decay hit them in the face–sharp, sour, and gag–inducing.

Inside, five female zombies spun toward the sound. The moment they saw movement and smelled living flesh, they lunged, screeching.

They hadn’t seen food in who knows how long. Their gray, bloodshot eyes burned with crazed hunger. Maggots writhed in the corners of their cracked mouths as they snarled and clawed their way forward.

But before they got close…

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The steel glint of Hayley’s sword flashed through the air, followed by the sharp hiss of water cutting through flesh. Three zombies‘ heads flew clean off. The last two were blown backward by high–pressure water blasts from Leonard’s gift.

All five dropped to the ground before they even got within arm’s reach.

The dogs pounced, ripping through skulls with their claws and digging out two tiny crystal cores.

“Nice job,” Hayley said, patting their heads approvingly as she scanned the dorm.

It had a private bathroom, four bunk beds, and tidy bedding–enough for eight people.

She quickly pieced it together: this must’ve been an eight–person dorm for regular workers, all women. Five zombies here meant half of them had probably been on the night shift when everything went down.

She and Leonard cleared another room, which confirmed her guess. Then they split up, each taking one side of the hallway to kick down doors and wipe out the rest.

Boom!

“Raaarh!”

Every time a door burst open, Hayley’s blade gleamed in the dark like ice.

The sword Leonard had sharpened for her cut through zombies like a hot knife through butter. Hayley’s strength and speed were maxed out, boosted by the system; every swing was clean, fast, and deadly.

The zombies didn’t even get close–most fell before they could take two steps.

Her dogs jumped in to finish off the stragglers, digging out cores as they went.

Each room took about three minutes.

Within half an hour, they’d cleared the entire first floor.

Following the same pattern, they moved upward, clearing all five floors by late morning.

There was not a single survivor–just 1,000 zombies, all gone.

They collected over 300 crystal cores from that building alone.

Two more dorms still waited.

Hayley and Leonard worked side by side, clearing floor after floor, only stopping to rest for a few minutes between buildings. Around noon, they ate a quick lunch of reheated precooked meals and went right back to it.

By sunset, the entire factory dorm complex was clean.

They killed over 3,500 zombies and collected 1,000 crystal cores.

Hayley looked at the darkening sky and frowned.

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