The Endgame Chronicles (by Hugh White) novel Chapter 86

Hayley scanned the rooftop crowd.

There were maybe 30 people up there–men and women, all young adults, probably between 20 and 40. There were no kids or the elderly.

They were a solid group of able–bodied survivors.

Ever since Hayley started building her own territory, she had learned to see people from a leader’s point of view. In that mindset, there was no good or evil–just different levels of usefulness.

Everyone was a potential worker, a piece of the foundation that kept a community running.

And right now, she was looking at a bunch of prime laborers.

However…

“We’re not saving them.”

Her voice was calm and firm.

The sun was already setting, and night in the apocalypse was a whole different kind of danger. Even if she wanted to take them in, it would have to wait until morning.

Leonard didn’t question her. As soon as she gave the order, he stepped on the gas and drove off.

He wasn’t the kind to argue. He just did what she said without hesitation or emotion, like a machine built to follow orders.

Up on the roof, the people realized the armored truck was leaving and immediately started panicking.

“Wait!”

“Don’t go!”

“You can’t just leave us here!”

Their screams echoed across the empty factory lot, and that noise stirred something below them.

From the building underneath, the sound of fists pounding against metal started rumbling, deep and violent. They had been trapped up there for weeks. The factory had once been a grain processing plant, so at least they hadn’t starved yet. When the outbreak hit, they rushed to the rooftop and barricaded themselves in, dragging up whatever supplies they could find.

But now, the gates below were straining under the pressure of hundreds of zombies that had been locked up for over a month–hungry, crazed, desperate.

Before today, the rooftop survivors had stayed quiet, barely whispering, trying to avoid drawing attention. But once they saw Hayley’s team below, hope flared. Seeing she was about to leave, they immediately asked for help.

They never expected her to turn them down.

Everything started to spiral.

“Mr. Whitman, what do we do now?” a woman cried, turning toward a heavyset man beside her.

The man was Miles Whitman. He was once just a low–level security captain at the factory. When the apocalypse

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hit, he used his position and physical strength to take control and became their self–appointed leader. After he awakened with a strange power, no one dared to defy him.

Up here, he was king.

He hadn’t planned to call for help, but their food supplies were finally running low. Now, after being ignored by Hayley’s group, his temper snapped.

“They won’t save us?” he snarled. “Then they’re not getting out alive!”

He pulled a small remote from his pocket, his beady eyes gleaming with a twisted kind of excitement.

“Mr. Whitman, don’t!” a thin man yelled. “If you open the gates, the zombies will get all of us!”

Miles backhanded the man so hard that he went flying, then grabbed him by the collar and dangled him over the edge.

“If I die, we all die. That’s fair, right?”

The others, terrified and furious, started shouting in agreement.

“Yeah!”

“They didn’t save us. They deserve to die!”

“Kill them!”

“If we’re done for, they’re going down too!”

Satisfied, Miles grinned, tossed the man he was holding off the roof, and slammed his thumb onto the button.

The factory’s massive gates unlocked with a heavy clang.

Instantly, a roar of hunger filled the air.

The man, who’d been thrown down, didn’t even have time to scream before the flood of zombies poured out and engulfed him.

They tore into him like wild animals, devouring him so quickly that he barely had the chance to turn. Within seconds, all that was left were bones gleaming white in the fading light.

They were so, so hungry.

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