NOVGO.NET Chapter 27 Armies of the dead.
Chapter 27: Chapter 27 Armies of the dead.
She left the window, not wanting to witness the survivors’ fate any longer. Luna had no interest in watching blood and torn flesh splatter across the streets, so she quietly turned her attention to something far more important.
Finding a place to sleep.
She carefully cleared a corner of the bunker, already deciding where she would spend the night.
Seeing her casually preparing a sleeping space, Rowan stared at her as though she had completely lost her mind.
"Can’t you hear those horrible screams outside?" he asked in disbelief. "How can someone think about sleeping with all those cries?"
Luna couldn’t tell if he was trying to guilt-trip her or simply couldn’t understand her way of thinking.
Either way, she felt absolutely nothing.
Those survivors had been late.
They failed to reach the bunker in time.
Why should she risk her own life because of their mistakes?
Saving humanity had never been part of her plans.
She wasn’t some selfless hero.
She was simply someone trying to survive.
If she could do it, why couldn’t they?
Unfortunately...
They couldn’t.
Because they had placed their lives in the hands of people who never truly cared.
The government.
Only now, when death was standing right in front of them, did they realize they had been lied to all along.
By then...
It was already too late.
Now they were paying for that mistake with their lives.
A baby’s cry suddenly tore through the night.
It wasn’t an ordinary cry.
It sounded like a desperate scream filled with terror before it was abruptly swallowed by chaos.
Yet Luna remained completely unmoved.
"Oh, fuck this..." Rowan muttered while staring at her. "Don’t tell me we’re actually trapped in here with an emotionless mannequin because what the fuck?"
His jaw practically dropped.
Kai had already started getting used to Luna’s personality over the past few hours, so unlike Rowan, he wasn’t nearly as shocked anymore.
Adrian, on the other hand, barely reacted.
He sat quietly on top of an empty carton, lazily spinning another one in his hands while staring toward the reinforced door.
His expression remained unreadable.
But Luna knew exactly what was happening.
He kept replaying the scene of the zombies attacking people.
It was the kind of memory that would haunt someone forever.
Outside...
The screams only became worse.
A horrifying sound echoed through the bunker.
Crunch.
Then another.
Something wet.
Something heavy.
Something tearing through flesh.
The disgusting sound of meat being ripped apart filled the silent bunker, followed by muffled chewing that made even Rowan’s stomach twist.
Luna couldn’t stop herself from imagining it.
The zombies had probably stumbled upon someone healthy.
Someone fat enough to become a satisfying meal.
Good for them, she thought without the slightest bit of sympathy.
Instead of paying attention to the nightmare outside, she called out her System.
A transparent blue panel immediately floated before her.
Her eyes instantly landed on the reward section.
The moment she saw the number displayed there, even Luna widened her eyes slightly.
900,000 Apocalypse Coins.
She blinked once.
Then twice.
The amount had increased so much that even she hadn’t expected it.
And the funniest part...
She hadn’t even finished stockpiling supplies yet.
If she was already sitting on nine hundred thousand coins before completing her preparations...
Just how many would she have by the end?
A smile slowly spread across her lips.
Since she had become unexpectedly rich...
Why not reward herself?
Without hesitation, Luna opened the furniture section inside the System Store.
After scrolling for a while, she selected a luxurious blue bed.
It looked incredibly soft, came fully arranged with pillows and blankets, and best of all...
It could disappear back into her storage whenever she no longer needed it.
Perfect.
Although...
Wouldn’t it be suspicious if a king-sized bed suddenly appeared from that tiny worn-out backpack?
Luna thought about it for exactly two seconds.
Then shrugged.
She didn’t care.
Sooner or later they would find out she had secrets.
Whether it happened now or later didn’t really matter.
She tapped the purchase button.
The next second...
A soft blue light flashed.
Right before the eyes of the three men...
A massive fluffy bed slowly emerged from the shabby backpack resting against the wall.
Silence.
Complete silence.
Adrian stumbled backward so fast that he crashed straight into a pile of empty cartons.
The boxes scattered everywhere before he landed flat on his back with a loud bang.
Rowan simply froze.
His mouth hung open so wide that Luna almost felt sorry for him.
At this rate his jaw might actually fall off.
Kai rubbed both of his eyes repeatedly.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
As if blinking enough would somehow erase what he had just witnessed.
Unfortunately...
The enormous bed remained exactly where it was.
"...Did that bed really come out of that shabby bag?" Rowan finally asked.
He desperately wanted someone to tell him he was hallucinating.
"I can see it too," Adrian answered while standing back up. "Actually... I think all of us saw it pretty clearly."
All three pairs of eyes shifted toward Luna.
Curiosity practically radiated from them.
Yet...
No one asked another question.
Because Luna’s face clearly said one thing.
Don’t ask.
So they wisely remained silent.
Meanwhile, Luna stretched lazily before climbing onto the soft mattress.
Compared to the nightmare outside...
This bed felt like heaven.
Unfortunately...
The same couldn’t be said for the people beyond the bunker walls.
Unable to ignore the noises any longer, Rowan slowly walked back toward the reinforced window.
Kai followed after him.
The moment both men looked outside...
Their expressions completely changed.
The sight before them was beyond horrifying.
The men who had once crowded around the bunker entrance were gone.
What remained were mutilated bodies.
Skin had been ripped away.
Chunks of flesh had been torn from their limbs.
Several corpses had their stomachs completely split open, allowing their intestines to spill onto the ground where they dragged behind them like twisted ropes.
Blood painted the concrete roads.
Yet somehow...
That wasn’t the most horrifying part.
Every person who died...
Got back up.
Some rose only moments after being bitten.
Others crawled from beneath piles of corpses.
Half-eaten faces.
Missing jaws.
Eyes hanging from shredded sockets.
Exposed ribs.
Dangling intestines.
Each newly awakened zombie looked even more terrifying than the last.
Kai swallowed hard.
His hands trembled slightly.
Then...
He noticed something smaller wandering among the crowd.
"...Aren’t those babies?" he whispered.
Rowan narrowed his eyes.
His breathing immediately became heavier.
"They’re only... a month old..."
Tiny infants.
Still wrapped in bloodstained baby clothes.
Some couldn’t even walk properly.
They simply crawled across the road using tiny blood-covered hands while releasing shrill cries that no longer sounded human.
Even they...
Had become zombies.
Corpses continued piling up throughout the safe zone.
Soldiers.
Military officers.
Civilians.
No one had been spared.
The smell of blood and rotting flesh slowly drifted into the bunker through tiny gaps in the reinforced walls, making the air feel heavier by the minute.
Kai’s face turned pale.
"Aren’t these supposed to be the last humans alive?" he asked quietly. "If everyone dies... are we going to be the only ones left?"
For the first time...
Rowan couldn’t answer immediately.
His usual confidence disappeared.
Instead, sadness settled across his face.
Maybe...
Just maybe...
The world had already reached the point where only a handful of people remained alive.
If things continued like this...
This bunker might become the last place occupied by living humans.
"I guess..." Rowan finally said quietly.
"...there’s nothing we can do."
The words had barely left his mouth.
Crack.
Something scraped against the metal door.
Knock.
Knock.
Knock.
The sound echoed throughout the bunker.
Luna didn’t even bother lifting her head.
She simply lay comfortably on her new bed while typing something on her phone, acting as though none of it concerned her.
But Rowan and Kai immediately rushed toward the reinforced window.
The moment they looked outside...
Their blood froze.
Standing directly in front of the bunker door...
Was a zombie.
Unlike the others...
It wasn’t randomly smashing against the entrance.
Instead...
It slowly reached for the doorknob.
Twist.
It carefully turned it.
Then stopped.
Twist.
Again.
It wasn’t acting mindlessly.
It was...
Testing the door.
Looking for a weakness.
Kai felt cold sweat drip down his back.
"...That’s not normal."
As if sensing their gaze...
The zombie suddenly stopped moving.
Then...
Its neck twisted.
Slowly.
Far beyond what any human neck should ever be capable of.
Its head rotated until it was staring directly at Rowan and Kai through the reinforced window.
Neither of them could breathe.
Its empty eye sockets no longer contained eyes.
Instead...
A thick black liquid pulsed inside them like something alive.
The creature opened its mouth.
A guttural growl escaped its throat.
Then...
It raised one arm.
The ground outside began to shake.
From every nearby street...
Every alley...
Every ruined building...
Hundreds of zombies slowly emerged.
They shuffled forward in massive numbers.
Some dragged broken legs.
Others crawled using only their arms.
Many lifted both hands toward the bunker while releasing low hungry growls.
All of them...
Were heading in the same direction.
Toward them.
Toward the bunker.
Cold sweat rolled down Rowan’s forehead.
His face lost every trace of color.
"Oh shit..." he muttered, taking an unconscious step backward.
"We’re fucked."
In every zombie movie he had ever watched, the undead were slow and stupid.
These ones...
Were learning.
And somehow...
That terrified him far more than the apocalypse itself.