Chapter 3
I thought I would die and vanish from this world completely.
But the darkness didn't last long.
When my consciousness finally returned, I realized I was standing.
Piles of mangled limbs and bodies surrounded me, the air so thick with the stench of blood it nearly made me retch.
I looked down at my own body.
My skin was ghostly pale, not a single mark or scar. Actually, it looked even more flawless than before everything went to hell.
The wounds the zombies had ripped open were gone.
I lifted my hand. My fingers were long and slender, and my nails had a faint golden sheen.
Was I alive?
No.
I was dead.
I could tell my heart wasn't beating. There wasn't a bit of warmth left in my body.
I walked over to a pool of black, murky blood. Under the pale moonlight, I finally caught a glimpse of my own face.
It was still me, but something was off.
My features looked even more refined, but my eyes weren't the soft brown I used to have.
Now, they were a strange, mesmerizing gold, like... the eyes of an apex predator.
I tried to move, and my body felt so light it was unreal.
With barely any effort, I jumped straight onto the roof of a nearby three-story building.
Bothe my strength and speed were way beyond anything a human could do.
A strange hunger started gnawing at me from deep inside.
It wasn't hunger for food, though.
It was a craving for energy, for raw life force.
I glanced down below.
A lone zombie caught a whiff of my living scent and snarled, slamming itself against the building beneath me.
Like all the others, it lumbered slowly, utterly brainless.
I looked at it, and suddenly a thought popped into my head—bow.
The zombie's wild thrashing stopped dead.
It froze, and then, under my gaze, it slowly, stiffly... bowed its head.
It prostrated itself before me, letting out a low, submissive growl.
I was stunned.
What... was going on?
My gaze swept across the entire wasteland.
Thousands of zombies within sight froze in place.
They all turned their heads in unison, their empty eye sockets fixed on me.
And one by one, every single one of them bowed their heads.
In the dead silence of the ruins, the only sound was the low, submissive growls rumbling from their throats.
In that moment, it finally hit me.
I wasn't dead, and I wasn't just another mindless zombie.
I'd become... the Zombie Queen.
Under the relentless assault of the virus and the overwhelming hatred born from my death, that F-tier "Purification" power everyone mocked mutated in ways no one could have imagined.
It didn't cleanse the virus.
Instead, it devoured, absorbed, and ultimately took control of it.
What it purified was my human weakness and emotions.
It purified the very hierarchy of power in this world gone mad.
I stood atop the roof, letting the icy night wind brush past me as I slowly lifted my hand.
Down below, thousands of zombies bowed like the most loyal worshippers in reverence to their new queen.
Power unlike anything I'd ever known surged through me, and I couldn't help but smile.
It was a cold, hollow smile.
Joseph, Hannah, the game was just getting started.
*****
I wasn't in any hurry to go after Joseph.
Crushing an ant was way too easy and boring.
I wanted him to watch helplessly as everything he built is destroyed by me.
I wanted him to taste the despair I once endured thousands of times over.
Over the next month, I became the true queen of this wasteland.
I found out I could not only command regular zombies, but also power myself up by devouring their energy cores.
Even better, I could brand my will onto the elite mutated zombies, turning them into my personal "apostles."
I started to rally and shape my undead army, making every move count.
No more mindless wandering or senseless violence.
I ordered them to scavenge supplies, not for survival, but to bleed humanity dry of their precious resources.
I had them build "nests," transforming entire cities into strongholds for my vast empire of darkness.
I even started "selecting" my subjects.
The weak, sluggish zombies were sent to assault the humans' small survivor outposts, serving as cannon fodder and a way to test and expose the strongest among them.
Those zombies who survived the battles and evolved by devouring enough flesh were absorbed into my ranks, becoming the backbone of my army.
My Purification power had evolved into something entirely new.
I could cleanse the berserk urges from the zombies, leaving their fighting instincts intact but making them absolutely obedient to me.
I could corrupt water and soil, making twisted mutant plants grow that supercharged the zombies' evolution.
I became the origin of the virus and its final destination.
Word about me spread fast among the survivors.
"There's a mysterious Zombie Queen up north."
"She has golden eyes and commands the zombie hordes like a sovereign."
"Her army is crazy disciplined. Wherever they go, they leave nothing behind. They don't eat people. They're just here to wipe everything out."
"They call her the Golden-Eyed Queen. She's the final catastrophe of the apocalypse."
I sat atop a throne made of countless bones, listening to a mutant zombie I'd personally upgraded—one with sonic abilities—as it relayed information it had overheard from the humans.
It said, "Your Majesty, Thunderhold, the base Joseph controls, has become the biggest survivor stronghold in the east.
"They call Joseph the Thunderlord, humanity's last hope thanks to his S-tier lightning power.
"Hannah's now the top healer at the base, second only to Joseph. They call her the Saint."
Thunderlord? Saint?
I let out a cold, low laugh that echoed through the vast, empty throne hall.
What a delicious irony.
"Your Majesty, when shall we march on Thunderhold?" the mutant zombie rasped.
I tapped my golden nails lightly against the bone armrest. "No rush.
"Let's send Thunderhold a little 'gift' first.
"Tell Joseph his 'old friend' has returned for him."
A cruel smile curled at my lips.
Joseph, don't you just love playing the hero?
I'd make you see for yourself what happened when a hero was crushed by despair he couldn't defeat.