Chapter 3
I wanted to tell him that we were human beings, unlike the monsters outside.
But his changes were becoming more obvious.
He stopped needing my bedtime stories to fall asleep. Now, he just drifted off on his own, like nothing was wrong.
He started zoning out for long stretches, sometimes just standing still, staring at the wall for an hour straight.
I asked him what he was doing.
"Mommy, I'm listening."
"Listening to what?"
"I can hear their voices… so many of them… so loud."
He said "them."
I knew exactly who he meant.
My heart grew colder, little by little.
As time passed, the zombies started evolving at a crazy rate.
Sometimes I'd turn on the shortwave radio, barely any signals left, and the news was getting more desperate every time.
"Creston City is gone! There are zombies that can think. They're actually using tools now!"
"B-3 sector's defense line is down! The zombie horde... are using tactics!"
"Warning! All survivors, pay attention! The zombies are gathering, bigger than ever. Their target... looks like..."
The signal cut out.
My hands and feet turned cold as ice.
Zombies moving in formation, smart ones using tactics.
All of it pointed to one terrifying possibility: there was now a "king" among them.
An overlord who could command every zombie out there.
While I was drowning in fear and anxiety, Leonard suddenly spoke up.
"Mommy, someone's coming."
"A lot of them. They look tough, and they've got guns."
"They're... here for me."
Before I could even react, there was a heavy, rhythmic pounding on the bunker's steel door.
It wasn't the frantic scratching of zombies. It was the regular, metallic banging of humans using tools.
"Attention, anyone inside! This is the Dawn Base Search Team! We mean no harm. Please open the door!"
A loud, calm man's voice called out from outside.
Dawn Base!
I'd heard the name before. It was the biggest and toughest survivor camp out there, built by humans after everything went to hell.
It was the last shot we had at making it out alive.
Just when I started to feel a glimmer of hope that we might be saved, Leonard's next words killed it instantly.
"Mommy, they're the bad guys."
"They want to hurt me."
My heart clenched tight. Without thinking, I pulled Leonard behind me, my eyes glued to the surveillance screen.
On the screen, seven or eight soldiers stood there, fully armed in tactical gear, their faces cold and grim.
The man in front took off his helmet, revealing a face worn by hardship, but with a resolve hard as steel.
"We know someone's in there. I'll say it again. We're not here to hurt you. Based on our intel, the thing that started the zombie apocalypse is somewhere around here."
"We call that thing the 'Zombie King'. It has the intelligence to command every zombie out there."
"Our intel says... it's actually a child."
His gaze seemed to pierce right through the thick steel door and the camera, landing directly on me.
My blood ran cold.
"We have to find it and take it out. It's for the future of humanity."
His words hit me like a sledgehammer, making my heart sink.
The Zombie King.
A child.
Right here, in this very place.
Every clue pointed straight at the little boy behind me, clutching my sleeve, his body trembling just a little.
All the fears and suspicions I'd tried to bury were brutally confirmed in this moment.
No.
I couldn't accept it.
How could my son, the baby I carried for nine months, the only one I've ever risked my life to protect, possibly be something like that?
"There's nothing here that you want!" I yelled, my voice trembling. "It's just me and my son! We're just ordinary people trying to survive!"
The captain gave a cold laugh, his voice coming through the loudspeaker, harsh and jarring.
"Ordinary people? In this hellhole of an apocalypse, nobody's ordinary. Lady, you'd better cooperate, or we'll break in."
"For humanity, any sacrifice is justified."
His words were ice-cold and heartless.
I realized that there was no way they'd ever believe me.
To them, for the so-called "greater good of humanity," anyone like me, Leonard, whoever, was just collateral damage, nothing more.
I pulled Leonard close, slowly backing up until we were right in front of the bunker's control panel.
"I'm not opening the door," I said, my voice cold and steady. "If you force your way in, I'll blow this place sky-high. If I'm going down, I'm taking you all with me!"
This was my final trump card.
The captain was silent for a moment.
"Looks like you've made your choice."
"Team A, prep the thermite charges. Team B, secure the perimeter."
He barked out his commands.