Genesis Biotech mobilized immediately. Nathan still had twenty thousand troops under his command, and by the usual ratio, about one in ten were Awakeners who had formed crystal cores—so roughly two thousand elite fighters.
That was no small force.
"Man, it's been forever since I led a battle. I'm starting to feel rusty," Nathan said, lounging in front of a massive screen, eyes fixed on the drone footage streaming in from the perimeter.
Sophia stood beside him, arms crossed. "Rusty? You were never exactly smooth to begin with."
"Oh please, like you were any better. Didn't your base get overrun by a Zombie Horde?" Nathan shot back with a smirk.
Sophia's face darkened. That incident had become a permanent stain on her record, and Nathan never missed a chance to bring it up.
"You haven't made much progress these past few months," she said, changing the subject. "You barely have any A-rank Awakeners under your command. Against the current wave of evolved zombies, that's gonna be a serious problem. This fight's gonna be dangerous."
"Yeah... you're probably right."
Nathan's eyes darted around the screen. These weren't the slow, dumb zombies from the early days of the apocalypse. They'd evolved—fast, strong, and smart. His current forces might not be enough to hold them back.
"Wait, don't you still have one of the Bernardino Four Riders under your command? Jacob, right? Get him out there."
"What? You want my people to fight your battle now?" Sophia's eyes narrowed.
"Your people? Excuse me, but I'm the head of Genesis Biotech in California now. That makes you my subordinate," Nathan said, grinning.
"..." Sophia was speechless. She hated to admit it, but he wasn't wrong. They were in this together now—if the base fell, she'd go down with it.
Meanwhile, outside the Genesis Biotech base in Los Angeles, the sky buzzed with the sound of over a hundred drones, rising like a swarm of angry hornets. They soared over the high walls and dove straight into the zombie horde beyond.
On the ground, heavily modified armored vehicles burst through the gates, engines roaring. Human Awakeners moved in behind them, using the vehicles as mobile cover as they charged into battle.
"Queen Daisy, look at all the humans!" Bighead growled, his face twisted with bloodlust.
Daisy, the Zombie King, was practically vibrating with excitement.
"Then let's hunt them down and make it count!"
With a flick of her wrist, the ground bloomed with delicate pink flowers that spread rapidly toward the human forces. Within seconds, a field of blossoms had taken over the battlefield.
The armored vehicles rolled right into the floral trap. Their treads got tangled in the thick roots and vines, grinding them to a halt.
Then the petals released a fine pink dust that drifted into the air, seeping into the vehicles and slipping into the noses of the soldiers inside.
Moments later, the Awakeners inside began to hallucinate. One by one, they opened the doors and stepped out, dazed and defenseless.
The zombies didn't hesitate.
They roared with glee, eyes gleaming with hunger, and pounced on the exposed humans. Teeth tore into flesh. Screams rang out, sharp and endless. Blood sprayed across the pink petals, painting them a vivid, grotesque red.
Against an S-rank Zombie King like Daisy, Nathan's troops didn't stand a chance. It was a slaughter.
Bighead couldn't hold back any longer. This was an all-you-can-eat buffet, and he was starving.
"Let's go, boys! Time to feast!"
He and a few of his fellow monsters charged forward, eager to rip into the humans and vent the pain they'd been carrying for weeks.
But just then, several drones zipped overhead and released a torrent of liquid, like a sudden downpour.
"What the hell is this?" Bighead muttered, frowning.
Maybe it was because of his oversized head, but he got drenched more than anyone else. Rain, rain, go away—unless you've got a thing for big heads today.
The liquid reeked—sharp, chemical, unmistakable.
One of his underlings sniffed the air. "Boss... that's gasoline."
"Oh... gasoline, huh?" Bighead mumbled, blinking. But then his eyes widened. Something wasn't right.
Bighead barely had time to process the word before a streak of fire shot down from one of the drones overhead.
The moment the flames hit the gasoline-soaked ground, an explosion of fire erupted. The blaze engulfed Bighead instantly, the searing heat peeling away his flesh like paper.
"RAAAHHH—!" he screamed in agony, his voice raw and guttural. In seconds, he was a walking inferno, flailing and stumbling before collapsing to the ground, rolling frantically to put out the flames.
Lucky for him, he was a Zombie King—tough as hell and with insane regenerative abilities. Otherwise, he'd be toast. Literally.
A few of his zombie underlings rushed over, panic written all over their twisted faces.
"Don't just stand there—HELP ME!" Bighead shrieked, his voice cracking.
The ones who hadn't been caught in the fire scrambled to help. One slapped at the flames with his claws, another tried stomping them out. It was chaos—claws flailing, limbs kicking, and the sound of sizzling flesh filled the air.
"AAAAHHH! Watch it, you idiots!" Bighead howled, the pain intensifying with every misguided attempt to help.
Finally, a few of the smarter ones started shoveling dirt onto him, burying him in a makeshift pit until the flames were smothered.
When the smoke cleared, Bighead lay at the bottom of the pit, charred black from head to toe, smoke still curling off his body. He looked like a burnt log, unmoving.
One of the zombies leaned over the edge, worried. "Boss? You still alive?"
"Y-yeah... barely," Bighead croaked, his voice hoarse and weak.
"I'll pull you out," one of them offered, grabbing his arm.
Bighead winced and hissed. "It's... broken."
The zombies exchanged awkward glances. No one was sure who'd hit him that hard, but someone definitely went overboard.
Then one of the elite zombies perked up. "Boss, I've got some good news."
Bighead groaned. "What good news?"
The zombie grinned. "That rock-shaped dent on your face? It's gone."
Meanwhile, up ahead, Daisy was leading her undead army in a full-on massacre. Wherever her pollen spread, chaos followed. The battlefield was a wasteland of twisted bodies and blood-soaked petals.
Only a handful of Awakeners were holding their ground, using Flame Barriers, Water Barriers, and other defensive abilities to keep the pollen at bay. But even they were running on fumes—energy didn't last forever.
Daisy's pollen, on the other hand, was self-sustaining. The more she fought, the more it spread. It was a vicious cycle.
Back in the command center, Nathan stared at the screen, stunned.
"Zombies are this strong now?"
"No kidding," Sophia said, arms crossed. "You're acting like it's still year one of the apocalypse."
The Genesis Biotech Awakeners were getting shredded. None of them could even last a round against Daisy. All they could do was throw bodies at her to slow her down.
But just when things were looking grim, a new figure stepped onto the battlefield—Jacob, one of the legendary Bernardino Four Riders.
His psychic energy exploded outward like a hurricane, sweeping the pollen away in a single gust. The air shimmered as his power condensed into razor-sharp mental spikes, which shot straight into the skulls of nearby zombies.
One by one, the elite undead dropped like puppets with their strings cut.
In seconds, Jacob had cleared a wide circle around himself—a dead zone where no zombie dared step.
Daisy's eyes snapped toward him, her expression shifting from bloodlust to surprise.
"Well, well... an S-rank psychic Awakener? Those are rare." Her lips curled into a wicked smile. "That crystal core is mine."
She immediately directed her horde toward him, and the ground erupted with more pink blossoms, spreading fast in his direction.
The number of zombies in front of Jacob surged. The pressure was on.
"Captain Jacob! They're coming straight for you!" a teammate shouted.
Jacob nodded calmly. "I see them."
"Don't panic," he said, voice steady. "This Zombie King's main weapon is hallucinogenic pollen. As long as we keep it out of our systems, we're fine. Focus on that—ignore everything else."