All Chapters of Leveling up in Dystopia : Chapter 31
- Chapter 40
54 chapters
Chapter 31 The Scent of Chlorine
Shihab fought like a man who had already lost everything, which, to him, he had. From the rooftop, Karam watched in horror, his shouts swallowed by the chaos below."Shihab, no! Pull back! It's a suicide mission!" Karam screamed, his voice raw. But Shihab was beyond hearing. Each shot from his pistol was a step closer to his brother, each fallen zombie a number counted in his head.Then, the pistol clicked empty for the final time.The sudden silence was more terrifying than the gunshots. The horde, sensing his vulnerability, pressed in with renewed hunger.Shihab turned and ran, diving back through the building's main doors and slamming them shut. He shoved a heavy reception desk against them, but it was a temporary fix. The doors shuddered under the weight of the bodies outside.He was trapped in the lobby, weaponless. The pulsing red dot on his mental map was so close, yet completely out of reach. He frantically searched the reception area, throwing open drawers. Nothing. A fire ex
Chapter 32 The Bravery Of The Younger Brother
The room was silent, save for the ragged sound of their own breathing and the distant, fading moans of the horde. They were a sorry sight, dripping pool water onto the cracked floor, shivering in the cool air."We can't stay here," Shihab said, his voice low but firm. The adrenaline was fading, leaving behind a deep, bone-weary exhaustion and a simmering anger he was struggling to contain. "The noise or the smell will draw them back. We must move."He led the way, his crowbar held tight, as they slipped out of the building through a side gate. The street was eerily quiet, a testament to the diversion Shihab had created. A few blocks away, they spotted their salvation: a dusty red car parked nearby, its driver's side window smashed, likely from an old looting attempt."Check it," Shihab ordered Karam, while he kept watch, his eyes scanning the shadows.Karam peered inside. "Keys aren't in it. But the steering column is exposed, Ayham, you’re the expert. Can you hotwire it?"Ayham, stil
Chapter 33 A Bright Idea
Shihab, Karam, Ayham, and Engineer Fadel returned to the base camp as the sun bled into the horizon. They were met not with cheers, but with the quiet, anxious faces of survivors whose hope was a fragile, flickering thing. The dust of the road clung to them, a fine grey powder that mirrored the exhaustion in their eyes, but beneath the weariness was a new, solid certainty.After a brief moment to wash the grime from their hands and drink a few precious clean water, Shihab had called for a gathering. The survivors assembled in the central room a silent, expectant crowd huddled together.Shihab stood before them, his posture weary but his voice clear and carrying the weight of hard-won experience. He began to recount their journey. He spoke of the desperate fight through the overrun office building, the terrifying moments trapped in the lobby, and the ingenious, desperate collapse of the wall that had saved them. His voice grew tighter as he described finding Ayham, the fear and the rel
Chapter 34 Dangerous Road
The "Peace Seekers" hideout hummed with a newfound resolve. Shihab’s announcement of the Al Noor Island evacuation project had ignited a flame. A large, hand-drawn map of the city was now pinned to the main wall, with safe routes sketched in red and danger zones marked in ominous black. A list of potential evacuees was being compiled, a growing scroll of names that represented a hundred futures they had sworn to protect.It was Karam and Karima, a formidable duo whose quiet understanding needed few words, who took the first high-risk mission. The plea had come through a fragile, encrypted online channel they used to reach scattered survivors. The message was from a woman named Battol. She lived with her three children on the distant outskirts, in a house that had once enjoyed a view of the hills and was now exposed on all sides. Her oldest son, Raed, was fifteen and had been born crippled. She couldn't carry him and protect her two younger daughters, Muna and Manal. Her message was a
Chapter 35 Wild Chase
Inside the Peace Seekers’ hideout, the mood was a fragile mix of triumph and tension. The successful rescue of Battol and her children by Karam and Karima had proven the evacuation plan was possible, but it had also shown how dangerous it was.It was in this lull that the next distress message arrived. It was from a man, deep but frayed with panic, identifying himself as Abo Ibrahim.“The zombies attacked our car… they came out of nowhere. We swerved and hit a wall. The engine is dead. We ran away and we’re in a building now, the one with the faded blue sign for ‘Sunrise Textiles.’ The ground floor… it’s full of them. We’re on the fourth floor. I'm with my wife and our two baby boys … please help us.”Jawad and Jalal, exchanged a glance. They were not identical in temperament. Jawad was all quick grins and quicker reflexes, while Jalal was methodical and observant, but they shared a silent language forged during the short time they spent working together as members of the peace seeker
Chapter 36 Broken Bus
The school bus was a hulking, sun-bleached yellow beast that Ayham had coaxed back to life with a mix of fervent prayer, mechanical skills and scavenged parts. Its engine now rumbled with a promising, if slightly asthmatic, rhythm. “Twenty children are still there, Shihab,” Ayham said, his voice tight with a mixture of excitement and anxiety. He clutched the printed map, their destination circled in red: the “Al-Amal” orphanage, nestled in a village sixty-eight kilometers north of the city. “And only one teacher is with them. She stayed when everyone else ran.”“Miss Ayah,” Shihab confirmed, his grip firm on the large steering wheel. He had seen her message, a desperate plea buried in the digital noise of a dying world. Her words were simple: "The Headmaster fled. I am alone with 20 child. They are so brave, yet they are still scared. Please, help us" It was a message he couldn’t ignore. He’d loaded the bus with what supplies they could spare, blankets, water, and a heavy machine gu
Chapter 37 The Ride Back
The bloodstained yellow bus rolled through the gathering dusk, its headlights cutting twin paths through the deepening gloom. Inside, a heavy silence reigned, thick with the smell of gunpowder, sweat, and a loss so fresh it felt like a physical presence in the air. Shihab sat slumped in the driver's seat, his knuckles still white on the wheel, his mind replaying the horrific image of Uncle Hassan being dragged into the horde. In the passenger seat, Ayham stared blankly out the window at the passing shadows, his hands trembling slightly in his lap.In the seats behind them, the twenty children from the orphanage sat in a quiet, fearful huddle. They had seen the blood on the men, the broken windows, and the grim exhaustion on their faces. Miss Ayah, the young teacher who had stayed with them through it all, moved among them, offering quiet words of comfort, her own heart aching with a mixture of immense relief and unspoken terror.She watched the two men in the front, sensing the profou
Chapter 38 The Route To The Port
The school bus stood at the center of the compound, a freshly painted symbol of hope. The dents were hammered out, the windows replaced with sturdy metal grating, and the engine purred with a reliability that felt like a miracle. It was ready to carry its precious cargo: the thirty souls they had pledged to evacuate to Al Noor Island.Inside the hideout Shihab stood over a map, his finger tracing the route to the port.“The agreement is set,” he announced to the gathered team. Ayham, Karam, Jalal, and Jawad. “Captain Nasser will have his boat fueled and waiting. We pay him the remaining fuel and supplies upon delivery. The bus is the heart of this operation. No matter what happens, the bus mustn't stop, we'll do everything to make sure it reaches the port."Jawad, leaning against the wall with his new M4 cradled in his arms, nodded. “I’ll drive the bus. It’s the biggest target. I need you all as my shields.”“We run flank,” Karam said, pointing to the two rugged jeeps. “Jalal and I in
Chapter 39 Rumors
The journey to the hospital was a slow, agonizing crawl through a city that had grown teeth in the dark. With their remaining jeep crippled from Shihab’s diversion and Karam clutching his broken ribs with every jolt, the direct route was impossible. They were forced into the city's skeletal underbelly, a labyrinth of narrow service roads and crumbling alleys that reeked of decay and danger.“Take the next left,” Ayham had whispered, his voice hoarse from the river water and tension. He was navigating from the back seat, where he supported a semi-conscious Jalal. “The main avenue is a river of them. I can hear it.”They had taken the left, only to find the alley blocked by a collapsed fire escape. The sound of the crash echoed, and within moments, shadowy figures began to pour into the alley behind them.“Reverse! Now!” Ayham had barked, sliding out of the seat with his pistol.He fired non-stop, the cover of bullets giving Shihab, his face pale with pain, just enough time to maneuver
Chapter 40 A Declaration
The city at dusk was a canvas of long, grasping shadows and eerie silence. Ayham led the way like a ghost in the ruins. He moved with an instinctual knowledge of the urban landscape, guiding Shihab through a circuitous route of broken fences, rusted drainage pipes, and abandoned routes that formed a secret city. They found their vantage point in the skeleton of a multi-story parking garage overlooking a central plaza that had once been a bustling market. Apparently it was now the heart of the gang's territory. Makeshift stalls were manned by suspicious-looking individuals. They were standing around a man who was sitting on the hood of a polished, armored truck. He had a neatly trimmed beard and wore a clean, tactical vest, looking more like a politician than a scavenger. The men around him called him Shareef."He doesn't look like a monster," Ayham whispered, peering through his binoculars."The worst ones never do," Shihab replied, his voice a low rumble. His eyes were fixed on t