Supremacy In Apocalypse

Chapter 5

Owen hadn't intended to reveal his awakening to anyone, much less a stranger he had only met a few minutes ago.

But there was little chance they would ever see each other again. And if they did, and she happened to become a threat to him, he wouldn't hesitate to kill her.

The apocalypse wasn't exactly a place to keep unnecessary enemies.

However, before he could take another step, the lady suddenly burst into laughter.

"You awakened?" She asked, her eyes moving over him. "Are you trying to make a joke out of me?"

Owen simply stared at her.

"Do you even know what an Awakened is?" She continued, shaking her head. "The military would pay fortunes to have one in their ranks. Even private individuals are willing to spend everything they have just to employ one as a guard."

Her laughter returned, this time with a slight cough that forced her to clutch her injured leg.

"And you're telling me one of those people is standing here looking like a scavenger who just crawled out of a zombie's mouth?"

Owen glanced at his clothes.

She wasn't entirely wrong about his appearance. The blood had dried into dark patches, and the tears around his shoulders were large enough to expose the wounds underneath.

If Rebecca and Jerry could see him now, they would probably be surprised that he was still standing.

"Besides," the lady continued, "everyone knows the Awakened got their abilities during the first outbreak. Not a single new one has appeared since then."

She paused, studying his face for any sign that he was joking.

"So, unless you've been hiding in a hole all this while, I suggest you come up with a better lie."

"I don't need you to believe me," he replied.

He turned towards the entrance and began walking.

"Hey!" The lady called, her smile disappearing. "Are you seriously still going inside?"

Owen continued without responding.

"Your stubbornness is going to get both of us killed!" She yelled, trying to keep her voice low enough not to attract the infected.

"At least I'll die first," Owen returned. "You should take consolation in that."

The lady's mouth fell open.

'What sort of consolation is that?'

She watched him disappear through the doorway, wondering whether she had just encountered the most foolish person since the beginning of the apocalypse.

Meanwhile, Owen had already given his first command.

'Enter through the back. Attack.'

The twenty zombies waiting behind the surrounding buildings immediately moved towards the rear of the store.

A loud crash followed.

Inside, several infected creatures turned towards the noise just as the back entrance gave way. Owen's zombies rushed in, colliding with the creatures gathered around the storage area.

A shelf crashed to the floor, spilling cans and packets of food across the tiles.

The first infected was knocked backwards, its head striking the edge of a counter before another zombie descended upon it.

The others responded almost immediately.

Groans filled the building as the two groups attacked each other, their bodies slamming into shelves and knocking over whatever remained standing.

Owen stayed near the entrance, watching the battle with keen interest.

He had expected his zombies to obey him, but seeing them attack other infected creatures was something else entirely.

One of his followers had its head crushed against a shelf.

A notification appeared.

[ Controlled Infected Lost ]

[ Available Control Slots: 1 ]

Owen immediately concentrated on one of the zombies attacking his remaining followers.

'You. Attack the one beside you.'

The creature stopped halfway through its movement, turned, and sank its teeth into another infected.

[ Control Successful ]

A faint smile appeared on Owen's face.

'Interesting.'

Another of his zombies was dragged down by three infected creatures. Before they could finish tearing it apart, Owen had already taken control of one of its attackers.

The creature suddenly turned against the other two.

More shelves collapsed as the fighting spread across the store. The narrow spaces between the aisles made it difficult for the infected to move together, and Owen took advantage of that, directing his followers towards those already struggling beneath the fallen shelves.

Whenever one of his zombies died, another took its place.

He had twenty slots, and with so many infected around him, replacing his losses was hardly a problem.

A zombie rushed towards him from behind an overturned shelf.

Owen's gaze shifted.

'Stop.'

The creature froze before reaching him.

'Turn around.'

It immediately obeyed, throwing itself against another infected that had been approaching from the opposite direction.

Owen stepped aside, avoiding the broken glass scattered across the floor.

Outside, Evelyn was beginning to grow restless.

The sounds coming from the store were getting louder, and from the occasional crashes, she could tell that something serious was happening inside.

'Has he gotten himself killed already?'

Her guild members would soon return, and the last thing she wanted was to be caught standing outside a zombie nest with another survivor's death on her conscience.

She limped towards the doorway, carefully holding the wall to support her injured leg.

At least, she could find out how much time she had left before the infected finished with him.

But the moment she peered inside, her thoughts came to an abrupt halt.

Zombies were fighting.

Not fighting over a human corpse, as she had expected, but attacking one another.

One creature dragged another to the ground while two more rushed forward to finish it. Near the storage area, several infected were pushing their way through the fallen shelves, attacking the zombies attempting to reach Owen.

And Owen himself stood some distance away, watching the entire scene.

He wasn't running nor was he even with a weapon. 

Evelyn rubbed her eyes, wondering whether the pain from her injury was finally beginning to affect her senses.

However, the scene remained unchanged.

She watched as one zombie suddenly abandoned its attack, turned around, and threw itself against another infected.

Owen had barely moved.

'Wait a minute.'

Her eyes returned to him.

Another zombie fell, and almost immediately, one of the creatures that had attacked it changed sides.

The connection was impossible to miss.

Evelyn felt her fingers tighten around the doorframe.

'He wasn't lying.'

He really had awakened.

But that wasn't even the most frightening part.

She had heard of Awakened who could summon fire, others who possessed extraordinary strength, and a few whose abilities could destroy an entire group of infected.

Never had she heard of anyone who could make zombies fight for him.

Yet here he was, standing in the middle of a nest, commanding the very creatures that had brought humanity to its knees.