2025-07-05 03:48:38Jonah stood frozen, his legs stiff and his heart pounding like a war drum. What he was seeing didn’t make any sense. It couldn’t be real. It shouldn’t be real.
Right in front of him, Conor had Helen pinned to the floor. His face was twisted in rage. Pale skin stretched tight over his bones, and thick blue veins bulged along his neck like ropes.
“Conor! Stop it!” one of their coworkers shouted.
Two others ran forward and tried to pull him off Helen. But Conor didn’t stop. He didn’t even flinch. He seemed inhuman, his strength too much for the two men to handle. Then, without warning, Conor let go of Helen and turned around, his eyes wild and empty. In one quick motion, he lunged at one of the men and sank his teeth deep into his shoulder.
A scream tore through the air.
Jonah’s thoughts were racing. This isn’t possible... This isn’t happening… Is this a dream? He blinked, hoping the scene would disappear. But it didn’t. It only got worse.
“What the hell is happening to him?” Clara gasped beside him. Her voice trembled as she watched Conor snarl like a wild animal.
Jonah was about to step forward when a loud, high-pitched scream echoed from outside. He turned to the window. Across the street, a woman was being attacked by four men. They weren’t just hitting her, they were biting her.
His heart dropped. “No,” he whispered. “This… This is spreading.”
Then it clicked. Conor wasn’t just acting strange, he was infected. Just like those men outside.
He turned quickly to Clara. “We need to leave. Now.”
“What? Why?” Clara narrowed her eyes. “Conor’s still here, he needs our help. Don’t tell me you’re trying to slack off again.”
“No, Clara, listen to me,” Jonah said quickly, gripping her arm. “It’s not what you think. This isn’t normal. Conor… he’s not sick. He’s turned. Like the others outside. This is something else. Please trust me.”
Clara pulled her arm back. “Turned? What are you even talking about?”
“I don’t have time to explain,” Jonah said, panic rising in his throat.
But before Clara could reply, Helen let out a soft, guttural groan. They both turned.
Helen was shaking. Her eyes rolled back. Her skin began turning white. Her lips trembled, and blood dripped from her nose.
Then she stopped moving… and lifted her head. Her eyes locked on Clara.
“What, Helen?” Clara stepped back.
Jonah felt it in his bones, Helen was no longer human.
“Watch out!” he yelled, and grabbed the nearest chair. Without thinking, he hurled it.
The chair slammed into Helen just as she leapt forward.
She collapsed to the ground.
Clara stared at her, horrified. Her mouth hung open, but no words came out.
“Let’s go!” Jonah grabbed her hand. They ran through the office halls. Around them, people continued typing, unaware of the nightmare creeping in.
Jonah shouted, “Run! Everyone! Get out now! You have to leave!”
But nobody listened. Some laughed. Others frowned. None of them took him seriously.
“We’re on our own,” he muttered, pulling Clara toward the main hallway.
“Jonah, what is going on?” Clara asked breathlessly. “Why did Helen attack me? She, she looked dead…”
“I think…” Jonah took a deep breath. “When Conor went home, something must’ve happened. Maybe it was in the air or something he touched. Whatever it was, it turned him into… that. A monster. And when he bit Helen, ”
She gasped. “You think she got infected?”
“That’s the only thing that makes sense.”
“But that’s not possible! You can’t just catch something and turn into a, ” Clara stopped mid-sentence as another horrible sound reached them.
A gurgling noise.
They turned the corner… and stopped.
A man stood in front of the exit. He was hunched over another person, feeding.
Clara screamed.
Jonah pulled her back. “We can’t go that way!”
She trembled. “What are they? Zombies?”
“I think so,” Jonah said. “Or something like them…”
He turned and ran, dragging Clara along. Every hallway they passed held more horrors: coworkers crying, screaming, shaking… and some already turning pale, their eyes growing blank and lifeless.
“Clara, we have to keep moving,” Jonah said. “Please.”
“I, I don’t think I can,” she said, stumbling.
“You have to. I’m not leaving you behind.”
They kept moving. He spotted the red emergency box at the wall up ahead. Inside was a fire axe.
Jonah sprinted toward it, smashed the glass with his elbow, and yanked out the axe. It was heavier than he expected, but he gripped it tightly.
Now he had a weapon.
“We’re on the seventh floor,” he said. “If we can find the emergency stairwell, we can escape.”
Clara nodded weakly.
As they walked quickly toward the fire exit, Jonah tried to distract her. “We’ll be okay. We just need to stay calm, keep quiet, and get out. Once we’re outside, we’ll find help. We’ll figure this out.”
They reached the stairwell door.
Jonah grinned. “Finally…”
Then he heard it. A rush of footsteps behind them.
He turned. Half the office, former coworkers, now looked dead. Their eyes were empty. Their jaws hung open. And they were running fast.
“Clara, go!” Jonah shouted.
They pushed through the door and into the stairwell.
But then, slam.
The door shut behind him. From the other side.
Jonah turned, confused. Clara was inside the stairwell. He was still outside.
“Clara?” he called, banging on the door. “Open the door! What are you doing?!”
Clara’s face appeared in the small window. Tears filled her eyes.
“I’m sorry, Jonah,” she said. “You have the axe. You’re strong. You can make it.”
“No, no, don’t do this. Open the door!”
She shook her head. “I can’t. I won’t make it out alive. I’m not strong like you. I’m scared. I can’t take the chance.”
“Clara, please!”
“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “Please don’t hate me.”
And then she was gone.
The door stayed shut.
Jonah stood there, heartbroken, the axe heavy in his hands… and the monsters closing in behind him.
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Chapter 665
The camp was safe. The survivors stood in the snow, breathing heavily. They looked at their bloody weapons. They looked at each other. And then, they began to cheer. "We did it!" Marcus laughed loudly. He hugged Elena. "We broke them!" a young man yelled, raising his iron pipe into the air. Jonah rested his heavy hammer on his broad shoulder. He walked slowly through the cheering crowd. He walked through the open steel gates. He stepped into the warm, pure blue light of the concrete building. Lisa was sitting in her wheelchair near the fire. Her face was pale, and she was coughing softly, but she smiled a beautiful, wide smile when she saw him. "You look terrible, giant," Lisa whispered. She looked at his bloody, torn gray shirt. Jonah smiled a tired, gentle smile. He walked over and knelt down on one knee beside her wheelchair. He gently took her small, cold hand in his massive, scarred fingers. "I am standing," Jonah said softly. "And you are breathing. That is a good day."
Chapter 664
In twenty minutes, they reached the tall, dark pine forest. They drove through the trees. They climbed the steep, rocky mountain path. Through the falling gray ash, Jonah saw the pure blue light of the Echo Seed shining brightly. The safe bubble was still there. But as they got closer, Jonah saw the danger. The Sanctuary was surrounded. The wild zombies in the valley had smelled the humans inside the camp. Without the computer code telling them to wait, thousands of monsters had rushed up the mountain. They were crowding against the heavy steel gates of the Sanctuary. The zombies slammed their rotting bodies against the metal doors. They hissed. They moaned. They were completely mindless. They climbed on top of each other, trying to reach the top of the concrete walls. "There are too many of them!" Silas panicked in the passenger seat. The dictator pressed his back against the seat. "They will eat the trucks!" Jonah did not slow down. He gripped the steering wheel tightly. "The
Chapter 663
The massive explosion was over. The mountain was quiet. Jonah stood on the edge of the smoking crater. The freezing wind blew his torn gray shirt. It blew the white snow and the gray ash across his broad, scarred chest. The thick, dark iron scars on his skin were totally cold. He was just a human man again. He looked down into the deep, black hole. Outpost Echo, the massive underground military base, was completely vaporized. The Black Broadcast was dead. The relay tower was gone. "Dad," Kevin whispered. Jonah turned his head. He looked at his son. Kevin was standing in the deep snow. The young giant held his custom-made iron mace in his good left hand. His right arm was still resting. He was breathing heavily, but a bright, beautiful smile spread across his face. Kevin pointed his finger down the mountain, toward the dark valley. "Look," Kevin said. His one good blue eye glowed with a faint, magical light. His Scout System was reading the world far away. Jonah looked. Miles
Chapter 662
Jonah ran behind them. He grabbed General Silas by the collar of his white coat and dragged the weeping dictator along the ground. He was not going to let Silas die here. Silas had too many answers. Silas knew where the "Lords" were hiding. They ran up the steep tunnel. The ground shook so violently they could barely keep their balance. [00:20... 00:19…]The heat behind them was rising again. The servers in the basement had reached critical mass. The virus code was igniting. They saw the gray sky ahead of them. They saw the falling white snow. "Keep going! Don't look back!" Jonah roared. They burst out of the tunnel. They ran out into the freezing, howling whiteout blizzard. They ran across the deep snow on the high plateau. [00:05... 00:04…] "Jump!" Kevin yelled. They dove forward. They threw themselves flat into the deep, soft white snow, covering their heads with their arms. [00:01.] [00:00.] The world went silent for a microsecond. Then, Outpost Echo ceased to exist. T
Chapter 661
The heat was becoming absolutely lethal. In a few more minutes, their skin would melt off their bones. The human body cannot survive baking in an oven. The threat to Jonah’s family was absolute. It was immediate. It was lethal. Jonah closed his dark brown eyes. He did not fight the heat. He stood in the center of the hallway. He opened his massive arms wide. He waited for the magic. Deep inside the darkest, quietest corner of Jonah’s brain, the System recognized the fatal danger. The machine recognized that Kevin and Elena were about to burn to death. The unbreakable rule of the Mythic skill was triggered. [FAMILY IN LETHAL DANGER.] [SKILL ACTIVATED: UNDYING WILL.] Jonah opened his eyes. The dark brown color was instantly burned away. His eyes turned into blinding, brilliant, freezing pools of solid silver light. The thick, dark iron scars on his chest, his stomach, his shoulders, and his arms ignited. They glowed with pure, white-hot fire. Jonah let out a massive, terrifyin
Chapter 660
Silas tapped his fingers on the buttons. He typed a long, complex code. He pressed the green 'ENTER' button. The keypad flashed. [ACCESS DENIED.] Silas frowned. He shook his head. "I must have mistyped it. The cold is making my hands shake." He typed the code again. Faster this time. [ACCESS DENIED.] "Open!" Silas shouted. He typed another code. A secret emergency code. [ACCESS DENIED.] [USER 'SILAS' HAS BEEN REVOKED.] [ACCOUNT DELETED BY ADMINISTRATOR.] Silas stared at the red letters on the small screen. His pale blue eye went wide. His shoulders slumped. He fell to his knees in the black slime on the floor. "They deleted me," Silas whispered in pure, absolute horror. He stared at his hands. "I served them for three years," Silas wept. His smooth, hypnotic voice completely broke into pieces. "I built their army. I slaughtered millions for them. And they deleted my password like I was nothing." The truth was a heavy, crushing rock. The "Lords" in the clean white rooms di
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