Chapter 73: Invasion

Chapter 73: Chapter 73: Invasion Manual alarms blared across the base. Soldiers rushed to their positions to defend the base, while unawakened individuals were forced to the front line. Michael’s plan was simple. The zombies will attack the unawakened first, giving the chosen much-needed time either to retreat or to fight back. However, it was unlikely the zombies would get past the wall. After all, there were humans outside as well. They should satiate the hunger of the undead. "Concentrate around the gates," Michael commanded. "Open fire as soon as they breach through!" "Roger!" With the orders given, Michael turned around to view the swarm below. The streets were packed with zombies, and they weren’t just walkers. Zombies he had never seen before were charging towards the base. The sensory-type chosen suggested that over two thousand undead had surrounded them. However, that wasn’t the worst of it. According to some, roughly a thousand mutated creatures were heading their way. Michael couldn’t wrap his head around the mess. Neha was confident that her parade would attract almost all of the undead towards it. So, how the hell were two thousand zombies there in front of him? "Something is off, I can feel it." Blaze’s name popped into his head. However, he dismissed it quickly. They had been monitoring the zoo from a distance, and there had been no reports of any strange activity. Besides, he barely had a hundred undead under his control from the last report he received. This swarm of two thousand couldn’t be his doing. Unless he had been hiding the forces somewhere. "Yes, it’s... wait a minute." Michael’s smile froze as he grabbed one of his assistants. "When did we receive the last report from the scouts around the zoo?" he asked, grabbing the assistant by the shoulder. "L-Last night, sir!" Those words hit Michael like the lightning above. He had asked the scouts to send reports every six hours and had been keeping a close eye on them. However, in all of Neha’s haste to tackle the zombie king, Michael forgot about all of that. The scouts... something must have happened to them. "How could I have made such an oversight!" Michael yelled, hitting the metal railing, bending it out of shape. It was all Neha’s fault. Had it not been for her ever-changing plans, he could have focused on Blaze more. Michael took a deep breath and relaxed. The situation was unfavorable, but it wasn’t hopeless. They still had the wall, which would stop the undead. As for the mutated animals, which Michael suspected to be the rodents, they could be dealt with by the chosen within the base. In short, as long as the walls held firm, they were safe. "Tell the snipers to fire at will. As long as they can thin the swarm, everything will be fine." Shots rang out as soon as the words reached the snipers. They had been itching to hunt, but had to hold back. Now that they’d been given free rein, they were fulfilling every man’s wish in the apocalypse. The snipers ripped through the undead’s skulls. At first, nothing happened, but then the zombies charged forward. The soldiers on the walls did their best to hold back the tide, but there were simply too many to shoot. The humans beyond the gate quickly became targets of the zombies. Their screams filled the air as zombies tore through them. Some tried to run past the horde, but the horde was endless. They were dragged right back and consumed while the snipers tried their best to thin the crowd. With no other way, the human began clawing the walls and the gates, begging to be let in. However, the soldiers inside remained as emotionless as the zombies outside. The soldiers weren’t heartless, but they had orders to follow and their own lives to worry about. Letting a single person from outside could put the entire base at risk, and they couldn’t allow that. So, they just stared as the humans were devoured one after another. Everyone thought that was the worst of it. Until it wasn’t. *** Flop. At the far end of the base, something wet hit the floor. One of the soldiers turned toward the sound. He squinted, trying to see through the dark. "Who is there?" he asked, pointing his gun in front. Just then, something wrapped around his leg like a whip and dragged him into the dark. That was all the soldiers needed before they opened fire in the dark. Through the flashes of the shots, they saw something strange. Multiple short creatures were standing before them. The soldiers saw their green skin and long arms that reached the ground. Before they could see anymore, the creature jumped onto them. The soldiers fired. Some bullets hit the strange creatures, and the others whizzed past them. But through all that, they came face-to-face with the creatures. "Are they frogs—?" The soldier couldn’t say the rest as the frogkin ripped his face off with its slimy hands. *** "Invasion from the west wing!" "Grade-2 mutants coming in from the north!" The sensory type chosen immediately informed Michael about the breach. "What?!" he exclaimed. His decision to concentrate manpower around the weak points had backfired. He didn’t think the mutants would be working together with the undead, or that they could jump over the walls. "Send the chosen to confront the mutants. The soldiers will hold the zombies back!" The command was given, but it was too late. More frogkins jumped inside, but they weren’t alone. Holes appeared all over the base, and zombie ants poured through them. It wasn’t just the ants, sprinters, maulers, and walkers. Countless zombies invaded the base without breaking the walls. The scene was truly horrifying. Roughly ten thousand humans were present inside the base, including the soldiers and the chosen. Yet, no one even thought about defending against the invasion. Their weapons proved useless against those ants, with their bullets bouncing off their exoskeletons. The frogkins were too agile for them to aim, let alone hit them. And the zombies? Some of them had armor similar to the ants, fused to their skin. They were getting attacked on too many fronts to focus on a single one. Michael could only watch the chaos from a safe distance. But he wasn’t the only one watching the situation.