Chapter 14: The Siege Breaker

The sun was up. But the street was dark.

It wasn’t night. It was the horde.

Thousands of them. They stood shoulder to shoulder outside the grocery store. They weren’t moving. They weren’t screaming. They were just… waiting.

Ren looked through the peephole in the metal shutter.

“They haven’t left,” Ren said.

Chloe was sitting on the counter, cleaning the AR-15. She looked tired. “Why aren’t they banging on the door anymore?”

“Because someone told them to stop,” Ren said.

He activated Eagle Eye.

He scanned the sea of grey skin and rotting flesh.

Most of them were Level 1 or 2. Trash mobs. Weak alone, deadly in a pack.

But in the center of the street, standing on top of the burnt wreckage of the scavenger’s van, was something different.

It was small. A child? No, a teenager. Wearing a torn hoodie.

Its head was swollen. Veins pulsed on its temples. Its eyes were glowing red.

It didn’t look like a feral beast. It looked like a general.

[Mutated Controller (Lvl 5)]

[Status: Commanding Swarm]

[Ability: Hive Mind]

“Found him,” Ren whispered.

“Who?” Chloe asked. She hopped off the counter.

“A Controller,” Ren said. “He’s keeping them here. He’s waiting for us to starve or make a mistake.”

Ren stepped back from the door.

“We can’t fight a thousand zombies,” Ren said. “We don’t have enough ammo.”

“So we wait?”

“No,” Ren grinned. “We cut off the head.”

He pointed to the ceiling. “Does this place have a roof hatch?”

“I think so,” Chloe said. “In the back storage room. There’s a ladder.”

“Grab the rifle,” Ren ordered. “And the radio.”

They went to the back. Ren found the rusty ladder bolted to the wall. He climbed up. He pushed the hatch open.

Bright light hit him. The air smelled of smoke and rot.

Ren climbed onto the flat tar-and-gravel roof. He stayed low.

Chloe followed him. She crawled to the edge.

“Don’t look down,” Ren said.

She looked. She gasped.

The sea of zombies stretched for three blocks. It was a carpet of death.

“Oh god,” she whispered.

“Focus,” Ren said. He pointed to the burnt van in the middle of the street. “See the kid in the hoodie?”

Chloe squinted. “Yeah.”

“That’s the target,” Ren said. “If he dies, the swarm gets confused. They go back to being mindless. Then we can clear them.”

“He’s far,” Chloe said. “Maybe hundred meters?”

“Can you hit him?”

Chloe shouldered the AR-15. She looked through the iron sights. Her hands were shaking.

“I… I don’t know. It’s not a video game.”

Ren put his hand on her shoulder.

“Breathe,” Ren said. “Squeeze, don’t pull.”

He looked at the Controller. The zombie was looking at the store. It knew they were inside.

“I’ll go down,” Ren said. “I’ll draw his attention. When he screams at me, you shoot him in the head.”

“You’re going out there?” Chloe looked at him like he was insane. “Into that?”

“I’m not going into the crowd,” Ren said. “I’m going to make them come to me.”

Ren went to the edge of the roof, directly above the front entrance.

He stood up.

“Hey!” Ren roared.

His voice boomed. He used his new Intimidation passive.

The effect was instant.

The zombies near the wall looked up. They hissed. They backed away. They were scared of him.

But the Controller on the van turned.

It saw Ren.

It shrieked. A high-pitched, psychic sound that made Ren’s teeth ache.

The zombies stopped being scared. The Controller overrode their fear.

“Kill him!” the shriek seemed to say.

The swarm surged forward. They started climbing the walls. They piled on top of each other, making a ramp of bodies.

“Now, Chloe!” Ren yelled.

The Controller was screaming. Its mouth was wide open. It was a perfect target.

Chloe held her breath.

Bang.

The shot went wide. It hit a zombie next to the van.

“Missed!” Chloe cried. “I’m sorry!”

“Shoot again!” Ren shouted.

He kicked a zombie in the face as it reached the roof edge.

Crunch.

Another one grabbed his ankle. Ren stomped on its fingers.

The pile was growing. They were getting closer.

Bang.

Chloe fired again.

The bullet hit the van. Sparks flew.

The Controller saw her. It pointed at her.

The swarm shifted. They stopped climbing toward Ren. They started climbing toward Chloe.

“Ren!” she screamed.

Ren looked at the Controller. The distance was too far for a jump.

“Fine,” Ren growled. “Plan B.”

He grabbed a heavy propane tank from the roof—left over from an old AC repair job.

He didn’t throw it at the zombies.

He threw it at the Controller.

It was a Hail Mary. A hundred meters.

Ren’s muscles tore. Strength 15 pushed to the limit.

The tank spun through the air.

The Controller saw it coming. It tried to jump off the van.

It was too slow.

CLANG.

The tank smashed into the Controller’s legs.

Bones shattered. The Controller fell off the van.

It screamed in pain. The psychic link wavered.

The zombies on the wall stopped climbing. They looked confused.

Ren didn’t wait.

[Skill: Jump]

Ren leaped from the roof.

He soared over the confused zombies. He fell three stories.

He landed on the hood of the burnt van.

The metal crunched under his boots.

He was in the middle of the horde. Surrounded by thousands.

But he was right next to the Controller.

The Controller tried to crawl away. Its legs were useless. It looked at Ren with hate.

“Game over,” Ren said.

He stomped on its head.

SPLAT.

The skull popped like a melon.

[Target Neutralized: Mutated Controller (Lvl 5)]

[Experience Gained: 150]

Ren grabbed the corpse. He didn’t have time to eat it peacefully. The zombies were snapping out of their daze.

He ripped the brain stem out.

He shoved it in his mouth.

Gulp.

[Gluttony Activated.]

[Consumed: Controller Brain.]

[Intelligence +3]

[New Skill: Psionic Scream (Active)]

[Description: Release a psychic wave that stuns enemies in a 10m radius.]

The zombies roared. They realized there was fresh meat in their midst.

Thousands of hands reached for Ren.

Ren grinned.

He took a deep breath.

[Skill Activated: Psionic Scream]

“ROAAAAR!”

It wasn’t just a shout. It was a shockwave.

The air rippled.

The zombies closest to the van stopped. Their eyes rolled back. They collapsed, stunned.

Ren had a circle of safety.

He looked up at the roof.

“Chloe! Cover fire!”

Bang. Bang. Bang.

She was hitting them now. She was clearing a path to the side alley.

Ren jumped off the van. He ran.

He didn’t fight every zombie. He just pushed through the stunned ones.

He used Dash.

He blurred through the crowd.

He reached the drainpipe on the side of the store. He scrambled up.

Hands grabbed his boots.

Ren kicked them off.

He pulled himself onto the roof. He rolled onto the gravel.

He lay there, panting.

Below, the horde was chaos. Without the Controller, they were fighting each other. They were eating the dead Controller. They were dispersing.

Ren laughed. A breathless, crazy laugh.

Chloe crawled over to him. She checked him for bites.

“You’re insane,” she said. “You jumped off the roof.”

Ren sat up. He wiped the brain matter off his lip.

“I levpeled up,” Ren said.

He looked at the dispersing crowd. The street was clearing.

“The siege is broken,” Ren said. “Now we can loot the gun shop.”

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