Chapter 71: A Bloody Mess

The wave surged forward.

Zarek stepped to meet them, his smile never fading. A corpse lunged at his face, and he caught it by the throat, twisted, and hurled it into the advancing crowd.

Before the others could reach him, he charged straight into them, his fists crashing through their formation.

"HAHAHAHA! Come on! Don’t tell me this is all you’ve got!"

A zombie grabbed his shoulder. Zarek seized its head and smashed it against another corpse, sending both tumbling across the floor. He kicked a third away, caught a fourth by the arm, and ripped it free when the creature refused to let go.

Blood splattered across his clothes. Zarek barely noticed.

The dead continued coming, crawling over their fallen companions and reaching for him with broken fingers. Their bodies were damaged, their movements awkward, yet none of them showed the slightest hesitation.

They had no fear of death. Unfortunately for them, neither did Zarek.

He grabbed one corpse by the leg and swung it into the crowd. Bodies crashed together, creating a brief opening. Zarek rushed through it, driving his fist into one face before sending another zombie flying into a pillar.

The impact left a dark smear across the concrete. He burst out laughing. "That’s better!"

Another corpse grabbed his waist from behind. Zarek reached back, caught it by the head, and flung it over his shoulder. It struck the ground hard enough to crack its skull.

He stepped over it without looking back.

The chamber was becoming a mess of blood, broken bodies, and twitching limbs, but the zombies kept advancing under the core’s control.

Zarek found the whole thing hilarious.

The world had changed, and these fools still couldn’t accept their place in it. Even after death, they were forced to crawl around and follow orders.

What a miserable existence. At least he was having fun.

A group rushed him from the left. Zarek turned, grabbed the first by the face, and drove it into the ground. He caught the next one by the arm and threw it into the others, then charged through the opening before they could recover.

His movements were direct and brutal. He didn’t waste time trying to avoid every attack. When a corpse caught his arm, he tore it away. When one climbed onto his back, he grabbed it and slammed it into the floor.

Every zombie that reached him was quickly reduced to another broken body.

"Come on, move faster!" he shouted, laughing as another corpse stumbled toward him. "I’m starting to think you were more useful when you were dead!"

The zombie lunged. Zarek stepped aside and kicked it into the approaching crowd.

Several bodies collapsed together, but the rest crawled over them without slowing down.

Behind the horde, the monster screamed. "BRAAAAAAGHHHHHH!"

Its remaining tentacles struck the walls, scattering chunks of concrete across the floor. The core pulsed again, and the zombies surged forward with renewed desperation.

Zarek glanced at the creature. "Still kicking, huh?"

He grinned and turned back to the horde. "Fine. I’ll get to you in a minute."

A zombie rushed him with its mouth hanging open. He caught it by the head, lifted it off the ground, and looked into its vacant eyes.

"You know, I almost feel sorry for you."

His smile widened.

"Almost."

He crushed its skull and tossed the body aside.

The next few minutes passed in a blur of violence.

Zarek smashed through the advancing corpses, laughing whenever one attempted something particularly pathetic. Some tried to surround him, while others threw themselves at his legs, hoping to drag him down through sheer numbers.

None of them succeeded.

He seized one by the waist and hurled it into the wall. Another lost its head beneath his fist. When several bodies crowded around him, he swept them aside with a powerful kick and continued forward.

Then he spotted a familiar face.

The old man was pushing through the remaining zombies, his ruined body moving with the same unnatural obedience as the others.

Zarek’s laughter grew louder. "HAHAHA! You’re still here?"

The old man reached for him. Zarek caught him by the throat and lifted him until their faces were level.

"Look at you. All that scheming, all those sacrifices, and you ended up like this."

The corpse struggled in his grip.

"You wanted to give your son my body, remember? Seems like he decided yours would do just fine."

Zarek laughed in his face before slamming him into the floor. The old man’s head struck the concrete with a sickening crack. Zarek stepped down, crushing it beneath his heel, then turned toward the remaining zombies.

"Your family drama is over. Now get out of my way."

He charged again.

By now, the creature’s screams had grown weaker. Its enormous body sagged against the floor, and the tentacles barely twitched. Yet the core continued vibrating, forcing the surviving zombies to move even as their bodies were destroyed.

The monster was using what remained of its strength to control them.

Zarek noticed the change. The zombies were still persistent, but their movements had become increasingly disorganized. Some crawled toward him without direction, while others collapsed before they could reach him.

The monster was running out of time. So was the entertainment.

Zarek grabbed a corpse that had caught his arm and threw it aside. He swept another off its feet, then smashed through the last cluster standing between him and the creature.

A final group rushed him together. He met them head-on.

His fist crushed one skull. A second zombie caught a kick to the chest and flew backward, taking two others with it. Zarek grabbed another by the neck, swung it into the remaining attackers, and strode through the collapsing bodies.

A hand caught his ankle. He looked down.

One of the zombies was dragging itself across the floor, its fingers wrapped around his leg. Zarek sighed. "Seriously?"

He stomped down. The hand went limp.

"Stay down."

He kicked the corpse aside and continued toward the monster.

The remaining zombies were no longer a threat. They lay scattered across the chamber, their bodies too damaged to move or their heads crushed beneath Zarek’s feet.

Behind them, the mutated son raised its head.

"RROOOOOAAAAARRRR!"

Its scream was weaker than before, but the creature still tried to defend itself. Several tentacles rose from the ruined mass of flesh, reaching toward Zarek as he approached.

He caught the first and tore it away. The second struck at his side; he stepped past it, seized the thick appendage, and ripped it from the creature’s body.

"BRAAAAAAGHHHHHH!"

The monster’s scream shook the chamber. Zarek didn’t stop.

He grabbed a mass of roots covering the exposed center and pulled with all his strength. The roots tore apart, revealing the core beneath them.

The creature convulsed wildly. Its remaining tentacles thrashed against the floor, but they no longer had the strength to push him back.

Zarek looked down at it. "You’ve caused quite a mess."

The monster opened its ruined mouth. "GRAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!"

Zarek grinned. "Time to finish this."

He drove his fist into the exposed mass surrounding the core. The impact tore through the remaining flesh. The monster’s enormous body convulsed one final time before collapsing into a lifeless heap.

Its scream died away. The tentacles fell still, and the core gave one last faint pulse.

Then silence filled the chamber.

Zarek stood among the destruction, his clothes stained with blood and his expression thoroughly satisfied. He looked around at the broken bodies scattered across the floor and chuckled. "Now that was fun."

His gaze returned to the monster’s remains. Almost everything had been destroyed—the flesh, the roots, the tentacles that had spread throughout the chamber, all of it lay in a ruined heap.

Only the core remained intact. It rested amid the wreckage, vibrating faintly.

Zarek crouched in front of it, his grin returning. "All right, little thing."

He reached toward the core. "Let’s see what you can do."