Apocalypse: After Reanimation, I Became The Queen-Chapter 44: _ Hellish Battle

BANG!

A shot rings out, echoing across the clearing.

Vic screams so loudly, that I almost let go of reason and hurry to him.

For a split second, I think they actually shot him, but when I turn, I see he’s still flailing, just with a bullet hole in the tree beside him now, sending its branches crashing into the dirt.

Then, chest heaving up and down, Vic groans, "I hate this day so much."

Did that bastard just fire a shot? Here?! Jesus Christ. We are all dead meat!

Trish tenses beside me, but instead of snapping, she inhales deeply, crosses her arms, and says, way too calmly, "You just made a very big mistake."

The leader scoffs. "Oh yeah?"

She nods, grinning. "Yeah. Because you just told whatever the hell is out there exactly where we are."

He just chews nonchalantly on the chewing stick in his mouth.

Trish then dims her eyes and speaks in a grating tone. "And I cannot wait to watch you deal with it."

Right on cue, the roar comes again. This time, it’s loud.

Loud enough that the trees shake, dust rises from the ground, and everyone stiffens. The leader glances toward the woods, his arrogance shaking now.

But, because people never learn, he clenches his jaw and says, "Fine. Let it come."

WHAT?!

I let out a long, slow breath. "Wow. Okay. So this is the hill we’re dying on. Fantastic."

One of the cannibals steps forward. "Weapons. Now."

Benji raises an eyebrow. "Buddy, I don’t think that’s your priority anymore."

He ignores him, reaching for my gun.

Then, comes a shuffle. Fuck.

We all hear a low moan as a zombie staggers into the clearing.

The cannibals react fast... faster than I expect. They turn, guns up, and take the thing down with barely a pause.

For a second, I think that’s it. Then another one trudges in. And another. And another.

The cannibals mow them down efficiently, but the more they kill, the more seem to appear.

Benji leans toward me. "Soooo, what’s the over-under on these guys realizing they just called every zombie in a mile radius with that gunshot?"

Trish smirks. "I give them maybe three more minutes before they start regretting their life choices."

The zombies keep coming.

One of the cannibals who is some scrawny guy with a nervous twitch turns to the leader. "Uh... boss?"

The leader glares at him. "What?"

The guy shifts. "There’s... a lot of them."

"No shit," Dom mutters.

The leader grits his teeth. "Hold your ground!"

And then...

ROOOOOAAAARRR.

The trees bend and the ground vibrates. Every hair on my body stands on end. This time, the fear in the cannibals’ eyes is unmistakable.

Because this time, the roar isn’t distant.

It’s right there.

And we’re out of time.

The moment the roar crashes through the clearing like a goddamn thunderclap, everything explodes into chaos.

The cannibals, who were just standing there arguing about whether or not to shoot us, completely lost their nerve.

Their eyes go wide, their faces go pale, and their bodies stiffen like someone just yanked out their spines. I can almost see their primitive survival instincts kicking in, because finally, finally... these brain-dead lunatics realize that we are no longer their biggest problem.

And then, just like that, they abandon us.

I mean, they don’t even hesitate. The leader shouts something in a panicked voice. I’m not sure, but it’s something about getting back to the others... and then he and his people bolt toward the deeper part of the forest, completely forgetting that we exist.

"Wow," Dom mutters, watching them go. "I knew they were dumb, but I didn’t know they were cowards too."

Trish huffs out a laugh, breathless. "I told them this would happen. Now look at them."

"Not looking at them," Benji says, eyes darting to the tree line. "Too busy looking at that."

I follow his gaze. Oh, fuck. The forest is moving.

Branches snap, bushes tremble, and shadows twist in the moonlight as figures push through the darkness.

By God, there are so many of them. The gunshots from earlier were like a dinner bell, and the bastards are here to feast.

And then, the screaming starts.

Not ours. Theirs. By the time we reach the cannibal camp, it’s already a bloodbath.

The place is bigger than I expected. It’s a settlement of ragged tents and shelters clustered together like a desperate attempt at civilization. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

There are people everywhere; women, children, and men scrambling through the madness, their faces ugly with terror as the dead pour in from all sides.

The first zombie I see tackles a man to the ground and sinks its teeth straight into his throat. Blood spurts, and his scream tears through the air before turning into a wet, choking gurgle.

A woman wails, clutching a crying child to her chest. A teenager swings a stick at a zombie’s head, only for another to grab him from behind and sink its rotting teeth into his shoulder.

Bodies hit the ground. The dirt drinks up the blood.

And the cannibals; well, they’re fighting, but they’re losing. Fast.

I don’t have time to feel satisfaction over that.

"Weapons!" I shout, already sprinting toward a pile of abandoned guns and knives. "Get whatever you can carry!"

Benji, Trish, and Dom don’t need to be told twice. They dive into the mess, grabbing whatever looks useful. Trish flings a bloodied machete to me, and I catch it by the hilt, my fingers curling around the sticky grip.

Vic is still dangling from that goddamn trap.

"Get him down!" I bark at Trish and Dom. "Benji, with me!"

I don’t wait for a response as I charge forward, slicing straight through the nearest zombie’s skull.

The battle is pure unfiltered hell.

The dead don’t stop coming. Every time we cut one down, two more take its place. The air is stale with the scent of rot and blood, the sounds of flesh tearing, bones snapping, and people screaming. The dirt beneath us turns slick with gore.

I don’t know how long we fight. Minutes? Hours? It feels endless.

Then, I hear more screaming, but this time, it’s different.