LOGIN"The Sovereign Legion's evolution serum?"Hayley saw the vial Kurt had picked up. She snatched it out of his hand, her voice tight. "We'll talk about that later. Help my aunt first."Kurt didn't argue. He dug through the pile of supplies and pulled out a few bottles.Then, he paused.He spotted a dog bed and a set of toys mixed in with everything else. A small smile crept onto his weathered face. He set them aside carefully before picking up two sealed vials."These are the ones.""Look carefully. Don't try anything," Hayley warned, her eyes locked on him. "If anything happens to my aunt, I'll cook your dog."Kurt scoffed, completely unfazed. "You think I'd fall for that? You've got a ton of dogs. If anyone's getting cooked, it's me, not my dog."Hayley stared at him. "Then I'll cook you.""Drop the act," Kurt said, already working. "You're worried I'll tamper with it. If I wanted to hurt her, I wouldn't have said a word in the first place. Would've been a lot easier."He d
Zach stared down in disbelief. "Crestford had, what, over a million people? How is there not a single zombie left?""You've entered our league's buffer zone." Griffin's lazy voice drifted over from the side.Zach and the others all froze, eyes widening.Buffer zone… What did that even mean?They didn't have to wonder for long.Ahead of them, something came into view. A massive wall of steel stretched across the land, running between Brookville, Crestford, and Aecraton, sealing off everything beyond it.Inside the wall, they saw people.Not zombies, but living, breathing people. Rows of soldiers stood along the top of the wall, lined up in perfect formation, weapons in hand, all watching the helicopter.Across the structure, two massive words were stamped in bold.Haylight League.In that instant, they understood.Outside the Haylight League, two cities with populations in the millions had been turned into empty zones, a buffer.Inside that buffer, nothing lived.Inside the
Whitney froze for a second, then her face shifted between shock, relief, and lingering fear."Ben, how could you do something like that? That was way too dangerous.""Hey, he did something big today. Say something nice," Clark cut in."I didn't," Ben said quietly. "Just stop."The tone in his voice made Whitney's heart drop."Ben, what's wrong? Did you get hurt? Tell me if something's off. You really surprised me today. I'm proud of you.""Enough," Ben said, even lower this time.A clear, steady female voice cut through the moment. "I underestimated you. You're not completely useless."Hayley stood there with her arms crossed, looking at them.Ben went still the second he heard her.Hayley only gave him a brief glance before turning to Clark. "Mr. Kinsman, we're heading out.""You're leaving already? Stay. Have a meal before you go.""Not this time. We've got somewhere to be."She turned and walked toward her helicopter. Griffin was already onboard."If anything comes up,
Hayley stopped attacking.With one final blast of fire, she forced the entire horde back. Then she shot forward in a straight line, accelerating so fast she looked like a streak of light, heading straight for the vehicle that had already broken through.She reached the door a full second before June and the others.One by one, they all piled into the vehicle. The moment everyone was inside, the cabin sealed, and the air purification system kicked in.They had spent over half a year preparing for this toxic fog. The system worked. As soon as the filtered air circulated, the suffocating stench faded.The only problem was visibility.The fog ahead thickened, turning into a solid wall. Spencer could barely see the road.Zombies kept bursting out of the haze, rushing straight at them, closing in from every side.Hayley heard explosions again.Boom! Boom! Boom!Whoosh! Whoosh!Fire arrows streaked through the haze, lighting up the darkness. A powerful beam cut through the fog ahea
A blast of heat surged forward.Ben felt it hit his face like a furnace. Even in the middle of November, the temperature seemed to jump several degrees in an instant.He stared at the wall of fire stretching across the sky, too stunned to say a word.Clark was the strongest fighter in their base. The fire wall he could throw up was unmatched. Everyone looked up to him because of it.But compared to this… it was nothing.Ben's eyes locked onto the tall, lean figure standing at the center of the flames.So this…was her real strength.He couldn't help but think back to yesterday, when Hayley had chewed him out. He thought she looked down on him.Now, he realized the truth.He didn't have anything worth her looking up to."Like I said, Hayley's on another level. See it now?" June sounded almost smug.Ben's face burned. Everything he had said earlier came rushing back, each word hitting him like a harsh wake-up call."Hayley! The path's ready!" Zach shouted."Get in the vehicle
The creatures in front of Hayley's group saw nothing but temptation. All they wanted was a bite of hot flesh, a gulp of sweet blood. If they got lucky and tore into something soft and fresh inside, the frenzy would drive them insane."Raarh!"Faster. Faster! Hurry! The food was right there!Shing!Hayley swung her blade and took the first zombie's head clean off.Then came a blur of steel so fast that the eye couldn't follow. The flashes of her blade stacked into something solid, like a wall made of knives.Not a single zombie could break through the line she held.Hayley alone held the line against thousands. With her standing there, everyone behind her felt a strange, steady calm.Even Ben, scrambling in a panic, couldn't help but look up at her.At that moment, he stopped running his mouth about whether these were evolved zombies or not and stopped trying to downplay her strength. Even if they were just regular zombies, he had never seen anyone cut through them like this.
"Let's go. I've got something to tell you." Liam gestured ahead."Okay, sure." Hayley turned toward Cyril and the others. "You don't need to bring anything. Just your people. Come with me tomorrow. I'll take all of you."Liam added, "It's a good thing you're going with Ms. Reid."He said it casua
Hayley met Griffin's one-eyed gaze and gave him a nod of acknowledgment, showing him respect.The moment she started to leave, the elderly woman who had been speaking stepped in front of her. "Where do you think you're going? You can't leave. Is this man really your teammate? How did you find tha
Just then, Hayley saw everyone who had charged forward suddenly turn back and start running the other way.They were firing off the last of their flash grenades and ammo, covering Liam and Nadia as the two broke through the crowd.Through the chaos, Liam caught sight of Hayley. His eyes lit up, as
Beyond the glass pane was a pile of mangled corpses, stacked and scattered across the room.None of the bodies was intact. Some had nothing left but bare leg bones, some had hollowed-out stomachs, and some were missing half their heads.The walls of the quarantine room were smeared with dark, drie







