Chapter 6 :THE GENERAL'S WEAKNESS

The next three days were incredibly long.

Siera immediately used Julian's information of where the General was going to attack from, and set up an ambush.

Julian, thankfully, lived up to his end of the bargain, being a former solider.

He was undoubtedly efficient, calculating, and scary.

Julian remained behind at the base bunker with Frank to guard and reinforce the blast doors while she and Julian went out in her truck to the mountain pass.

They used Siera's fertilizer and Julian's detonators to form a series of explosive devices.

"We need to funnel them," Julian said, drawing lines on the map with a piece of chalk, "if the General attacks with a mega-horde, we can't take them on an open field. The cliffs on the eastern trail, we can use that to our advantage and cause a rockslide."

"If I blow up half of this mountain, it might draw more zombies," Siera said. They were right; half of this mountain could easily take half the zombies with them.

"That's okay; we can use them to our advantage," Julian said, his eyes gleaming, "we draw them in here, cause a rockslide, and pick off the survivors."

They spent the next two days preparing for the oncoming battle.

While Julian practiced his sniping, Siera used her expanding space to bring in logs and boulders to block the mountain road.

One night, as they ate a small meal of canned beans and bread by the campfire, Julian asked, "Why did you choose that bunker?"

She twirled a stick in the fire.

"It's a good location," she said.

Julian shook his head, "No... why did you pick that bunker? You could've picked the cabin. You knew about it, but you gave it to Marcus and Sophie?"

"They would've picked the cabin first if they knew about the bunker," Siera said, smirking, "it was their bait to get me to come out."

Julian looked at her closely.

"You're really cold, aren't you?"

"I'm practical," Siera said. After everything that happened, the way they disrespected her, threatened her with a gun, she chose the bunker not because it was a good location, but because the Alpha would've picked the cabin first. Siera gave them what they wanted; she gave them the bait.

Julian said nothing.

On the day of the battle, the earth shook.

Siera stood on a hill overlooking the forest.

The wind was eerily still.

Then she heard the noise; the unmistakable sound of a large group of people walking in unison.

A low, gurgling sound, like a thousand voices speaking at once.

It was the General, but he was with a group of zombies, most of which were piled on top of each other, forming a conga line of undead.

The General was huge, at least ten feet tall, with parts of armor plating on his body and massive claws on his arms, a product of the virus.

Siera could see the mass of monsters in the distance, but the General stood out among them.

"Take your positions," Julian said.

Julian took position behind a large boulder, his sniper rifle trained on the oncoming mob.

Siera took up a position near a ridge, giving her a perfect field of fire on the road that wound down the mountain. She took a steady breath, aiming down the sight of her crossbow as the first wave of monsters came into view.

"Here they come!" Julian shouted.

The first wave of monsters came marching into the kill zone, but the General was at the front of the pack, leading the charge.

Julian was the first to fire, planting a tracking explosive on the General's forehead.

The General roared in rage as the charge exploded, sending him sprawling to the ground.

"Move!" Julian shouted.

Siera fired her crossbow, planting a timed explosive at the base of the cliffs.

The world seemed to shake as the mountain trembled. The bombs Siera planted along the cliff exploded, sending a large chunk of the mountain falling on top of the oncoming mob.

The General was buried under the rubble and the shrieking of the dying zombies.

From the pile of rubble, the General crawled out, growling in rage.

His left arm was broken, and a large gash ran down his chest, but he was still very much alive.

He turned his glowing red eyes to Siera and began to climb the cliff.

"He's coming for you!" Frank shouted.

"I see him," Siera said, calmly pulling out a fuel canister from her space.

She chucked the canister at the General's face and fired a flare from her flare gun.

The resulting explosion of fire sent the General tumbling back down the mountain.

Julian got three more shots off before the monster finally fell.

The explosion of the canister was large enough to throw him off the edge of the cliff.

Siera fired another flare gun shot at the General's rising body and watched as it exploded on contact, sending the monster plummeting to the ground below.

Silence stretched along the mountainside.

The General was dead; the horde was destroyed.

Back at the bunker, Siera opened her terminal.

[Ding! Massive Plot Deviation: Defeated the Final Boss in Chapter 6.]

[Bonus Reward: Space Level 7 unlocked: 500 cubic meters. Advanced Hydroponics (10 square meters) unlocked.]

[Base Defense Upgraded: Automated Motion Sensor Turrets unlocked.]

Siera smiled.

"We did it," Frank said, looking at the monitor in awe; the turrets rotated to face the forest.

"We did," Siera said.

Julian came over, wiping some of the dirt from his face.

"The horde is destroyed, but there will be more of them," Julian said, looking over the map, then at the monitors, "the world is still ending."

"Let it end," Siera said, watching the monitors showing her growing empire, "we're ready."

She opened her space, looking over her stockpile of goods: noodles, rice, meat, weapons, bullets, animals, and, last but not least, turrets. She was ready.