All Chapters of The APOCALYPSE bows to my FOUR MEN!: Chapter 11 - Chapter 19

“Mercer is dead,” the soldier repeated, his face pale.Kael kept his eyes on the radio.The transmission had stopped, but the silence it left behind felt worse. Mercer was dead. The squad had confirmed it themselves. Yet someone—or something—had called Kael’s name through a channel that should have been inactive.Then Kael looked at me.The fear in his eyes had disappeared beneath the hard expression of a commander who couldn't afford to trust the wrong person.“We’re moving,” he ordered. “Emergency depot, north of the interchange. Now.”He didn't ask what I thought about the transmission. He didn't ask how I had known about the service tunnel or the ambush waiting beyond it.He had decided that keeping me close was safer than letting me out of his sight.I wasn't sure whether that made me feel protected or threatened.The squad moved quickly. Two soldiers supported their injured companion while another checked the tunnel entrance for movement. I followed with my remaining supplies cl

“Odette Turner,” Kael repeated, staring at the record on the tablet. “According to these records, you died before the outbreak.”I forced myself to look at the screen.My name appeared beneath a red status stamp: DECEASED — IDENTITY VERIFIED.There was a date, a case number, and a digital signature from an office I recognized from my manuscript. The record looked official enough to convince anyone who saw it.It was also impossible.I had been alive when the first infected attacked the market. I had felt the pavement cut into my palms, heard Lia crying, and watched people die around me. Whatever else had changed when I woke inside Odette Turner's body, I hadn't been dead.At least, not in the way this record claimed.“Where did you get this?” I asked.“The remaining government network,” the soldier answered. “Most records are inaccessible, but this one was cached locally. Your identity was flagged before the emergency system went down.”“Flagged for what?”He shook his head. “The file

So who had—and how had my face ended up inside it?The question followed me long after Lucien leaned back in his seat.I wanted to demand more about the classified file, but he had already made it clear that information was something he traded, not something he gave away. Pressing him now would only earn me another evasive smile.Across from me, he looked perfectly comfortable, as if he hadn't just given me another reason to doubt the world around me.Kael wasn't as easily distracted.“Vale,” he called from the front of the utility vehicle. “You said the western freight yard leads to a drainage passage. How far is the entrance?”“Another few minutes, assuming your driver doesn't decide to test the vehicle's remaining life by hitting every hole in the road.”“Our fuel is limited. I suggest you focus on directions.”“I'm focused. I'm also observant.”“Then observe quietly.”Lucien gave me a knowing look. I refused to encourage him.The utility vehicle continued toward the western freigh

[EXTINCTION CATALYST: ZANE MERCER.][TERMINATION RECOMMENDED.]I stared at the words until they blurred.The system had never given me advice about killing someone before. It had helped me store supplies, track my limited capacity, and survive situations that should have ended badly for me. Its rules were restrictive, but at least they had made sense.This was different.Zane Mercer stood a few steps away, watching me with an expression I couldn't read. Behind him, the road was littered with the bodies of infected he'd just thrown around as if they weighed nothing.Kael's weapon remained raised.“Odette,” he said sharply. “What did you see?”I blinked, and the alert vanished.“Nothing.”“Try again.”“I said nothing.”His jaw tightened. “You expect me to believe that?”“No. I expect you to stop pointing weapons at people while I'm trying to think.”“That man just destroyed an entire horde without touching a single infected.”“And if you shoot him, do you think your bullets will change