Chapter 83: The Zombie Horde

Zombies, man, they're like these brain-dead, biochemical freaks. They don't get anything except their basic instincts, like they can't even tell if it's day or night.

The virus mutation turned zombies into these non-stop, never-tiring machines. No one really gets how they keep moving and attacking year after year. Machines need breaks and fixes, but zombies? Nah, they just keep going, totally ignoring the laws of energy. Especially at night, they go nuts, like they were made for the darkness.

So, are there zombies near the small oasis? Hell yeah, there are.

Zombies are everywhere, always tailing humans no matter where they go. Forests, mountains, deserts... they always find people. No one knows how they do it. Settlements get wrecked or have to keep moving because of these huge zombie hordes, just trying to catch a break.

The small oasis, with all its noisy machinery, is like a zombie magnet. Zombies within earshot get drawn in and then taken out. Over the past month, only a few zombies have wandered into this range, so it's been pretty chill. But beyond that noise range? Zombies are still going wild, and sometimes you even see high-level ones, so the danger's still real.

Right now, a tiny mechanical helicopter is cruising through the night, its soft hum breaking the silence. But the real kicker is this little gadget under its belly, flashing blue lights. Every flash comes with a sound like a submarine in deep water, heading towards the small oasis.

This sound is weird. It's not loud, but it makes your eardrums buzz, like something's ringing in your brain.

Below the helicopter, there's this heavy rustling noise, like a ton of people moving on the sand.

Look down, and you see a swarm of zombies. They're moving in packs, following the flashing helicopter. The sound is leading them. A bunch of high-level zombies are at the front, all fierce and fast, sometimes jumping to attack the helicopter flying 20 feet up, but they can only jump six or seven feet, so no big threat.

The helicopter isn't in a rush. Whenever it gets ahead of the zombies, it waits for them to catch up before heading towards the small oasis again.

Ethan and his crew are all pumped, ready to deal with the barbed wire. But just as they get going, a lookout spots the flashing blue light in the dark. It's super bright, like it just popped up. The sharp sound cuts through the air, making their hearts race.

"Yo, what the hell is that?"

The panicked shout grabs everyone's attention. When they see the blue light, the team freaks out. The dark night hides the helicopter well. With the naked eye, they can't tell what it is. Even with binoculars, Ethan can only see a bit of the blue light flashing, still clueless about what it is.

As the little chopper gets closer, it kills the blue light, just making that weird noise, and starts climbing higher.

The rustling in the night is loud and clear. A gust of wind blows in, carrying a faint, nasty stench that makes the vets' faces go pale. They shout, "Zombies! Zombies! Get ready to fight!"

The panicked crew forms a circle, half-crouching with their guns aimed outwards. Forget the small oasis now; running into zombies at night is a total nightmare. Judging by the smell, there’s a ton of them. Whether they can get out of this mess is anyone's guess.

The night feels like a giant beast, eating away at their courage. With little experience fighting in the dark, everyone’s freaking out.

"Flares! Who's got flares?" The leader's shout sends several flares shooting into the sky, lighting up the ground. What they see is a sea of zombies. The high-level ones at the front have already locked onto the group. As the flares go up, a bunch of level-3 zombies start charging.

Using the flare light, Ethan stands at the back and yells, "Ready, fire!"

Gunfire erupts, echoing through the night. Bullets rain down on the zombies, tearing them apart in a metal storm, turning them into shredded corpses.

Zombies don’t stand a chance against bullets. They get ripped to pieces easily.

But the zombies behind them don’t care. The sight of humans drives them nuts, and they rush forward. The high-level zombies lead the charge, pushing through the bullets until they get hit in the head and go down.

"Aim for their heads!"

The temporary captains shout from the back, sometimes kicking the scared soldiers. The key to surviving a zombie horde is to take out the high-level ones first. So the battle turns into a death match. Once the high-level zombies are down, the line retreats while shooting, picking off the regular zombies.

The zombie horde is massive. The night hides their numbers, making it even scarier.

A dozen high-level zombies get shredded by bullets in no time. As the flares fall, they reveal a huge group of regular zombies behind. But the flares don’t last long. Once they’re out, darkness takes over again.

In this brief moment, the captains shout for everyone to change mags.

The vets know that after a round of shooting, especially in the chaos, you can’t tell how many bullets are left. Most of the crew aren’t pros, and running out of bullets in a zombie fight can be deadly. So the captains remind everyone to swap in a fresh mag, empty or not, to keep the bullet rain steady and avoid any gaps.