The duo shared a glance before Jacqueline asked, "What do you mean?""I have a power like you do," the kid said as he pointedly stared at Billy.Billy frowned. While he did hope that the kids had a useful power, there was something not right with the situation. It was awefully convenient that the kid popped in the middle of the conversation to volunteer himself. More importantly, neither of them had told the kids that Billy had a power. Unless the kid assumed everyone had a power, he had no reason to believe Billy had one.Another detail he didn't miss was how the kid purposely looked in Billy's direction or the words he used. The kid acted like he knew for certain that Billy had a power and Jacqueline didn't. Billy narrowed his eyes as he considered the possibility that the kid was a threat to them. He didn't like the idea of killing a kid, but he would do what he needed to protect himself and Jacqueline."I have the power to read minds," the kid said, catching the two adults off gua
"Ready to go?" Billy asked after checking that he had everything set for their journey.Jacqueline and Joshua nodded. "We're ready.""Remember the plan. We will only be looking for lone zombies to fight. If there are more than three zombies, we are to ignore them. Keep an eye out for survivors so we can avoid them," Billy reminded them.The others nodded as they proceeded to leave their base. Billy was still uncertain if Joshua was ready to fight zombies. He and Jacqueline had worked hard to train him the past few days how to use some weapons. Given his size, it was best if he used a long distance weapon to prevent zombies from getting too close to him. Unfortunately, there weren't many options.There was no way Billy would lend an elementary school kid a gun. That was just asking for an accident to happen. The kid was more likely to shoot himself or one of them instead of the intended target. Billy refused to hand over such a dangerous weapon. In the end, the best they could do was t
Billy had already sensed something even before she even spoke up. His instincts had tipped him off that something wasn't right. However, he didn't expect an arrow to nearly hit Joshua right in the forehead. If he hadn't pulled the kid out of the way in time, he would have died instantly. Without hesitation, he dragged the kid out of the open and into the closest corner.He scanned the area for signs of their attackers. However, he couldn't find any signs of life. The only clue he had to go on was the direction the arrow had come from. Billy didn't know where people got their hands on arrows, but there was a limit to how far they could go in the hands of an amuter. The number of people who could actually use a bow was small.Unless they did it as a hobby or actively participated in archery events, they wouldn't be very skilled with it. It was very different from a gun. Even if the person had trained using a bow, the bow itself couldn't be that good unless it was a specially made one. W
"Understand the plan?" Billy asked as he glanced around the corner."Got it," Jacqueline said with a nod."Go," he said as he ran out into the open.Jacqueline carrying the toddler followed after. At first, nothing happened. Then there was a whizzing sound as an arrow came towards them. Billy quickly acted and used his knife to knock it out of the air. The arrow landed on the ground as they finally reached where Joshua was supposed to be hiding. However, there was no one there."Where's Joshua?" she demanded."I don't know," he said as he scanned the area.The kid was in no condition to move. He had clearly been traumatized to the point where he would need someone to carry him. Even if he could move, he would have been spotted by the archer and taken out. However, the fact that Joshua was gone didn't change. He must have gotten away somehow, unless one of the attackers had taken the kid.Billy hoped it was the former. Scanning for clues, he didn't see any hints that there had been a s
Christina quivered beneath the man's gaze. She had never thought she would end up in this situation. When the zombie apocalypse started, she had been in the middle of her routine jog. Through sheer luck and fitness, she had been able to get away from the zombies. The people around her hadn't been as lucky, and she had to listen to their screams as she ran.Unfortunately, it had seemed like she had reached the end of her rope when she had been found by the zombies. She had been barely surviving on water, so she had no strength in her limbs, but she still tried outrunning them. When she had thought all hope was lost, she saw another person for the first time in several days. Even though it had been a long shot, she tried to get their help.She wouldn't have been able to blame them if they just left her to die. After all, she had done the same to plenty of other people. Surprisingly, the mysterious man hadn't. While she cowered from the zombies, he had killed all the zombies on his own.
Billy stared up at the apartment complex. It was quiet, but he couldn't be sure if it meant that the others had successfully hidden themselves away or that they had been found and killed. Glancing back at Christina, he grimaced. She would be dead weight if he brought her in and there were enemies around, but he couldn't just leave her outside. Others would take notice of her presence.With a quiet sigh, he whispered, "Follow me. Don't do anything else. Don't even speak."Christina opened her mouth to speak, but she quickly covered her mouth with her hands. Making eye contact with him, she nodded her head. He had been worried there for a moment. At least she could quickly catch on to what she could and could not do. The duo made their way into the building and quietly went up a floor. So far, there have been no signs of anything wrong.Nothing had been moved, nor were there any markings to indicate that there had been a fight. However, that wasn't enough to tell him that they were in t
Billy stabbed a zombie in the head, and a message informing him that he had earned a point popped up. Not bothering to look in its direction, he moved on to the next zombie. It was just as easily dispatched as the first. Checking his surroundings, he saw that there weren't any left nearby. Wiping up the bit of blood that got on his face, he pulled up his skills. [They're not skills. It's your upgrades.] He ignored the system and focused his attention on how many points he had. So far, he had managed to collect twenty points. It wasn't much considering how many points his upgrades demanded. He needed to hunt more zombies if he wanted to upgrade his power. Well, there was another reason why he wasn't making much progress. Turning his attention to Christina, who looked ready to heave at any moment, he said, "Let's move. We need to check the next building." "Can't we take a quick break?" she asked. "No," he said bluntly, before moving on without waiting for her. Billy could hear her
Billy grimaced. He debated on whether he should go and check on the noise she was talking about. She might have been too high strung and was just hearing things, but there was a possibility she wasn't. He couldn't rule out the possibility that someone was following them and was prepared to ambush them when their guard was down.With a sigh, he said, "I'll go check. Don't move."Leaving her behind, he peeked outside while using the door as a cover. He made sure to move as carefully as possible to avoid detection. However, he couldn't see anything out there that would indicate there was someone spying on them. Well, they could be doing a good job hiding themselves. After scanning the area a little more, he determined that there was nothing for him to see.He retreated back to see Christina anxiously waiting for his return, and she asked, "Did you see anything?"Shaking his head, he said, "There was nothing."That answer didn't reassure her, as she quietly said, "Oh."Instead of trying t
Hello everyone. I just want to thank all my readers who have been following along because it sure has been a doozy. Also, there are several things that I want to let you know.Billy's story has ended, and I'll have to admit that I didn't think it would end so soon. I had a lot of things planned, but after some careful consideration, I ultimately decided to end it early.Just like with Rise of the Demon King: Caleb Gonzales's Rat Race, I might do a rewrite or remake of it.If I do go through with this idea, then I'll just immediately go to eBook and paperback, and it would be very different from the one here. We will have to see, and I'll let everyone know.For now, I'll be focusing on finishing Johnny's story in Rise of the Commoner: Johnny Burns's The Lost Heir, which can be found here: https://www.meganovel.com/story/Rise-of-the-Commoner-Johnny-Burns-s-The-Lost-Heir_31000695378 .It's also going to be ending early. I'm not sure by how much. It might even be shorter than this one. We'
After hearing what the woman had to say, Billy released her. She took the chance to elbow him in the face, making his nose bleed, before putting some distance between them. There was a dark look on her face. He scowled, but he didn't retaliate for it. Instead, he went over everything he had learned from her. It had been a lot, and that had only been the surface."Well, what are you going to do now?" she asked."Well, I'll be accepting that proposal of yours," he said as he stood up and brushed the front of his pants.The woman huffed. "See. I told you. I don't know why you insisted on picking a fight when there was no need to fight.""However, I have some conditions," he said.She stared at him in disbelief before blurting out, "What?""You heard me. I won't accept your proposal without my own terms," he said."You can't be serious. You can't just add your own terms. You're already lucky enough to be spared in the first place," she said."It's not like you wanted to. You're only doing
"Hold it," Billy said as he held up a hand."Yes?" she asked."Why are you doing this? Why are you preparing to unleash a zombie apocalypse?" he asked."Why?" She took a moment to consider his question before saying, "It's for entertainment."Billy felt the veins in his head bulge from sheer anger. "What?""All of this is meant for entertainment for our followers. Unforunately, we've been having issues making it work, hence the number of tests we performed," she said."Followers? What are you talking about? Are you saying this is a game?" he demanded."A game? No. I guess you can view it as a game, but it isn't. You don't really need to know the details since you don't have the clearance for that information," she said.He gritted his teeth. "Then what can you tell me?""As stated before, we were running tests when we noticed some things were not progressing properly. One of them happened to be you," she said as she poin
Billy coughed up blood as he struggled against the giant zombie's grip. He could hear the others screaming as they fought off the other zombies that surrounded them down below. Unfortunately, he was in no condition to help them as he fought to stay alive. Billy couldn't believe how quickly things had gone horribly wrong.One moment, they were trying to stealthily sneak away. Then the next day, the giant zombie was rushing towards them like a maniac. They had tried to run away when they realized the giant zombie was coming for them, but it easily outpaced them. Whether it was because of its long legs or because it was simply faster than them, it easily caught up to them in no time.If Billy hadn't shoved Jacqueline away, she would have turned into paste beneath the giant zombie's foot. However, the force from its mere step had knocked everyone off their feet, giving the giant zombie time to grab him. The giant zombie's grip tightened, and he could feel his bomes creak i
A sound caught everyone's attention, and all eyes turned to the doorway. They didn't see anyone or anything, but after what they had seen from the system, none of them were calm. The tied up woman was even more frantic to get out of the ropes. Unfortunately for her, they held fast, keeping her from getting away. Billy vaguely wondered why she didn't use her power."We're going," Billy declared."Wait," the woman wailed. "Don't leave me."Billy didn't give her a second glance as he walked away from her. He didn't want to stick around to see if the noise was actually something to be worried about. Jacqueline's gaze shifted between the two of them. She clearly didn't want to leave the woman behind, but she could also tell that Billy wasn't going to do that. Then the last person any of them expected to protest spoke up."I think we should let her go," Joshua said.Everyone turned to him as Billy said, "What?""We should let her go," Joshua said.
"Are you kidding me?" the tied up woman shrieked, voicing what was on everyone's minds.What was the system thinking? This was basically telling everyone to die. Billy had no clue how many awakened there were, but their group had three awakened, if he still counted as one. That meant the zombies would receive a boost three times greater than if none of them were awakened, and what did they mean by boost? It was so vague that it could mean anything.Were the zombies stronger, faster, smarter, or what? It was impossible for anyone to counteract it without more information, which the system didn't seem to care to give. Billy could feel everyone's gaze on him, as if looking to him for answers that he didn't have. He could understand why Jacqueline and Joshua were doing that, but why was the tied up woman also looking at him?If anything, he should be the last person she should be looking to, considering how he had just threatened her. Well, he supposed that there we
Billy studied the woman's face as the others stared dabsmacked with their jaws hanging. He was just as shocked as they were, but he was better at keeping it off his face. Out of all the things he expected her to say, he didn't expect the woman to tell him that things had gotten off the rails for everyone who had gotten a system and power."Are you really telling the truth?" Billy asked.The woman frantically nodded her head. "Yes, I am. You've got to believe me. I have no reason to lie. When I realized that I could hide from everyone, a screen appeared in front of me, telling me I was one of the awakened."Something had seriously changed this time. In previous lives, no one could receive their power until after their first wave was over. He wasn't sure what had made such a huge difference, but that meant the system had no right to take his power away from him. If anyone could get their power before the first wave ended, he shouldn't have his power removed.<
"Billy?" Jacqueline called out.Billy frowned as he recalled telling her to stay quiet and out of sight until he said the coast was clear. She must have heard his knocking out the woman and got worried, but that didn't change how dumb it was. Jacqueline was basically announcing her presence to whoever was nearby. If he had been the one who had been taken out, she would have been in trouble.Even now, it wasn't a guarantee that they were in the clear just yet. He remained silent as he dragged the unconscious woman away while keeping an eye on his surroundings. After dragging her into another part of the house, he found some rope to tie her up with and searched her for anything valuable. Unfortunately, she didn't have anything on her except for a knife.He narrowed his eyes. It didn't make sense for someone to only go around with a tiny knife. Just imagining someone trying to fight a bunch of zombies with it was ridiculous. Even against another person was a joke.
Billy stared as his mind whirled with indecision. A morally good person would run back to save them because that was the right thing to do. Leaving a woman who was someone close to him and two children to the zombies would be a monsterous thing to do. On the other hand, a realistic person or someone with self preservation would immediately leave them behind.Honestly, if it wasn't for Jacqueline, he would have hightailed out of there without even looking back. However, this was Jacqueline. If he left, he didn't think she would follow him. As she was now, she wouldn't abandon the kid to save herself. She would die. There would be no second chance for her since this was his only life left. On the flip side, because it was his only life, he had to be even more careful."Billy!" Jacqueline screamed again as she knocked another zombie away.He gritted his teeth and made his choice. Billy rushed over and grabbed Jacqueline's arm before shoving her away. She stumbled b