"What happened?" Jacqueline asked."What can you tell us?" Billy asked.It took her several minutes to explain what she could remember. After the awkward talk that had taken place, she had wanted to avoid Billy. It was difficult to look him in the eyes. She had gone off to explore the rest of the house, even though she had already known the whole place like the back of her hand. That's how she ended up in the basement.What she didn't expect was for a secret passage to appear when she coincidentally leaned against a part of the wall. When she said that, Billy and the elderly woman stared at the old man with judgmental eyes. The elderly man didn't bother trying to defend himself. There was no way he could defend against the fact that Jacqueline could easily find and enter the secret tunnel.She had decided to check it out and make sure it was safe. Billy would have rather she immediately got him to help her check it out, but he understood where she was coming from. If a place she had n
The group was unable to come to a decision and went their separate ways to retire for the night. While separating was probably not the right move to make given the current situation, The awkward atmosphere after the fight between the elderly couple and Jacqueline made it difficult for them to stay in the same room as each other.They should have resolved things as soon as possible, but Billy felt like it wasn't his place to interfere. The relationship between them wasn't something he had control over. He was an outsider, and they would most likely not appreciate him stepping in out of the blue. All he could do was wait for them to resolve things as quickly as possible.As he watched the cameras, Jacqueline asked, "Shouldn't you be getting some sleep? You've been up for a while.""It's difficult to sleep when we have so many problems at our doorstep," Billy dryly said as he searched for any strange movements from the zombies.With his back to her, he didn't notice how she winced at his
Billy traversed the tunnel undisturbed. There were no new zombies for him to fight. It seemed that the giant zombie might have stopped them from getting in. That made sense given its huge size and how it had blocked Billy's path earlier. At least there was one piece of good news from all this. He continued until he saw something blocking his way.It didn't take a genius to realize it was the giant zombie. He grimaced as he observed the thing with his ax ready. There didn't seem to be any eyes or any visible sign of where its face could be. Could it be a headless zombie? It wouldn't surprise him, but that meant cutting off its head or bashing its brains out wouldn't do the trick.Suddenly, something shot out towards him. His quick reflexes prevented him from being impaled on the walls of the tunnel. The tunnels shook from the impact, and he stared at the massive tentacle that had tried to kill him. This was way too different from what he was expecting. He had been imaging the zombie hi
"What happened while I was gone?" Billy asked as he got to his feet.The elderly couple glanced at each other before the elderly man said, "Well, we were waiting for you to return. Suddenly, there were a lot of noises and shaking, so we figured we should block the entrance.""Jackie insisted we should wait, but we didn't think it was a good idea," the elderly woman said with a guilty expression."No, you did the right thing. Making you wait thirty minutes was too much to ask," he said.It was the right choice to make under those circumstances. If he were in their place, he would have done the same, even if it was Jacqueline on the other side. They had no idea how safe it would be to keep the entrance open. For all they knew, a zombie horde might have appeared at any moment. However, that wasn't what he was interested in."Can you tell me how Jacqueline suddenly appeared at my side?" Billy asked.Jacqueline immediately spoke up. "I can explain. We were barricading the entrance when a s
"Are you ready?" Billy asked as he strapped another knife to his body.Jacqueline nodded. "I'm good to go."The elderly couple stared at the armed duo with worry and concern written all over their faces. They had eventually relented after Billy and Jacqueline wore them down, but they were still worried about what would happen to them once they got outside. While the duo would be fighting for their lives, the elderly couple would be waiting in the safety of the house."We'll be fine," Jacqueline said as she tried to comfort them. "I can handle myself."Unfortunately, the elderly couple didn't seem to remember what happened not too long ago, with her being knocked unconscious in the secret tunnel. Considering everything that happened and their age, it wasn't surprising that it slipped their minds. Well, Billy hadn't forgotten about it, but he wasn't going to remind any of them about it."I'm counting on you, Jacqueline," Billy said as he placed a hand on her shoulder."Don't worry. I'll
Now that Billy had confirmed Jacqueline was fine, he turned his attention back to the zombies trying to kill them. He swung his metal pole, and there was a crunching sound as the zombie broke its nose on it. Surprisingly, he didn't manage to knock its head right off. It must have been because he didn't put his back into it. That was easily resolved with a boot to the face.The head went sailing through the air before bouncing off the ground a few times and rolling across the ground. In that time, more zombies came at the duo who fought them off. After killing the small group of zombies, they turned their attention to the other zombies. Some had turned around to come after them, while others continued to go in their original direction."Do you want to go after the fleeing ones?" Jacqueline asked."You know exactly what I'm thinking," he said before she teleported them away.This time there was no repeat incident of what happened the last time she teleported them. They smoothly teleport
"If you say so," Jacqueline said as she selected that option."Wait. Aren't you going to think about it a little longer?" the elderly man asked.Jacqueline shook her head. "I trust Billy's judgment. If he thinks the second option is better, then I'll go for it."Billy stepped in to explain his reasoning. "While being able to go farther would indeed be beneficial, it currently doesn't help much in our current situation. We are no longer in danger, and we have all the necessary supplies in this house. There's no need for her to have to travel far from this place.""That's true," the elderly man said."However, if there is an emergency, it's important she is able to transport multiple people at once. It would be better if she could take all of us at once if the need arose. That way, she doesn't have to make multiple trips, but it seems that isn't an option. She can at least cut down on the number of times she needs to teleport by one," Billy added."Well, it does say I can add another pe
The next couple of days were strangely peaceful. After the incident with the zombies, Billy thought for sure that more would appear or that the giant zombie would suddenly rise up. Neither of these things happened. Instead, they were left alone, which only made Billy more paranoid. He kept expecting more zombies to appear or for some survivors to appear. It was highly suspicious."Isn't it a good thing?" the elderly man asked. "We don't have to deal with zombies or survivors trying to steal our stuff.""It's still strange," Billy said with a frown. "Even before, zombies would occasionally pass by the house to travel to other destinations. This time, there isn't a single sign of them anywhere to be found. It's like they vanished.""He does have a point," the elderly woman said. "Don't give me that look. You know I'm right."The elderly man continued to give her a dubious look as Jacqueline asked, "What do you think might have happened?""I'm not sure. The system has been silent on the
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