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
"Then I'll just go find some zombies to kill and upgrade my power," Jacqueline said.Billy quickly intervened and said, "You're not going to go out on your own. It's dangerous to head out by yourself.""Then you can come with me," she said.Instead of saying anything, he grimaced. He understood her feelings. It would be hard for her to leave them behind after everything, but they had already made it clear what their feelings were on the subject. Billy was certain that even if she did go out and manage to upgrade her power, they wouldn't let her take them with her. It would be a wasted effort.Well, it wouldn't exactly be a wasted effort. Upgrading her power could be useful for the future, but that wasn't something to be thinking about. Billy could see that Jacqueline had realized he wasn't going to back her up and looked ready to explode over the topic. He had to defuse the situation quickly before something that couldn't be taken back happened.Fortunately, he didn't have to do anyth
Days passed before they started to see movement in the zombies again. Everyone was on edge as they saw more zombies start passing by, but the zombies never stopped and stared at the house like what happened before. No one was sure how to feel, and it was like they were walking on eggshells. It would be much easier to handle if the zombies just outright confronted them.Then they would at least be able to fight them without wondering what they were up to. Instead, they had to constantly keep watch to see when the zombies would decide to turn their attention to the house. Billy couldn't understand what the zombies were thinking, or rather, what the zombie user was thinking. The zombies shouldn't be able to think. They didn't have the brains or minds for it.That meant the zombie user had to be somehow controlling them, even from another city. Did they just give a generic command, or were they always in contact? If it was the former, what kind of command did they give? Did they simply te
"Let's observe them for a bit," Billy said.There was no reason to act when the group of survivors hadn't shown any indication that they knew they were there. It would just expose them if the survivors were ignorant of their presence. Billy didn't think that the survivors were there, as they hadn't done anything to draw attention to themselves. Of course, there could be a small chance they did know.It was a slim chance, but he was going to keep watching them for any signs. The two of them kept their eyes on the cameras as the group got closer and closer. They observed that it was a group of ten, which was a decent sized group. Moving in such a large group was unusual. It made it easier for them to be spotted by the zombies and others.In his opinion, the optimal size was around five. A smaller group would be better, but it would be hard to keep an eye out for zombies if the group was too small unless they were skilled enough. They didn't fail to notice how there were only a few child
Billy and Jacqueline landed silently on a rooftop out of sight of the survivors. They had both decided that appearing right in the middle of the group wouldn't be wise. While it would give them the element of surprise, it would put them in the thick of danger. There was a high chance the survivors would immediately react with lethal force at their appearance.Staring at the group from their vantage point, they were able to get a better look at them. Even though they had already seen the group through the camera feed, it was different seeing them with their own eyes. Out of the ten people, basically half were kids. It was odd seeing such a disparity. In a dangerous situation like the zombie apocalypse, it was easy for children to die."Who should we take out first?" Jacqueline whispered."We should deal with Joshua immediately since his mind reading would be a huge problem," Billy said.Unfortunately, the kids were in the middle of the adults. The group had probably done that to make s
"If you're not going to answer, I'm going to have to make you," the leader said as he charged at Billy again.Billy grimaced as he was forced on the defensive. With his ability to fight back hampered, he could only dodge as best he could despite having a broken rib and wait for an opening. Ducking underneath a punch, he glanced in Jacqueline's direction and saw her struggling to fight the others. His request had really been too much for her.Well, he had made the request, thinking that the fight between him and the leader wouldn't last long. She needed backup soon, but the leader was a serious problem. There had to be a way to defeat him. There had to be some limitation or drawback to the man's power. He couldn't keep having a steel body indefinitely. Billy guessed there had to be a time limit or the man could only do a part of his body.He couldn't wait for the first. Time was not on their side. As for the latter, he observed the man. The steel skin covered every inch that Billy coul
"Jacqueline, we need to go," Billy calmly says.However, she didn't pay him any mind, as her eyes were stuck staring at the unmoving body. Jacqueline couldn't believe she had killed someone. She hadn't meant to. She had only wanted to stop the woman from helping out the other survivors. It was something she had to do because she didn't want to pull Billy down. Now she was a murderer.The very thought made her sick. Of course, she knew it was a possibility. Billy hadn't hidden the fact that they might have to kill other survivors, but it was different from actually doing it herself. Seeing that she wasn't responding, he sighed before shooting the body with his gun. Jacqueline flinched as the body jerked and stared at him in shock and confusion."She was still alive," he said as he helped her to her feet.Jacqueline immediately relaxed as the weight of being a murderer was lifted. She hadn't killed a person. Immediately, she felt guilty for being relieved that she hadn't killed someone
Billy and the elderly man stared at each other as they stood in the hallway. While Billy hadn't expected for the old man to suddenly come out, he wouldn't have hidden even if he could. For one, it would be too suspicious if he tried to hide himself away. The old man might still have noticed him disappearing around some corner or room and wondered what he had to hide.For the other, he had no reason to act like a criminal. What they had done was necessary, though he hadn't wanted for them to find out. He should have known that Jacqueline might end up giving away that they had done something without letting the elderly couple know. Well, there was nothing he could do about it now. All he could do right now was decide how he wanted to play this out.He could be honest about what happened or continue to keep it a secret by making something up to deceive them. Both had their pros and cons, but whatever he ended up deciding on, he needed to buckle down on it. He couldn't suddenly change his
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