Billy immediately zoned in on what Jacqueline was pointing at, but he couldn't see anything unusual. However, just because he didn't see anything didn't mean that Jacqueline didn't. He continued to observe for a bit, with nothing happening. Jacqueline fidgeted at his side, obviously concerned that he hadn't said anything about what she had seen."Can you tell me what you saw?" he asked."You didn't see it?" she asked instead.He shook his head and said, "No."She frowned before saying, "I thought I saw something moving towards the bodies.""Well, either you're mistaken or something scared them off," he said.Billy wasn't sure which he preferred. Well, that wasn't quite right. He would rather it be the former than the latter. At least with the former, he would only have to deal with offending Jacqueline, who he didn't think would begrudge him for his thoughts. If it were the latter, what had scared the person away? Did they somehow know someone was watching and wanted to wait until no
Billy vaguely thought to himself how the elderly woman's words and the current situation would have been heartwarming under different circumstances. Well, he was sure that Jacqueline was really affected by the elderly woman's words. For his part, he felt apathetic about the whole thing. Despite having lived with them for some time, he didn't have the same attachment as Jacqueline.However, he felt that there was something off about her words and asked, "I don't mean to be rude, but what are your intentions by coming with us?""Billy," Jacqueline said, shocked that he would ask such a thing."We're saying that if push comes to shove, we would rather be used as bait to protect you," the elderly man said.Jacqueline gasped as Billy frowned and said, "That's not necessary.""What if you're stuck in a situation where you need to sacrifice someone to save yourselves?" the elderly woman asked."I will be blunt. I think that would only happen if you came with us," Billy said."Billy," Jacquel
"Is everyone ready?" Billy asked as he observed everyone."I'm good," Jacqueline said."We're good," the elderly couple said."Then let's go," he said as he led the pack.Billy headed towards the front doors and signaled for the elderly couple to turn off the security system. He had already checked the cameras earlier, so he knew that it was clear for them to go out. Of course he would rather do a thorough check before going out, but there was only so much they could do. The elderly man reached out to the control panel and hesitated.Everyone could see his arm shake, and it wasn't from old age. The elderly woman placed a shaky hand on his shoulder as he steeled himself. The elderly man took several calming breaths before he turned off the security. Instantly, all the defenses were turned off. Billy took the chance to open the front door slightly and peeked through the small opening to confirm if it was safe to go out.The coast was still clear. He slowly pushed the door open before he
"What?" Jacqueline shouted before slapping a hand over her mouth when she saw the look Billy was giving her.Billy then turned his attention back on to the old man and asked, "Why should we?"The old man scoffed. "Isn't it the obvious answer? All I'm going to end up doing is slow you down. Rather than be the reason that you guys die, I would prefer if you just go on without me."While the others pushed the old man to reconsider, Billy considered his words. The elderly man wasn't wrong. That was exactly what he had been thinking just moments before. Honestly, the best solution would be to leave him behind and keep moving forward. It wasn't anything personal. In the current state of things, being realistic was necessary to survive.However, Billy also knew that the others wouldn't accept it so easily, not with how close they were. If he even tried to suggest it, they would probably jump down his throat and refuse to even consider it. Rather than try to convince them himself, he was goin
While Billy didn't find anything useful, he at least was able to confirm that the place was secure. There were no zombies or other survivors lurking around any corners. It was a pity that there wasn't anything for them to take, like food or medicine, but they were already carrying heavy bags, so perhaps it was for the best. Once he was done looking around, he returned to check up on the others.The old man was already back on his feet, and Billy asked, "Are you ready?""Ready as I can be," the elderly man said.Billy nodded before turning his attention to the other two who reluctantly nodded. No more words were passed between them as the old man headed for the door. The others watched as he slowly made his way back out. As he walked away, the others kept an eye for the shooter and other possible threats. Nothing got in the elderly man's way as he continued to walk away.He disappeared from view, and they strained their ears for any gunshots. IT was dead silent. Of course that didn't m
As soon as the duo entered the building, Billy quickly shut the door behind them and shoved a piece of furniture up against the door. Then he signaled for them to hurry upstairs as quietly as possible. Since they still had no idea what attracted the zombies, they could only hope they were drawn by noise and not smell. The group slowly made their way upstairs and entered one of the rooms with a window.While Jacqueline and the elderly woman made sure not to get too close to the window, he carefully made his way to the window. Making sure to stay out of sight, he peeked outside to catch a glimpse of the zombies. The horde lumbered through the street below them, and he was uneasy at the large numbers in front of him. They wouldn't make it out in one piece if they were to face them.Fortunately, none of them seemed to care about entering the building. They continued down the street without giving the building they were in a second glance. However, he didn't look away in case that might ch
"Hold on. Stay with us," Jacqueline said as tears fell from her eyes.Billy didn't say anything as blood continued to pour from the wound. The bullet must have hit something vital with the large amount of blood they were seeing. He was beginning to think that the chances of saving the old woman were close to zero. Even if they did patch up the wound, the chances of it becoming infected were extremely high, especially given her age.The old woman coughed before saying, "Give up on me.""What? Don't talk like that. We'll patch you up," Jacqueline said.The elderly woman grabbed one of Jacqueline's hands in a vice grip and said, "Jacqueline, listen to me. We all know that I won't make it."Jacqueline sniffled as her hands shook. "No.""You two need to get out of here before it's too late," the old woman said. "Just go."Jacqueline continued to shake her head in denial and muttered no repeatedly. There was no way she was going to willingly leave the elderly woman behind. That was clear to
It was silent for some time before Billy finally heard footsteps approaching their location. They were so faint that he wouldn't have been able to pick up on it if he wasn't completely focused on listening for them. He made sure to slow his breathing so he wouldn't give himself away as he prepared his gun. With the way he was positioned, he couldn't see who or where the person was.The only thing he was sure about them was that it wasn't the zombies. The zombies wouldn't be careful about not being heard. That was something only a person could do, unless the zombies suddenly gained intelligence. Billy grimaced at the thought. He really hoped it wasn't the latter. The last thing they needed were intelligent zombies.All he could do was wait for them to come into view and take them out or leave. The footsteps continued to come closer and closer, only to suddenly stop. He strained his ears, hoping he would pick up on something. Unfortunately, he couldn't hear a single thing. The person ha
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