CHAPTER ELEVEN: THE STORM BREAKS
The First Attack
The night was supposed to be quiet.
But now, the fences rattled, straining under the weight of countless undead.
Kunle took his position on the farmhouse roof, his rifle already picking off the closest walkers. The gunshots echoed across the farm, but the dead kept coming.
Down below, Jace and Bayo sprinted toward the barn, where Mosun and Miss Okafor hurried to get the children into the underground bunker.
Jace turned, gripping Bayo's shoulder. "You stay with them."
Bayo hesitated. "I can fight-"
"Not now." Jace's voice was firm. "Protect the kids."
Bayo nodded, swallowing his protest, and ran inside.
Then Jace turned back to the chaos.
And that's when he saw him.
The horde parted, moving around the figure as he commanded them.
His skin was almost translucent, veins darkened beneath the surface. His eyes weren't dead- they were calculating. Watching.
Jace felt a shiver crawl down his spine.
The LIFESEEKER raised a hand.
And the walkers obeyed.
Jace's grip tightened on his rifle. "What the hell are you?"
The figure cocked his head, like a predator studying prey.
And then he moved.
Not like the undead. Faster. More precise.
One moment, he was standing at the edge of the field. The next, he was inside the farm's perimeter, darting between walkers like a shadow.
Kunle cursed from above. "Jace-move!"
Jace barely had time to react before the fences collapsed, and the dead poured in.
Everything was chaos.
Kunle kept firing from the rooftop, each bullet dropping another walker. Jace swung his machete, cutting through the rotting flesh that lunged at him. Miss Okafor and Mosun locked the barn, shielding the children inside.
But it wasn't enough.
The farm was overrun.
And then, Jace heard a whisper-so soft he almost thought he imagined it.
"You can't stop what's coming."
The LIFESEEKER stood just feet away.
Jace raised his gun-but the creature moved too fast.
A pale hand slammed into Jace's chest, sending him sprawling to the ground.
Pain exploded through his ribs, but Jace barely had time to recover before the creature was on him.
The LIFESEEKER grabbed his throat, lifting him off the ground effortlessly.
Up close, Jace could see the scars on his skin, the marks of experiments, of something unnatural.
"Do you even know, what they did to us?" The creature's voice was raspy, almost inhuman.
Jace choked out, "Know what?"
The LIFESEEKER's expression twisted into something like a smile. "What they did to us."
The creature's memories bled into the present.
Before the fall, he was a prisoner. A test subject.
They called him Subject 17.
They had injected him with an experimental virus-one meant to create immunity.
Instead, it made him something else.
When the world fell apart, the doctors abandoned him. The infection spread, but he... didn't turn.
He survived.
And now, he would make the world remember.
Jace's vision blurred as the LIFESEEKER's grip tightened.
Then a gunshot rang out.
The LIFESEEKER jerked back, staggering.
Kunle stood on the farmhouse roof, rifle smoking. "Get the hell off him."
Jace hit the ground, grasping.
More gunfire erupted from the barn. Miss Okafor, Mosun, and even Bayo, all fighting back.
Jace scrambled to his feet, grabbing his machete.
The horde was still closing in.
They couldn't win this fight.
Jace turned to Kunle. "We have to leave. Now."
Kunle's face was grim. "We won't get another chance."
Jace turned toward the barn. "Mosun, take the kids-go!'
She didn't hesitate. She grabbed Ayanfe, pulling him close. Miss Okafor held onto her daughters and Bayo followed, running toward the truck.
Jace and Kunle covered them, cutting through the dead as they sprinted for the vehicle.
The LIFESEEKER stood watching, his wound already closing.
He didn't chase them.
He didn't have to.
As they sped away, Jace looked back one last time-the farm burning in the night.
The place they had called home, is now gone.
But in the distance, the LIFESEEKER still stood.
Watching. Waiting.
And Jace knew...
This wasn't over.