The Volatiles were monsters...
Their skin was pitch black, their inhuman eyes glowed red, and their bodies looked like something straight out of a nightmare. Their claws were longer, their mouths opened vertically like some alien creature.
They resembled regular Volatiles, but even more, they looked like Executioners — and anyone familiar with zombie worlds would instantly recognize those iconic enemies from Resident Evil 4.
"Damn it!"
Allen ran toward the subway platforms, firing Ivory and Ebony behind him. The twin handguns, powerful enough to match a Desert Eagle, struck the Volatiles' bodies — but while ordinary zombies would have been blown apart, these only flinched from the impact.
Still, it was enough to slow them down, giving Allen a few precious seconds to escape. There was no shame in avoiding something like that.
The platform was crowded with zombies, but Allen ignored them and sprinted past. The undead turned toward him, ready to lunge — only to be ripped apart by the Volatiles chasing behind.
These creatures were swift, capable of clinging to walls like Spider-Man. On top of that, they seemed to retain a degree of intelligence — proof of that being how they instinctively covered their faces when Allen fired at them.
Allen reached the door of a subway car and quickly stepped inside.
Another bloody nightmare awaited him — the floor and walls were drenched in red. Those trapped inside the subway car had met a horrible fate.
A Volatile slid in at high speed. Allen fired his weapons, causing them to twist.
Unlike the Tank or ordinary Volatiles, these zombies were quiet. They moved like trained assassins, cautious once they realized Allen could hurt them. That made them far more dangerous.
A claw tore through the metal wall, producing a screeching sound.
Allen clicked his tongue and ran inside the subway car.
One of the Volatiles entered after him.
The other two stayed outside.
....
Wade – What the hell are those things?!
Thor – Disgusting and horrifying... what kind of demon gave birth to that?!
MJ – No way… that's a Verdugo?!
Rogue – That can't be! Executioners were created through ancient parasites, not viruses!
Executioners were enemies from Resident Evil, specifically the ones in Spain. They were created using a parasite known as Las Plagas. These abominations were among the strongest of their kind — terrifyingly agile, capable of reasoning, and practically immune to small-caliber weapons due to their hard exoskeletons, which gave them a xenomorph-like appearance.
But the creature in front of Allen wasn't part insect — it was made of flesh. Its resemblance to a Volatile was far greater.
Gwen – That bastard created abominations!
Eve – Forget what they are — aren't those zombies way too dangerous to be loose?! What are they doing down there?!
Kimiko – "They were supposed to appear only in red zones. This smells like a trap!"
---
Allen's face said it all. This was a situation he hadn't expected. Three Tier 4 zombies.
'This has to be a damn joke!'
[I don't know what happened — there shouldn't be aberrations this strong outside red zones and... !!!]
The system didn't even need to finish the sentence. Allen understood immediately. The shattered lights, the oppressive atmosphere, that constant sense of danger — the instinct screaming at him to turn around and leave...
He had entered a black zone. A death zone.
When Allen reached the end of the subway car, the monster stopped as well, staring at him like a hyena — waiting for an opening to tear him apart and devour him.
"What's the point of skinning your victims? That's the question that filled my head while I ran," Allen said with a mocking grin, staring at the Volatile. "I came to the conclusion it has something to do with that thing you keep repeating — 'let them out.' For a moment I thought you were intelligent... but then I realized you only retain traces of reasoning. That makes you terrifying... but also manipulable."
The Volatile saw no fear in Allen's eyes — something completely different from every human it had seen since awakening.
It sharpened its claws, feeling it needed to kill him quickly. But just as it was about to lunge, Allen laughed and dropped several smoke grenades. The subway car filled with thick smoke, hiding them both.
"One alone is manageable."
The Volatile shot out of the smoke — and slammed against the far wall, its head bleeding heavily. Truly injured.
The monster tried to stand, but Allen didn't give it the chance. He burst through the smoke, hammer in hand, and brought it down on the creature's skull — crushing it completely this time.
"You've gotta be kidding me..."
The strength Allen had put behind that swing could have killed a bull — yet he'd needed to hit it twice before.
The two remaining Volatiles stared at him from the darkness, their glowing eyes unblinking. But they didn't enter the car. They just stood there, watching him... before fading into the shadows.
"That's how you survive a demon encounter..." Allen exhaled, letting out the air in his lungs.
He'd been extremely lucky. The Tier 4 zombies' intelligence had been the key to his survival — if they'd attacked recklessly like a Tank, it would've been over.
"But they'll be back..."
– Hey bro, you okay?!
– That's the scariest thing I've ever seen!
– What kind of demon is that?!
– There's no way that's a zombie!
– Dear god, they cut through metal like it was paper!
– We're doomed! How the hell are we supposed to survive that?!
– My apartment door is normal — those things would rip it open like nothing!
For the people in the chat, seeing the hybrid Volatiles in action was already terrifying. But for those living in this world, creatures like that meant only one thing — death, despair, and the undeniable proof that the world was ending.
Allen didn't know what to say. Maybe he shouldn't have shown creatures like these at all.
"Don't worry..." he said.
– Don't worry?! What do you mean don't worry?!
– Easy for you to say! You might stand a chance, but regular people like us don't!
The shock of seeing those monsters shattered more than a few people's resolve. Most of them were already terrified of the slow, clumsy zombies — so what chance did they have against that?
Allen looked around the subway car. Beside him lay a corpse with half its head sliced clean off — done by a Volatile whose claws were as sharp as blades.
"Don't worry. I know this looks bad — I know your first thought might be to fill the bathtub and end it all — but relax. These things don't just appear everywhere."
– What do you mean?
– Wait… how do you know that?
Allen began explaining his theory based on his previous encounter in a red zone.
"When large concentrations of infection build up in one area, there's a chance zombies mutate in disproportionate ways. It's not common, but it's detectable. That's what happened to me before. So at least these 'zombies on steroids' won't be roaming the streets for no reason."
– But that's just a theory, right?
"Yeah, but it's better than panicking."
Many people began to calm down, though Allen still lost a good number of his local viewers — they were too frightened to keep watching the livestream.
....
An elderly woman and her grandson were watching through a laptop screen — the same subway station Allen had entered. The amount of mangled bodies was surreal. These zombies seemed to take pleasure in killing in the most violent ways possible.
The grandmother looked at her grandson. In another world, one where a child's biggest worry was homework, she would never have let him watch something like this. It was a parent's — or grandparent's — instinct to shield the young from the horrors of the world.
Unfortunately, that world no longer existed.
"Grandma..."
"You must watch, learn, and become a strong man."
The old woman knew she was already past her prime. Someone like her had no place in such a hostile world — one where running fast was the difference between life and death. She knew that if the door to their apartment ever broke, the only thing she could do was throw her grandson across to the next balcony. That would be her final act of defiance against the cruelty of the world — and her last act of love.
This scene repeated itself across many homes. Some couldn't bear to watch reality — but others chose to face it and take one step forward.
....
Allen smiled when he saw there were still more than 30k people watching.
"Alright, time to find those kids."
– Huh? Are you crazy?! We have to get out of here!
??? – You're quite an interesting guy.
'System?' Allen raised an eyebrow when he saw a certain comment.
[Comments appear with the user's chosen name, but when it's someone relevant, their real name will be shown — with one condition: you must have met them before.]
A "relevant person" didn't necessarily mean they would be Allen's ally; they could just as well be someone involved in the apocalypse... or someone important to the story itself.
Allen knew his actions would also expose information to undesirable people, but that was something he couldn't avoid.
Taking a step out of the subway car, Allen looked in both directions. He couldn't see them, but he knew they were there — lurking like hyenas, waiting for him to show the slightest weakness before attacking, or maybe just long enough to understand his limits.
Allen decided to leave the platforms. There was no way the kids could have gone that far; they had to be somewhere between the station and the exit.
"Hm?"
He heard noises coming from the tunnel — that place without light, without life... that place that was no longer silent.
"..." Allen narrowed his eyes. His vision was better than a normal person's, and thanks to that, he soon saw several figures moving at high speed in his direction.
It was a horde. A horde of fast zombies.
"...!"
He had seen hordes before: two hundred in the bus, nine hundred in Fujimi... but this one was bigger. Much bigger!
He abandoned the idea of finding the kids. Now he had to worry about his own survival. Allen threw every grenade he had into the tunnel and ran. The explosions stopped the horde for a moment, but it wasn't enough.
There was even a brief moment when Allen considered turning around to face them... but they weren't normal zombies. It wasn't worth risking his life out of pride, right?
Allen clenched his teeth in frustration but kept running.
Along the way, he used the minimap to find a quick exit. Unexpectedly, he also spotted a couple of supply crates. That surprised him — in a red zone, crates only appeared after clearing the area.
[The greater the difficulty, the greater the reward.]
Crates from a death zone... what kind of treasures could they contain?
Making a reckless decision, Allen changed direction.
Everyone thought he was insane for doing this — but it was a gamble. The once silent corridors were now filled with thousands of zombies chasing him like a radar beacon. Allen didn't care. Instead, he saw in the distance a maintenance door for subway staff.
He kicked it open. Inside were two crates. The first was Tier 4 — a disappointment, since he couldn't open it — but the second made Allen smile.
The zombies didn't stop. They didn't tire. They had no mercy, no trace of humanity — so calling them demons seemed appropriate.
The zombies slammed into the maintenance room. The door wasn't an obstacle, but it did slow their entry.
– Ahhh!
– This is insane!
While the local viewers panicked, those from other worlds felt a strange sense of déjà vu.
Doom Guy – *Excited noises*
Kratos – Are you alright?"
Rick: – I think he's excited, man! Damn reference, haha!
...
The first zombie to see Allen standing in front of the supply crate lunged at him — but Allen turned around and decapitated it. That wouldn't have been unusual... if not for the weapon he used.
It wasn't a knife.
It wasn't a sword.
It wasn't a machete.
"Now I can deal with you bastards!" shouted Allen, revving up the chainsaw — which unexpectedly burst into flames.
[Chainsaw - "Special" Grade: A durable, heavy weapon with fire element, capable of burning your enemies.]
Allen gripped his new weapon tightly and charged toward the horde of zombies in a murderous frenzy.
---
(Takagi Mansion)
"Fire!"
"Kill those bastards!"
Soichiro's men fired from the front door at the soldiers advancing toward them. Several of Soichiro's men were wounded — two had bullet holes in their heads and torsos.
Soichiro himself fired with an SMG, his expression turning as cold as ice.
These guys had appeared out of nowhere, without saying a single word before opening fire. Soichiro Takagi was furious, but he managed to keep calm.
"Boss, what do we do?!"
Matsuda — a mechanic who had followed Soichiro for years — fired his revolver, but the pressure was clearly on Soichiro's side. Their weapons were limited, mostly smuggled firearms. Soichiro's men were mostly ordinary civilians before all this.
The soldiers, on the other hand, were well-armed and experienced.
"They must've deserted... that makes them the worst kind of scum."
Soichiro didn't even bother to try talking. For men like these bastards, words were useless.
From the second floor of the mansion, Hirano breathed heavily. He had several soldiers in his sights, but hadn't fired yet.
Every time he imagined a head exploding into pieces, his hands trembled, his breathing quickened — and he froze.
"Come on, idiot! You have to shoot! They're completely outgunned! They have M4 carbines, SIG Sauer M17S, and M240 and M250 machine guns! If I don't help, they'll all die!"
Hirano closed his eyes, angry at himself. He knew these men were bad — really bad. Bastards who'd show no mercy. He knew that if the mansion fell, not only would they be doomed, but he'd never be able to look his boss in the eye again.
Even so, Hirano Kohta couldn't shoot, and he kept looking at the walkie-talkie to see if Allen was calling him.
....
In a room, Shizuka, Kyoko, Rei, and Saeko had gathered.
"Should we help?" asked Rei.
Despite her dislike for Soichiro Takagi, she wasn't someone who could stand by and watch innocent people die.
"But they're armed soldiers," said Kyoko darkly. "You're students. You shouldn't risk your lives — besides, Allen still hasn't come back."
"He's not answering..." murmured Saeko, staring at the walkie-talkie.
They all had the same question — should they help? After all, they had been kicked out. There was no obligation to return the favor... none at all.
Suddenly, the door burst open. Saya appeared, panting and supporting herself on her knees.
"Takagi-san..." murmured Shizuka as everyone stared in shock.
Saya didn't respond immediately. Instead, she did something that left everyone speechless — she dropped to her knees and lowered her head to the floor.
"Please... help me!"
The proud Saya — the genius, the high-class lady — now trembled as she begged for help.
"It's alright."
Saya opened her eyes and lifted her head. The voice hadn't come from any of the girls — it came from the walkie-talkie in Saeko's hand.
"Allen..."
"Allen!"
"Allen-kun!"
"Allen-san?"
"Sorry for the delay. Some things came up... but I'm on my way."
Allen's voice sounded tired, but full of strength.
"Saya, I don't know what's going on, but if you're in trouble, you can count on me — on us."
Saya's eyes filled with tears as she smiled and nodded.
"Thank you!"
Saeko quickly explained the situation to Allen — the mysterious attack by unknown soldiers, the growing casualties among Soichiro's men, and what would happen if the enemy broke into the mansion based on their shouts.
"I see..."
Allen's smile faded. Some swallowed nervously, waiting for his next words. Everyone with a walkie-talkie could hear him.
"Finish them," said Allen in a deep voice, making everyone's eyes widen.
"I don't care who they are! I don't care if they look human! These bastards have thrown away their humanity! There are no laws! No rules! No reason to show mercy to those who live in depravity!"
"So my order is simple — FINISH THEM!"
Saeko's smile widened, her cheeks flushing red.
"At your command, my lord🖤~"
The rest of the girls snorted but accepted the order.
This was the law of the new world — one where people could become so cruel... they made ordinary zombies look like harmless kittens.
===
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