Read Novel Full Chapter 457: Dead
Chapter 457: Chapter 457: Dead
Greta froze, staring at her mother in disbelief. "We’re not leaving without him."
Before the argument could escalate further, hurried footsteps approached. "Greta! Auntie!"
They turned to see a young man rushing toward them, his uniform torn and soaked with blood. It was Axel... Mika’s best friend.
The moment Greta recognized him, her heart lurched.
"Axel?" She grabbed his arm. "Why are you here? Where’s Mika?"
Axel’s face twisted, his lips trembling. He swallowed hard before speaking. "Mika... he’s dead."
Tears welled up in Axel’s eyes as he continued, his voice hoarse.
"It happened ten minutes ago."
................
On the battlefield, Mika had already known he wouldn’t survive.
The zombies were endless, their claws tearing through flesh and armor alike.
Blood streamed down his face as he fought, each breath burning. ’So this is it,’ he thought bitterly.
His sister’s voice echoed in his mind. ’You have to come back.’
His mother’s worried expression surfaced next. ’I have a bad feeling.’
"I don’t want to die like this," he whispered to himself. "Not without saying goodbye."
As he fought, he spotted Axel nearby, struggling.
Mika forced his aching body forward and helped clear the path. Axel stared at him in shock.
"What are you doing here? You’re injured!"
Mika clenched his fist, blood dripping onto the ground. "I need you to do something for me."
Axel frowned. "What are you talking about?"
By the time Mika reached him, the scratch on his arm had already darkened. He could feel the change creeping in, cold and inevitable.
"Go to my family," Mika said urgently. "Tell them to leave the base. If they don’t leave, I won’t ever come looking for them even if I turn into a zombie."
Axel froze mid-fight, confusion flashing across his face.
Then he saw it... the unnatural stiffness in Mika’s movements, the dulling of his eyes.
"You..." Axel’s voice cracked. "You’re turning."
Mika smiled faintly. "I’ll hold them back for now. Run."
Axel shook his head, tears streaming. "Why? How did you even get hurt?"
Mika’s smile widened, bittersweet.
"If you don’t leave now," he said softly, "there’s a good chance I’ll become your enemy."
Axel clenched his fists, then turned and ran, choking back sobs.
True to his word, Mika threw himself into the horde, making sure not a single zombie chased Axel.
Axel reached the base and ran straight to Greta and her mother, delivering Mika’s final message.
As Greta heard the story she shook her head repeatedly.
"That’s impossible," she cried. "He promised me he’d come back. He swore it. How could he leave me?"
Her mother finally collapsed, sobs tearing from her chest.
This was not just their tragedy.
Across the entire base, similar scenes unfolded.
People who had been talking, laughing, and hoping just hours earlier were now shambling corpses.
One by one, humans lost their consciousness and became zombies.
The undead pushed inward relentlessly, and terror spread like wildfire through the military base, swallowing everything in its path.
While the people were struggling desperately to survive the sudden onslaught, Frank stood inside the command hall with several generals gathered around him.
The generals’ voices overlapped, sharp and accusing, each one pressing him harder than the last.
"You expelled all the strong soldiers. What were you even thinking when you raised the price?"
"You drove out the entire Blackthorn family its your mistake."
"Even Deputy Blackthorn resigned days ago."
Now that the Blackthorn family was completely gone, there was almost no one left capable of holding the base together.
Only at this moment did Frank truly realize how badly he had miscalculated.
’I was too arrogant,’ he admitted bitterly.
He had believed that even without the Blackthorns, the base could last at least six months.
Six months was more than enough time for him to drain every last bit of wealth from it.
But reality was cruel. Not only had he failed to rule for six months, he hadn’t even lasted three weeks.
And in just those three weeks, chaos had erupted.
For a fleeting moment, a dangerous thought crossed his mind.
’Could the Blackthorn family be behind this?’
The idea made his spine go cold. Yet he dismissed it almost immediately.
If the Blackthorns had truly wanted to destroy the base, they could have done so long ago.
They would never have waited this long. That realization only deepened his regret.
’They were powerful... far more powerful than I wanted to admit.’
Frank clenched his jaw, recalling how the Blackthorn family had once held back zombie hordes almost single-handedly.
’And I threw them out.’
There was no time left for regret.
He forced himself to focus on immediate damage control, on anything that might delay total collapse, even if only for a few minutes longer.
Elsewhere, the remaining generals had broken off into hushed groups, their faces pale and grim.
They whispered urgently, eyes darting toward the doors.
’If Frank doesn’t come up with a solution soon, we’ll destroy him ourselves,’ some of them thought coldly. Survival had stripped away loyalty.
Frank was still scrambling for a plan when a subordinate burst into the room, breathless and trembling.
"The main fighting force has responded," he blurted out. "They say evacuation must begin immediately. If we delay any longer, no one in the base will survive."
Frank’s heart sank. ’Evacuation... already?’
He had never imagined things would deteriorate to this extent. His vision blurred for a moment as panic clawed up his throat.
The other generals’ faces turned ashen.
Without a word, they scattered in different directions.
At this point, none of them cared about the civilians anymore. ’To hell with duty,’ they thought. ’Our families come first.’
Frank was no different. The moment the thought formed, he turned and ran.
His boots pounded against the floor as he rushed toward his family’s mansion.
Once inside, he shouted urgently, his voice cracking. "Pack everything. All the food. All the necessities. Now."
His wife and Jade stared at him in shock, fear flickering across their faces as they scrambled to obey.