The Apocalypse Solution Provider

Chapter 53: A New Mutant, The Terrifying Student Zombie

“What’s the play, Director?” Fu Hu asked, his eyes locked on the road ahead.

“The horde inside the campus was already shifting when we drove past earlier,” Su Jin replied, his voice a flat, analytical drone. “I don’t like the bottleneck at the main gates. Lots of parents were picking up their kids, meaning a graveyard of abandoned cars clogging the roadside. It’s too exposed. Too many bodies. If we make a racket out there, every corpse in the school will flood out to greet us.”

“Standard biters aren’t the issue. But based on the mutation rate we’ve seen… with the sheer density of meat on that playground, there are bound to be a few evolved ones hiding in the pack. Special variants are our biggest liability right now.”

“Don’t we have a backup route?”

“We do. We’ll audible if we have to, but the risk margins are messy. If Central Avenue was any indicator, those narrow side streets are choked with wreckage. Ramming through that garbage won’t exactly be a stealth operation.”

Su Jin leaned back, exhaling a sharp breath. “I debated with Old Sun back then—whether we set up a corporate-style stronghold in the city or bug out to the military district for a smaller outpost. I only signed off on Sun’s strategy after we found those latent infected. Hindsight says I mismanaged the project from day one. The city is just one massive, unpredictable risk factor.”

“Damned if we do, damned if we don’t…” Fu Hu muttered.

…

The SUV tore back down their original route.

Longshan Middle School loomed ahead. The tension inside the cabin was thick enough to cut with a knife, all three men staring unblinkingly at the road.

Fu Hu’s jaw clenched, his knuckles ghostly white around the steering wheel.

The situation ahead was a clusterfuck. Just as Su Jin had calculated, their initial drive-by had dragged a massive chunk of the student body out of the campus.

A ridiculous procession of Greeter Zombies, still clutching plastic bouquets and wearing absurd little ceremonial hats, spilled out of the main gates.

They shambled aimlessly, sniffing the air for fresh meat.

Fortunately, a narrow clearing along the shoulder still offered a high-speed bypass.

Punching the gas and dusting this horde should have been a simple, straightforward operation.

“Threat level is acceptable. Looks like we skip the detour,” Su Jin said. “Old Fu, keep an eye out for those Sports Student Zombies. Don’t let them flank us again.”

“On it!” Fu Hu barked, stomping the accelerator to the floor.

The engine roared, hurtling the heavy vehicle straight toward the rotting crowd.

Spotting the approaching SUV, the welcoming committee at the gate went feral. Meat pressed against meat as they trampled each other, waving their cheap plastic flowers in a grotesque, surging tide.

The friction of hundreds of rotting bodies colliding spiked the horde’s agitation into the red zone.

Suddenly, the campus completely erupted. A tidal wave of infected students violently blitzed toward the perimeter. Dozens hurled themselves blindly at the wrought-iron fences, clawing their way over the walls.

“What the hell is this?” Su Jin’s cold mask slipped.

The math didn’t add up. Engine noise alone wasn’t enough to trigger a suicidal stampede.

They had literally tested that variable twenty minutes ago.

Even with the engine revving higher, the reaction shouldn’t have been this psychotic!

They were already hundreds of yards past the turnoff. The meat grinder was straight ahead; slamming the brakes to reroute wasn’t an option anymore.

Su Jin’s brain went into overdrive, calculating a new play, but Cheng Du had already cranked down his window. Without even poking his head out, the thug screamed at the top of his lungs.

“MOTHER!! FUCKER!!!”

“The whole damn school is rushing those Greeter Zombies!”

Su Jin’s eyes snapped to the gate, instantly diagnosing the catastrophic error.

“Welcome, welcome! A warm, warm welcome! Welcome, welcome! A warm, warm welcome!”

A tinny, obnoxious jingle mixed with pre-recorded cheerful shouts drilled directly into their skulls.

In the dead silence of the apocalypse, it was deafeningly loud!

Su Jin’s gaze zeroed in on the waistlines of the Greeter Zombies. Bright red, battery-powered megaphones dangled from their belts.

The crushing pressure of the mob had mashed the ‘PLAY’ buttons. Some absolute genius had even wrapped the electronics in plastic grocery bags to protect them from the rain… otherwise, they couldn’t possibly still be functional.

Su Jin’s grip on his pistol creaked. A muscle feathered in his jaw. The sheer, absurd incompetence of it ignited a cold fury in his chest.

Strangled by a corporate mascot’s megaphone. Absolutely unbelievable!

Whatever middle-management bastard forced these kids to hold a pep rally in the rain… he’d better hope the zombies got to him first!

“Punch it! Ram them!” Su Jin ordered, and Fu Hu immediately buried the pedal into the floorboards.

The horde’s frenzy had already spilled a thick layer of bodies onto the pavement.

It threatened their traction, but fortunately, the vanguard was thin.

The heavy steel bumper plowed into the first two zombies at high speed, launching them into the air like shattered ragdolls.

There was no time to swerve around the debris littering the asphalt.

The SUV bucked violently. The three men were thrown like dice in a cup, their skulls bouncing off the roof and windows.

Su Jin braced himself, slamming his right hand over the cage to shield their test mouse from the shockwaves.

Fu Hu fought the wheel, his hands entirely bloodless. After a few agonizing seconds, he let out a triumphant roar. “We’re through! The road is—”

A horrible, metallic screech ripped through the chassis, cutting him off.

The SUV lost all traction, fishtailing wildly as it spun out of control.

Fortunately, Fu Hu wrestled the steering column like a madman, dragging the drifting vehicle back into a straight, jagged line.

In the rearview mirror, a tidal wave of flesh was sprinting relentlessly after them.

Cheng Du’s face went chalk-white. “What the hell was that, Old Fu?! Did we blow a tire?!”

Fu Hu gritted his teeth. “Something wrapped around the axle or jammed in the wheel hub… If we keep gunning it, the drivetrain is going to lock up entirely.”

“Drop the speed!” Su Jin ordered, his eyes never leaving the rear window.

“I can’t! We drop speed now and we’re dead. There are runners in that pack! If they catch the bumper…”

“I said drop the fucking speed!” Su Jin snapped.

Fu Hu swallowed hard, fighting his panic, and slowly eased off the gas.

The SUV decelerated, but the ravenous horde behind them didn’t lose a step.

On paper, foot traffic shouldn’t be able to run down a moving vehicle.

But with a jammed axle screaming in protest… the math was shifting out of their favor.

Fu Hu and Cheng Du were sweating bullets, but neither dared to challenge their boss’s call.

A second later, Su Jin barked his next command.

“Cheng Du. Grab the payload in the back. Set the timer for sixty seconds and dump it! You remember the arming sequence?”

“Yeah, I got it!”

Cheng Du scrambled to the trunk, hanging half his body out the shattered back window as he fumbled with the timer on the propane tank.

He keyed in the digits. Yanking a combat knife from his belt, he slashed the heavy ropes securing the makeshift bomb.

Clang… thud… screech…

The heavy steel cylinder slammed onto the asphalt, bouncing violently before tumbling straight into the oncoming horde. Within seconds, it was completely swallowed by the mob.

The package delivered, Su Jin turned back to the front, his eyes narrowing as he tracked the chaos in the rearview mirror…

It should have been a vanguard of sluggish, out-of-shape parent zombies. But the megaphones had riled up the youth. The athletic, wall-jumping Sports Student Zombies had easily outpaced the adults and were now leading the charge.

They were running a hundred-yard dash, and the infected teenagers were closing the gap with terrifying speed.

Cold sweat poured down Fu Hu and Cheng Du’s faces.

Suddenly, a dark, calculating glint flashed in Su Jin’s eyes. He raised a hand, clenching his fist with absolute, theatrical authority.

“Fall!”

The moment the command left his lips, the frontline of the horde spontaneously collapsed. The leading sprinters violently ate asphalt, tripping the ones behind them into a massive, tumbling pileup of rotting limbs.

The terrifying, high-speed chase was instantly shattered into a chaotic roadblock!

The immediate threat dissolved in the blink of an eye.

“Holy shit!” Fu Hu and Cheng Du yelled in unison, absolutely floored.

“Boss! How the hell did you do that?! Do you have a secondary awakening? Was that… telekinesis?!” Cheng Du gasped, his eyes wide with fanatical awe.

A wild, ecstatic grin broke across Fu Hu’s pale face. “What a terrifying power… As expected of the Director! You kept a weapon like that off the books until now?”

Su Jin stared blankly out the window. “It’s not an ability. Their baggy school uniform pants fell down while they were running.”

“……”

“……”