The thick, metallic stench of blood hit him instantly. Ahead, two or three shadowy figures loitered he stairs.

  “Sir, there are approximately three to five zombies in the corridor. Exercise caution,” Ego warned. Without a surveilnce system in the old apartment, Ego had to rely on street-level monit, estimating the numbers by trag when the zombies entered aed the building.

  “I’ll be careful,” Zack whispered, ing forward.

  At the er of the stairwell, three zombies came into view, eae covered in bite marks, pieces of flesh missing, and their eyes bnk and lifeless. These ones hadn’t been drawn out by the bait.

  Zack took aim with the nail gun, pointing it at one zombie’s head. He carefully squeezed the trigger.

  BAM! BAM! BAM!

  The faint sound of air pressure was almost unnoticeable as a nail shot through the zombie’s eye socket, exiting from the back of its skull in a spray of dark blood. The creature staggered forward a step or two before colpsing.

  The noise alerted the remaining two zombies, but before they could eve, Zack fired off two more nails. Both zombies crumpled to the ground, oruck squarely in the head and the other, a bit off-target, wo more nails before it finally fell.

  “Almost out of ammo,” Zack murmured, feeling the nail gun’s power weaken. He had maybe two or three shots left before it ran dry.

  “Sir, behind you!” Ego suddenly warned.

  Zack spun to see a blood-soaked figure stumbling towards him—the female streamer who had just been bitten. She was still in her pajamas, her skin now mottled and torn, her mouth twisted into a horrible snarl.

  “Damn it! I fot about you!” Zack cursed, tossing the nail gun aside and pulling out his baseball bat. The once-pristi was now embedded with nails, transformed into a crude but deadly mace.

  The zombie lurched at him with a savage roar, and Zack swung the bat with all his strength.

  BAM!

  The bat ected with her head, and with a siing pop, her skull caved in, spttering the wall behind her with blood and fragments. The zombie fell, twitg befoing still.

  “Sir, I suggest retrieving the car keys from this woman. Her vehicle is parked downstairs,” Ego’s advised.

  Zack hesitated, gng at the corpse with a grimace. He hadn’t expected he’d o dig through her pockets, but… it was a logical choice.

  “Fine,” he muttered, steeling himself as he rummaged through her jacket pocket, grimag at the blood-slicked keys.

  “Thank you, Ego,” he said, though he felt a bit shaken. He couldn’t afford to waste more time.

  Rushing downstairs, he slipped past the horde of zombies crowded he bait outside and reached the car.

  “Sir, the car is on your left. It’s pink,” Ego directed.

  A pink, sleek electric sedan waited in front of him. Zack quickly unlocked the door, slipping io find the interior faintly perfumed. He pressed the ignition, and the car hummed to life—silent as a whisper.

  “Brilliant choice, Ego,” Zack muttered in relief. Aric car meant it wouldn’t attract the zombies with noise, unlike a fuel-powered car that would immediately turn him into a target.

  “If it weren’t for you, I would have made that mistake and might never have left here alive,” he said sincerely, realizing just how invaluable Ego’s assistance had been.

  “Sir, your safety is my top priority,” Ego replied, his tone unwavering.

  Zack took advantage of the quiet hum of his electric car, slipping past several buildings unnoticed. Just as he was about to leave the plex, however, his luck ran out.

  "Roar!"

  The sound of a zombie echoed, followed by the shambling forms of the ied, alerted to his presence. Uhe sluggish zombies from movies, those ied by the Zeta virus retained most of their physical abilities. They could run nearly as fast as normal people and had an unnatural, tireless endurance. For most survivetting caught without a vehicle meaaih.

  Luckily, Zack repared. "Good thing I followed your advid take this car," he muttered, pressing down on the pedal.

  The motor revved to life, and the car surged forward with a sound nearly as loud as a gas-powered ehe vehicle shot out of the encroag zombie swarm, narrowly esg like an arrow from a b.

  “Tur onto Greenwich Street .”

  The calm voice of Ego, his AI panion, guided him. Ego began navigating to help Zack dodge the zombie-packed areas, marking clear routes through the city's chaotic streets. Finally, they reached a quieter, more remote road, and Zack allowed himself a moment to rex, though only slightly. The danger wasn’t over yet; he’d merely escaped orap and o pn his move.

  He couldn’t drive aimlessly forever. He had to find somewhere safe aer armed. “Ego, you access the security work and locate the o?” he asked, keeping his eyes on the road.

  His makeshift ons from the apartment wouldn’t cut it in the long run. Out here, he needed real firepower. In this world, other survivors could be just as dangerous as zombies, especially if they decided to turn on each other for supplies. He recalled an old saying, “If my neighbor’s stog up on food, I’ll be stog up on ammo – because their pantry just might beine.” Survival wasn’t just about supplies; it was about seg them.

  “No problem, sir,” Ego replied, and within half a sed, he’d marked several red dots on the navigation s.

  “Most of these on caches are empty, but oill has a stock,” Ego reported.

  Zack felt a spark of hope but frowned. “Only o?” It made sehat others would’ve thought to grab ht after the outbreak, but ay depot likely meant it wasn’t safe.

  “Is it dangerous inside?” he asked.

  “Yes, sir,” Ego replied. “The surveilnce shows many zombies in the area, including some that appear mgressive than usual.”

  Zack ched his jaw. So, this cache wasn’t an option. “What about something else?” he pressed.

  After a quick search, Ego spoke. “There’s a cash transport truck ten kilometers away. The guards have turned into zombies, but there are two shotguns and several rounds inside.”

  “Perfect! you lure the zombies away?”

  Ego’s voice was fident. “Yes, sir. I hack the city’s radio system to draw them to a different location.”

  Zack grinned. “Do it.”

  He sped along the route Ego reended, a path not the shortest but the safest. He avoided clusters of zombies, occasionally accelerating past a few scattered ied without breaking pace. Before long, he reached the area he truck.

  Zack slowed down to assess the se. The transport truck arked on what had once been a busy pedestrian street, near an old school. A quick s of the area revealed a staggering number of zombies. Hundreds of them milled around, stumbling over the deserted stretch.

  “There have to be at least a hundred zombies here,” he muttered.

  Ego responded immediately. “There are precisely 167 zombies in the open, sir, not ting those inside nearby buildings.”

  Zack let out a low whistle. Without Ego’s help, he’d be as good as zombie bait.

  “Go ahead with the distra,” he said.