A soldier, shaking untrolbly, instinctively pulled out his pistol, gripping it with trembling hands. He poihe barrel at the door, his fear so overwhelming that he didn’t even realize the safety was still on. “Put that down! Lay it down!” Kshatti hissed at him, his voice stern but barely above a whisper. “What do you think you’re doing? Do you think a small pistol will do anything to someone whed off bullets and a punch from Navas?”

  The soldier jolted, realizing the futility of his on. “Y-yes, sir...” His voice quivered as he quickly tossed the gun to the floor and kicked it away, raising his hands in a panicked gesture of surrender.

  “I didn’t mean surrender, idiot...” Kshatti began, his irritation showing. Then, something clicked in his sharp mind. He turo the others, speaking in hushed but urgent tones. “Quick! Everyone, raise your hands! No one shoots, you hear me? I don’t care what happens—do not fire a shot!”

  The soldiers scrambled to obey, throwing their ons aside and raising their hands in unison. Fear permeated the room as the footsteps outside grew louder, heavier.

  Thud. Thud. Thud.

  The distinct, metallig of the Power armor boots stopped just outside the and room door. The tension in the room thied; no one dared even to blink.

  Boom!

  The heavy steel door was violently kicked in, flying across the room like a missile. It smmed into one of the soldiers, crushing his chest with a siing ch. The unfortunate man colpsed to the ground, lifeless, the door panel pinning his broken body.Zack strode into the room, his Power armleaming ominously in the dim light. In his hand, he carried Navas, battered and barely ging to life. Without a sed gnce, Zack flung him onto the floor like a discarded rag.

  Navas hit the ground hard, his bruised body sliding across the floor until it came to a stop at Kshatti’s feet. “Help...me...” Navas rasped, his mutited mouth barely able to form words. “Ksha...Shatt...” Before he could say more, Kshatti recoiled, nudging Navas aside with his boot as if the man’s very presence might seal his doom. His expression said it all: Don’t drag me into this!

  Zack’s gaze swept over the room. The sight of Kshatti and the others, their ons abandoned and their hands raised, didn’t stir an ounce of pity in him. His voice, calm and cold, cut through the silence like a bde. “Now you’re surrendering? Lose all your ” he asked, his tone almost mog. “Tell me, where’s Jock?”

  A soldier on the floor pointed shakily at a nearby corpse. “C-chief Jock... That’s him...” His voice trembled as he indicated the lifeless body, its chest gruesomely torn open.

  “Ah, I see,” Zack said ftly. “So he’s the one Navas dealt with earlier. Got it.” He paused for a moment before speaking again. “Alright. Everyoand up. Get against the wall and line up. Straighten up.”

  Kshatti didn’t hesitate. He scrambled to his feet and darted to the wall, standing stiff as a board. His haste made it clear he feared even a sed’s dey could cost him his life. The others followed suit, their movements frantic as they rushed to ply. They stood in a crooked lirembling as they looked at Zack with wide, terrified eyes.

  On the floor, Navas coughed weakly, blood dribbling from his mouth. His fading gaze flicked to his rades. A bitter smirk tugged at his lips as the realization dawned on him: ‘You fools, he doesn’t care whether you live or die...’ But he never got the ce to say it.

  Zack stepped forward, his expression unreadable behind the mask of his armor. His voice, calm yet ced with steel, anded, “Turn around.”

  Those three simple words hit Kshatti like a lightning strike. His mind reeled. He turo Zack, his voice shaking. “Sir, please! We surrendered! We—”

  “Turn. Around.” Zack repeated, his tone unging. There is no way he take ged taking this people in.

  Kshatti swallowed hard, his khreatening to buckle. He turned slowly, fag the wall, sweat dripping down his face. The others followed suit, their movements stiff aant, as if deying the iable would somehow save them.

  Zack reached for the coiled whip at his side. With a flick of his wrist, the eleagic whip came to life, sparking with high-voltage electricity. The crag sound filled the air, and the ground scorched where the whip dragged.

  Kshatti heard the sound and broke dowirely. He dropped to his knees, banging his forehead against the floor as he begged. “No! Please, don’t kill me! I help you! I mahis base for you! I-I’ve done a good job, I swear!”

  Blood trickled from his forehead as he tio kowtow, his desperate pleas eg iense silence. He assumed Zack wahe Caribbean base for its resources and people—a valuable stronghold with a popution of 40,000, even in the apocalypse. But Zack’s ughter, cold and mog, cut him off. “You think I’m here to take over this base?” His voice, distorted through the Power armor, carried an almost otherworldly menace.

  After getti from Ego, that Navas was ibal something clicked on his mind, how did this base survived this long housing 40.000 people, the answer is they eath the other. What happened here, the atrocity all be guessed. The world w maybe no more, but for Zack there is still something you should never do, it’s his bottom line.

  Kshatti froze, his face pale. Zack stepped aside, gesturing toward the rge s in the room. His voice was casual but ced with something darker. “No. I don’t his pce. But you’re right about ohing—I’ll be taking some people with me. ” He paused, letting his words sink in before adding with a chilling finality, “As for the rest of you... Let’s just say you’ll wish I’d let Navas finish you off instead.”

  On the massive s in front of him, Kshatti’s eyes lost all hope. Despair surged through him like an uing tide as the horrifying se unfolded. Three strange-looking fighter pnes hovered ominously over the Caribbean base.

  One of them, armed with missiles and ons, was systematically clearing out the ordinary soldiers defending the base. The other two aircraft flew low, no more than fifty or sixty meters above the ground, releasing waves of cold, deadly maes.

  As soon as these dog-like and spider-like killing maes hit the ground, they sprang into a. With terrifying efficy, they massacred ahey entered. The air filled with the deafening sounds of light and heavy mae gunfire, explosions, and the desperate cries of their soldier. The chaos was relentless, eg through every er of the base.

  The age drew the attention of nearby zombies, their growls and roars rising in unison as they surged toward the base. Uerred by the high walls, the undead swarmed into the survivor's living area, cutting off any possible escape route for the terrified inhabitants. On one side, the merciless killing maes advanced. Oher, a growing tide of the undead closed in. There was no escape, no salvation.

  “You are a devil!” Kshatti roared at the top of his lungs, his voice crag with rage and despair. “A devil! I curse you! Curse you!”