The undead attack

At the edge of the battlefield encircled by searchlights, gunsmoke mingled with the smell of blood and the heavy stench of corpses.

The support squad cleared the area quickly. Daryl and Merle soon finished off the scattered walkers.

Only the low growl of engines, heavy breathing, and the faint sound of a dagger's edge pressing against the flesh of a throat remained in the air.

Lynn walked over to Zhao Jinghong, his gaze sharp as a knife as he stared at the Whisperer leader pinned to his knees in the mud.

Beneath the filthy corpse skin that had been pulled aside was a middle-aged man's face. Weathering could not hide its viciousness, but pain and fear now twisted it, his eyes full of hatred mixed with a trace of disbelieving panic.

His lips trembled as he tried to make the sound he used to command the herd, but with the dagger against his throat, all he managed was a leaking rasp.

"Good work, Jing Hong."

Lynn's voice was low, his commanding tone leaving no room for argument. "Bind him tight and gag him! Take him back!"

He needed intelligence-how many Whisperers were there? Where was their hideout? Why had they targeted this place?

This prisoner was his only way in.

"Anvil!"

Lynn spoke gravely into his radio. "Bring your men over! Clean up the battlefield and escort this bastard back!

"Careful, he might have something up his sleeve. Bind his hands and feet tight, blindfold him, and stuff his mouth full. I want him alive."

"Copy, Boss!"

Anvil's voice was as crisp and decisive as ever.

Glenn and T-Dog immediately stepped forward. With Zhao Jinghong's dagger keeping the leader in check, they used the sturdy ropes they had brought to truss him up like a rice dumpling, binding his limbs with the joints bent so he could exert no strength.

They roughly stuffed a rag reeking of engine oil into his mouth, then secured it tightly with a strip of cloth.

Finally, they covered his eyes with black cloth.

As they bound him, the prisoner struggled desperately, muffled howls coming from his throat as Glenn held him firmly down.

Only then did Zhao Jinghong slowly withdraw her dagger and catch her breath, leaning on her spear.

That fight had taken a lot out of her. Sweat had soaked her inner clothes, and the cut an iron pipe had left on her calf throbbed with pain.

But she kept her back straight, her eyes scanning the surrounding darkness warily.

The Whisperers were like ghosts. Who knew whether any more were hiding?

Daryl patrolled the perimeter on his motorcycle, a bolt loaded in his crossbow.

Merle leaned against a vehicle, loading shells into his shotgun as he spat. "Fuck. These freaks wear dead people's skin. More disgusting than rotten meat."

Lynn looked past the mess before him toward the deeper darkness beyond.

On the office building's roof, the green dot of The Jackal's night-vision goggles flashed once, signaling all clear.

The base's searchlights remained trained firmly on their position.

For now, it looked as though the trouble had been contained.

Soon, engine noise approached.

The Ash Squad's off-road vehicle rushed over and braked beside them.

Anvil jumped out with Wraith and Peregrine, swiftly taking charge of the prisoner.

Moving like a shadow, Wraith checked the ropes and gag. Only after confirming that everything was secure did he stuff the prisoner like cargo into a specially made iron cage in the rear compartment.

"Boss, leave this to us."

Anvil's voice was steady as he surveyed the battlefield.

Lynn nodded. "Keep a close watch and clean everything up. We're heading back to base."

He had to get this prisoner talking immediately. He could not waste a minute.

The convoy turned around, engines roaring again as it carried the prisoner and the victorious but exhausted core members toward the brightly lit zoo base.

Daryl's motorcycle led the way, its headlight cutting open the road back.

At the zoo base, in the temporary interrogation room beside the medical station-a reinforced corner of a warehouse.

The prisoner was bound tightly to an iron chair welded to the floor. Specially made ropes constricted his hands and feet until they turned purple. His gag and blindfold remained in place.

Only the violent rise and fall of his chest proved he was still alive, strange muffled sounds caught in his throat.

Lynn stood before him, his shadow covering him.

Zhao Jinghong leaned by the door with the Awakening of Insects spear in her arms, her icy gaze tracking the prisoner's slightest movement.

Davis, Old Joey, and Dr. Min-seon, who had been summoned at short notice in case emergency treatment was needed, stood nearby.

The air in the room was heavy enough to wring water from.

Lynn wasted no words. He reached out and tore off the prisoner's blindfold and gag.

The sudden light made the prisoner squint, and he began coughing violently.

When he made out his surroundings and Lynn's stone-hard face, terror overwhelmed him. He twisted desperately in the chair, making the iron scrape against the floor.

"Name."

There was no warmth in Lynn's voice.

The prisoner panted, his eyes darting around and his lips trembling, unable to form a complete sentence.

Lynn abruptly bent down, clamped an iron-grip hand around his jaw, and forced him to look up at him. "I'll ask again. Your name.

"And how many of you corpse-skin-wearing scum are there? Where's your hideout? Who sent you? Why did you attack my territory?"

At such close range, the deadness in those eyes and the pain that threatened to crush his jaw broke the prisoner. He shouted hoarsely, "I... I'm Skinner.

"Just... just our team. Seven of us!

"We... we hole up in the old mine to the southeast. Nobody sent us. It... it was the Patriarch's order.

"He said... said there was 'good stuff' here, a 'hole.' Told us... to scout ahead... stir things up."

His voice shook badly and his words were jumbled, but the key details seemed to spill out.

"'Patriarch'? Your leader? Where is he?"

Lynn pressed him, tightening his grip.

"I... I don't know! He... he comes and goes like a ghost. Every time... he contacts us. The mine... the mine's just a temporary spot. Aaargh!"

The prisoner suddenly let out a terrible scream.

Lynn had not caused it.

Beneath the exposed skin of the prisoner's neck, a blue-black vein suddenly bulged and writhed, rapidly crawling up to his face.

His eyes instantly became bloodshot and protruded, his expression filled with extreme agony and maddened terror.

Strange clicking sounds came from his throat, as though something were strangling him.

"What's happening?!" Davis asked in alarm.

Dr. Min-seon tried to step forward, but Lynn raised a hand to stop her.

It happened too fast!

Pop!

A very faint bursting sound!

The skin at the prisoner's left temple seemed to be punctured from within, releasing a small spurt of black blood.

His whole body convulsed several times. His head lolled, the light left his eyes, and he stopped breathing.

Dead! An eerie, sudden death!

"Poison? Or... something else?" Old Joey's voice trembled slightly.

Lynn's face was black as the bottom of a pot.

He crouched and carefully examined the tiny hole in the prisoner's temple. Something as fine as a black thread seemed to be inside, but it quickly dissolved into a puddle of black liquid, giving off a sickeningly sweet smell.

"Patriarch..." Lynn stood, his gaze frighteningly cold.

This was not merely herding corpses. It was a deeper, more sinister form of control.

This fellow called the Patriarch was even harder to deal with than he had thought.

Just then-

Boom!!!

A thunderous explosion suddenly erupted from the base's southeastern corner.

The entire ground shook, and dust cascaded from the warehouse roof.

Immediately afterward, a shrill alarm tore through the night like a ghost's wail. Gunfire, explosions, and shouting instantly merged into a roar by the perimeter wall.

"Enemy attack!!!"

"The wall! The southeast corner's been blown open!"

"Walkers! Fuck! Walkers are coming in!!"

Over the radio, the voice of Shane, the deputy Davis had left on the wall, was distorted with panic.

The expressions of Lynn, Zhao Jinghong, Davis, and the others changed drastically. The oppressive atmosphere in the interrogation room was instantly swept away by the chaos outside.

"It's a trap!"

Lynn understood immediately.

The Whisperers' herd and this captured team had been bait to lure them out.

The real killing blow was to take advantage of the base's depleted defenses and blow open the fatal weakness they had discovered at the southeastern corner.

An attack from inside and out!

"Move!"

Lynn roared, snatched up his rifle, and charged out first.

Zhao Jinghong followed close behind, gripping her spear tightly.

Davis, Old Joey, and the others reacted too, grabbing their weapons and rushing out.

When they left the interrogation room and reached a spot near the wall where they could see clearly, the sight made everyone's scalp prickle.

At the base's southeastern corner, an enormous breach had been blasted through the section Old Joey had blocked with rebar, concrete, and wrecked vehicle frames.

Chunks of concrete, bent rebar, and burning vehicle frames lay scattered everywhere.

Black smoke billowed.

Worse still, like filthy water pouring through an opened sluice, countless walkers howled as they flooded through the gaping breach.

There were far more than Zhao Jinghong had intercepted outside earlier.

Like a foul-smelling black wave, they instantly swallowed the fortifications beside the breach and lunged at the stunned wall defenders.

Fire from the wall swept wildly across them. Bullets rained into the mass of corpses, and grenade fireballs erupted one after another, blasting swaths of walkers off their feet.

But the breach was too wide, and too many walkers were pouring in.

Some trampled up the collapsed slope and climbed straight onto the wall.

Those left defending took cover and used precise rifle bursts to drop the fast-moving variants and hulking walkers trying to scale the wall.

Shane fought like a madman, blasting away with his shotgun near the breach, shouting and cursing.

Maggie, Glenn, who had stayed behind, and T-Dog, who had also stayed behind, used vehicles and sandbags to barely establish a defensive line, desperately holding back the surging corpse tide.

Carol protected Sophia and the other children as they retreated farther inside, her face full of despair.

Among the milling walkers, the firelight from explosions and the searchlights revealed several figures wearing corpse skins and moving unnaturally fast. With gestures and low, strange cries, they guided the herd straight toward weak points in the defenses and the routes people were retreating along.

The Whisperers' main force had been holding this move in reserve all along.

"Motherfuckers! We fell for it!"

Davis's eyes reddened, and he raised his gun, ready to charge down.

Lynn caught him and held him back. His gaze, cold as shards of ice, swept over the chaotic battlefield before settling on the few figures leading the mass of corpses.

He slowly raised his rifle, his voice hard as stone:

"Zhao Jinghong, take the high ground and eliminate any commanders who come close. Davis, take your men and block the inner passage. Old Joey, rescue the wounded. Min-seon, prepare to treat them!"

"As for those corpse-skin-wearing bastards..."

Lynn's muzzle settled steadily on one of the disguised leaders as he gestured, his finger resting on the trigger.

"Kill them all!"