The three of them would've never guessed in a million years that the other party was actually a zombie.

  No wonder she could be snoozing like a baby while surrounded by a horde of the undead.

  Maybe the mastermind behind their sudden and wacky zombie ambush was this very zombie chick.

  “Team leader, what... what do we do? Should we make the first move?”

  The lanky young fella asked, his voice shaking like a leaf.

  The team leader's face was as grim as death.

  “Useless, we can't even handle those run-of-the-mill zombies down there. What's more, this is a high-level zombie that can think and yap.”

  The young fella with a single eyelid wasn't ready to throw in the towel.

  “If the three of us gang up and attack, it's better than just waiting to croak here.”

  Just then, Billy Jean's icy glare sliced through the air, and the three of them broke out in a cold sweat so bad, their hair stood on end.

  That feeling was like being eyeballed by a rattlesnake, making them too scared to twitch a muscle.

  Zompige didn't have time to wonder why there were three humans up in the tree.

  It just wanted to spill the beans about Michael Joke's situation to Billy Jean, pronto.

  “Coo... Sis Jean, something's fishy. Michael Joke is coughing up blood."

  Billy Jean whipped her head around to look at Zompige.

  “Roar... What in tarnation is going on? Spit it out."

  “Coo... I just flew back and peeked through the curtain crack. I happened to see him puking blood, so I hightailed it back to tell you."

  “Roar... Do you know why he's spitting up blood?"

  Zompige shook its head like a bobble-head.

  Billy Jean's brow furrowed.

  Michael Joke hadn't even stepped foot out of the room in days.

  He shouldn't have gotten hurt.

  “Coo... Sis Jean, could it be that since you ditched him, he's feeling so down in the dumps that..."

  Before Zompige could finish yapping, Billy Jean cut it off.

  “Roar... Impossible. Michael Joke ain't the type to go off the deep end like that."

  Even though Billy Jean said that, she wasn't 100% sure in her gut.

  Could it be that Michael Joke was really feeling so desperate that he was pulling out all the stops?

  “Coo... Sis Jean, don't you want to go check it out yourself? You've been sending me to spy on him these days, and you haven't shown your face once. This can't go on."

  Billy Jean shook her head like a wet dog.

  “Roar... If I go, it's like giving him false hope again, and then I'll never be able to cut ties."

  “Coo... Then what do we do? It'd be a darn shame if such a handsome hunk died. I wonder if anyone'll bury him. I really hope he won't get gobbled up by other zombies."

  Zompige deliberately dropped that bomb in front of Billy Jean.

  In its heart, it wanted to give Michael Joke a hand and couldn't stand to see a good-looking guy get the short end of the stick.

  Billy Jean's face darkened like a storm cloud as she listened to Zompige.

  Could that guy Michael Joke really be going overboard?

  Aha, she suddenly had an idea and swung her gaze to the three people who were too petrified to budge.

  The three of them, including the team leader, shuddered so hard, the cold sweat on their foreheads gushed like a waterfall.

  The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

  They were toast.

  “Do you want to live?”

  A spooky female voice rang out.

  The three of them, including the team leader, did a double-take and then nodded like crazy.

  “As long as you don't kill us, we'll do anything you ask.”

  Billy Jean's eyes grew darker than the night.

  “As long as you help me do one thing, I won't bump you off.”

  The three of them, including the team leader, looked at each other and were over the moon, feeling like they'd hit the jackpot.

  As long as they could stay alive, they'd do not just one thing but a hundred if she asked.

  A few minutes later.

  The three of them, including the team leader, eyeballed the snarling, clawing zombie horde under the tree and gulped so hard, it sounded like they were choking.

  “Umm... how... how do we get down there?”

  They were scared spitless that the second they hit the ground, they'd be ripped to shreds by the zombies.

  Billy Jean looked at her “buddies” under the tree, and her blood-red peepers lit up like Christmas lights.

  A powerful mojo spread out like wildfire.

  The zombie horde instantly felt the pecking order and scrammed like scaredy-cats.

  In the blink of an eye, every single zombie on the whole street vanished.

  A plastic bag flapped around all lonely on the desolate street.

  The three of them, including the team leader, were gobsmacked.

  She was so powerful, like a force of nature.

  With just one look, she sent the zombie horde packing.

  They were glad they hadn't made an enemy of her, or they'd probably have died a horrible death.

  “Zompige will lead the way for you. Go.“Billy said.

  The three of them, including the team leader, didn't dare slack off.

  They shimmied down the tree and tailed Zompige.

  They walked down the empty street, not daring to let their guard down for a second.

  Their nerves were shot, and they clutched their axes like lifelines, on the lookout for anything that might jump out at them.

  After hoofing it through several blocks, they didn't see a single zombie.

  Only then did they loosen up a bit, and their death grips on the axes eased off.

  “Team leader, why don't we make a run for it? That zombie is too darn strange. I always feel like I'm being watched.”

  The lanky young fella said, rubbing the goosebumps on his arms.

  The young fella with a single eyelid slapped him upside the head.

  “If you want to die, don't drag me and the team leader down with you.”

  The lanky young fella's head jerked forward from the slap, and he was fuming.

  “Just talk. Why hit me?”

  “Just to knock some sense into you, you idiot.”

  The young fella with a single eyelid said.

  The lanky young fella wasn't having it.

  “There are no zombies now. Isn't this the perfect chance to skedaddle?”

  “That's exactly why it's the scariest when there are no zombies.”

  The team leader said.

  “We've walked several blocks, and still haven't seen a single zombie. That means everything is under her thumb. If we really try to bolt, I'm afraid we'll get our heads chopped off before we even take a step.”

  After hearing what the team leader said, the lanky young fella felt a chill run down his spine.

  He looked around and thought the silence was deafening.

  They were scared when there were too many zombies, and they were also scared when there were no zombies at all.

  It always felt like danger was lurking around every corner, ready to pounce.

  “Don't overthink it. We don't have a choice. Our main goal now is to do the job she gave us well. Whether we live or die is in the hands of fate.”

  The team leader said.

  The three of them didn't yap any more and kept following Zompige, who was leading the way.

  A few minutes later, they rolled up to an international hotel.

  The once ritzy hotel now looked like a haunted house.

  The fountain out front had dried up, and the pool bottom was covered in dust, trash, and even human bones.

  Several cars were parked every which way at the main entrance.

  The car windows were smashed to smithereens on the ground, and the car frames were rusty.

  There were old, dark bloodstains on the ground.

  The whole hotel was as quiet as a tomb, like there was nobody else there but them.

  This hotel was straight out of a horror flick, spooky as heck.

  Even though the team leader had never been to such a place before, just by looking at its prime location in the city center, surrounded by skyscrapers and office buildings, he knew that there must've been a lot of zombies here usually.

  But now, he didn't see a single zombie.

  All he saw was a spider spinning its web in the corner.

  He was flabbergasted.

  The power of that zombie could reach this far.

  “Team leader, do you think there could be a trap up there? Otherwise, why did she ask us to come and not come herself?”

  The lanky young fella was still being paranoid.

  “Could there be someone even more powerful up there, and we're being sent there as bait?”

  The young fella with a single eyelid was also a bit spooked.

  The team leader thought for a sec and said,

  “How about you two wait here, and I'll go up alone.”

  If there was real danger, there was no need to drag his two buddies to their graves.

  The young fella with a single eyelid objected right away.

  “No, team leader. We're in this together, thick and thin.”

  The lanky young fella hemmed and hawed.

  Seeing his hesitation, the young fella with a single eyelid knew what was up.

  His short fuse blew.

  “If it weren't for the team leader, you'd be worm food by now. At a critical moment like this, you want to let the team leader face the danger alone. Are you even human?”

  The lanky young fella's face turned as ugly as sin.

  “You...”

  The team leader jumped in to break it up.

  “Stop arguing. We're all brothers. How about this? You stay here to keep watch, and I'll go up with the guy with single eyelid.”

  “Okay, team leader. I'm only doing this because of you. I'll listen to you and stay here to keep watch.”

  The young fella with a single eyelid was hot under the collar.

  The lanky young fala had the nerve to say such self-serving things.

  He was so mad he was about to rip the lanky young fala a new one, but the team leader pulled him away.

  “Don't argue. It's enough for me to have a good brother like you by my side.”

  “Okay, we brothers will stick together through thick and thin.”

  The young fella with a single eyelid looked back at the lanky young fala with disdain and followed the team leader into the hotel.

  The lanky young fala watched their backs and sneered like a snake.

  “Hmph, what's so great about that? If you want to go and get yourselves killed, go ahead. I'm not going.”

  “It seems you have some beef with my order.”

  A sinister voice sounded behind him.