After Bossie, Carver, and the others went upstairs, the attic fell completely silent.
The terrifying low-frequency rumble seemed to have disappeared, and the faint tremors underfoot could no longer be felt.
Yet Calista's unease only grew stronger.
She closed her eyes, trying to force herself to rest, but her heartbeat quickened for no clear reason. Her blood seemed to run warmer beneath her skin, and an indescribable restlessness took hold of her.
This was not just fear. It felt more like an alarm screaming inside her.
Was it "Wildfire"?
Calista instinctively touched her chest. Even through her clothes, she could feel that her body temperature was slightly higher than usual.
Before, she had only sensed the walker created from the serum made with her blood sample. She had never reacted to wild walkers like this.
Could it really be as Dr. Jenner had said, that she could sense some kind of biological field formed by large concentrations of walkers?
Thousands upon thousands of decaying bodies, filled with a high concentration of the virus, being detected and amplified by her abnormal immune system, turning into this instinctive sense of danger that ordinary people could not perceive?
Was that even possible?
Or was this just a side effect of her recent fever, combined with the experimental vaccine and Dr. Jenner's speculation, unsettling her mind and creating an illusion?
She opened her eyes and let out a quiet sigh, pulling her knees close and curling into herself.
In the deep night, with no one watching, the calm facade of a leader quietly peeled away, revealing the girl underneath, forced to carry too much, cold and afraid.
Calista was just an ordinary person. She had no special advantage, no system, and before all this, she had never faced any major hardship.
Things had been fine when the vaccine showed no obvious problems, but now that the side effects had begun to surface, they left her unsettled.
During this time, she still appeared to be the strong leader of Rock Fortress on the outside, but inside, she had never truly felt at ease.
...
Calista did not know when she fell asleep.
Exhaustion finally overcame her tense nerves, pulling her into a brief and restless sleep.
Even in her dreams, there was no peace. Only twisted walkers and endless pursuit.
The farmhouse was silent, filled only with the rhythm of breathing and Merle's steady snoring.
It felt like only a moment had passed, or maybe several hours, when she was jolted awake by a suppressed, urgent sound.
A sharp, restrained whistle cut through the air from the roof.
It was Ethan on watch.
The next moment, Turner burst through the inner door, his face drained of color.
"Up! Everyone up! Outside! Look outside!"
Calista's eyes snapped open. It was not even dawn yet.
The sounds outside were no longer wind or insects, but a growing hum, far clearer than what they had heard during the night.
"What?" she started, her voice still thick with sleep, but Leah yanked her to her feet.
"Outside! Look outside!" Leah's voice trembled slightly, though she did not seem to notice.
At almost the same moment, Ethan's voice came through the radio, nearly breaking.
"Horde! My God, it's a horde! It's coming straight at us!"
Everyone was instantly awake.
Calista rushed to the nearest broken window. The moment she looked out, her blood seemed to freeze.
The sky had not fully brightened, so visibility was poor.
But even so, far out on the horizon, at the very edge of sight, a massive, writhing "tide" was slowly spreading across the land.
No.
That was not water.
It was a flood of walkers.
Endless, densely packed, moving as one. Their numbers far exceeded anything they had ever seen before.
And this tide was not coming from just one direction.
It was like a giant claw closing in, advancing from the northwest, the north, even the northeast. The densest leading wave was heading straight toward the lone farmhouse where they were hiding.
The horde did not move fast. If anything, it was slowed by rotting limbs. But the sheer number of bodies forced it forward, pushing and piling into each other.
At this rate, ten minutes at most. Maybe even five.
They would be swallowed whole, the house and everything in it crushed like a shoreline under a tsunami.
"Holy shit!" Merle rushed to the window. One look, and all the color drained from his face.
"Jesus Christ!" Carver cursed as he chambered a round.
"The monitoring equipment lost power halfway through the night…" Bossie muttered, eyes unfocused, filled with frustration.
No one blamed him.
With a horde this massive, coming from all directions, even working equipment would not have been able to determine its path. The interference was overwhelming.
Everyone stood there, stunned by the apocalyptic sight.
Lorenzo stood slightly apart, his face pale as paper. In his dark eyes, alongside fear, a flicker of twisted excitement flashed.
"Everyone to the vehicles! NOW! NOW! NOW!"
Calista's shout snapped everyone back to reality.
Survival instinct crushed everything else.
"Leave anything unnecessary! Weapons and ammo only! Move! Start the engines!"
Her command hit like a whip.
The farmhouse exploded into motion.
People jumped up, grabbed their gear, shoved aside the furniture blocking the doors, and rushed outside toward the vehicles.
No one cared about noise anymore. Everything was drowned out by the overwhelming rumble outside.
Calista, Leah, Merle, and Lorenzo were the last to rush out.
The two Humvees and the heavy truck were already roaring to life. Mike, Carver, and Wells were frantically reversing, trying to turn around on the narrow dirt road.
But in those few short seconds, the situation had already worsened beyond hope.
The vanguard of the horde, the fastest and freshest walkers, had reached the entrance of the dirt road.
They saw the living.
They became more frenzied, snarling and pushing forward, directly blocking the convoy's only escape route.
More walkers were closing in from both sides of the fields. Slower, but tightening the noose quickly.
"Turn around! Turn around! Break through the other side! Go through the fields!"
Calista shouted toward the lead vehicle while firing controlled shots, dropping the two closest walkers with clean headshots.
Mike spun the wheel hard, the Humvee struggling to pivot on the narrow road.
Bang.
The rear smashed into an abandoned mailbox, but the vehicle barely managed to complete the turn.
"Follow the lead vehicle! Break out!" Calista shouted to Carver and Wells.
At that moment, the only ones not yet inside a vehicle were her, Leah, and Merle.