TWD - Zomboid - Chapter 310: Atlanta, the Million Walker Tide (Patreon)

The team assignments made perfect sense. Everyone had their own agenda, and somehow, everyone walked away happy.

The only thing Luke was worried about was whether Crane Superman could handle his assignment.

After all, Chris had quite the reputation.

If Leon was the Vehicle Killer, then Chris was the Teammate Killer, a walking curse if there ever was one. Anyone unlucky enough to get paired with him seemed destined to die, and each death was somehow worse than the last!

Then again, now that Luke thought about it, Crane was something of a walking curse himself.

Right after arriving in the game, Jade's fiancé died. Then came his would-be brother-in-law Rahim, and eventually Jade herself.

Two negatives should make a positive!

Right?

Perfect plan!

As for Luke, there was nothing to worry about.

He was the player with the highest Luck stat in the entire group!

Once the assignments were settled, several helicopters lifted off.

Luke, Jill, and Claire took off for Atlanta first, followed by Graham and Rebecca, with Chris and Crane bringing up the rear.

"Bro, how the hell did you get those muscles? They're huge!"

Crane sat down with his arms crossed, studying Chris curiously.

Chris took the seat beside him and merely clenched his fist. The muscles along his arm immediately bulged.

"Genetics."

"Damn, that's impressive! Ever used steroids? I hear bodybuilders love that stuff. One shot works miracles, two shots make you massive, and three shots turn you into a sci-fi monster!"

A vein bulged on Chris's forehead.

"Bro, why'd you go quiet? Honestly, I've been trying to put on some muscle lately too. Mostly to help control my Strength. I keep getting stronger, and it's getting harder and harder to control."

Crane exposed his arm and tensed it slightly.

A tremendous burst of strength followed, enough for him to bend one of the steel bars lining the cabin wall with his bare hand.

The vein on Chris's forehead slowly disappeared.

He'd finally met his match.

...

Atlanta.

As the helicopters continued south, the scenery outside the windows gradually began to change.

At first, it was still ordinary wasteland. Vast stretches of barren farmland lined both sides of the roads, abandoned towns and villages could be seen in the distance, and the highways remained littered with scattered vehicle wrecks.

Every now and then, a few walkers could be seen wandering aimlessly below. When they heard the helicopters roaring overhead, they raised their heads and opened their mouths in silent snarls.

Then, little by little, they began shuffling in the direction the sound had gone.

And this was still only the very edge of the outskirts.

The closer they flew to Atlanta, the denser the walkers became.

First there were only a few here and there.

Then came groups.

Then entire hordes stretching across hills and fields.

Gradually, the ground beneath the helicopters disappeared beneath a writhing black-and-gray carpet. Its surface seemed to ripple, and only when they looked closely did they realize it was made up of countless walkers packed tightly together, far too many to count.

Something seemed to be attracting them, keeping the horde from dispersing.

Claire leaned toward the window and looked down, sucking in a sharp breath.

With that many walkers below, anyone who landed would be chewed into a bloody mist within minutes.

"This is nothing. We're still on the outskirts. The main course is up ahead!"

Luke didn't look particularly relaxed either.

They flew for another fifteen minutes or so.

The thick fog that had been hanging over the horizon finally loomed directly ahead.

As the helicopter plunged into the gray haze, everyone finally got a clear look at it.

This wasn't ordinary fog.

It was a persistent cloud of gas that seemed to be mixed with some kind of viral spores, blanketing the sky above the entire city.

[Corpse Mist - No Infection Risk]

[Note: Do not remain in areas shrouded in Corpse Mist for extended periods.]

What the hell was Corpse Mist?

Luke stared at the notification that had appeared on his interface.

This was the first time he'd ever seen anything like it.

The thick fog parted.

Atlanta was laid bare before them.

Everyone in the cabin went silent.

The city had completely fallen.

It was a literal hell on earth.

Most of the skyscrapers that had once dominated the skyline had collapsed. Strange fungal growths and dark red vines wound through the shattered ruins, resembling the festering blood vessels of a rotting city.

The high-rises that remained standing had lost nearly all their glass facades. Their empty windows were pitch-black, like dead eyes staring blankly up at the sky.

And the streets...

As far as they could see, every inch of ground in the city was filled with walkers.

The main roads were packed with them. Countless bodies pressed together, writhing aimlessly in place. Seen from above, they resembled vast black rivers flowing through the city.

Plazas, parks, parking lots...

Everywhere they looked, there were endless masses of walkers stretching beyond the limits of their vision.

Even if every single person in Atlanta had turned into a walker, there still couldn't possibly have been this many.

The walkers from the surrounding areas must have been drawn here as well.

This was the Million Walker Tide!

According to the intelligence Luke had received, the Million Walker Tide had been gathered here for at least several months.

That was more than enough time for all kinds of mutants to emerge.

Luke raised his binoculars and swept his gaze across the city below.

Even he felt a chill at what he saw.

Among the ruined buildings, Hunters climbed through the wreckage with the agility of apes. They moved in groups, hiding in the shadows of the buildings.

The creatures ran on all fours at incredible speed and preferred to perch in high places. Once they locked onto prey, they would drop from above and kill with a single strike.

And there was thick fog overhead.

Then there were the Suiciders.

Their bloated bodies were swollen all over, and there seemed to be one scattered among every few walkers.

There were a terrifying number of them.

Luke could barely imagine what would happen if an entire group of those things came charging at them.

They'd be like a damn army of Tesla Troopers!

And those were still the minor threats.

In an open area near the center of the horde, Luke even spotted several enormous mountains of flesh.

The tissue covering their bodies seemed to be reproducing without limit, evolving all sorts of grotesque new organs.

Yet judging by their height and general shape, Luke could still tell what they were supposed to be.

Tyrants.

Fully developed Tyrants, or at least something that had originally been one.

Who knew what a Tyrant could turn into without a containment suit restricting its growth?

Seriously, had GRE completely lost its damn mind?!

What the hell had they put into those bio-bombs?

Had they thrown every virus on the market into one giant mixture and turned the entirety of Atlanta into a petri dish?

Classic monster breeding!

Hunters, Suiciders, Tyrants, Volatiles, Roarers, Sound Seekers, Bloaters...

Every imaginable kind of mutant roamed through the massive horde.

Even more disturbing, the creatures seemed to have formed some kind of bizarre ecosystem among themselves.

The strong preyed on the weak.

Only the fittest survived.

This wasn't merely a walker horde.

It was an entire kingdom of walkers.

A biochemical frenzy!

"Oh my God..."

Jill's voice trembled inside the main cabin.

She had survived the Raccoon City incident. She had seen firsthand the insane biological weapons created by Umbrella Corporation.

But even Raccoon City paled in comparison to the Atlanta before her.

"A place like this..." she murmured. "How could anyone possibly get inside and survive?"

Even someone as experienced as Jill was left staring in shock.

If Raccoon City had looked anything like this back then, there was no way she could have fought her way out alive.

This was completely insane!

Forget sending people into Atlanta.

Even the daring reconnaissance aircraft operated by the Southern city-states didn't risk venturing too deep inside.

Who the hell knew whether flying walker birds were lurking somewhere inside that miasma?

Jill had heard that people had already been attacked by those things.