The hair length didn't match the photos that had been sent to me either.

They looked more like they belonged to the squad leader standing beside Muriel.

My brain detonated.

I had to confront that man myself.

I had to find out who he really was.

But at that moment, up on the wall, a blade flew with surgical precision.

The cloth strips shredded apart.

Their only connection—severed in a single cut.

The bait thrashed forward, bending desperately at the waist, but his empty sleeves caught nothing.

Gravity did the rest. The bundle hit the ground with a wet thud and burst open in a spray of red.

"AHHH!"

He convulsed like he'd been electrocuted, thrashing wildly, his screams so raw they barely sounded human.

At the same instant, I let out a guttural snarl.

Every zombie holding position went berserk, surging toward the gate in a frenzy.

"There it is! That bastard really can command the undead. Too bad for him—"

The squad leader beside Muriel cursed under his breath.

The guards were well-trained. Rifles up. A wall of gunfire.

But the zombies weren't attacking the walls.

They swarmed over one another, climbing shoulder to shoulder, stacking into a grotesque living ladder.