Realm Lord-Chapter 182: The Dead are Calling

The metallic taste of fear flooded Arthur’s mouth as the binoculars slipped from his trembling fingers, clattering against the roof of the armored vehicle with a sharp, echoing clang that seemed to pierce through the oppressive silence of the night. His breath came in short, ragged gasps as the desperate cries continued to assault his ears, each plea more heart-wrenching than the last.

"HELP! PLEASE, SOMEONE HELP US!"

The voices carried on the still night air, raw with terror and desperation that made Arthur’s chest tighten with an overwhelming sense of urgency. He could feel his pulse hammering against his temples, each heartbeat thundering in his ears as adrenaline surged through his veins like liquid fire. Without a moment’s hesitation, he spun on his heel and lunged toward the hatch, his boots scraping against the cold metal surface of the vehicle’s roof.

The night around them was thick with an unnatural darkness that seemed to swallow sound and light alike, making the distant cries all the more haunting. Arthur’s hands shook as he gripped the edge of the hatch, his knuckles white with the force of his grip. Time felt like it was moving through molasses, each second stretching into an eternity while those unknown people continued to scream for salvation.

"I need help out here! There are people in trouble!" Arthur’s voice cracked with urgency as he thrust his head through the hatch opening, his words echoing through the cramped interior of the armored car like a thunderclap in the stillness.

The sudden intrusion of his panicked voice shattered the peaceful quiet that had settled over his sleeping companions. Below him, the interior of the vehicle erupted into chaos as three figures jolted awake from their slumber, their bodies moving with the disoriented confusion of people torn from deep sleep.

Cara was the first to react, her lean form launching upward with the fluid grace of a trained fighter. Her golden hair whipped around her face as she moved, and despite having been asleep moments before, her eyes immediately focused on Arthur with an unshaken and determined intensity. There was something almost preternatural about the way she could shift from peaceful sleep to full alertness in the span of a heartbeat.

"What’s going on?" she demanded, her voice steady despite the chaos, though Arthur could detect the underlying current of tension that ran through her words like a live wire.

But Arthur was already pulling his head back through the hatch, his entire body coiled with nervous energy. The cries for help seemed to be growing more desperate by the second, and he could feel precious time slipping away like sand through his fingers. "No time to explain!" he shouted back, his voice already growing distant as he prepared to leap from the vehicle.

Without waiting for a response, Arthur launched himself from the roof of the armored car, his body cutting through the cool night air before landing heavily on the dew-dampened grass below. The impact sent shockwaves up through his legs, but he barely noticed the discomfort as he immediately began orienting himself toward the source of the screams.

Above him, Cara’s composed demeanor cracked like a sheet of ice under pressure. The determination in her eyes was instantly replaced by raw, undiluted panic as she watched Arthur disappear into the darkness. "Arthur! No, wait!" Her voice rose to a near-shriek as she scrambled toward the ladder, her usually graceful movements now clumsy with desperation.

Her hands slipped on the first rung of the ladder, her palms slick with sudden perspiration. The metal felt cold and unforgiving beneath her grip as she forced herself to climb with deliberate speed, every muscle in her body screaming at her to move faster, to catch Arthur before he disappeared completely into the night.

Behind her, Aziel and Myah were struggling to shake off the heavy fog of sleep that still clung to their minds like cobwebs. Aziel’s hair was disheveled, sticking up at odd angles, and his usually sharp eyes were clouded with confusion. Myah sat up slowly, her tan skin glistening with a thin sheen of sweat, her breathing still deep and regular from sleep.

"What... what’s happening?" Myha mumbled, her voice thick with grogginess as she tried to process the sudden chaos erupting around them.

Aziel was already moving, his survival instincts kicking in even through his disorientation. "Something’s wrong," he said, his voice growing clearer with each word. "Look at Cara."

They both turned to see their leader’s panicked ascent up the ladder, her usual composure completely shattered. It was a sight that sent ice-cold fear racing through their veins—if Cara was this spooked, whatever was happening outside was serious.

Without another word, both Aziel and Myha launched themselves toward the main door of the vehicle, their movements becoming more coordinated as adrenaline began to burn away the last vestiges of sleep. The door swung open with a metallic groan, and they poured out into the night air, their eyes immediately scanning the darkness for any sign of their missing teammate.

Meanwhile, Arthur was already several dozen yards away from the vehicle, his form becoming one with the shadows that seemed to cling to him like a second skin. The darkness of the night provided perfect camouflage for his shadow-enhanced abilities, allowing him to move with supernatural speed and stealth across the uneven terrain.

His feet barely seemed to touch the ground as he raced toward the source of the screams, his enhanced senses picking up every sound and movement in the darkness around him. The grass beneath his feet was wet with dew, and he could smell the earthy scent of the nighttime forest mixed with something else—something that made his stomach churn with unease.

"HELP! HELP! PLEASE, SOMEONE HELP US!"

The cries were getting louder now, more desperate, and Arthur could hear the raw terror in the voices more clearly. There was something about the quality of the screams that made the hair on the back of his neck stand on end, a primal warning that his subconscious was trying to communicate to his rational mind.

Behind him, Cara had finally reached the top of the vehicle and was now moving with the enhanced speed that her light powers provided. Her form seemed to blur as she raced across the landscape, streams of soft luminescence trailing behind her like a comet’s tail. She was undoubtedly faster than Arthur in a straight sprint, but the head start he had gained was significant.

"Arthur! Stop!" she called out, her voice carrying across the night air with desperate urgency. freēwēbnovel.com

Arthur’s enhanced hearing picked up her voice, but the sound seemed distant and muffled, distorted by the wind rushing past his ears and his own intense focus on reaching the people in distress. ’What is she yelling?’ he thought briefly, but the thought was immediately pushed aside by another wave of desperate cries.

"HELP!"

’Ah, whatever,’ Arthur mentally dismissed Cara’s warnings, his single-minded focus on the rescue mission overriding any concerns about his own safety. He pushed himself harder, his shadow-enhanced form moving even faster through the darkness.

The landscape around him was a blur of shapes and shadows passing by in his peripheral vision as he maintained his laser focus on the voices ahead. His breathing was steady and controlled despite his speed, his enhanced physiology allowing him to maintain this pace without the exhaustion that would have crippled a normal human.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity but was probably only less than a minute, Arthur could make out shapes moving in the darkness ahead. He began to slow his pace, his feet finding purchase on the uneven ground as he prepared to help whoever was in trouble.

"I’m here! What’s wro—"

The words died in his throat like a candle flame snuffed out by a sudden gust of wind. Every hair on his body stood at attention as an wave of primal terror washed over him, his fight-or-flight response screaming danger signals through every nerve ending in his body.

"What the fuck..." he breathed, his voice barely above a whisper as he took one slow, deliberate step backward, his enhanced senses taking in every horrifying detail of what was approaching him through the darkness.

The figures stumbling toward him were human in shape, but that was where any resemblance to humanity ended. Their clothes were torn and stained with substances that Arthur didn’t want to identify, hanging off their bodies in ragged tatters. Their skin had a sickly, grayish pallor that seemed to absorb light rather than reflect it, and their movements were jerky and unnatural, like marionettes being controlled by a drunk puppeteer.

But it was their eyes that truly drove home the horror of what Arthur was seeing. Where there should have been the spark of human intelligence and emotion, there was only a dull, hungry emptiness that seemed to look right through him while simultaneously seeing him as nothing more than prey.

These weren’t people calling for help.

These were the walking dead.

And they were heading straight for him.

Follow current novℯls on f(r)eewebnov𝒆l