CONNECT: Rise Of The Undead King

For a couple of minutes, there was nothing but complete silence. The sound of rifles going off had ceased, Uche's mindless screams as he fired had disappeared, and the desperate cries of the officers had stopped.

Now there was nothing but silence, with only the heavy beat of their hearts pounding rapidly.

"Has it ended?"

One of the young officers asked, his voice shaky.

Everything that happened felt like magic to them. Uche's assault hadn't even lasted a couple of minutes, yet more than a couple dozen cops from the elite squad had fallen, with a few others sustaining injuries.

'The work of a single man.'

Sergeant Kim sighed. He was thankful that Inspector Ray had thrown the grenade earlier rather than later. Even though he had opposed it at first, he knew now that it was the best move. He also knew he owed the young inspector an apology. Not only had he constantly opposed Ray's decisions, but now it was Ray who had saved them all.

'That bastard… he's always right.'

He thought.

"I think it's ended. Everyone should come out,"

Sergeant Kim said as he emerged from behind the van, where he had been hiding with a few other officers. All of them wore wary expressions; some still clung to cover, unwilling to come out so soon.

"It's okay. I think he's dead now. Inspector Ray saved us all,"

Sergeant Kim added, glancing at the young inspector, who simply gave him a strange, almost pitiful look.

"Let's take our fallen brethren and give them a proper burial. Send word to headquarters: Snowflake is dead. He attacked and killed several officers, so we had no choice but to kill him. Also, ask them to send two vans—some of ours have been damaged."

At once, everyone began working. Some packed the bodies of the fallen officers, while others sent the message to headquarters.

"How are you sure the bastard is dead? We all saw what he's capable of,"

Inspector Ray asked as they slowly approached Uche, sprawled on the ground beside a burning van, smoke curling around him.

Closer now, they could see his battered, naked body. His clothes had been reduced to ash, his skin burned, and several open wounds marked his flesh.

"You did a good job, man. I'm not sure I would've managed to deal this much damage,"

Sergeant Kim said, complimenting Inspector Ray, who stood with arms folded, staring at Uche's body with a distant expression.

Inspector Ray had deliberately thrown the grenade at the van nearest to Uche, causing it to explode and engulf him in flames. If he had thrown it directly at Uche, the damage wouldn't have been this severe, and Uche might have healed immediately.

"I think we should strap him properly before loading him into the van. Something tells me he's not completely dead,"

Inspector Ray said, and Sergeant Kim agreed.

They covered Uche's body, cuffed his arms and legs, then chained him inside a small cell in one of the vans. His body lay lifeless on the floor, wrapped in chains that bound his limbs and head, all secured with iron locks fastened to the ceiling of the cell.

"Isn't this too much for a corpse?"

The senior officer from headquarters asked after seeing the measures they'd taken.

"It's not too much. We don't fully understand what his body is capable of, so better safe than sorry,"

Sergeant Kim replied.

"We can't afford for him to wake up on the road, fully healed, and go wild again," Inspector Ray added.

"You know, I already had a strange feeling about him when he surrendered earlier without a fight, without setting any trap. I never guessed he had something up his sleeve,"

The headquarters officer muttered, still clutching his bleeding chest, only partially patched.

"I thought he knew fighting was useless after seeing a whole squad and realizing we outnumbered him. That bastard is too cunning,"

Inspector Ray added.

Once everything was done, the corpses of the fallen officers were bagged and loaded into a separate van. The area was cleared, Uche's house was sealed, and they waited for the additional vans. Two had been destroyed, and one was already carrying their dead comrades, leaving too few for the rest of them.

A couple of hours later, the requested vans arrived. Without wasting time, they loaded up and drove toward headquarters.

---

The convoy took a side road to avoid public attention. They had been driving for about an hour and a half when one of the cops guarding Uche's cell spoke urgently into his communicator:

"Sir, something is happening to Snowflake's body."

"What is it?"

Sergeant Kim's voice crackled back.

"I think… he's breathing. His chest is rising and falling."

The lead van screeched to a sudden halt, forcing the others to stop as well.

Sergeant Kim glared at the driver.

"Why did you stop? The bastard's waking up and you decide to stop? Do you want him to kill us all here? We must reach headquarters before he fully wakes up. Keep driving!"

But the driver slowly raised a trembling hand and pointed ahead.

Both Sergeant Kim and Inspector Ray followed his gaze—and froze.

Up ahead stood a small black bus strapped with explosives. Beyond it, several meters away, loomed a large man with a bazooka resting on his shoulder.

Before Sergeant Kim could react, a rocket the size of a human head streaked from the bazooka straight toward the bus.

"Ambush!!!"