Strongest Boyfriend In The Apocalypse: Every Girl Depends On Me!-Chapter 50: Hundreds Of Thousands

The helicopter rose higher into the grey sky, its spinning blades cutting through the thick air with a heavy, steady rhythm that echoed across the broken land below, and for a long moment none of them spoke because they were still trying to process what had just happened, the escape, the chaos, the dead, the blood, the loss, and the impossible miracle of a machine appearing out of nowhere when there was absolutely no hope left for any of them.

The officers were the first ones to truly react, their eyes moving slowly from the control panel to the seats, then to Ethan, then back to the open air beneath them, as if they were trying to confirm that what they were experiencing was not some kind of shock-induced illusion, because there was simply no logical explanation for how a helicopter could appear in the middle of a doomed battlefield with no signal, no backup, no base, no call for extraction, and no visible source.

One of the officers finally spoke, his voice low and uncertain, almost careful, like he was afraid that speaking too loudly might break the reality of the situation.

"How did you do that?"

No accusation, no aggression, just raw confusion mixed with disbelief and fear of the unknown.

Another officer leaned forward, staring directly at Ethan, his face tense but controlled, his eyes filled with too many questions that had no place to go.

"That wasn’t equipment," he said slowly. "That wasn’t Special Force tech. That wasn’t backup. That thing just... appeared."

Ethan sat still, his hands resting on his knees, his chest still rising and falling from the fight, the loss, the fear, and the weight of responsibility that never seemed to leave his shoulders, and for a moment he didn’t answer, not because he was trying to hide anything, but because he truly did not have an answer that made sense in the world they were living in.

"I don’t really understand it myself," he finally said, his voice calm but honest, carrying no confidence, no pride, and no attempt to sound mysterious. "It just happens when I need it to happen. That’s the truth."

The officers exchanged looks, the kind of looks that soldiers give each other when something doesn’t fit into any rulebook, any training manual, or any reality they were taught to believe in.

Eva and Helen were silent, their expressions colder than the rest, not because they were afraid of Ethan, but because they had seen this before, again and again, things appearing, weapons forming, supplies showing up, survival coming from nothing, and even now they still didn’t understand it, still didn’t have answers, and still didn’t know what kind of power he truly carried.

Eva looked at him briefly, her eyes hard, not angry, not hostile, but distant, filled with a quiet discomfort that she never voiced.

Helen did the same, her expression unreadable, her face calm but guarded, as if part of her trusted him with her life, while another part of her still feared what she didn’t understand.

The helicopter moved forward on its automatic route, gliding above ruined roads, broken buildings, collapsed bridges, burned vehicles, and empty cities that looked like skeletons of a world that used to exist, and the silence inside the aircraft slowly grew heavier as the weight of everything they had lost and everything they were moving toward began to settle.

After a long while, one of the officers spoke again, trying to shift the tension.

"Where exactly is this thing taking us?"

Another officer checked the navigation screen, his face slowly changing as the map adjusted, the route stretching forward, deeper into the dead zones, deeper into the heart of destruction.

"Atlanta," he said quietly.

The word alone changed the atmosphere inside the helicopter.

Atlanta.

Even before the apocalypse, it was a massive city.

Now, it was a graveyard of millions.

As they moved forward, the sky slowly opened, and beneath them the road system began to appear more clearly, long highways stretching across the land like dark scars, and that was when they saw them.

Hundreds of thousands of zombies.

Not scattered.

Not broken into small groups.

Not wandering randomly.

But moving.

Gathered.

Connected.

Herds merging into herds, waves feeding into waves, bodies flowing like rivers of death across the highway, filling the roads, the bridges, the broken vehicles, the sides of the streets, the fields, the open spaces, and even the collapsed structures, until it looked less like a city and more like a living sea of the dead.

The helicopter slowed slightly as everyone stared.

No one spoke.

No one moved.

Even the officers, men who had seen death, war, destruction, and horror, were frozen in place by the scale of it. 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

Eva’s hands tightened slowly.

Helen’s breathing became heavier.

Ethan felt his chest tighten as he stared down at the endless mass, his mind racing, his thoughts heavy, his heart pounding, because for the first time since the disaster began, he wasn’t just seeing zombies as enemies anymore, he was seeing them as a force, a moving disaster, a living extinction event that could swallow cities without effort.

Helen finally broke the silence, her voice low and shaken.

"Where are they all going?"

The officer beside her swallowed before answering.

"Atlanta."

The word hit harder this time.

Because now it wasn’t just a destination.

It was a threat.

It was a warning.

It was a future disaster waiting to happen.

Ethan leaned back slightly in his seat, his eyes still fixed on the moving herds, his mind racing with thoughts of his mother, his sister, Anna’s family, the people he cared about, the city he was heading toward, and the impossible task that waited for him there.

And for the first time in a long while, even with his system, his powers, and his abilities, he felt small.

Not weak.

Not helpless.

But small in the face of what was coming.

******

Dylan stood there for a long moment after the zombie fell, his breathing heavy, his eyes wide, his body frozen in place as if his mind had not yet caught up with what his eyes had just witnessed, because what he had just seen did not feel real, did not feel human, and did not feel like something that could simply be explained with logic or courage or survival instinct alone.

He slowly turned his head toward Nina, staring at her as if she was no longer just a girl he had met in the forest, but something else entirely, something dangerous, something powerful, something unknown, something that made the woods around them feel smaller and quieter and more fragile.

For several seconds, he said nothing, only breathing hard, only swallowing slowly, only watching her as she wiped the blood from her knife with a piece of cloth she pulled from her pocket, her movements calm, controlled, and steady, as if killing a monster with a machete was nothing more than a difficult chore that had already become part of her normal life.

Finally, his voice came out, low and shaken, almost unsure of itself.

"That thing... that wasn’t normal," he said slowly, his eyes drifting back to the corpse of the zombie for a moment before returning to her face, as if his mind still couldn’t accept what had happened. "It was holding a weapon... it was thinking... it moved like it knew what it was doing."

Nina did not answer immediately. She only slid the knife back to her side, exhaled slowly, and looked around the forest with alert eyes, scanning the trees, the bushes, the shadows, and the open spaces between them, as if danger was something that could appear at any second from any direction.

"These things evolve," she finally said in a calm, low voice that carried no fear, only understanding. "Some of them learn, some of them adapt, some of them don’t just hunt with instinct anymore. They remember how to use what they had when they were alive."

Dylan swallowed hard.

"That’s insane," he muttered, shaking his head slowly. "That’s not just a zombie... that’s something else."

He took a few steps closer to her without even realizing it, as if being near her made him feel safer, even though everything about her now felt dangerous in a strange and confusing way.

"How did you do that?" he asked quietly, his voice filled with a mix of fear, admiration, disbelief, and curiosity. "I mean... you didn’t hesitate, you didn’t panic, you didn’t even flinch. You moved like you’ve done this a hundred times. Are you some kind of martial artist or something? Or were you trained for this?"

Nina looked at him for a moment, her eyes calm but distant, as if his question had touched something she did not like to revisit.

"I don’t want to talk about it," she said simply, turning away slightly and beginning to walk forward again.

But Dylan followed her, unable to let it go, his mind too overwhelmed to stay silent.

"You can’t just say that and expect me not to ask," he said, his voice still soft but persistent. "You just saved my life. I watched you fight something that should’ve killed both of us, and you’re acting like it’s normal. I deserve to understand at least a little."

She stopped walking.

For a few seconds, neither of them spoke, and the forest seemed unusually quiet, as if even nature itself was listening.

Then Nina slowly turned back toward him, her face unreadable, her eyes steady, her expression controlled.

"I’m a soldier," she said.

The words were simple, but the weight behind them was heavy.

Dylan froze.

"A... a soldier?" he repeated slowly, staring at her as if the word itself had changed how he saw her.

She nodded once.

"That’s all you need to know."

He let out a slow breath, processing it, understanding suddenly forming in his mind as all the pieces started to connect, the calmness, the control, the fearlessness, the precision, the confidence, the way she moved, the way she watched her surroundings, the way she reacted to danger without hesitation.

"That explains everything," he said quietly, nodding to himself. "That explains why you’re like this... why you’re not afraid... why you fight like that."

They walked again, moving deeper through the woods, the silence between them no longer uncomfortable, but heavy with unspoken understanding.

After a while, Dylan spoke again, his voice softer this time, more careful.

"Do you have family?" he asked. "A brother? Parents? Someone you’re trying to find?"

Nina’s steps slowed.

Her jaw tightened slightly.

Her eyes hardened.

"Not anymore," she said quietly. "And I don’t want to talk about it."

Dylan immediately understood the pain in her voice, the finality in her tone, and the wall she had just placed between them.

"Okay," he said gently. "I won’t ask again."

They continued walking in silence, moving through broken paths, fallen branches, scattered debris, and long stretches of empty forest, the kind of silence that feels heavy but not hostile, filled with thoughts that neither of them wanted to speak out loud.

After a long time, the trees began to thin, and the forest slowly opened into a clearer space where metal structures started to appear in the distance.

Dylan noticed it first.

A tall steel fence.

Metal poles.

A large reinforced gate.

And then the sign.

"Welcome To Refuge Six."

He stopped walking.

"So this is a refuge," he said quietly, staring at the gate, the fence, and the armed figures standing near it. "An actual safe zone."

Nina’s body stiffened.

Her lips pressed together slowly.

Her eyes fixed on the Special Force officers standing near the entrance.

"I could be here," she whispered.

Dylan frowned in confusion and turned to her.

"It could be what?" he asked.

She exhaled slowly, her gaze never leaving the gate.

"Where I get to save my friends," she said calmly, but there was something heavy behind the words, something loaded with meaning and intention.

Then she stepped slightly to the side and said,

"We camp here for a while."

Dylan stared at her, confused, overwhelmed, and full of questions, because until now she had never once mentioned friends, never spoken about anyone else, never hinted that she had people she was trying to reach or protect.

But something in her voice told him this was important.

Very important.

And whatever she was planning, whatever she was walking toward, whatever she was trying to do, it seems like he was already part of it now, whether he understood it or not.