Strongest Boyfriend In The Apocalypse: Every Girl Depends On Me!-Chapter 51: Way Down

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.

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.

******

The helicopter hovered high above the fallen city, its rotating blades cutting through the thick, dusty air as the broken body of Atlanta slowly revealed itself beneath them, stretching endlessly across the land like a massive graveyard that had swallowed an entire civilization whole.

From above, the city no longer looked like a place where people once lived, worked, loved, argued, laughed, and built dreams, but instead resembled a massive wound carved into the earth, filled with ruins, collapsed structures, burned buildings, broken bridges, destroyed highways, and abandoned streets that had been completely overtaken by death, silence, and movement that no longer belonged to the living.

What made the sight even more disturbing was not just the destruction, but the motion, because the entire city was alive in a twisted way, filled with massive battalions of zombies that moved like rivers of bodies through the streets, pressing against each other in endless numbers, flowing through intersections, spilling across highways, climbing over wrecked vehicles, crawling through broken buildings, and gathering in herds so large that they looked like black waves rolling through the city. And yet, even that was not the worst part.

Because among them, moving between the hordes, were creatures that no longer looked human at all.

Some were too tall, their limbs stretched unnaturally long, their bodies bent at strange angles, their movements unnatural and wrong. Some were massive, bulky, wide, with thick arms and heavy torsos that looked like they were built for crushing rather than walking. Some crawled on all fours, dragging twisted limbs behind them, while others moved with disturbing speed and intelligence, weaving through the crowds like predators instead of mindless corpses. These were no longer just zombies. These were monsters.

Evolved things.

Changed things.

Things that should not exist.

Inside the helicopter, silence filled the space, heavy and thick, broken only by the low mechanical hum of the engine and the distant echo of growls and screams drifting up from the city below. No one spoke at first, because no one knew what to say, because no words felt strong enough to describe what they were seeing, and no sentence felt capable of carrying the weight of that view.

Ethan stood near the open side of the helicopter, gripping the metal railing tightly, his eyes locked on the city that used to be his home, his chest rising and falling slowly as his mind tried to process the reality of what Atlanta had become.

His heart felt heavy, not just with fear, but with memory, with thought, with images of his family, his mother, his sister, his past life, his old streets, his old school, his old home, all now buried somewhere under that sea of death and destruction.

A long, heavy sigh escaped his chest, slow and deep, the kind of breath that carries pain, pressure, fear, responsibility, anger, and determination all at once.

Beside him, Eva and Helen stood frozen, their hands gripping the sides of the helicopter, their faces pale, their eyes wide, their bodies tense as they stared at the fallen city below.

Eva swallowed hard, her throat dry, her voice shaky as she finally spoke.

"This place..." she whispered, barely louder than the wind, "this doesn’t even look real anymore... it feels like we’re looking at hell."

Helen’s lips trembled as she nodded slowly, fear slowly creeping into her expression as she kept staring down at the massive herds moving through the streets.

"How are we supposed to survive down there?" she asked quietly, her voice heavy with fear and doubt. "How do people even live in a place like that?"

Ethan slowly turned toward them, his expression calm, serious, and steady, not because he wasn’t afraid, but because he understood that fear alone wouldn’t keep them alive. His eyes held a quiet certainty as he spoke.

"I won’t let anything happen to you," he said firmly, not loudly, not dramatically, but with a weight that made his words feel real. "As long as I’m standing, nothing touches you."

Eva and Helen looked at him, and for a brief moment, the fear in their eyes softened, not disappearing, but shifting into something else, something like trust, something like belief, something like hope, because even in a sky full of monsters and a city full of death, his words carried meaning.

The helicopter began its descent toward one of the tallest skyscrapers still standing near the center of the ruined district, a massive structure that had suffered damage but had not collapsed, its rooftop wide and flat enough to land on safely. The approach was slow and careful, the wind strong, dust rising into the air as debris shifted across the rooftop.

When the helicopter finally touched down, the metal shook, the blades slowed, and the door opened, the silence that greeted them felt wrong, unnatural, as if the city itself was holding its breath.

They stepped onto the rooftop slowly, weapons ready, eyes scanning every direction, bodies tense, hearts pounding, because they all understood that the danger was not above them.

It was below them.

The entrance to the stairwell was broken, the door hanging crooked on its hinges, darkness spilling out from inside like a mouth waiting to swallow them whole. A foul smell drifted upward, thick with rot, decay, blood, and death, making the air feel heavy and suffocating.

Ethan took the lead, followed closely by Eva and Helen, with the Special Force officers behind them, their weapons raised, their eyes sharp, their movements cautious and controlled.

The moment they stepped inside, the sound hit them.

Groans.

Growls.

Dragging footsteps.

Scraping claws.

Low, hungry noises echoing through the stairwell.

Then the first wave came.

Zombies poured up the stairs in clusters, bodies pressed together, faces twisted, arms reaching, teeth bared, eyes empty and dead.

Ethan moved instantly, striking the first one hard, feeling bone collapse under impact, watching the body fall.

[+5 Boyfriend Credits]

Another rushed him, and he turned, cutting it down.

[+5 Boyfriend Credits]

Then another.

Then another.

Then another.

The stairwell exploded into chaos as more bodies poured upward, filling the space with noise, movement, blood, and death.

Gunfire echoed through the building, loud and sharp, bullets tearing through rotting flesh as the officers fired into the horde, while Ethan pushed forward, striking, cutting, shooting, moving with focus and control.

Level 2 zombies joined the wave, faster, stronger, more aggressive, their movements more coordinated, their attacks more violent.

[+20 Boyfriend Credits]

[+20 Boyfriend Credits]

[+20 Boyfriend Credits]

The fighting became heavier, more dangerous, more intense, the space growing tighter, the pressure growing stronger, the air growing thicker with blood and smoke.

Then came the Level 3s, larger bodies, tougher skin, stronger bones, more violent movements, their attacks hitting harder, their resistance higher.

Ethan adapted quickly, changing angles, targeting weak points, coordinating with the officers, protecting Eva and Helen while pushing forward through the mass.

[+100 Boyfriend Credits]

[+100 Boyfriend Credits]

Then the stairwell shook.

A Level 4 burst through a broken door, smashing debris into the space, its body massive, its movements violent, its presence overwhelming. It charged straight into the group, slamming into one of the officers and throwing him down the stairs.

Ethan reacted instantly, emptying rounds into it, then charging forward and finishing it at close range.

[+500 Boyfriend Credits]

But the damage was already done.

The officer lay twisted on the stairs, blood pooling beneath him, his breathing shallow, his eyes wide with fear and pain.

They tried to lift him.

They tried to move him.

They tried to help him.

But the horde was coming again.

More noise.

More movement.

More bodies.

More death.

The officer looked at Ethan, his voice weak, broken.

"Leave me," he whispered. "Don’t die here for me."

Ethan hesitated.

But the sound of the horde was growing.

The stairwell was filling again.

They had no time.

They moved.

They kept going.

The descent continued, floor after floor, blood and bodies everywhere, the fighting relentless, the pressure constant, the danger never stopping.

By the time they reached the lower levels, their bodies were exhausted, their arms heavy, their breathing rough, their clothes soaked with blood and sweat, their minds strained under the weight of survival.

Then it happened.

A zombie lunged from a side corridor, fast and violent, grabbing Eva’s left arm as she turned, its teeth sinking into her flesh before anyone could react.

She screamed.

The sound tore through the stairwell.

The zombie was killed instantly.

But the damage was done.

Blood ran down her arm.

Her face went pale.

Her body froze.

Helen turned and saw it.

Ethan saw it as well.

And his heart dropped.

Because some wounds change everything, and he knows what that means.

.

.

[A/N: It’s my birthday today!]