The Endgame Chronicles (by Hugh White) novel Chapter 560

Hayley stood on the rooftop, watching the group sprint toward the building.

There were four of them in total, three guys and one girl.

They grabbed the rope hanging down and quickly tied it around their waists.

Up top, the students rushed to the water tank. They yanked off the lid, revealing something that looked like an old–fash hand pump straight out of a rural well.

One of the boys started pumping hard. Air hissed out of the tank. A second later, Hayley heard a sharp suction sound as a opened below.

Negative pressure kicked in. Gears began spinning. The rope tightened and reeled in fast, hauling the four people straigh side of the building.

Hayley’s eyes lit up.

Not bad. There were smart people everywhere, especially in schools.

Sydney caught the look on her face.

“Mr. Ortega taught us how to build it,” she said, almost proud.

The two boys beside her immediately hissed.

“Sydney, stop talking to her!”

“Don’t tell her our setup.”

Hayley tilted her head. “So this Mr. Ortega you keep talking about… Is his name Marvin Ortega?”

“How do you know that?” all four of them blurted at once.

The second the words left their mouths, regret washed over their faces.

“Why do we keep answering her?”

“Did we just give away more information?”

“How did she know?”

Hayley just stared at them.

It had been a long time since she had dealt with people who were this straightforward.

After spending weeks at the Ark bases negotialing with seasoned operators who smiled while calculating three moves ahead, this felt like stepping into another world.

The four from below reached the roof.

Andrew shut down the pamp device while the others helped pull them over the ledge.

The middle–aged man, wrapped head to toe in heavy gear, straightened up and immediately grabbed his lower back. “Gosh, that

hurts.”

“Mr. Ortega, what happened?”

“Where are you hurt?”

“Did we pull too hard?”

The students crowded around him in a panic.

He waved them off, still wacing “No, no. On the road earlier, I ran into some damn idiot. She was so rude. She drove strai me, didn’t even apologize, then flung zombie guts at me.”

Hayley blinked.

“Who does that?” one of the boys snapped.

“That’s messed up!”

“We should curse her out!”

“She’s gonna get what’s coming to her!”

“I hope she gets run over by a truck!”

“Yeah, and eaten by zombies!”

“Run over, eaten, then run over again as a zombie!”

Hayley pressed her lips together.

Marvin raised a hand. “Alright, alright. Let’s keep some class. We’re better than that.”

As he turned, his eyes finally landed on the two figures standing a few feet away. He squinted.

They looked familiar… Very familiar.

Hayley rested her arms over the hilt of her blade and smiled sweetly. “Hey, there. Fancy seeing you again.” The second Marvin heard her voice, he went rigid. It was as if he had been struck by lightning.

“It’s you?” he blurted out. “Why are you here?”

The students looked back and forth between them.

“Mr. Ortega, you know them?”

“Who are they?”

“She’s the one who hit me with the truck!” Marvin pointed accusingly.

Silence fell over the group.

One of the boys beside Marvin, Johny Pearson, frowned, “I told you guys to keep an eye on them. Why did you let them up here?‘

Andrew scratched the back of his head.

“We ran into a zombie wave on the fourth floor. When we heard you coming back, everything got chaotic. We just…all came up together.”

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