Chapter 8
undead - 0 | undead - 7 | undead - 9
Eight P.M.
Night had started to fall though the street lights had yet to turn on. Outside out the car window, the highway had already turned into a wasteland of destroyed cars, zombies groaning and milling about among them.
Zhou Rong was at the wheel. His eyes were red and he said nothing.
Si Nan came from the back carriage and slipped into the passenger seat. The stench of nicotine filled his lungs and he couldn’t help coughing. “Let me drive.”
Zhou Rong shook his head.
“You’ve been driving for too long.”
Zhou Rong said nothing.
Si Nan sat silently for a moment in the rumbling car, then softened his voice. “Don’t be like this, Rong-ge. Two cars worth of people are looking to you. If something happens to you, what will everyone else do? Yan Hao and Chun Cao have already switched twice.”
“…This armoured car’s not easy to drive,” Zhou Rong finally said, his voice hoarse. “It’s hard to drive on dirt roads and we have to get as far away from T City as possible as quickly as possible.”
Si Nan was about to reply when the wireless sounded: “Yan Hao calling the first car, Yan Hao calling the first car! Leader can you try your transmitter? Ours isn’t working.”
Zhou Rong’s expression shifted and he flicked on the car’s transmitter-receiver.
A meaningless crackle filled the air, every frequency converging together into a dark sea.
There was no shortwave signal.
Behind in the armoured car’s carriage, three of the special forces solders woke, seemingly sensing that something was wrong, and came to the front. They saw Zhou Rong’s expression become stormy. He raised a hand and fiddled with the communications controls, but no matter what he did, even the command centre’s frequency just became another fish in the sea of static. The people around him watched silently, desperately.
Zhou Rong suddenly slammed on the breaks. He took a deep breath, then got out of the car.
Behind the bus also came to a stop, waking many of he exhausted survivors. There was the hum of quiet conversation.
Yan Hao and Chun Cao also got out and hurried over, both their faces were lined with obvious exhaustion. Zhou Rong cut the pleasantries and got right to the point. “Communications with the base are down.”
The rest of the squad gathered around, their expressions filled with fear.
“…There’s no sign of the nuke,” Yan Hao said quietly. “Wasn’t the plan to fire at 8 P.M? It’s already ten past.”
“Could they have changed the plan…?”
“If they changed it, they would have informed us,” Yan Hao said, cutting Chun Cao off. “If it was changed to 9 P.M, the base would have told us to find more survivors and the helicopters would have been ordered to pick up another round. Moreover, the more time passes, the more time the zombies have to spread out from the city centre.”
Si Nan walked nearer then stopped a few steps away and watched them talk, his arms crossed.
A single, terrifying idea was floating in the minds of those present, but no one dared speak it out as though this would stop it from being true.
It was deep Autumn and the night was cold. A breeze blew through the wild grasses as the far away city lights glimmered.
“Something’s gone wrong at your base,” said Si Nan behind them, his voice calm and even.
A few of the soldiers rounded on him. “That’s impossible!”
“B Region’s defences are perfect, impenetrable! From the moment they knew about the outbreak, every has been on high alert. Not even a housefly could get in! Not just that, but the government, the headquarters, all the survivors from North China are all… are all…”
No one replied as Chun Cao’s shrill voice gradually faded.
Si Nan looked kindly at her. “No fortress is impregnable. If there’s an outbreak on the inside, it’s only a matter of time before everything collapses, you know that.”
They all had been there today on the roof as the helicopters had come to rescue the survivors. A chill fell over them.
“Yingjie,” Zhou Rong said quietly. “Location.”
Zhang Yingjie held up a tablet computer. There was no branding on it and had to be military grade. “We took a detour, so we still have fifty seven kilometres to go to get to the suburbs of B City. The highway ahead of us critically congested. I suggest we cut through the industrial zone instead. The closest to us is just eight kilometres away…” He thought a moment. “And there could be more survivors.”
Zhou Rong replied slowly. “If B City’s fallen, it’ll be nuked in, at most, two days time. We shouldn’t get any nearer.”
The survivors on the bus were restless and came hesitantly to the door of the door.
Under the gaze of those dozens of eyes, Zhou Rong took his time contemplating then finally spoke.
“Set up camp. Take an inventory and arrange food and shelter for the survivors.
“Yan Hao,” he ordered. “Take a tally of the survivors and arrange a rotating night watch.”
Wind howled over the wilderness like thousands of weeping ghosts.
Zhou Rong’s earlier preparations were proved right. On the bus, were rice, salt, canned meat and vegetable, warm clothes, all supplies he’d personally collected with a team from the shopping district’s warehouses. In addition to these supplies, there were also cutting implements, medicine, electricity generators and a few other supplies, all of which were kept on the armoured car.
All thirty some survivors were given a can of food to eat. Every now and then from them came a sob or an aggrieved sigh. Si Nan sat on the step of the armoured car’s door with a bottle of yellow peach syrup. Zhou Rong came by and put two discs of fever medication into his mouth.
Zhou Rong’s hands smelt of cigarette smoke and his fingers chapped.
“Captain,” Yan Hao called from not too far away.
Zhou Rong wanted to say something to Si Nan but instead to just gave a wave and went over to Yan Hao.
“There’s not much high-energy fuel left in the armoured car, but we can substitute it with diesel. We’re ready at dawn tomorrow to make a search of nearby vehicles for more. Once we arrive at the industrial zone, we’ll try to sending a signal again. If B City is alright, then they’ll definitely respond.”
The pair of them stood side by side. “How many are left?” Zhou Rong asked quietly.
“Thirty-six survivors. Thirty male. Of them, six are over fifty, two are under fifteen. For females, there are six, two are over twenty, while the remaining four are over forty. All Betas.”
Yan Hao swallowed.
“As for us, there’s just six. You, me, Chun Cao, Zhang Yingjie, Ding Shi and Guo Weiyang.
“The rest… didn’t make it.”
All around them was quiet but for the night breeze that brought the distant murmurs of the group, small sobs and all.
Zhou Rong ground his teeth then suddenly punched a nearby tree.
The hard wood of the tree trunk split and gave a dangerous groan. Yan Hao took a few steps back.
“The hell you doing?” he whispered forcefully. “What if you attract the zombies here?!”
Blood oozed from between Zhou Rong’s fingers and the air began pungent with Alpha pheromones as his suppressor was overcome, spilling out in all directions.
Zhou Rong forced himself to take a breath then pulled back his shaking hand from the tree.
Yan Hao pulled out a bottle of water and quickly splashed it on the tree trunk then went to splash some on Zhou Rong’s hand. Zhou Rong pulled away and instead licked the wound on his hand, looking in the pale moonlight like a trapped wolf.
“…Three people to a group. Tomorrow at six, head to the industrial zone.” After a moment, Zhou Rong continued in a hoarse voice. “If after two days we don’t hear anything from B City, then I’m heading in myself.”
Yan Hao wanted to protest but Zhou Rong gave him no opportunity and instead turned and hurried off.
Si Nan had drunk half of the peach syrup then exchanged the rest with a man for half a box of Baisha cigarettes. The man gave the peach syrup to his wife while Si Nan pocketed the cigarettes and went to look for Zhou Rong, but as he reached the edge of the clearing, he suddenly stopped.
It was faint, but he could smell something in the air, something that made him uncomfortable.
The smell wafted in the air. Strong, mature, aggressive. Si Nan looked for its source but after a moment he realised what it was. It made him dizzy.
…It was the smell of Alpha pheromones.
But they were in the middle of nowhere, how could there be an Alpha here? Could it be from a corpse in the forest?
Si Nan looked around. In the lights from their vehicles he could see everyone was getting ready for the night. In the other direction, towards the forest, was a solitary lamp post. It gave off a gloomy light.
“Are you alright?” came a female voice from behind Si Nan.
Si Nan turned and found Chun Cao looking curiously at him.
“…Can you smell something?”
“No?” Chun Cao sniffed, then looked blankly at him.
Si Nan: ”?”
A moment passed, then Chun Cao sneezed dramatically all over Si Nan.
“Must be the smell of rotting flesh,” Chun Cao said rubbing at her nose. She pushed Si Nan back towards the car. “Quick, quick quick, go sleep! Don’t worry about it! Go!”
Si Nan looked dubiously at her but got pushed back into the armoured car anyway.
The squad divided into three groups that night to keep watch, Chun Cao and Ding Shi until midnight, Yan Hao and Guo Weiyang until three, and Zhou Rong and Zhang Yangjie until dawn.
Zhou Rong slept fitfully that night and woke groggily at midnight.
In the back of the car, the other soldiers were snoring, but beside him, he felt someone nestle against him. In the gloom of the car lights he saw that it was Si Nan.
Fast asleep, Si Nan’s temperature had naturally fallen so his body now wanted out a source of warmth and it found it in Zhou Rong, tightly hugging Zhou Rong’s arm. Zhou Rong could feel Si Nan’s calm breath on his neck.
In the dim light, time seemed to slow and old, fragmented memories from his youth flashed through his mind and overlapped with that sleeping, pretty face.
Without knowing why, Zhou Rong raised a hand and brushed a lock of Si Nan’s hair behind his ear.
At that moment there came a soft click and the door of the car opened.
Zhou Rong immediately shut his eyes and feigned sleep, though even he wasn’t quite sure why. After a few seconds, he felt the car shift as someone got in then silently came to stand in front of him and the sleeping Si Nan.
The person leaned over and, gently, took one of Si Nan’s hands.
Si Nan had eaten fever medication and so didn’t wake but instead just shifted around.
Zhou Rong didn’t move a muscle. After some time, he finally heard the other person softly say, “Thank you for saving my life.”
It was Yan Hao.
Zhou Rong was surprised and he risked cracking open an eye. It was dark, but he could just make out Yan Hao as he leaned over and kissed Si Nan on the temple.
It was one of those kisses that was as light as a feather yet full of pious devotion.
Zhou Rong didn’t know what to think.
Like a child who had gotten away with secretly eating a sweet, Yan Hao quietly got up and went out the car door.
The inside of the car fell again into darkness. For a while Zhou Rong stared up into it then finally closed his eyes.