Chapter 2
undead - 0 | undead - 1 | undead - 3
It was the end of the world and the city had fallen into hell. The streets were lined with destroyed cars and smoke and fire filled the air as the living dead meandered.
Shop doors hung wide open, broken glass from their windows strewn. Inside, their wares were equally strung about, the walls slick with bloodied handprints.
A person lay on the floor, their outstretched hand still yet twitching even as their guts and organs spilled from their belly. Zombies surrounded the bloody mess, gorging themselves on the body’s limbs.
A silver Toyota Camry sped past and the zombies raised their heads at the scent of life. They rose, intent to follow but the car had already disappeared down the road.
Through the rear-view mirror, the young man spotted the helicopter as it lifted off from the roof of the prison, pass over the destruction of the city, and head off into the smoke filled sky.
He returned his attention to his own situation. He raised a hand to adjust the rear-view mirror then paused as he saw something else in it.
Two smoky grey eyes quietly peering out from behind him.
The young man slammed on the brakes and the car screeched to a halt. He turned. Behind him, strapped into the rear seat of the car, was a little girl. She looked only two or three years old, barely larger than a cat. She watched him quietly, her hair still tied up in plaits, her arms still holding a doll.
Her skin had already become an ashy black with purple lines that stretched from the corners of her open mouth and down her neck. Beside her was a woman’s handbag sprinkled with blood.
The young man closed his eyes.
He could imagine what had happened. The father had been unwilling to abandon his infected wife and child and so had tried to flee the city by car, hoping to find help along the way. Finally, after turning himself, his already turned wife had opened the rear doors and ran.
He opened his eyes and aimed his gun at the centre of the girl’s forehead. He didn’t pull the trigger.
Outside, zombies had already gathered around the car, their hands making dull thuds against the metal.
After a while, the young man lowered his gun, reached out toward the girl and broke her neck. Her body gently fell sideways.
He looked at her a moment, then put his foot to the accelerator.
A kilometre later the young man stopped again and parked beside a parking lot. Beside it, the yellow logo of a pharmacy appeared to glow eerily in the smoky hazy.
Meanwhile, on the second floor of the parking lot…
Bullet riddled cars filled the large open parking lot along with the broken limbs of zombies. A siren wailed. The air was thick with the stench of gunpowder and rotten flesh.
“We’re surrounded,” Yan Hao reported in a hoarse voice as he lowering his binoculars. “The alley behind us is a dead-end. Up front, a few hundred zombies have blocked up the entrance. Next to us is a hospital, school and pharmacy, all red danger zones. There’s no way through and our ammunition is getting low.”
Next to an armoured car a group of people cleaned and readied their equipment. When they heard Yan Hao’s report, all looked toward the same person.
Their training prevented them from immediately panicking yet a feeling of despair still began to rise. In their silence the muffled howls and drumming fists from outside were even more apparent.
“Captain…” Yan Hao mumbled.
Zhou Rong leaned wordlessly against a bloodied wall. Suddenly he raised his head and threw something that flashed a cold white. Twenty metres away a zombie slumped, a knife buried deep in its skull.
“Ready your weapons. Get ready for action.”
He stood and began to walk away from them. He stood tall at 1.9 metres and in his all black armour no one could see his face as the light shone behind him. They could only hear his stern, mirthless voice. One of the squad members jumped up. “Rong-ge! Where are you going?!”
Zhou Rong stopped in front of an Audi racing car. He raised a hand, smashed the windscreen and grabbed the keys from inside. After unlocking the door he got in.
“I’ll draw the zombie hoard away from the front. After you’ve escaped here, head north-east to the underground shelter thirty kilometres away.”
He fired up the engine and released the handbrake. The heavily damaged car screamed. “We’ll meet at the shelter. If I can’t make it, Yan Hao becomes Captain. Continue the mission and signal back to base.”
“Captain!” Yan Hao yelled.
“No, Rong-ge!”
“Stop!”
Zhou Rong stuck his head out of the car window. His sharp yet beautiful eyes narrowed. “Mm?”
When he didn’t smiling, Zhou Rong appeared cold, proud, even cruel, to the point it made people miss his natural good looks.
Years of conditioning made his squad mates immediately flinched. Yan Hao stepped forward but before he could say anything Zhou Rong raised a hand and gestured for him to step back.
Then Zhou Rong grinned and that oppressive feeling disappeared. With the corners of his mouth curled and his eyes curved in mirth, he suddenly became enticingly crass.
“What are you all whimpering about?” He pointed at each of them in turn, then laughed. “See you later at the shelter, now get out of here.”
The squad mates clutched at their assault rifles and looked at one another. Their looks betrayed their worry.
The racing car reversed then made a perfect u-turn, squishing the head of the long dead zombie into the ground.
“Wait… Wait, Captain!”
Yan Hao stared out of the window. “There’s… Someone’s come!”
Hoards of zombies banged their limbs, machine-like, against the door at the entrance of the parking lot. Behind them on the road, a silver Camry drove past, stopped, then reversed back. The window rolled down.
”…”
Where there survivors in the parking lot?
The young man sized up the eight storey building. On each floor there were broken windows and blood stains. It was impossible to tell what was going on inside except for the second floor. There he could see the shape of people. Perhaps when all this chaos started their only choice was to try to escape up there.
The electric doors of the parking lot had long closed but under the battering of the zombies it now had a terrifying large bend in it. It was only a matter of time before it broke entirely.
The young man furrowed his brow, hesitating.
Not far away was the open door of the pharmacy. In front of it were only a few zombies wearing school uniforms. A school nearby must have been hit.
Despite the stress of the current situation, and his own lack of memories, he could still think logically. He needed pheromone suppressors from that pharmacy to pass as a Beta and right now, these survivors in the parking lot were drawing the attention of all these zombies.
But that metal door could only last for a few more minutes.
Furthermore, what would he do if, after going into the pharmacy, he came out to find the zombie hoard coming for him next?
The young man took a deep breath. His gaze fell on a discarded motorcycle lying on the road. He made a quick calculation in his head, then burst out of the car.
The banging car door echoed, loudly announcing a potential new meal.
On the second floor of the parking lot, Yan Hao whispered, “This guy… Is he planning on drawing the zombies away…?”
Zhou Rong strode over, took the binoculars and surveyed the scene. He saw the young man, now wearing a helmet and leather jacket set the motorcycle upright then rev its engines, smoke billowing out of the exhaust.
More and more of the zombies were turning, attracted by the noise. As a group, they began to move toward the motorcycle.
Twenty metres, ten metres, five metres…
By the time the first zombies were about the reach the young man, the remaining zombies banging at the door had dropped to no more than thirty. The young man raised an arm.
Ready-
“Yan Hao, start the cat!” Zhou Rong ordered, dropping the binoculars and raising his rifle. “Everyone in the car! Ready to move!”
Bullets broke through the glass windows and shot into the mass of zombies killing those closest to the young man.
The young man took this as starting signal and moved off.
“Go go go!” “Quick!”
The squad barrelled into the armoured car with Yan Hao at the helm. He grabbed his ammunition and threw it through the window to Zhou Rong who took it, loaded it, and continued his assault!
Through this rain of bullets, the motorcycle blasted through the hoards, crushing countless under its tires into a stinking pulp, and headed to an intersection.
Zombies trailed after it forming a long line. Even those from other streets were converging.
Broken arms, snapped legs, blood pouring from every orifice, dead eyes as far as the eye could see. Suddenly the motorcycle swung around and began to down the main street.
There was a great crash. The great doors of the parking lot had finally given way. The armoured car drove through the space, crushing a few zombies that failed to get out of the way.
“Captain-” Yan Hao bellowed.
Above on the second floor Zhou Rong jumped up onto the window sill then dropped down with a bang onto the roof of the armoured car.
Five hundred metres away, at the far end of the crossroads.
The motorcycle swerved and suddenly stopped.
Now that Zhou Rong’s rain of bullets had stopped the zombies in front had began to swarm again. In the motorcycle mirror the young man saw that a road branched off toward the eastern main street.
He leaned over the handle bars, gripping them tightly, then relaxed. He took a deep breath and brought the motorcycle around-
“Ah!!”
The motorcycle flew across the road, streaking past a few zombies, and went down the side road. The motorcycle soared through the air, crashing through the glass windows of a book shop, then out the other side, glass spraying everywhere.
In front of him, two zombies suddenly convulsed as their innards exploded. A third zombie reached out for him with an open mouth then also fell as its head blasted off.
The young man turned.
Over two hundred metres away drove an armoured car. On the roof of it, Zhou Rong lay prone, a sniper rifle in hand. The corner of his mouth curved up almost like a long distance greeting.
Another bullet whizzed past the young man’s helmet and imbedded in the head of another zombie.
“Ten metres from the book shop, towards two o’clock, prepare for rescue,” came Zhou Rong’s voice through the earpiece.
Yan Hao nodded as he surveyed a satellite map. “Oh no.”
“What?”
Yan Hao brought his foot down hard on the accelerator. “That road’s a dead end.”
The armoured car sped up but it was too late. Zhou Rong saw as the motorcycle, surrounded by zombies, was forced to continue on toward the main road.
“Come around from the other side!” Zhou Rong shouted as he reloaded. “Prepare to intercept!”
Inside the car the fine line of the GPS route prediction changed. Yan Hao violently twisted the steering wheel.
Meanwhile on the main road, the young man leaned over the handlebars of the motorcycle as he drove through the ocean of blood and guts. Suddenly, up ahead, he spotted something large and black laying across the road. It was a line of barricades!
He was already travelling at 200km/h and with no more than three hundred metres between him and the barricades, there was less than six seconds until impact.
What were six seconds?
With no way to turn around, no other way to go, with both sides crammed with zombies, if he hit the barricade, it would be the end.
His eyes narrowed. On the dashboard, the hand of the dial swung hard, butting up against one end as the motorcycle itself screamed like a caged beast.
“He wants to…” Yan Hao began to say.
Like Moses splitting the Red Sea, the motorcycle cut through the hoards of zombies sending them flying, heading straight toward the barricade-
Time seemed to slow.
The young man flew up in the air and spun in an arc.
Zhou Rong threw a hooked rope: “Catch-”
The crazy young man reached out a hand. The roped wrapped around his wrist, hooked onto itself then began to yank him towards Zhou Rong.
The heavy motorcycle collided with the barricade, splintered, crumpled, then exploded with a loud rumble.
Bang! The young man landed heavily onto the of the armoured car and rolled across its roof. Zhou Rong grabbed him back from the edge then held him tightly as he got them both inside the cabin, the explosion echoing outside.
“Rong-ge!” “Captain!”
Inside, Zhou Rong’s squad mates gathered around to help them up. Up front, Yan Hao set the autopilot, signalled a squad mate to switch, then slipped into the back of the cabin. “Captain, are you alright?”
“Ow…” Zhou Rong hissed as he grimaced. “God, this old waist…”
Behind him, the young man dodged away from him and into a corner.
He silently watched them through the helmet.
They must be special forces, he thought.
Yet shockingly, these heroic, strong squad members were all Betas. In the cabin there was not one whiff of Alpha pheromone.
“Here.” Yan Hao offered him a bottle of water, “Thanks.”
Silence enveloped the cabin as everyone turned to look at the young man. Even still, he stayed silent, not moving to take the bottle.
”…” Yan Hao gestured with the bottle. “For you.”
Yan Hao’s looks were such that had he not decided to join the army, he very well could have become an actor. He was the same height as Zhou Rong with broad shoulders and long legs, and an elegant demeanour. On his left ear blinked a red stone earring. He had the energy of a main character from a school love story.
He’d undergone vigorous training for years yet none of them could leave even a scar on his perfect skin. It seemed he was just born to be beautiful.
But after realising his kindness was being wasted, he stowed it and adopted a colder demeanour.
“Hey you…” another squad member begin to say when the young man suddenly moved.
He ignored the offered water bottle an instead reached to take Yan Hao’s automatic rifle and swing it behind his right shoulder.
“Oy, you-”
Zhou Rong swallowed his mouthful of water and reached out to stop his squad mate. He turned and grinned at the young man. “What’s your name?”
The young man didn’t respond.
“Want anything to eat?”
No response.
The atmosphere in the cabin shifted and became tense.
Zhou Rong rubbed his chin and sized up the young man. He wore a leather jacket and dark jeans. The helmet completely covered his head and there was a clear stink from his earlier battles. The young man was obviously in a very sorry state.
Yet despite that he remained strong and nimble, body tense and ready for battle like a knife.
Like a cold, half drawn military sabre.
“Friend,” Zhou Rong said, smiling, as though he hadn’t noticed. “Where you going? Can I give you a lift?”
Ten seconds passed. Except for the sound of breathing, all that could be heard were the muffled howls of zombies outside.
“…Back to the parking lot,” finally said the young man, breaking the suffocating silence. His voice was hoarse and rough. “To the pharmacy.”
Zhou Rong nodded in a friendly manner, turned, then walked to the front. He gave the driver a pat on the shoulder. “Head back to the parking lot.”
He leaned forward and, in a voice that only the two of them could hear, added, “Then find a place to stop. I want to see what he wants at this pharmacy.”