Chapter 7
undead - 0 | undead - 6 | undead - 8
Yan Hao grabbed the railing. “Quickly run!”
Si Nan refused to budge. Instead, he pulled with all his might, the bones in arms creaking with the effort. Yan Hao was at least ten kilograms heavier than him.
“The, the zombies are coming!”
“Shut up,” Si Nan gasped.
Yan Hao scrabbled with his feet at the wall, eyes fixed on the zombies coming up behind Si Nan. “Listen to me! Don’t worry about me! Just run!”
“How can I… not worry about you…”
“There’s a zombie right behind you!”
Si Nan was half hanging over the railing when he felt something bump up against him from behind and heard the rasping breath of a zombie. At the same time, Yan Hao’s foot finally caught the window frame below. He kicked it and used the force from Si Nan to jump upward.
Yan Hao flipped over the railing, grabbed Si Nan, hit the floor then rolled a few metres.
“Are you alright?!”
Si Nan had managed to avoid the teeth of the zombie but it still took him a few seconds to recover from the rolling about just then. “F-fine.”
Yan Hao lay on top of Si Nan, left hand propping himself up. With his right, he grabbed Si Nan’s face and turned it so that he could see the back of his neck. There were a few scraps from the cement ground but there was no blood. He sighed in relief.
“No bite,” Yan Hao mumbled. He rested his head on Si Nan’s shoulder. “I’m so glad… there’s no bite…”
Due to the gland located in an Omega’s neck, Omegas are highly sensitive to any stimulation at that most sensitive spot. If Yan Hao was an Alpha then his action just then would have been a textbook example of sexual harassment and Si Nan’s instinctual reaction would have been to flip him over and give him a good stomp.
“You…”
Si Nan opened his mouth to say something when Yan Hao suddenly raised his head. But before he could read what was in that emotional gaze, Yan Hao whipped out a knife, turned and made a horizontal slash. Viscera from a zombie rained down and its body slumped to the floor.
“Quickly run!” Yan Hao said as he pulled Si Nan up. “Get down off the roof. Go to the underground shelter, quick!”
The rooftop was already soaked with the smell of blood. All around stumbled half burning, screaming people and feasting zombies. Blood soaked survivors stumbled toward the exit only to trip and be stepped on by more wailing people.
Near the roof access, Zhou Rong was using a firefighter’s axe to hack a zombie in half. As he pulled back the axe, three obviously infected people surged toward the door. Si Nan grabbed Zhou Rong’s bloodied wrist and yelled, “Go! We can’t do anything more!”
Zhou Rong’s eyes were red and bloodshot.
“Go, Rong-ge! They’ve all been infected already!” Chen Cao screamed over the stream of people. “Quick! To the shelter!”
There was another bang as the already burning helicopter exploded for a second time.
Both survivors and zombies, pushed by the blast, fell off the building to shatter on the ground far below. Zhou Rong let out a shaking, furious breath and looked to his blood soaked, grimy squad mates. “Every one listen!” he bellowed.
“Head to area A of the shelter! Come now!”
“Area A of the underground shelter!”
Zhou Rong led the way and was first to crash through the rooftop access.
The floor below was in chaos with many of the infected having transformed into zombies as they ran and now preyed on the remaining survivors in the narrow corridor. The rate of infection moved blisteringly fast. At some point, the lights had gone. From the dark came the screams and howls of feasting undead.
Zhou Rong used the sharp axe to carve a path through the destruction while protecting Si Nan behind him. Beneath them, the floor was slick with blood and flesh viscera.
That moment seemed to last an eternity and also pass in a second. Zhou Rong finally cut his way to the entrance of the underground shelter and lead the way through.
“Quick, quick, quick! Everyone through!”
The last of the survivors stumbled through the door and Zhou Rong kicked the door closed sealing the stumbling zombies on the other side of it. Then he turned and cast an eye over the remaining people, counting them up. “I’ll drive the armoured car. Yan Hao, get the minibus. Go!”
This was the plan Chun Cao had discussed with Zhou Rong the night before: If for some reason the helicopter is unable to land on the roof, then they would use these vehicles to carry the survivors out onto the street to be picked up there instead.
Yan Hao caught the keys thrown to him and started to the minibus before suddenly stopping as he saw the panicking crowd before him.
“Quick! Quickly let us in!”
“Don’t leave us behind!”
“They’re coming, they’re coming…”
The panicked screams echoed loudly in the open space of the shelter.
Yan Hao gulped. He tried to open his mouth to say something but no sound came. At that moment, Zhou Rong strode up to him, clapped him on the shoulder then stood in front of him.
Zhou Rong was tall and his stature sharp. He cast an eye over the murmuring crowd. Their cries became whimpers under the power of his gaze.
“Whoever’s been bitten, come forward,” he said in a stern but clear voice.
The crowd exploded.
“I haven’t!” “I also haven’t!” “Let us get in!” “Please, please, just let us get in!”
“Shut up!” Chun Cao suddenly shouted. “Whoever pushes won’t be let up!”
The clamouring stopped. In the silence one of their soldiers stepped forward. He pulled at his collar and laughed. “I’ve been bitten, Rong-ge. Have you got a bullet?”
Zhou Rong stared at the man’s already rotting wrist and didn’t say a word.
Yan Hao did his best to control himself but he finally couldn’t do it and collapsed to the ground with a grief stricken wail.
Zhou Rong closed his eyes and breathed. In. Out. In. Out. He raised his head. After a few seconds finally swallowed back the hot tears and instead reached for the bullet strung around his neck on a cord.
“This is…” he said in a hoarse voice. “My last bullet. I was supposed to be for me.”
He loaded the bullet into his gun then tightly hugged the soldier.
Every squad mate said good bye to him. Chun Cao’s shoulders shook uncontrollably. The soldier patted her reassuring on the back and kissed her on the top of her head as though he were her older brother. Then he pushed her away and turned, tears in his eyes, to face Zhou Rong.
“Thank you for all these years, Rong-ge,” he said as he wiped the corner of his eye. “Send me off this last time.”
Zhou Rong closed his eyes, hands shaking. Then he raised his gun and put the barrel against his squad mate’s head.
“…Good bye,” he choked.
Everywhere was silent. A moment came and went then the echo of a gun shot rang out.
The jittery crowd seemed to calm like spitting magma that had now cooled. The survivors looked at each other with despair. After a while, a woman stepped forward, her eyes red and full of tears.
“I… I’m a little afraid,” she said. Then she forced herself to smile. “Do you have another bullet?”
The girl was young with ruined makeup and messy hair. She looked like she hadn’t been working as an office worker for long.
Zhou Rong put his face in his hand. For a moment his steely resolve looked to be about to crumble.
Chun Cao hesitated then slowly reached for her gun at her back, but as she did someone brushed past her.
…Si Nan?
Si Nan stopped in front of the woman. “They don’t have anymore bullets,” he said in a soft voice. “But I can help you. I promise you it will be fast.”
The woman was scared and seemed at a loss as to what to do. “But I…”
“It won’t hurt at all,” said Si Nan.
Everyone looked on as he raised a hand and brushed away some dirt from the woman’s face then wiped away the woman’s tears. Then he carefully fixed her hair, squared her collar, and patted away the dust from her skirt. He was like a warm gentlemen serving a high class princess.
The woman shook. She was fighting so hard to control her tears that she couldn’t say a word. Si Nan used both arms to pull her into an embrace.
“What’s your name?” he asked.
“…Zhao… Zhao Miaomiao…”
“Miaomiao,” Si Nan said next to her ear. “Don’t be afraid. You look very beautiful.”
The woman swallowed down her tears and smiled. “Mm!”
A moment passed then a crack came from her neck. No hesitation or mistakes and the life went out of her body.
Si Nan held her already breathless body and slowly lay her on the floor, his movements making it seem more like the woman had just fallen into a deep sleep.
“…Anyone else?” Zhou Rong asked as he looked around the crowd. “Anyone else, come forward.”
The air became thick. No one said a word. No one moved. After a while Zhou Rong nodded to Yan Hao who then took out his keys.
“Stop there!” Si Nan suddenly yelled.
His eyes fixed on a middle aged man squeezing himself toward the car door. Si Nan strode over and pulled him back. “You’ve been bitten,” he said coldly.
“I haven’t! I…! I…!”
Si Nan grabbed the hand the man was trying to hide behind himself and pulled back the sleeve, revealing an already festering rotting arm.
“This isn’t an infection, I haven’t been bitten! This… this is just a cut from some glass! An infected cut!”
Si Nan ignored him and pushed him away to a corner, then said to Yan Hao, “Open the doors.”
The man swelled with fury. “Curse you!” he bellowed. “You bastard! You won’t die a good death!”
He continued to yell and curse as Si Nan saw to the rest of the survivors getting on to the minibus and armoured car. Once it was done, he turned again to the irate man. “Do you want to turn yourself or do you want me to help you end it?”
The man rushed at him with raised fists. Si Nan dodged. Unexpectedly, the man then took the chance to turn and rush off towards the emergency exit door. Taken off guard it took Si Nan a moment to react. “Stop!”
Zhou Rong banged open the passenger door of the armoured car. “Si Nan! Get in!” he yelled.
Like an infuriated cheetah, Si Nan ran after the man. Zhou Rong stepped on the accelerator and sped after them. He turned the wheel and came to a skidding halt in front of Si Nan.
Zhou Rong leaned out and grabbed Si Nan then used his ironclad strength to thrust him into the passenger seat.
“Let him go!” yelled Zhou Rong. “Leave with me!”
The armoured car revved and rumbled as it gathered speed before crashing through the large main door.
Everyone in the car shook from the impact and Si Nan quickly looked to the rearview mirror. He was just in time to see the man open the emergency exit and let the zombies pour in. They howled as they surged towards the minibus.
But they were too late. Yan Hao had already sealed the doors and started the engine. A few zombies were crunched under the wheels of the minibus as it sped after the armoured car and onto the road.
In the rearview mirror Si Nan could see the moment when the man was swallowed up by the hoard. He closed his eyes and something hot and sour rose in his chest.
Suddenly a hand and rested on his head. Zhou Rong reached over and pulled him into his lap.
“Don’t think about it.”
Si Nan’s head was bowed against the heat of Zhou Rong’s chest. After a moment, he nodded.
“We’re taking the road north out of the city. We have to get out of this area before night fall.” Zhou Rong steered the car with one hand, then added in a quiet voice, “In this hours time, Military Zone B’s sending a nuke to clear the city. We don’t have much time.”