“Si Xiao Nan…” Zhou Rong panted and muttered, “Give me a little more courage, please.”
The zombies seemed to have discovered something, turning simultaneously and squeezing into the alley. Zhou Rong gritted his teeth, rose from behind the transformer box, and pulled the trigger, dropping the first few zombies. More undead, however, eagerly crossed their fallen companions’ bodies, rushing forward.
Zhou Rong ran desperately, roaring with almost all his strength: “Si—Xiao—Nan—!”
·
“Si Xiao Nan—!”
In the messy rental room, Si Nan suddenly twitched in his coma, his eyelashes trembling about to open.
The first ray of daylight passed through the window frame, revealing zombie bodies dismembered and walls splattered with rotten blood and brain matter. An electronic clock flickered with a green light under the overturned desk.
6:12 AM.
Daylight gradually clarified, spreading into a dark, narrow light band on the floor. At the band’s end, the bloody tooth mark on Si Nan’s wrist slowly dried, scabbed, and began to peel off. Fresh skin emerged beneath the scab, quietly bathing in the misty morning light of a new day.
Si Nan tightly closed his eyelids, then opened them again a few minutes later, sitting up in a daze.
“…Is anyone there?” He looked around, hoarsely.
The rental room was dead silent, with no response.
“Zhou Rong?” He asked softly, “Rong Ge?”
Si Nan got up, his head somewhat dizzy, walking unsteadily to the window. Between the city buildings, the first rosy light suddenly flashed on the eastern horizon, causing his pupils to contract unexpectedly.
Like lightning splitting his muddled mind, everything that happened in the past twenty-four hours flashed quickly before his eyes – the collapsed concrete slab at the construction site, Yan Hao’s twisted wrist, Zhou Rong’s urgent calls, the endless, bustling zombies…
The final frame in his memory: searchlights sweeping across the city sky, helicopters roaring and breaking through the clouds, flying towards the distant south.
— They left. They went to the South China Sea. The moment he realized this fact, Si Nan’s blood ran cold, his lungs seeming to freeze instantly.
“You…” he immediately became anxious, desperately searching the dim dawn sky for the helicopter’s trace: “You…” You didn’t wait for me. — Why didn’t you wait for me?
Si Nan staggered back, sitting dejectedly on the floor, holding his head. Intense regret was like a venomous snake biting his heart, his internal organs soaked in poison, the pain unspeakable. I messed everything up, he thought neurotically, grabbing his hair.
I messed up everything again.
I hurt Yan Hao, possibly Zhou Rong too. I led my teammates into a city center full of the undead, then ran away on a motorcycle!
Why did I run?!
Are they safe? Where are they? Did Zhou Rong try to find me? Will they come back?
Countless questions dragged his heart into hell, Si Nan held his breath.
I was wrong, I’m still here, come back for me… he trembled, fingers unconsciously scratching the floor, leaving multiple intersecting pale marks.
I was wrong, come back for me…
The rosy light crossed the high window sill, spilling into the small rental room. Si Nan painfully closed his eyes in the bright light.
He would give anything to return to twelve hours ago, to catch his crazy self driving away and give him a hard slap. Or he would prefer to go back before attacking the unprepared Yan Hao and Zhou Rong at the construction site, to break his own hand and stop all irreversible consequences before they happened.
But now he could do nothing.
He had no weapons, no food, standing alone in the zombie-dense city center.
Isolated.
He had never been so clearly aware that after barely reestablishing some connection with this world, he had personally severed them again, falling back into a lonely, dark abyss.
6:30 AM.
Strong hunger awakened Si Nan, his eyes opening blankly, red and moist at the corners.
The city was already bright, streets filled with zombies’ heavy footsteps and moans.
— Must leave here.
Si Nan stood up, seeing stars. Sleeping on the cold winter floor all night resulted in a fever; he could feel his burning forehead, his steps weak and soft, each step like walking on a cotton field. But he knew he couldn’t collapse now.
Zhou Rong parked the armored car at the suburban helicopter field; if he went now, he might still make it to the South China Sea.
“Sorry…” Si Nan whispered, pausing, then muttered to himself: “Wait for me.”
He pushed open the door, shivered, and walked out of the rental room with uneven steps.
Bang bang bang bang! Zhou Rong could no longer remember how many times he had pulled the trigger, using the heavy firepower of an assault rifle to barely impede the zombie horde’s advance, and then seizing the opportunity to leap onto walls or tree trunks, relying on mid-air routes to gain a slim chance of survival. Fortunately, fate had always been watching over him, never letting him truly fall into a desperate situation.
“Thank you, humanity’s great invention—preservatives,” Zhou Rong said self-mockingly, squatting on the wall and quickly consuming two bread rolls, carefully wrapping the remaining two and tucking them into his chest.
He stood up holding the tree trunk, no longer looking at the zombie claws swarming just centimeters below, jumped from the wall onto the roof, and quickly walked toward the main street. If Si Nan could regain his senses, there was a high probability he would leave the city center during the day and head to the airport highway where they had previously separated—even if he felt disappointed about being abandoned by the 118 Squad, he would still try to search for remaining supplies in the armored vehicle or pry open a helicopter to fly to the South China Sea. But now, he should still be in the city. Zhou Rong surveyed the surrounding environment, his gaze fixed on the top of a nearby office building, calculating the feasibility of collecting fuel and lighting a signal smoke. After a moment, he gritted his teeth and made up his mind. “Not much, just a hit,” Zhou Rong thought: “At most two.” This gave him infinite motivation. Zhou Rong leaped, climbed from the rooftop to the tree branches by the sidewalk, then jumped to the ground, sprinting away before the zombie horde could react. · Crash! Si Nan lifted the overturned shelf, disappointedly finding nothing edible, only trash and miscellaneous items. The city was completely looted by refugees, and the survivors stranded in the city center searched multiple times.
Not to mention vacuum-packed food and canned goods, even chewing gum, snacks, and condiments had been completely scavenged, leaving not even a bread crumb. Si Nan picked up a chair, knocking down a zombie that was sneaking up behind him, and stood up dizzy. Hunger and thirst had consumed all his senses; except for the intense, gut-wrenching hunger, he could barely feel anything. If only there was something to eat…
Suddenly, his ears twitched, hearing the sound of wheels rolling on the road not far away—someone! How could there be someone? Survivors or a rescue team? Or… had the 118 Squad come back for him?! As if instantly injected with a strong stimulant, Si Nan came fully awake, sprinting out of the alley like an arrow, rushing onto the main street, catching just a glimpse of a blue and white vehicle driving away.
“Hey! Hey—!” Si Nan shouted without restraint: “Zhou Rong!!” But the car didn’t stop, turning at the end of the road and driving into the next block. Si Nan didn’t hesitate, immediately giving chase. He probably had never run this fast in his life, not even when being chased by a zombie gorilla in the B Military Area Base. The zombie hordes didn’t even touch his clothes before being swept past like a hurricane, left far behind.
