Zhou Rong kicked the safety door shut with a flying back kick, blocking the zombies’ staggering steps, then roughly counted the number of people and decisively said: “I’ll drive the biochemical vehicle, Yan Hao, you take the minibus. Go!”
This was the evacuation route they had discussed with Chun Cao the previous night—in case the helicopter couldn’t make an emergency landing on the rooftop, they would use this minibus they had dragged back from the street to transport survivors to the boarding point.
Yan Hao caught the keys with a raised hand, braking sharply in front of the minibus, catching his breath before looking at the panic-stricken crowd.
“Hurry! Open the door and let us on!”
“Don’t leave us behind!”
“Shut up!” Chun Cao burst out with a fierce roar: “Anyone who keeps arguing won’t get on!”
The noise stopped instantly. In the silence, a special forces soldier stepped forward, rolling up his sleeve, laughing: “I’ve been bitten, Rong Ge. Any bullets left? Give me one.”
Zhou Rong stared at his already rotting wrist, saying nothing.
Yan Hao tried to cover his mouth but ultimately let out a desperate sob, collapsing to his knees.
Zhou Rong closed his eyes, tilted his head back, and swallowed his hot tears, reaching to remove a bullet hanging from his neck.
“This is…” he said hoarsely, “my last bullet, for suicide.”
Zhou Rong loaded the bullet into the gun, chambered it, and embraced the special forces soldier tightly.
Every team member came forward to say goodbye, crying. Chun Cao’s shoulders shook violently. The special forces soldier comforted her, finally pushing her away and looking at Zhou Rong through tears.
“Thanks for these years, Rong Ge,” he said, wiping his eyes. “Send me off, will you?”
Zhou Rong closed his eyes, his hand trembling as he pressed the gun barrel to the soldier’s head.
“…Goodbye,” he choked.
Silence fell around them. After a moment, a gunshot rang out.
The crowd’s restlessness subsided, and the survivors looked at each other in panic.
Soon, a woman hesitated, stepping forward with reddened eyes full of tears. “I… I’m scared.”
She paused, forcing a smile. “Any bullets left?”
Zhou Rong buried his face in his hands. For a fleeting moment, his previously rigid shoulder lines seemed to show a sense of collapse.
Chun Cao hesitantly reached towards her back, about to draw her gun when someone walked up from her side.
…Si Nan? She thought in surprise.
Si Nan stood before the girl, asking softly: “They’re out of bullets. May I help you? I promise it’ll be quick.”
The girl looked somewhat afraid and lost: “But I…”
“There won’t be any pain,” Si Nan said.
Under everyone’s gaze, he reached out to wipe the dust from her face, forcefully erasing her tear-smudged eye shadow. He meticulously and carefully combed her hair. He folded her collar neatly, brushing off the dirt from her dress, like a gentleman serving a noble princess.
The girl trembled, her suppressed sobs preventing her from speaking. Si Nan spread his arms and hugged her, asking: “What’s your name?”
“…Zhao… Zhao Miao Miao…”
“Miao Miao,” Si Nan whispered in her ear, “Don’t be afraid. You look beautiful.”
The girl swallowed her bitter tears, smiling and giving a strong “Mm!”
The next second, her cervical vertebra experienced a lightning-fast—crack! Without any hesitation, her body immediately went limp.
Si Nan gently supported her lifeless body, slowly laying her down as if she had merely fallen into an eternally warm slumber.
“…Anyone else,” Zhou Rong surveyed the crowd, his voice hoarse: “Anyone?”
No one spoke or moved, with a silence as thick as glue enveloping the air. After a while, Zhou Rong nodded at Yan Hao, who took out the car keys. Suddenly, Si Nan loudly shouted, “Stop!”
Following his gaze, a middle-aged man was squeezing towards the car door. Si Nan stepped forward and grabbed him, coldly saying, “You’ve been bitten.”
“No, I haven’t! I… I…”
Si Nan forcefully grabbed the hand he was hiding behind his back, tearing open the sleeve to reveal a rotting arm emitting a thick, putrid smell.
“This isn’t an infection, I wasn’t bitten, this – this is a glass cut! The wound has become infected!”
Si Nan ignored him, pushing him roughly into a corner, and told Yan Hao, “Open the car door.”
The man erupted in anger, screaming hoarsely, “You’ll be punished! Bastard! May you die a horrible death!…”
The angry cursing echoed for a long time. Si Nan saw that all survivors had boarded the biochemical vehicle and the bus, then turned to ask, “Are you planning to end yourself, or shall I help you?”
The man swung a punch, which Si Nan dodged. Unexpectedly, the man broke free and ran backwards.
Si Nan watched his direction towards the safety door and suddenly realized something: “Stop—”
Zhou Rong slammed open the passenger door, shouting, “Si Nan! Get in!”
Si Nan sprinted towards him. At the same moment, Zhou Rong stepped on the gas, and the tires screeched in the underground parking lot. He braked to a stop in front of Si Nan!
Zhou Rong reached out, grabbing him with an iron-like grip, pulling him into the driver’s seat!
“Let him go!” Zhou Rong roared, “Come with me!”
The bulletproof biochemical vehicle executed a sharp drift, roaring and accelerating, smashing through the garage door!
Everyone bounced violently. From the corner of his eye, Si Nan glimpsed the rearview mirror – the man had indeed opened the stairwell safety door, and the zombies blocked behind it rushed in, howling towards the bus.
But they were too late. Yan Hao had already closed the bus door, started the engine, and ran over several zombies before following the biochemical vehicle onto the street!
The last scene in the rearview mirror was the man being engulfed by the zombie horde. Si Nan closed his eyes, feeling a hot lump in his throat, unable to make a sound.
Suddenly, a hand pressed down on his head. Zhou Rong pulled him close, hugging him tightly:
“Don’t think about it, be good.”
Si Nan rested his head in Zhou Rong’s solid, warm shoulder hollow, and after a while, nodded.
“Take the North City road to the highway. We must leave before dark,” Zhou Rong gripped the steering wheel with one hand, speaking in a low voice. “In three hours, the B military district will launch a nuclear strike to cleanse T City. We don’t have much time.”
Si Nan crawled into the driver’s cabin from the rear compartment, the heavy nicotine smell rushing into his nostrils: “Let me drive.”
Zhou Rong shook his head. “You’ve been at it too long.”
Si Nan was quiet for a moment amid the vehicle’s jolting, then softly persuaded: “This won’t work, Rong-ge. Dozens of people in two vehicles are counting on you. If you collapse, what will happen to everyone else?”
“…Biochemical vehicles are hard to drive,” Zhou Rong finally spoke in a hoarse voice. “The wilderness roads are difficult; we must be fast, the further from T City, the better.”
Just as Si Nan was about to speak, the wireless radio suddenly crackled: “Yan Hao calling the lead vehicle! Captain, try responding, our radio has gone silent, how are you?”
Zhou Rong’s eyes subtly changed as he turned on the vehicle’s radio.
Countless crackling electrical currents gushed out like a flood, all channels converging into the same dark sea.
—Short wave had no signal.
The three special forces soldiers in the rear compartment awoke and squeezed forward. Zhou Rong’s face turned ugly as he slapped open the base communication, but the command center channel was silent, no matter how he adjusted it.
Zhou Rong suddenly braked, took a deep breath, and stepped out of the vehicle.
The minibus behind also stopped, and exhausted survivors awakened from sleep, engaged in bewildered discussions.
