Undead 07

Chapter 07

Yan Hao grasped the railings and shouted: “Run!”

But Si Nan refused to move, still clutching onto Yan Hao’s hand and trying to pull him up. He was about 20 kilograms lighter than Yan Hao, so it felt like his elbow was becoming dislocated as his bones made terrible cracking sounds.

“Si Nan run, the zombies are coming!”

Si Nan gasped: “Don’t talk nonsense.”

Yan Hao tried to put his dangling feet on the wall but slipped several times. He watched wide-eyed as a few burning zombies were heading toward Si Nan, and said sharply: “Listen to me! Just leave me here, run! ”

“How can … No matter what you … “

“The zombies are behind you!! ”

Si Nan suddenly felt something heavy on his back; one of the zombies was breathing close to his ear. It was then that Yan Hao managed to step on the wall. He called out to Si Nan and leaped up with his help!

Si Nan grabbed Yan Hao’s waist as he was thrown back to the rooftop, both of them hitting the ground and rolling a few meters!

“Are you all right?!”

Si Nan had dodged the corpse’s teeth by seconds, but it took more than a few seconds for him to ease his breath after being slammed by Yan Hao: “I’m… I’m okay. ”

Yan Hao’s body was pressed against Si Nan’s. With his left elbow propped on the ground, he used his right hand to hold Si Nan’s face and look it over. The young man’s neck was hurt, but it wasn’t bleeding; he was probably scratched by the cement floor when they tumbled. Only after seeing this did Yan Hao finally feel relieved.

“Not bitten.” Yan Hao buried his head in Si Nan’s neck and happily murmured: “Great, you weren’t bitten.”

An Omega’s neck was one of the most sensitive parts of their body because of the glands there. A wound to the neck would have been fatal.

If Yan Hao was an alpha, what he was doing right now would be seen as standard sexual harassment and Si Nan’s first instinct would have been to throw him over and kick him.

“You …”

Just as he was about to say something, Yan Hao suddenly raised his head and looked at him deeply—but before Si Nan could discern the emotion behind his gaze, Yan Hao took out a knife, turned sideways, and threw it at one of the zombie. The knife hit the corpse’s head and the body fell heavily on the ground.

“Run!” Yan Hao pulled Si Nan up, “Let’s go inside, back to the underground warehouse, quick! ”

The roof had been thoroughly turned into a field full of flesh and blood.There were flames everywhere, along with screaming people and violently attacking zombies. The survivors were bathed in blood as they cried and rushed to the door heading to the safe corridor. Many people fell and were trampled to death in the chaos.

“Zhou Rong!” Si Nan shouted.

Zhou Rong was taking care of the zombies in front of the door with a fire axe. But for every zombie he killed, two or three more infected people among the crowd would change and rush to the door. Si Nan grabbed his bloody wrist and yelled, “Let’s go! Don’t bother anymore, you can’t control it!”

Zhou Rong’s eyes were bloodshot.

“Let’s go, Rong Ge! They’re all infected! ” Chun Cao, who was running against the crowd, said in a shrill voice: “Come on! Back to the warehouse–!”

There was a fireball in the sky; the crashed helicopter had exploded again.

More living-dead and survivors were thrown from the roof and onto the street below in pieces. Zhou Rong breathed in sharply, looked around at his bloody teammates, and shouted suddenly: “The rest of you, listen to me–! ”

“We’re heading to underground garage A in the south, follow us!!”

” Underground garage A in the south –!! ”

Zhou Rong took the lead and rushed into the safe corridor.

The situation in the corridor had turned insane with a lot of infected people suddenly changing into zombies halfway. The number of bitten people rapidly increased in the narrow space. The light bulb had been smashed, leaving the echo of people crying out as they were devoured in the dark

Zhou Rong led the way with the fire axe in his hands. Si Nan followed behind, rushing down the slippery, bloody staircase. He didn’t know how many corpses he had stepped on in this chaos.

After what felt like an endless journey, they finally arrived at their destination. Zhou Rong used the fire axe to open the staircase door and went first into the underground garage!

“Quick, quick! Come here! ”

After the group of survivors stumbled in, Zhou Rong reflexively kicked the door closed once again, blocking the zombies behind it. He swept his gaze around the remaining people and said decisively: “I will drive the armored biodiesel car, Yan Hao will drive the minibus, go!”

When Chun Cao came to talk with Zhou Rong last night, the two of them had agreed on a good retreat route—if the helicopters couldn’t make it to the rooftop, they would use the minibus that they had taken back from the street to bring the survivors to the landing place.

Yan Hao accepted the key and walked to the minibus. He stopped in front of the vehicle and took a deep breath before looking up at the anxious crowd.

“Come on! Let’s get in the car!”

“Don’t leave us!”

“They’re coming, they’re coming …”

The cries of panic echoed in the largely empty garage.

Yan Hao gulped, opening and closing his mouth a few times, but no sound came out..Zhou Rong strode forward, patting him on the shoulder and pushing him back.

With his head held high and body standing straight, he slowly swept his gaze through the crowd. The screaming and weeping gradually subsided in face of his overwhelming stare– all of them felt frightened and dazed at the same time. Zhou Rong finally began talking, his voice low and clear: “Leave behind those who were bitten.”

The crowd exploded.

”I wasn’t!” “I’m not!” “Let’s get in the car!” “Please, let me in!”……

“Shut Up!” “Chun Chao shouted, “don’t talk all at once!”

Among the stilled crowd, a special force soldier silently took the initiative to come forward. He lifted his cuffs and laughed: “I was bitten, Rong Ge. Any bullet left? Use it on me. ”

Zhou Rong stared at the man’s wrist which had started to rot, not saying a word.

Yan Hao tried to block his mouth, but eventually couldn’t stop a sad whine from escaping his mouth. He fell slumping onto his knees.

Zhou Rong closed his eyes as people started to cry and gasp. After a few seconds, he managed to suppress his tears and took out a bullet hanging from a string around his neck.

“This is…” his voice was hoarse as he spoke, “my last one, which I’d planned to use on myself if the time ever came.”

Zhou Rong put the bullet into his rifle and loaded it. Then, he stepped forward to embrace the brave soldier.

Each of their team members followed suit to tearfully say goodbye to him. Chun Cao shook violently. The special soldier pat her on the back and gave a brotherly kiss on her forehead. After that, he finally pushed her away and turned to face Zhou Rong with tears in his eyes.

“Thank you for the past few years, Rong Ge.” He smiled, wiped his eyes, and continued, “Send me to my last journey.”

Zhou Rong closed his eyes and lifted his trembling hands, putting the gun’s barrel on the soldier’s head.

“…… Goodbye, ” he whispered.

There was a dead silence for a while until finally, the sound of a gunshot resounded in the garage.

The crowd’s restlessness subsided in that moment, like boiling magma which had yet to explode and was being suppressed in the ground. The panicked survivors looked at each other. Then another woman moved forward hesitantly, her bloodshot eyes full of tears as she said: “I … I’m a bit scared.”

She asked, “Is there another bullet?”

She looked very young, with makeup on and messy hair. She seemed to be a new office worker.

Zhou Rong buried his face in his palm; during this fleeting moment, his usually rigid and strong shoulder looked like it could collapse at anytime.

Chun Cao hesitated for a bit before slowly began reaching to the back of her waist. However, before she had the chance to take out her gun, someone from her side suddenly approached the young woman.

..….Si Nan? She thought in surprise.

Si Nan stood still in front of the girl, then asked in a low voice: “They have no more bullets, can I help you? I promise it will be quick.”

The girl was a little scared and disoriented, “but I…”

“There will be no pain,” Si nan said.

Under the eyes of all the people there, Si Nan lifted his hand to clean the dust on the girl’s face, and wipe the eyeshadow that had been ruined by her tears. He combed her hair neatly, folded her collar, and took away the dirt from her dress. His action was gentle, like a gentleman who was serving his princess.

The girl’s body trembled as she tried to hold back her sobs. Si Nan opened his arms and hugged her, “What’s your name?”

“…… Zhao… Zhao MaioMiao…”

“MiaoMiao,” Si Nan whispered in her ear,”Don’t be afraid, you look really beautiful.”

The girl swallowed her sour tears, smiled, and forced out a “Yeah!” .

The next second, she felt something hit the back of her neck, and then… nothing. Before long, her body went limp.

Si Nan held onto her lifeless body before slowly putting her down on the ground. His gentle movement made it seem as if the girl was merely stuck in an eternal and warm sleep.

“…… Any others?, “Zhou Rong looked at the crowd and asked once again, “Are there any others? Move forward by yourself.”

No one spoke, no one moved, a thick silence covered the place. After a long while, Zhou Rong nodded at Yan Hao. Yan Hao took out the car key and was about to enter the minibus when Si Nan suddenly said: “-Stop!”

He turned to look at a middle-aged man that was trembling as he walked toward the car. Si Nan stepped forward and pulled him out of the crowd, saying coldly: “You were also bitten. ”

“I wasn’t! I.. I… “

Si Nan grabbed the man’s hand that he had hidden behind his back and brushed his cuffs open. The wound on his arm had already started festering, emitting a thick foul stench.

“This is not an infection, I haven’t been bitten, this, I was cut by glass! That’s why it was bleeding! ”

Si Nan pushed the man to the far corner and told Yan Hao: “Go to the car’s door.”

The man flew into a rage and screamed: “You will pay for it! Son of a bitch! You mustn’t die easily! ……”

Si Nan ignored all his angry curses and observed until all the survivors had entered the biodiesel car and minibus. Then he turned to the man and asked: “You want to do it yourself, or should I help you?”

The man threw a punch at him, which Si Nan avoided easily. However, the man took that chance to break free of Si Nan’s hold, turn around, and run. Upon seeing him heading in the direction of the staircase door, Si Nan immediately reacted and shouted: “Stop-“

Zhou Rong slammed open his car door, exclaiming: “Si Nan! Get on the car!”

Si Nan, like an enraged leopard looking at its prey, started to go after the man. At the same time, Zhou Rong stepped on the accelerator, the car’s tires creating a sharp friction on the underground parking’s floor as it rushed past like lightning before braking to a stop in front of Si Nan!

Zhou Rong leaned out and seized him, using his iron plier-like hands to grab Si Nan’s waist and carry him directly into the passenger’s seat!

“Let him go!” Zhou Rong roared: “Come with me!”

The bullet-proof biodiesel car performed a neat drift and, with raging speed, crashed into the garage door!

As all of them were bumped around, Si Nan caught a glimpse of the rear view mirror from the corner of his eye. He saw that the middle-aged man had opened the staircase door, and the living-dead which had previously been blocked behind it were rushing out, heading to the minibus.

But they were too late. Yan Hao had closed car door and started driving away. It hit and crushed a few zombies, before finally following the biodiesel armored car into the street!

The last scene he saw in the mirror was of the man being drowned amidst the undead. Si Nan closed his eyes, feeling like his throat was being clogged by something hot and acidic, making him unable to even speak.

A hand reached out to him and he was forcibly pulled into Zhou Rong’s embrace. “Don’t think about it, okay.”

With his head buried in the warm of Zhou Rong’s sturdy shoulder, Si Nan finally nodded after a moment of silence.

“We’re speeding to the city at the north, we must leave this place before dark.” Zhou Rong punched the steering wheel with one hand before saying in a heavy voice: “After three hours, the B-Military region will launch a nuclear bomb to clean T city, we don’t have much time.”

 

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Proofreader: Butters

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