Chapter 02

At the end of the world, the previously densely populated cities were suddenly reduced to h.e.l.l. The streets were littered with wrecked vehicles, tumbling smokes and flames, with the living dead wandering around, and corpses scattered along the road.

Many shop doors were open. There were broken gla.s.ses everywhere, strewn shelves which looked like they had been swept by a tornado, and walls full of spattered blood and black fingerprints.

Someone laid on the ground, hands and feet still twitched with occasional convulsions, and intestines flowing out of his stomach. Several zombies surrounded the body, tearing the flesh and blood of his arms and thighs, holding up and swallowing his intestines, causing blood to stream all over the floor.

The Silver Camry speed by; upon smelling the living, the zombies immediately staggered up trying catch it, but the car had already disappeared.

The young man looked into the rearview mirror, witnessing an armed helicopter whistling into the air from on top of the far-away prison building, flying away across the devastated city towards the distant smoky horizon.

He retracted his gaze, adjusted the rear-view mirror a little, and immediately paused once he saw what was in the mirror.

It was a pair of muddy grey eyes.

Right behind him.

The young man stepped on the brake and looked back during the harsh friction. He was greeted by the sight of a little girl strapped with seat belt on the back seat. The little girl had her body curled slightly, she couldn’t be older than two or three years old, with little braids adorning her head, and a doll grasped in her hold.

Her face had turned fully black, purple blood flowed down the corners of her closed mouth to her neck. She also looked at the young man and threw a b.l.o.o.d.y girly-bag his way.

The young man closed his eyes lightly.

He could imagine what had happened. The husband, unwilling to give up his infected wife and daughter, drove away from the city, searched along the way for help. He was eventually bitten to death by his wife in the driver’s seat, who then opened the door and fled.

He opened his eyes and aimed the gun in his hand between the little girl’s eyebrows, however his index finger refused to press the trigger.

By then the zombies on the street had surrounded the car, and there were a constant thump sounds from the window. After a while, the young man finally dropped his gun, reached for the little girl’s neck and wringed it cleanly, the body fell limply in the back seat with a soft thud.

He did not throw the little zombie out of the car, instead stepping on the accelerator and drove on after a moment of silence.

A kilometer ahead, next to the parking building, the yellow sign of the pharmacy looked especially eye-catching in the smoke.

-At the parking building’s second floor at the same time-

There were more than 10 bullet-riddled cars in the huge s.p.a.ce, dead body’s arms lying all over the floor, and alarms resounding everywhere. The stench of fired bullets and rotten meat mixed together, strongly stimulating the nerves of everyone.

“We are surrounded by zombies,” said Yan Hao, taking off his telescope before continuing in a hoa.r.s.e voice: “The back alley is a dead end, the front door is blocked by the zombie tide which was estimated to be hundreds in total. Adjacent buildings, respectively, are hospital, school and pharmacy, belonging to the Red Danger zone. We are unable to cross the way and our ammunition is about to be depleted. ”

From a biochemical armored car on the side, several people who were sorting out equipments quickly looked up once they heard that news.

Their harsh long-term training would not allow them to lose control immediately, but the faint hopelessness flowing in their silence was unmistakable. In this depressing air, the sound of wailing and pounding doors downstairs became even clearer.

“Captain …” Yan Hao mumbled.

With his back against the blood-stained walls, Zhou Rong raised his head and looked everyone in the eyes. He did not speak though, only swinging his fist to throw something-soon after, twenty steps away from where they were, a zombie which had been hiding behind a pillar was. .h.i.t in its skull by a knife. The knife plunged so deep until only the handle could be seen, and the zombie’s body fell down.

“Pack up your gear and get ready to break out. ”

Zhou Rong stood up and walked a few steps. He was nearly 1.9-meter tall, cladded in black protective clothing, with unclear expression under the dim light, and deep, cold sounding voice. One of his members saw him got up and asked: “Rong Ge! Where are you going?”

Zhou Rong found a bullet-riddled Audi sports car. He punched the front window, took a spare key from the storage box, opened the door and sat in.

“I’ll lead the zombies in front to the back door, after that you break out and head southeast, the target refuge is in the city center underground 30 kilometers away.”

He ignited the handle brake and the sport car’s engine roared to life: “Once I manage to lose the tide I’ll rush to meet you. If you arrive before I do, then don’t comeback, the captain responsibility will then be a.s.sumed by you, Yan Hao, and immediately launch the location signal to the base.”

“Captain!” Yan Hao instantly exclaimed in protest, some of the members who could not accept it also rushed to get up:

“No, Rong Ge!”

“Don’t do it!”

Zhou Rong stuck his head out of the car’s window and looked at them with his sharp-looking eyes: “Hm?”

When Zhou Rong wasn’t smiling, the combination of his facial features made him seem kind of icy cold. He looked daunting with hostility, even the angle of his eyebrows and his slightly squinted eyes seemed to highlight the “this person is very p.r.i.c.kly” impression he gave off, a fact significant enough to make onlookers ignored his handsome appearance.

Zhou Rong’s despotic influence as a leader had acc.u.mulated over the years, which made the team members automatically stop speaking as if they had a conditioned response to his voice. And when Yan Hao was about to say something, Zhou Rong reached out a hand and commanded him silently, stopping his action abruptly.

Then Zhou Rong smiled- and once he did, that sense of hostility disappeared instantly . The corners of his mouth hooked up, while the corner of his eyes curved slightly, giving him a serious yuppie charm instead.

“The ladies are the ones who usually like to talk, all of you are guys.” He faced each of his members one by one before continuing: “This Rong Ge will meet you in the refuge, so just go.”

The team grabbed their guns and looked at each other with eyes full of despair.

Soon after, the sport car’s light was turned on and Zhou Rong maneuvered it to do a neat u-turn, crus.h.i.+ng the rotting corpses around the place.

“Wait… Wait, Captain! ”

Yan Hao was staring out the window when he suddenly saw something. He said in a surprised voice: “Someone … Someone is coming! ”

-at the front door of the parking building, a ma.s.s of countless zombies were pounding mechanically at the door, while on the road behind them, a silver Camry stopped short, immediately reversed back, before its window was rolled down.

“……”

Is there a survivor in the parking building?

The young man looked at the eight-storey building, but every windows in his sight were either shattered or stained with blood, completely impossible to peek inside.

The electronic-controlled gate of the parking building itself was closed, however under the endless beating of the zombies, the hollow iron gate had sunken at a frightening curve; a breakthrough was only a matter of time.

The young man twisted his eyebrows slightly and hesitated inwardly.

He looked at the door of the big open pharmacy not far from there, where only a few teenage zombies wearing junior high school uniforms were roaming aimlessly around.

Although he had temporarily lost his memory due to either excessive stimulation, head impact, or other reasons, he still has basic common sense. He needed a pheromone-suppressant to disguise himself as a beta, and it’s perfectly plausible for him to rush into the pharmacy while the other survivors were luring away most of the zombies.

But the fragile electric-controlled iron gate should not last a few more minutes.

What if he runs into the pharmacy and the zombies flow into the parking building?

The young man took a deep breath, his gaze fell on a motorcycle that hit a tree 20 meters away. After a few seconds of silence, he finally flung open the Camry’s door.

The roar of an engine suddenly resounded throughout the streets, as if it was a bell announcing meals.

On the second floor of the parking building, Yan Hao’s voice was very soft and full of amazement as he said: “This man …”

“He… He is helping us lead the zombies tide aaway…? ”

Zhou Rong strode nearer, took the telescope and looked into the street. He focused the lens on the young man sitting across a motorcycle with a helmet covering his head, and a leather jacket zipped to his chin. The exhaust pipe of the motorcycle was emitting a low starting sound.

More and more zombies were attracted by the sound. They stopped pounding the door, turn back and stumbled to the motorcycle’s direction.

20 meters, 10 meters, five meters …

The zombies on the road nearly surrounded the motorcycle, leaving only about 30 of them standing in front of the parking building’s door. The  young man driver raised his left arm, making a pointing-to-the-sky gesture.

Preparation-

“Yan Hao, go and drive!” Zhou Rong suddenly dropped the telescope, raised his gun and shouted: “Get on, we will breakthrough with the car!”

A few rounds of gunfire was soon heard, bullets shattered gla.s.s windows, and in the distant zombies tide, a few zombies closest to the motorcycle had their heads burst open.

That seemed to signal the start of the operation. At the same second, the motorcycle started and rushed with a roar!

“Go on, go! Come on!”

The team quickly jumped into the armored vehicle. Yan Hao used one hand to control the steering wheel, while his other hand unloaded his magazine and threw it out of the window. Zhou Rong, as if he had eyes on the back of his head, caught the magazine, fasten it on his gun, then supported the gun barrel on the windowsill, and began firing countless times!

In a hail of bullets, the motorcycle rushed out of the zombies tide at a high speed, grinding numerous living-deads into carrion, and breaking through to the crossroads.

The zombie staggered and chased behind it; from above, one could see that even the zombies on nearby streets had begun gathering there, gradually forming a magnificent dragon-shape.

Broken hands and feet, bleeding heads, but never really dying… at a glance, the zombies tide appeared gruesome; however, in a life and death situation no one would be bothered by it. The motorcycle suddenly turned around at the crossroad, whistling into the Southeast Street!

Bang Bang

The parking building’s door was finally opened slowly. The armored-car crushed all the zombies who were too late in dodging under its tires.

“Captain-” Yan Hao shouted.

From the second floor, Zhou Rong leaped out the window, flying down, and “BOOM!”, landed heavily on the armored-car’s roof.

-500 metres away, at the other end of the crossroad-

The motorcycle took a sharp turn, then stopped abruptly.

There was another wave of zombies looming ahead, all scrambling to come over!

Zhou Rong covered the area with a long-range snipper attacks, hitting zombies all around, creating a sudden magnificent scene. The young man glanced at the rear-view mirror from behind his helmet; a branch diverged the roads behind him with one side leading to the East Street.

His fingers on the handlebars clenched, the veins burst out slightly before he calmed himself down. He took a deep breath and turned the motorcycle.

“Roar-”

The motorcycle ran like a meteor across the road, almost coming in contact with the zombies’ teeth crowding on the side of the branching roads. The motorcycle flew past the living-deads and brazenly smashed into the gla.s.s walls of the bookstore in the corner of the street, before coming through from the other end and landed heavily amidst a shower of flying gla.s.ses!

Two male zombies standing in front of it were knocked over by their chests, causing half-rotten viscera to explode out of the bodies. A third corpse reached for the handlebar; however just as he opened his mouth, a bullet suddenly whizzed past and immediately blasted his head.

The young man looked up.

-200 meters away, a silver-gray armored vehicle was on rampage. Zhou Rong laid on car’s roof with a gun supported in his hands. He narrowed his eyes, thin lips hooked up slightly, as if he was saying h.e.l.lo from a distance.

Then the next bullet grazed the young man’s helmet, hitting a zombie lady on the side of his motorcycle.

“East Street corner’s Bookstore 10 meters away, two o ‘ clock direction, ready to rescue. ”

Zhou Rong voice sounded in the headset. Yan Hao nodded, his eyes swept to the satellite road map: “Not good.”

“Why? ”

Yan Hao’s foot pressed on the accelerator: “East Street is a dead end.”

The armored car issued a roar at the accelerate, but it was too late. Zhou Rong jumped up, and saw the motorcycle had started to be surrounded by heavy waves of zombies, they had no choice but to rush to the East Street!

“Take a detour! Search for the best route!” Zhou Rong shouted amidst the flying bullet casings: “Be prepared to turn around!”

In the car, the view on the GPS screen changed, and Yan Hao followed it with his d.a.m.ndest from behind the steering wheel.

At the same time at East Street, the motorcycle’s driver leaned his upper body to the limit, breaking through the dead sea of blood in lighting speed, but was immediately hindered ahead by a whole row of black barricades!

During this time, the motorcycle speed had reached a horrifying 200km/h, and the roadblocks were less than 300 meters away, they would crash in less than six seconds.

What is the use of six seconds?

Unable to turn around, unable to turn anywhere; the road was full of zombies, once collided with those roadblocks, the motorcycle would definitely be destroyed.

The motorcycle’s driver squinted his eyes tightly until they became needle-like. At the same time, the dashboard pointer began shaking violently as impact of it hitting the limit- then the engine issued a violent roar.

“He is going to crash…” Yan Hao whispered.

As if it was the Staff of Moses in the middle of red sea, the motorcycle was protruding from the layers of zombies as it rushed straight to the roadblocks ahead-

Time became stagnant, even the wind was still.

In midair, the motorcycle flipped 360 degrees, drawing a flow of fire arcs.

Zhou Rong throws a hook at the young man : “Catch it-”

In the air, the young man stretched his arm, accurately catching and entangling the rope with the iron hook around his wrist. Immediately, his body was jerked away from the motorcycle, flying directly to Zhou Rong.

The motorcycle swirled crazily, before falling straight into the corpse tide, causing an earthshaking explosion!

Bang！

With a loud sound, the young man’s body slammed into the top of the armored car. His body tumbled down close to the edge, before it was stopped by Zhou Rong’s hold on his waist. The car’s roof cover was then opened, causing the two people to crash and fall into the car’s rear compartment.

“Brother Rong!”

“Captain! ”

The team members rushed forward and helped the two men up, even Yan Hao had set the driver onto automatic setting. He motioned to one of his teammates to take over, and hurriedly went into the rear compartment: “Captain, are you okay?”

“Hiss hiss …” Zhou Rong bared his teeth: “This Gege is old ah, my waist…”

Behind him, the young man dodged everyone’s hands, and stood upright in the corner.

From inside the motorcycle’s helmet, he looked silently at the people in front of him.

This is a special force, he thought.

But surprisingly, these big, burly members were all beta, with no trace of an alpha pheromone in the s.p.a.ce-limited compartment.

“Here,” Yan Hao kindly handed a bottle of water to him: “Thank you.”

The carriages gradually quieted down, all eyes were fixated on the young man, who neither spoke nor raised his hand.

“…” Yan Hao once again motioned: “For you.”

Yan Hao is the kind of person who, had he not joined the army, would be fully capable of applying for the film academy. With height equal to Zhou Rong, wide shoulder, long legs, clear eyes and refined eyebrows, along with that single ruby earring he wore in his left ear, he gave off quite a campus-romance-drama-actor temperament and aura.

So many years of severe to abnormal training had not left any traces on his milky-white skin, he could be viewed as a hard-to-ignore natural beauty.

However, the motorcycle’s driver in front of him did not seem to appreciate his gesture, his expression could even be described as either cold or alert.

“This brother…” Yan Hao had just opened his mouth when the young man finally moved.

Ignoring the bottle of water, the young man stretched out his hand to Yan Hao’s automatic carbine and carried it off to his right shoulder.

“Hey, you-”

Zhou Rong who had been drinking water turned around. He stopped the team’s commotion and smiled to the young man: “What is the name of brother?”

The young man did not speak.

“You want to eat something?”

No response.

The atmosphere in the compartment gradually changed; in this narrow s.p.a.ce, some kind of tension slowly bred in the silence.

Zhou Rong touched his chin and looked at the young man up and down. He was wrapped in a tight-fitting motorcycle jacket and dark jeans, with the helmet completely hiding his face from view. His whole body was oozing a smell as if he had been rolling in a heap of zombies; his appearance really cut such a sorry figure.

But his stature was neat, and his alert posture was sharp as a knife.

Frozen cold, like an half-unsheathed blade.

“Friend,” Zhou Rong turned a blind eye, and asked again with a smile: “Where do you want to go, maybe we can give you a ride?”

In the next 10 seconds, except for the long-short span of breathing, only the faint wail of the zombies outside can be heard.

“…… Back to the parking building.” In this almost suffocating atmosphere, the young man finally opened his mouth, and talked with a hoa.r.s.e voice: “Go to the pharmacy.”

Zhou Rong, with a very friendly nod, turned to the driver’s seat and patted the driver ‘s shoulder: “Back to Southeast Street’s parking building.”

Then he leaned over and whispered in the volume that only two people could hear: “Find a place to stop and I’ll go see what he’s doing in the pharmacy.”

T/N:

Sorry for the long wait, I’ve been stock-pilling! Well, not that many chapters have been finished, but it’s enough for me to start doing regular weekly update without it affecting the schedule of my two other (main) projects. Also, this is not beta-ed, so please pardon any mistakes made, or you can point them out to me so I can fix them.

Looking for a proof-reader or editor for this one too, I don’t really want to burden my wfyo’s proof-reader with another project If no one offers their service, then I guess all of us will just have to be satisfied with this level of quality u_u