“Shouldn’t we discuss where to go with them?” Zhang Yi noticed that something seemed off about Peng Zhixue’s mood and carefully softened her tone. “Another torrential rainstorm is coming.”
That last sentence instantly snapped Peng Zhixue back to reality. “Oh, right.”
That’s right, half the city was flooded. He couldn’t make it home alone, nor could he survive by himself.
Song Jinhe lowered the car window halfway. The rotten stench mixed with damp air swept into the vehicle. Large sections of glass from the buildings above had shattered, and signboards hung in the air swaying back and forth.
“There’s a plaza nearby. The supermarket on basement level one is probably flooded, but there’s a parking garage on the third floor,” Cheng Yan said while looking at the tall buildings ahead.
Song Jinhe had no objections. There were supplies there that she needed. At this stage, the truly terrifying thing wasn’t the floodwater itself, but the zombies in the water. Anyone who entered flooded areas was basically doomed.
Cheng Yan informed the two people in the other car about the destination and started driving first.
Cold wind swept through the silent streets.
Rumble—
Thunder shook the heavens as raindrops began falling from the clouds.
The cars drove into the pitch-black parking garage entrance. As the headlights turned the corner, a row of rotten-faced zombies suddenly appeared before them.
A chill ran down Cheng Yan’s back. He slammed on the brakes and frantically flashed his turn signal to tell the car behind him to back out.
A massive swarm of zombies surged forward at once, pounding on the hood and climbing over the vehicle recklessly.
The car rocked violently from side to side, the body scraping against the walls with sharp screeching noises. They finally managed to reverse out of the parking garage, only for all the zombies at the intersection of the two streets to begin charging toward them.
“What do we do? What do we do…?”
Looking at the densely packed zombie horde, Peng Zhixue’s lips trembled, his face completely drained of color.
They couldn’t move forward, and retreating was impossible too. Staying here meant certain death! If he had known he’d die here anyway, he would’ve just floored the gas pedal and escaped earlier!
Song Jinhe grabbed the handle above the door to steady herself. “Places like this all have delivery entrances in each section. Drive around and look.”
Cheng Yan paused briefly upon hearing that, then sharply turned the steering wheel to avoid the zombies. “I think I know where it is.”
Lightning streaked across the rolling black clouds as the number of zombies gradually increased. Just before they were completely surrounded and trapped, Cheng Yan turned into an alley.
Song Jinhe jumped out of the car holding the pry bar and lifted the half-open rolling shutter door, allowing them to drive inside.
The zombies were right on their heels. The second car had barely entered when one zombie rushed inside as well. Faced with the blood-covered creature, Song Jinhe had no choice but to step back.
Thud—
The tip of the pry bar plunged into its body.
Outside the rolling shutter door, the zombie horde surged forward like a tidal wave.
“Close the door!” Song Jinhe shouted.
The zombie pinned by the pry bar lurched forward two more steps frantically, nearly swiping her across the face with its claws.
She released her grip and let the zombie skewer itself farther onto the pry bar like meat on a skewer. Then, suppressing her nausea, she circled behind it, yanked out the pry bar stained with blood and flesh, and drove it backward through the zombie’s eye socket into its brain.
The sight of so many zombies rushing toward him instantly threw Peng Zhixue into panic. Only when he heard Cheng Yan shouting urgently did he snap out of it and help pull the shutter door down before the main horde could flood inside.
Bang! Bang bang bang!
The thin metal door shook violently under the repeated impacts, with part of it even denting inward.
Song Jinhe panted heavily, clearly feeling that flash of warmth again on her wrist.
“You alright?” Cheng Yan asked.
She shook her head, stripped the outer clothing off the now fully dead zombie, wiped the blood off the pry bar, then used half a bottle of leftover water she found in the car, she didn’t even know who had drunk from it, to wash her hands.
This place was the unloading area, and it had obviously already been looted. All they found were a few iron rods, a multi-purpose screwdriver, a wrench, and some chains, which happened to be useful for reinforcing the shutter door.
Song Jinhe took out two self-heating rice meals and one cup noodle from the trunk, then pulled out a stainless steel lunchbox from her space to boil water while quietly storing part of the supplies back into her space.
The self-heating rice was split in half for each person. Everyone had watched her pack those two boxes into the bags earlier, so it wasn’t easy to secretly stash them away in her space. Since the zombies wouldn’t be getting in anytime soon, they might as well eat first in case they didn’t get another chance later.
Cheng Yan and the others also took out four sausages, juice, and cup noodles. Using materials nearby, they picked up a few wooden boards to start a fire.
After days without a single hot meal, the sight of steam rising from the heating vents made everyone unable to hold back.
Half a portion of self-heating rice wasn’t enough to fill anyone up, but there were noodles afterward. After starving for so long, the satisfaction brought by hot food and drinks dispelled much of the fear and confusion from their journey.
After eating, each of them stuffed a bit of food into their pockets, grabbed pry bars and steel rods, and followed the employee passageway in search of an exit.
“Why don’t we just stay where we were earlier and wait for the zombies outside to leave?” Peng Zhixue clutched his iron rod while nervously scanning the surroundings. “This place twists and turns everywhere, and it’s dark.”
“The road we came in from is blocked by zombies. Neither the cars nor we can get out,” Cheng Yan explained, his voice echoing slightly in the silent, gloomy environment. “If something happens and we panic while trying to find an exit, our chances of surviving will be even lower.”
They hadn’t seen a single window along the way. The only source of light was the flashlight in Cheng Yan’s hand, which was nearly out of battery. After walking nervously for a long time, they finally saw the ‘Emergency Exit’ sign. Pushing open the fire door, they arrived on the second floor of the mall.
Seeing no zombies, Zhang Yi let out a sigh of relief and excitedly walked toward the clothing racks.
“I can finally change into clean clothes. This really feels a bit like having the whole mall reserved. Before the apocalypse, I never would’ve imagined getting to take whatever I wanted from a shopping mall without worrying about money.”
“It’s best to find some cold-weather clothing too. The temperature might drop later,” Song Jinhe remarked casually.
While the others were busy changing clothes, she quietly stored hiking backpacks, waterproof non-slip hiking shoes, combat boots, windproof outdoor jackets, and heavy outdoor down jackets and pants capable of withstanding temperatures below negative ten degrees Celsius into her space. She didn’t care about the colors or styles, as long as the size fit, she took them.
Just to stockpile supplies, she had practically become a master of time management.
While visiting the underwear store, she also found a chance to slip into a bedding shop and grabbed a discounted off-season down comforter, a spring-autumn quilt, two blankets, and a pillow that didn’t take up much space.
From the cashier counter, she also found two bottles of mineral water, a few mint candies, and a solar-powered woven bamboo lantern. She tested it, and it still lit up.
Only after seeing so many supplies did she truly realize how urgently she needed to expand her storage space!
Afraid that taking too much from one place would be too obvious, Song Jinhe went to another underwear shop. Outer clothes could stay dirty if needed, but underwear was tied to hygiene and health. She took dozens of pieces in one go, and they still occupied less space than a thick quilt.
After walking out of the fitting room, Zhang Yi headed toward the back storage room to see if there were any more supplies inside.
The moment she opened the door, the stench of corpses rushed straight into her head. Before she could call out to anyone, the “corpse” lying on the floor in a store clerk’s uniform suddenly stood up, roared, and lunged at her.
“AHHH!!!”
Zhang Yi screamed as the zombie knocked her to the ground.
Its foul, rotten mouth drew closer and closer to her face. The waxy yellow face enlarged in her vision as sticky black fluid dripped from between the zombie’s rows of teeth onto her collar.
Her trembling hands gripped the baseball bat tightly, desperately holding the zombie back by its neck. She could clearly see the skin on its neck tearing open from the strain as it tried to devour fresh flesh, even exposing its throat beneath.