Su Nian stopped and drew the machete from her waist.
Feeling her come to a halt, Xingxing lifted his head. Just as he opened his mouth to speak, Su Nian gently patted his leg, signaling him to stay quiet.
She quickly slipped behind a large tree, tightened her grip on the machete, and fixed her eyes on the movement ahead.
She shifted Xingxing higher on her back. He had caught the smell as well and whispered, “Mom, it stinks.”
Su Nian raised a finger to her lips.
Its clothes had rotted into tattered strips, exposing grayish-blue skin covered with black blotches. Most of the hair on its head had fallen out, leaving behind a bald scalp marked with scabbed-over wounds.
Holding her breath, Su Nian slowly backed away. Her feet rustled softly through the fallen leaves. She paused for a moment, but the creature did not react, so she continued retreating.
Then her foot snapped a dry branch.
Crack!
The sound was not loud, but in the silent forest, it rang out with startling clarity.
The creature froze, then slowly turned its head toward her.
Half its face had decayed away. Its nose had rotted down to two black holes. Its lips had peeled back, exposing blackened gums and teeth. One eye had turned a cloudy gray, while the other socket was completely empty. Shreds of dark red flesh clung to the corner of its mouth, and dried blood caked its chin.
It had seen Su Nian.
Its mangled mouth opened, releasing a muffled growl before it lurched to its feet and charged toward her.
It was not fast. Its unsteady steps made its body sway to one side, but the force of its charge was fierce.
Su Nian had no time to think.
She dodged sideways and swung the machete upward from below, striking it across the neck.
The blade sank deep into the flesh, sending black blood spraying onto her hand. The foul stench rushed into her nose.
In her previous life, she had killed plenty of these monsters.
She had fought her way all the way back from the neighboring city to Blue Sky Kindergarten. She had seen Zombies continue biting people after their heads had been severed. She had seen them crawl even after their stomachs had been ripped open.
She knew that unless the head was destroyed, they would not die.
This was the first time she had fought one in this life, but her instincts still remembered.
The Zombie writhed on the ground, its mouth opening and closing while its fingers clawed wildly at the earth.
“Xingxing, close your eyes.”
Clenching her teeth, Su Nian raised the machete high and brought it down squarely onto its head.
“Thud.”
The Zombie stopped moving.
Su Nian remained where she stood, breathing heavily.
Blood dripped from the machete. Her fingers trembled, and her entire arm shook uncontrollably.
The rotten stench grew even stronger, mixing with the smell of blood until it made her want to vomit.
Xingxing had not made a sound.
Su Nian turned to look at him.
He was lying against her back, both arms wrapped tightly around her neck. His face was buried against her shoulder, and his whole body was trembling.
Su Nian wiped the blood from the machete against the tree trunk before returning it to her storage space.
She lowered Xingxing from her back and gathered him into her arms.
He clung tightly around her neck, refusing to let go or even lift his head.
“Xingxing,” Su Nian called softly.
He did not answer.
“Xingxing, look at Mom.”
Slowly, Xingxing raised his head.
His eyes were red, and his lips quivered, but he did not cry.
Black blood had splattered onto the hem of his clothes. Su Nian removed the stained shirt, threw it away, and changed it into a clean one.
“That was a Zombie,” Su Nian said calmly. “The kind you’ve seen on television before. It’s not human anymore. It bites people, and anyone it bites becomes one of them, so we can never go near them.”
Xingxing’s lips trembled.
“I haven’t been telling you the truth,” Su Nian continued, looking directly into his eyes. “Everything we saw on the road, those were all Zombies. I was afraid you would be scared, so I didn’t tell you.”
Tears rolled down Xingxing’s cheeks.
He wiped them away with the back of his hand, but more kept falling.
“But Mom is here,” Su Nian said gently. “Mom will protect you.”
“You have to remember this. If you ever see one of those things again, don’t make a sound, don’t go near it, just run. Do you understand?”
Xingxing nodded and sniffled.
“I understand.”
Su Nian hugged him tightly and kissed his forehead with a heart full of pain.
They continued walking.
Xingxing did not ask to walk by himself anymore. He simply kept his arms around her neck.
Su Nian slowed her pace. Her back and arms ached terribly, but she never stopped.
Ten minutes later, she realized something was wrong.
This was not the right route.
She stopped and took a map and a compass out of her storage space.
She had gone off course.
When she had entered the forest after abandoning the car, she should have headed southeast. But now the compass pointed southwest.
The panic during her fight with the Zombie had made her lose her bearings, and without realizing it, she had gradually wandered off course.
Su Nian took a deep breath.
She could not turn back. It would waste far too much time.
After studying the map, she angled southeast instead. It would mean a longer detour, but it would eventually bring her back to the correct route.
Night was approaching.
The fading sunlight turned a dim reddish hue.
She could not keep walking.
If darkness fell completely before she found a place to spend the night, it would be even more dangerous.
After another hour of walking, Su Nian took out a camping lantern from her storage space and found a relatively flat area on top of a slope.
She pitched the tent.
She scattered insect repellent powder around the campsite and stretched several strands of wire around it to create a simple alarm perimeter.
She took out dinner from her storage space.
Xingxing remained quiet and listless. He took only two bites of a steamed bun before putting it down, then sat on the blanket hugging his teddy bear in silence.
Su Nian did not urge him.
She sat beside him and wrapped an arm around his shoulders.
After a while, Xingxing leaned against her and quietly asked, “Mom, are there a lot of those things?”
Su Nian thought for a moment before answering.
“There are a lot of them, but we’ll stay far away from them.”
“Does Dad know about those things?”
Su Nian froze for a brief moment.
“He knows.”
Xingxing asked nothing more.
Not long afterward, he fell asleep.
Su Nian laid him down gently and covered him with a blanket.
The lantern’s soft glow illuminated his face. His eyelashes were long, and while he slept, he looked no different from any ordinary little boy.
But today, he had seen something no five year old child should ever have witnessed.
Su Nian leaned against a large rock and remained awake.
Sounds drifted through the distant forest.
She could not tell whether it was the wind or something else.
Her phone screen remained dark.
She picked it up, glanced at it, then quietly set it back down.
At the same time, on a highway dozens of kilometers from Shuixi Village.
Lu Chen leaned against a tree.
Dozens of Zombie corpses lay scattered in the distance.
He was injured. His clothes were torn in several places, exposing skin streaked with dried blood. Some wounds had already scabbed over, while others were still slowly bleeding.
He gripped his phone tightly.
The screen lit up briefly before going dark again.
There was no signal.
There had been none since yesterday.
He looked up. Night had already fallen.
He had no idea how far he still was from Shuixi Village.
He only knew he was heading in the right direction.
Six years ago, he had walked this very road.
He remembered that mountain.
He remembered Su Nian standing on the hillside, saying how peaceful it was there.
“Brother Lu, should we keep moving?”
Lu Chen slipped the phone back into his pocket and pushed himself upright against the tree.
The wound on his leg pulled painfully, making him suck in a sharp breath.
“We keep moving. There’s a strong smell of blood here. Zombies will be drawn to it.”
The road was almost impossible to see now.
They could only rely on the faint moonlight to judge their direction.
After taking a few steps, Lu Chen looked into the distance.
He could see nothing.
But he knew that somewhere in that direction was the person he had come to find.
He quickened his pace.