As soon as dawn broke, Su Nian woke up.
She lifted the tent flap and looked outside. The sky was still gray and overcast, while the distant mountains remained cloaked in darkness.
She woke Xingxing and helped him get dressed.
Breakfast consisted of bread and milk. Xingxing ate slowly, taking a bite before glancing at Su Nian as though he wanted to say something but could not bring himself to speak. Su Nian did not rush him. She finished eating first and began packing up the tent.
After walking for nearly an hour and making their way through a stretch of low shrubs, Su Nian quickened her pace.
On the mountainside in the distance stood a small village, its houses scattered across the slope.
At the very top was a two story house with gray walls and gray roof tiles, enclosed by a courtyard wall.
It was Shuixi Village. But between them lay a deep ravine.
The sound of running water echoed from below. On the opposite side rose a steep slope covered with thorny bushes and wild grass.
There was no way across.
At least not from where she was standing.
Su Nian followed the mountainside for several hundred meters before finding a narrower section, but the ravine was still far too deep to jump across.
If she took a detour, it would add a great deal of time to the journey. There was no chance they would reach the village before nightfall.
She tested the depth with a three meter wooden pole.
It did not even reach the bottom.
There was no choice.
She would have to go around.
Following the map, she continued along the mountainside. It showed an old road to the east that eventually reconnected with the route toward Shuixi Village. It would cost them roughly half a day’s extra travel, but there was no other option.
Carrying Xingxing on her back, she pushed through one patch of dense shrubs after another.
Her shoes slipped several times on loose gravel.
The soreness in her arms had barely eased before she was forced to keep walking again.
Nearly two hours later, a dirt road appeared ahead.
It was narrow but wide enough for vehicles.
Old tire tracks marked the ground, long since dried and weathered.
Many of the trees lining the road had been cut down, leaving only low blackened stumps. The exposed wood had already darkened with age, showing they had not been cut recently.
Just as Su Nian was about to take the car out of her storage space, voices drifted toward her from ahead.
Human voices. A lot of them.
Su Nian stopped immediately and slipped behind a large tree beside the road.
She untied Xingxing from her back, gathered him into her arms, crouched down, and hid between the tree roots and the surrounding bushes.
Xingxing’s eyes widened, but he remained perfectly silent.
By now, he understood many things.
Around the bend in the road, a group of people came into view.
There were more than a dozen of them, men and women alike, carrying backpacks and dragging rolling suitcases as they hurried along the road.
Su Nian watched them carefully, intending to wait until they had gone before coming out.
Then she saw what was following behind them.
Zombies! Seventeen or eighteen of them.
They were scattered about twenty meters behind the fleeing crowd, steadily advancing without stopping.
Someone in the group glanced back and screamed.
Instantly, everyone broke into a run.
One woman tripped and fell. Her suitcase slipped from her hand and rolled to the roadside.
She scrambled back to her feet and kept running without even looking back at it.
Su Nian’s breathing tightened.
The crowd was running straight toward her.
Without the slightest hesitation, she rushed out from behind the tree and ran in the opposite direction.
She could not run with the crowd.
Too many people gathered together would only attract the Zombies, which hunted by sound and scent.
She jumped down the roadside embankment and plunged into the forest, sprinting desperately while branches scraped across her face.
Behind her came even more frantic footsteps and desperate shouting.
Then a piercing scream.
Su Nian never looked back.
She ran through the forest for several minutes.
Only after she was certain both the people and the Zombies had been left behind did she finally stop.
Xingxing lifted his head from her arms.
His face was pale, and his lips trembled.
“Mom…”
His voice was barely above a whisper.
“Shh.”
Su Nian glanced behind them.
Nothing was chasing them.
She leaned against a tree, gasping for breath. Her legs felt weak, and her heart seemed ready to leap out of her throat.
She needed to find out where they were.
After that frantic escape, she had completely lost her bearings.
Taking the map and compass from her storage space, she spent quite some time comparing them before realizing she had wandered onto a narrow trail.
According to the map, the path led deeper into the mountains.
Beyond the forest, it connected to an even narrower dirt road.
That road headed toward Shuixi Village.
Su Nian stared at the map for several seconds, making absolutely certain she had not misread it.
Then she secured Xingxing onto her back once more and hurried along the trail.
The forest gradually grew dim again, but the path was much easier to walk than before.
The ground was firm and free of deep mud.
After almost an hour, light appeared ahead.
The forest had come to an end.
Su Nian quickened her pace.
Stepping out of the trees, she found herself facing a rough dirt road.
It was full of potholes and overgrown with grass, winding uphill along the mountainside until it disappeared from sight.
She crouched down to inspect the ground.
There were tire tracks.
Old ones! She had no idea how many years ago they had been left behind.
That meant hardly anyone had come here for a very long time.
It should be safe.
Su Nian took an electric scooter out of her storage space.
She seated Xingxing behind her and tied him securely to her waist with a rope.
“Hold on tight to Mom.”
The dirt road was rough.
The wheels bounced over loose stones, and the constant vibration left her hands numb.
She rode slowly, steering around the larger rocks and deeper potholes.
The road became steeper.
The mountains rose higher.
Night was approaching. Su Nian glanced at her phone.
There was still no signal.
After riding for more than two hours, she finally stopped in a mountain hollow.
Looking up, she could just make out the outline of a village high above.
She carefully compared it with the map.
That was Shuixi Village.
It was not completely dark yet, but the mountain road was difficult to travel, and she was utterly exhausted.
She could barely lift her arms.
Her back felt as though it had broken in two.
Her legs had almost no strength left.
A small clearing by the roadside was just large enough to pitch a tent.
Dense forest surrounded it on every side, while a thick canopy overhead concealed the campsite from anyone looking from a distance.
Su Nian set up the tent, strung warning wires around it, and scattered insect repellent powder nearby.
She took out some food from her storage space.
After eating only a few bites, Xingxing leaned against a rock, his eyelids drooping with exhaustion.
Su Nian carried him into the tent and tucked a blanket over him.
She remained seated at the entrance.
She did not sleep. Her gaze stayed fixed on the faint mountain path above.
Tomorrow, all they had to do was follow that road uphill.
They would finally reach Shuixi Village.
She stared in that direction for a very long time.
Inside the tent came Xingxing’s steady breathing.
Su Nian wrapped herself more tightly in the blanket, placed the machete within easy reach, and closed her eyes.
Just as she was about to fall asleep, she heard two soft coughs beside her.
She opened her eyes immediately and turned toward Xingxing.
The camping lantern cast only a faint glow, but it was enough for her to see his face clearly.
His cheeks were redder than they had been during the day.
His lips looked slightly dry.
She reached over and touched his forehead.
It was burning hot. Not the warmth of a healthy child.
Sitting upright, Su Nian lifted one corner of the blanket and slipped her hand underneath to feel his back.
His clothes were damp with sweat.
Yet his body temperature remained alarmingly high.
She took out an electronic thermometer and checked him.
38.1 degrees.
Xingxing had a fever.
Countless thoughts flooded her mind all at once.
Had he caught a chill?
Or…
Had he been infected?
When she had killed the Zombie earlier that day, black blood had splattered onto the hem of Xingxing’s clothes.
She had immediately removed the shirt and changed him into clean clothes.
But…
Had any of the blood splashed somewhere else?
Su Nian hurriedly searched through her storage space and found a bottle of children’s fever medicine.
It was strawberry flavored.
She poured him a cup of warm water and gently woke him.
Xingxing slowly opened his eyes.
They were red from the fever.
He stared at Su Nian for several long seconds before recognizing her.
“Xingxing, you have a fever. Take your medicine.”
Without saying a word, Xingxing opened his mouth and swallowed the medicine, then drank several mouthfuls of warm water.
Su Nian laid him back down and tucked the blanket tightly around him before adding another blanket on top.
“Mom…”
His voice came muffled from beneath the blankets.
“Yes?”
“I don’t feel well.”
Su Nian slipped her hand underneath the blanket and took hold of his hand.
His tiny hand was burning hot, his palm soaked with sweat.
She intertwined her fingers with his and held on tightly.
“You’ll feel better after the medicine starts working. Go to sleep. Mom is right here.”
Xingxing gave a quiet hum and closed his eyes.
His breathing had grown heavier, and his nose sounded stuffed.
Su Nian did not let go.
She continued holding his hand while her other hand gently stroked his forehead over and over again.
The wind outside the tent grew stronger, making the plastic fabric flap noisily.
She kept the machete close at hand while still holding Xingxing’s hand.
She glanced at the time.
Eleven o’clock at night. She did not want to sleep.
She could not sleep. Another gust of wind swept through, making the tent sway.
The camping lantern flickered, and the shadows on the ground trembled with it.
Her thoughts drifted to possibilities she desperately wished she did not have to consider.
Could the Zombie virus be transmitted through blood?
She had never heard of such a thing in her previous life.
But she could not be certain.
She had died too early back then.
There were too many things she had never lived long enough to learn.
Xingxing coughed twice.
Su Nian’s hand froze. What if…