Meng Shiwan slept until nightfall. When she opened her eyes, the RV was pitch dark.
“Xiaozhi, turn on all the lights.”
Every light in the RV came on, driving away the dark.
Taxue lay sprawled on the inner side of the bed, still snoring away.
Meng Shiwan scooped it up, hopped off the bed, and raised the bed frame.
She drew back the curtain for a glance outside, the sky had gone fully dark.
“Taxue, go do your business. We’re not going out today.”
Meng Shiwan set Taxue on the floor. Groggy and unwilling, Taxue hopped onto the sofa and went back to sleep.
Seeing it act like such a sleepyhead, Meng Shiwan found it funny and simply left it be.
She turned on the living-room display and resumed the soothing film she hadn’t finished last night.
Taxue found it noisy and covered its ears with both paws, determined to sleep anyway.
Meng Shiwan yawned and went to wash up, then took the clothes from the washing machine, hung them on hangers, and hung them out to dry on the second-floor roof deck right above the stairs.
“What to eat tonight?”
Puzzling over what to eat each day had become Meng Shiwan’s happy hour.
She put the mango juice in the fridge to chill, took the little frying pan off the wall, set it on the induction cooktop, and fried eggs over low heat.
She rinsed and drained the lettuce, went to the second floor and dug out a bottle of ketchup and a pack of cheese slices, and made simple sandwiches.
After frying the eggs, she added a little water and boiled a few big prawns for Taxue.
In no time, dinner was ready.
Two sandwiches, a glass of mango juice, a durian, and the half-watermelon she’d put in the fridge yesterday.
Tonight was a fruit-and-snacks spread.
Tasty, she loved it.
She laid it all out on the little table before the sofa, fished out the boiled prawns, shelled and shredded them, then mixed in a can of cat food. Even a greedy little cat like Taxue would be dizzy with delight.
“Xiaozhi, turn off all the lights except the living room.”
The RV’s lights dimmed at once, leaving only the soft glow of a few bulbs beneath the raised bed above the living room.
Meng Shiwan set a cushion in the corner between the sofa and the wardrobe, lay down comfortably against it hugging the watermelon, and spooned it up while watching the movie.
Outside the night was tranquil, inside the RV the light was soft and dim. Eating fruit and watching a movie, nothing could be more comfortable than this.
An RV immune to all harm was like a solid fortress, giving a person a full sense of security in this peril-ridden apocalypse.
Meng Shiwan set down the watermelon, pulled a pack of spicy gluten strips from under the table, and picked up a sandwich, enough to make a person melt with delight.
Taxue munched through its own meal, then clumsily went to use the bathroom toilet and flushed.
When it came out of the bathroom, it saw Meng Shiwan peeling a durian.
The little cat stared with round, greatly puzzled eyes.
It looked at the durian in Meng Shiwan’s hand, then at the poop it had just flushed away, a hint of regret in its gaze.
Had it known the poop-scooper liked eating poop, it should have saved the fresh, warm one it had just made for her.
His fill eaten, drowsiness came over Meng Shiwan. “Xiaozhi, turn off the TV and the lights.”
With that, she fell asleep right on the sofa.
The RV sank into darkness, gone utterly quiet in the night.
Early the next morning, Meng Shiwan felt a heavy pressure on her chest, unable to catch her breath.
She opened her eyes and found herself staring right into Taxue’s big round eyes.
Chubby Taxue was sitting on her chest, nearly crushing her to death.
“Taxue, what are you doing?”
Meng Shiwan sat up hugging Taxue, gasping for air.
Taxue hopped into the walkway, looked back at Meng Shiwan, motioning for her to follow.
Not knowing what it wanted, Meng Shiwan followed it into the bathroom, where she saw Taxue jump onto the toilet and produce one enormous turd.
“Wow, Taxue, well done, you know how to use the toilet now!”
Taxue looked at Meng Shiwan, then at the poop in the toilet. Eat up, it’s warm, the poop-scooper loves it, it’s all for the poop-scooper.
Given what Meng Shiwan knew of Taxue, she sensed something was off.
She tentatively reached out to flush. “After you poop, press this button…”
To her surprise, Taxue grabbed her hand, looked at her, then at the poop in the toilet, urging her to eat it while it was warm.
Meng Shiwan was now certain, and her hackles went up. “Taxue, I don’t eat poop, I don’t.”
She pressed the flush button and sent the poop straight down.
Taxue didn’t understand, it felt the aggrieved sting of good intentions spurned. Hadn’t she eaten it happily enough last night?
Meng Shiwan sighed and hugged Taxue to explain. “What I ate yesterday was smelly, yes, but it wasn’t poop, it was fruit. I don’t eat poop, understand? Don’t call me over to eat poop again.”
Taxue half-understood, unable to grasp how something equally smelly could somehow not be poop.
Meng Shiwan used the last few eggs from yesterday, mixed in some flour, and made a few pancakes.
After a simple breakfast with Taxue, she changed clothes and carried the trash out.
They didn’t go to the supermarket, they took the stairs on the other side up to the second floor.
Taxue crouched on Meng Shiwan’s shoulder as she gripped her trowel and crept upstairs, staying alert to her surroundings at every moment.
She wasn’t sure whether the little trap on the first floor had drawn and killed all the second-floor zombies, for her own life’s sake, better safe than sorry.
One careless moment caught by a zombie, and all that was left was to wait for death.
Before she’d even left the stairwell, Meng Shiwan heard the sounds of fighting inside.
She quietly stood at the corner and peered in, seeing a tall man circling with several zombies.
He held a tang saber, and after opening up distance from the zombies, he’d spin and swing to shave off their heads.
Probably afraid of being grabbed, he was very careful, counterattacking only after putting enough distance between himself and them.
Meng Shiwan had seen this man before, he was the bewildered owner of the outdoor-goods store.
After finishing off the zombies, he split their heads open with the saber, searching for something.
Meng Shiwan was surprised, he actually knew to collect crystal cores?
She looked around. Zombies lay fallen in twos and threes along the second-floor corridor, and the escalator to the third floor was blocked, to keep the third-floor zombies from coming down for a sneak attack.
Seeing the second floor was safe, Meng Shiwan didn’t go up to meet Wei Ye. Instead, she and Taxue slipped into a small-goods shop nearby to see if there was anything she needed.
Whatever she needed, she’d gather as fully as she could in this mall, after leaving here, she might not easily find another place so rich in supplies.
Meng Shiwan picked up a little hat, put it on Taxue’s small head, spun around in front of the mirror, and said, “So cute.”
Wei Ye’s reflection appeared in the mirror. Sensing it, Meng Shiwan gripped her trowel and quickly backed away, keeping her distance from the man.
Wei Ye was taken aback by such a strong reaction and was utterly baffled. “Every time you see me you act like you’ve seen a ghost. Why are you so wary of me? Do I look that scary?”
He really couldn’t understand it. He wasn’t a zombie, was there any need to be so on guard?
Meng Shiwan said coldly, “What do you want?”
With anyone else she needn’t be so wary, but not this man.
The marks of training all over him showed he was quite a fighter, she couldn’t afford not to guard against him.