Less than 500 meters away from Hospital, Mike and Jack were hiding in a residential building, panting.
There were five boys when they had left University, just to find medicine for the goddesses Holly and Mia in their hearts. They had rushed out rashly and quickly fell into trouble.
Originally, City had suffered from a typhoon in the past two days. Heavy rain, slippery roads, and low visibility made it very difficult for them to travel. Fortunately, University was not too far from the hospital, and the heavy rain had washed away most of the smell, which also helped them avoid attracting zombies with sound.
Even so, three boys had died during zombie attacks, leaving only Mike and Jack, the two persistent ones, still surviving.
Using a homemade raft, they finally avoided the area where zombies gathered, and Mike and Jack climbed and risked their lives to reach the entrance of the hospital.
"Let's go. We'll head to the pharmacy. There must be no medicine in the outpatient room..." Mike said, looking at the tightly shut door of the hospital. The place was eerily empty, not even a single zombie in sight.
Jack curled his lips with some disdain. He had seen Mike's viciousness on the way — two of the other three boys had been abandoned by him deliberately. He just wanted to eliminate his rivals who were also pursuing Holly. If Jack hadn't said he wouldn't fight him for her, the two might have already come to blows.
The two of them climbed over the hospital fence, pinned a few steel pipes to their waists, and cautiously tiptoed inside. What surprised them was that there wasn't a single zombie in the hospital. Even corpses were absent — only some dark red blood that rainwater hadn't washed away.
Jack couldn't help but shiver. Although the typhoon had passed and the rain stopped, the quietness of the hospital was terrifying."I feel something's wrong. It's too quiet here — not a single zombie..." he muttered.
Mike was scared too, but they had already come this far. If they gave up now, all their effort would be wasted — and Holly was still waiting for them!
In the small building at the back of the hospital, inside the monitoring room, a woman stared at the screen on her computer, picked up a walkie-talkie, and reported the situation.
"Someone broke into the hospital?" Emily heard the report — some of the women below had seen people climbing over the fence and entering the hospital on the surveillance feed.
"Sister, do you want me to go and deal with them?" Rachel made a neck-slashing gesture.
Emily didn't notice Rachel's tone and simply nodded."Go arrest the two of them first. Coming to the hospital at this time, they must be looking for medicine. Follow the trail — see if there's a gathering place behind them."
"Yes..." Rachel became excited. She had already sentenced the two intruders to death in her mind. Breaking into their master's territory without permission — killing them would be merciful.
In Rachel's eyes, any man other than their master was worthless. Their deaths didn't deserve pity.
She took three women with her, equipped themselves, and rushed toward the hospital pharmacy. Emily didn't follow — for her, this was trivial. Rachel could handle it easily.
As Mike and Jack continued deeper, the wrongness became more apparent. The zombies in the hospital seemed… dead. Except for the blood on the ground and walls, everything was silent and empty.
"Hurry up and grab cold and fever medicine, let's go back. It's too quiet — it's creepy," Jack said nervously.
Mike nodded, and the two entered the pharmacy together. They quickly found a lot of medicine and came out with large and small bags.
Rachel didn't rush in; she waited by the hospital door like a hunter waiting for prey. Before long, the two boys appeared in sight.
Mike and Jack froze when they saw the five armed women approaching — all equipped with guns, body armor, and tactical gear.
"You... who are you?" Jack stammered nervously as they came closer.
"Ra-Rachel?" Mike finally recognized the leading woman and shouted in shock. If it weren't for her carrying a gun and wearing a vest, he might not have recognized her.
Jack also realized who she was. He wasn't a fan, but he knew the famous actress who had been popular before the apocalypse. His eyes grew eager — compared to their own disheveled appearance, Rachel and her group looked clean, well-armed, and far too composed for this world.
Rachel's face remained indifferent. She had already hated these two men before, and seeing their lustful looks only disgusted her more. She silently decided: except for her master, any man who dared look at her that way deserved to have his eyes gouged out — then thrown to the zombies.
"It's you two rats who came to steal from our master's territory?" Rachel said coldly, a look of contempt on her face.
Mike and Jack froze. "Rats"? "Master"?
Being called rats wasn't pleasant, but they could accept that. What shocked them was hearing the glamorous celebrity before them call another man "master." The very idea made their blood boil — they had spent so long chasing their school beauties without success, yet this beautiful star was humbly serving another man? It was maddening.
"What's the matter? Cat got your tongue?" one of the women stepped forward and kicked Jack, knocking him to the ground.
Mike quickly realized the danger. Facing the black barrel of a gun, he dropped to the floor and began tremblingly explaining everything — who they were, why they came, and about University.
"Two school beauties?" Rachel's eyes lit up after hearing it. Suddenly, she became interested. The idea of "school beauties" was something that would certainly amuse her master.
"Two useless worms, move — you'll lead the way," she ordered coldly.
The women beside her barked at Mike and Jack, who immediately obeyed without resistance.
They crawled forward to lead the way, while Rachel followed behind with four armed women. She was already impatient — if it weren't for the need to find those two "school beauties" and present them to her master, she would have killed these two eyesores already.
Along the way, Rachel and her group had to clear out zombies blocking the road. Gunshots echoed briefly as submachine guns blew zombie heads apart. Watching that, Mike and Jack didn't dare utter a single word.
An hour later, the group entered the campus of University. Following Mike's directions, they easily found the teaching building, though the strange zombie rats were nowhere to be seen.
Mike led Rachel and the others upstairs, trembling with fear.
"Holly, we brought the medicine back..." Mike knocked on the door and walked in with Jack.
"Keep your voices down, Holly just fell asleep..." Mia came over and said with some annoyance. Jack, seeing her delicate curves, couldn't help but stare in dazed admiration.
"You brought back this much?" Mia asked in surprise, looking at the big and small bags they carried. She had originally thought it would be enough if those two fools brought even a little medicine.
A sound of high heels echoed from the hallway — and Rachel walked into the room, her expression cold and dangerous.