His phone vibrated again. The name flashing on the screen remained unchanged: "Gu Xun."
Lu Zhao stared at the monsters wandering nearby, emitting inhuman screeches. His fingers trembled as he hung up the call. He couldn't answer. He feared that the moment he spoke, he'd lose control and scream, drawing those things closer.
Leaning against the cold, rough wall, Lu Zhao forced himself to take deep breaths, trying to suppress the heartbeat pounding in his throat. On the chaotic streets, vehicles lay mangled in tangled heaps. Sirens wailed piercingly, mingling with the death screams of humans and the monsters' sated chewing sounds. The stench of blood mingled with gunpowder and an indescribable putrid odor, seeping into his nostrils and making him want to vomit.
He had to stay calm. He had to find a way back.
The dormitory building stood just across the street, less than two hundred meters away in a straight line. Yet those short two hundred meters now felt like an insurmountable chasm. Three infected, moving slowly but with eerie, unnatural gaits, blocked the entrance to the residential compound. Further away, more shadowy figures lurked, shifting restlessly.
Lu Zhao cautiously peered out, observing. These monsters... or zombies, whatever you called them, seemed to have poor eyesight but were exceptionally sensitive to sound and the scent of the living. Their movements weren't particularly fast, but they appeared incredibly strong.
He recalled spotting a broken steel pipe by the roadside earlier.
A desperate idea formed in his mind.
Holding his breath, he hugged the wall like a startled weasel, inching toward the pipe with utmost caution. Each step was lighter than light, terrified of alerting the lurking grim reapers.
Ten meters, five meters, three meters...
Just as his fingertips were about to touch the cold metal, a figure suddenly lunged out from behind an overturned car beside him! It was a "person" in a security guard uniform, half its face gone, revealing stark white bone and writhing dark red flesh. It bared its remaining teeth and lunged to bite him!
Too fast! Too close!
Lu Zhao's mind went blank. Survival instinct kicked in as he grabbed the steel pipe from the ground and stabbed wildly forward!
"Thud!"
The pipe pierced something, the sensation thick and sickening. Warm, dark liquid splattered across his hand. The security guard zombie staggered backward from the force, but still snarled, swinging its arms as it lunged for him again.
Lu Zhao tried to pull the pipe out, only to find it lodged too tightly—he couldn't dislodge it!
As the rotting claws closed in on his face, extreme terror washed over him like ice water, instantly transforming into a strange burning heat that rose from his lower abdomen and surged through his entire body!
"Get the hell away!!"
He roared instinctively.
An invisible force erupted from his body like a sudden explosion!
"Whoosh—!"
A violent wind surged, whipping up dust and debris into a miniature shockwave. The security guard zombie lunging at him was slammed back as if hit by an invisible truck, crashing heavily against the overturned car's shell. A sickening thud echoed as it twitched twice before going still.
Further away, the three zombies near the community gate were also knocked off balance by the sudden gust, staggering and temporarily losing their footing.
Lu Zhao froze, his hand still trembling slightly around the steel pipe.
What... just happened?
Did he do that?
That wind...
There was no time to ponder. Opportunity was fleeting! He yanked the steel pipe free, shedding all caution. With the fastest speed he'd ever mustered, he shot like an arrow toward the school gate across the street!
The wind whistled in his ears.
He'd never run this fast before. His body felt lighter than he could have imagined, each step propelled by a faint current of air beneath his feet. Was it an illusion? Or...
"Hah!"
A zombie lurking behind a guard booth suddenly lunged forward, aiming straight for his face.
Before Lu Zhao could even think, his body reacted before his mind—his wrist flickered, and the blood-stained steel pipe shot forward with a sharp whistling sound, piercing precisely into the zombie's eye socket with a dull thud!
The motion was fluid, as if rehearsed a thousand times.
He yanked the pipe free, dared not linger, and kept sprinting.
He charged through the school gates. The familiar tree-lined path was equally ravaged. Scattered zombies wandered about, while more screams and sounds of struggle echoed from the distance. But he couldn't spare a thought for that. He had only one goal—the dormitory building!
The dormitory doors were blocked from the inside, with unsettling scratching and banging sounds coming from behind them. Several zombies roamed below, one wearing a familiar T-shirt belonging to a classmate from the neighboring dorm—now utterly unrecognizable.
The front entrance was blocked.
Lu Zhao looked up, his gaze locking onto the window of their dorm room on the fourth floor. A mad plan formed in his mind—climb up the exterior wall!
He took a deep breath, took a few steps back, ran, and leaped!
In mid-air, he felt that strange force again—wind seemed to gather beneath his feet, giving him an extra, weightless push. He barely caught the edge of the second-floor balcony, straining his arms to pull himself up!
The subsequent climb felt more like instinct taking over. The wind element flowed around him, making each leap and grab between drainpipes and air conditioner units feel more assured, less burdensome. He began to dimly grasp the incredible transformation happening within him.
Finally, he reached the dormitory window.
The window was tightly shut, curtains drawn inside. He hooked one hand over the sill, curled the fingers of his other hand, and tapped urgently on the glass.
"Knock, knock, knock!"
The curtains suddenly parted a crack.
Peering through the opening were Jiang Jin's alert, piercing eyes. Seeing the disheveled Lu Zhao outside, a clear flicker of surprise crossed Jiang Jin's gaze before his brow furrowed. He swiftly unlocked the window.
Lu Zhao scrambled through the window, landing heavily on the floor and gasping for breath.
The familiar dorm furnishings came into view, but the atmosphere felt unusually tense.
Gu Xun stood guard behind the door, clutching an iron bed leg he'd somehow pried loose. Hearing the noise, he spun around. Recognizing Lu Zhao, the tension in his jaw seemed to ease momentarily, though his gaze remained cool. He strode forward. "You okay?" His eyes darted over Lu Zhao's body, scanning for wounds.
Jiang Jin, after confirming the window was shut, immediately turned, arms crossed, his face dark as he stared at Lu Zhao. Especially when he saw the blood-stained steel pipe in his hand and the disheveled state of his clothes, his tone carried a hint of barely perceptible impatience and... doubt:
"How did you climb up from outside? What's the situation down there? Did any of those things get you?"
His gaze was sharp as a blade, as if he intended to dissect Lu Zhao from the inside out.
Lu Zhao gasped for breath, taking in his two roommates—one distant yet concerned, the other forceful and full of suspicion. Before the relief of surviving the ordeal could fully wash over him, it was replaced by a deeper, more profound exhaustion and isolation stemming from human relationships.
The apocalypse had arrived.
And within this apocalyptic cage, the twisted dynamic between these three seemed to grow more dangerous and unpredictable.
He lowered the steel pipe. The metallic clang echoed sharply in the silent dormitory.
"I'm fine," he said hoarsely, avoiding Jiang Jin's scrutinizing gaze and the hand Gu Xun reached out, seemingly to steady him.