The Crumbling World（part 4）
1153 Words
While Fan Zhen was lost in thought, the owner continued, "You're lucky. I was just about to block the door when you came in. It's also my luck that I overslept today and the door suddenly got stuck."
"It's okay. You're safe now."
Upon hearing the word "safe," Fan Zhen suddenly trembled. Thinking of the moments he narrowly escaped death along the way, he couldn't help but feel a surge of warmth and tightly hugged the owner.
A few minutes later, Fan Zhen finally calmed his emotions. "Boss, you saved me. I will never forget..."
The owner seemed indifferent to the matter and waved his hand. "Let's not talk about it. As long as you're okay. First, tell me what you know."
He then briefly described his own experience. When Fan Zhen was running frantically in the subway station, the owner had just woken up, and at that time, the internet was still functioning normally. Initially, there were various rumors and counter-rumors in the chat groups and social media feeds, and the owner had doubts about them. It wasn't until someone uploaded a video from the subway, clearly showing zombies, that the word "zombie" began to spread like wildfire and quickly became a trending topic.
The video was clearly shot in the subway where the emergency occurred. The camera shook violently as many people seemed to have gone mad, continuously gnawing at the passengers around them. The passengers screamed loudly, dodging around frantically. One monster with bloodshot eyes and pale skin suddenly turned towards the direction of the cameraman, and the video ended at that moment.
The boss broke out in a cold sweat instantly.
That was definitely not a human being.
After that, the internet was cut off. The boss felt uneasy and was about to go out to see what was happening when the door opened halfway but got stuck. He looked through the gap and saw the chaos on the street and dared not go out again.
Fan Zhen's heart sank. It seemed that the entire city had lost its network. However, as an engineer, he knew that there were many communication companies and backup stations. Even if all the people in the city were connected at the same time, theoretically, it should not cripple the network unless someone had damaged the power grid...
It seemed that the situation was much more complicated than he had imagined.
One word caught Fan Zhen's attention: zombie. He had always despised this term that only appeared in novels and movies. How could zombies survive without eating? Did they use photosynthesis? Besides, the transmission through blood was too slow to cause large-scale infections. He would rather believe that it was a mutated rabies that could be transmitted through the air. Once it entered the bloodstream, it would directly control the brain and then proliferate crazily. However, virus proliferation takes time, and he couldn't explain this terrible mutation speed...
The key now is whether they should stay here or leave quickly, and they must make a decision immediately.
"Are you saying that the entire city may be in danger?" the boss asked incredulously.
"Yes, at this rate, if the situation is not brought under control, it may only take a dozen hours. This is not an ordinary infectious disease. We cannot get information from the outside world now, and we do not know how the disease spreads. There may be a large number of infected every minute," Fan Zhen replied.
The boss lowered his head and said nothing. It was chaotic outside, and going out was likely to lead to unexpected dangers. However, they only had cigarettes and alcohol in the shop, and it wouldn't last long without supplies. If what Fan Zhen said was true and they lost control...
Just then, a very sharp whistling sound cut through, enveloping the entire sky.
The air raid siren sounded.
As if summoned, the infected outside immediately made a piercing cry, sounding the death knell along with the distant air raid siren.
Both of them broke out in cold sweat. The boss picked up his kitchen knife and threw a bottle of liquor to Fan Zhen. The two of them stared fiercely at the door.
Affected by the sound, the surrounding corpses began to gather and move towards the direction of the siren. The footsteps in the distance became more and more frequent, eventually converging into a torrent. The sound was heavy and massive, like the drums of hell.
And they happened to be on the marching route of this army of death.
The group of zombies marched through Moonxin Road in a mighty wave. A few seconds later, there was a rumbling sound from above.
That was the vibration of helicopter blades.
The huge noise made the roller shutter door of the small shop also vibrate. Fan Zhen trembled and subconsciously wanted to support the counter. But in an instant, the sound disappeared in the distance.
Just then, a buzzing sound filled the air, like thousands of mosquitoes flying up and down. Before Fan Zhen could react, the boss, who was chasing after him, pushed him to the ground, and there was a loud bang.
The shock wave generated by the huge explosion directly blew up the cabinet that was blocking the door. The roller shutter door was severely deformed and exposed several large holes. The boss got up from the ground and desperately pulled Fan Zhen. Fan Zhen could see his mouth opening and closing, but he couldn't hear anything.
"Am I deaf?" But he didn't have time to be discouraged: the roller shutter was destroyed, and it was no longer safe here.
After struggling to get up, he looked through the hole in the roller shutter and saw a hellish scene:
Because the explosion was far from the center, the degree of destruction of the buildings was relatively low, but all the infected outside were either shattered or blown away by the shock wave. The shop was completely stained red with blood after the bombing, and countless bodies and limbs were piled up on the pitted and uneven streets swept by the shock wave, like a sea of blood surging.
The wave had yet to subside, and many incomplete bodies still had vital signs. They stood or crawled, stepping on the bodies of their companions, wandering aimlessly, like a wild beast searching frantically for prey, or like evil spirits in hell seeking souls.
Several corpses hung from the roller shutter of the store opposite, some of which were still trembling slightly, and there was even a torso crawling slowly, dragging a long bloodstain behind it...
This terrifying scene continually assaulted Fan Zhen's nerves, and he struggled to hold back the urge to vomit.
The situation had exceeded Fan Zhen's cognition: rapid infection, gathering of infected people, and air strikes could not make them lose their mobility completely...
Aren't these zombies in novels and movies?
- Writer
