Chapter 9: Apocalypse Awakening
1323 Words
Weighing the backpack in her hand, Quinn grabbed various food items from the shelf and tossed them in, all the while chewing on a newly opened sausage.
She was preparing. As soon as she had a chance to leave the shopping mall, she would immediately take Lloyd and Hana to the southern part of the city. The chaos and danger along the way would make it difficult to find supplies, so she needed to be prepared in advance.
Being prepared was a universal rule in the apocalypse.
Besides, being able to grab things off supermarket shelves without paying had been a long-time dream of Quinn’s!
"Hey Quinn, check this out," Lloyd, with a proud tone, held out his bulging backpack as he approached Quinn. She opened the backpack, and the sight made her pause, speechless.
There were various boxed snacks and sweets, with food occupying only a small corner of the backpack. The rest was filled with items that were now useless in the apocalypse: tablets, smartphones, a large stack of game cards, branded watches for showing off among classmates, and even a chess set taking up most of the space.
Looks like I overlooked something...
Although Lloyd had more guts than most adults, he was inevitably still childish in nature.
Quinn suddenly felt a headache coming on.
No matter how mature Lloyd acted, he was still a fifteen-year-old boy. The apocalypse had just begun, and he hadn’t experienced the fundamental changes it would bring to his psyche. She hadn’t realized that a fifteen-year-old in the current world was vastly different from a fifteen-year-old in the apocalypse.
Lloyd had no experience in surviving the apocalypse or understanding the necessary mindset.
"Get rid of all this," Quinn ordered without hesitation.
"Huh? Why?" Lloyd trusted Quinn but wasn’t ready to blindly follow her every word.
Expecting his friend to share his excitement, Lloyd was dismayed at her reaction. Reluctantly, he tried to reclaim his backpack, but Quinn wouldn’t let him.
Although Lloyd was sturdy, his uncoordinated attempts to grab it posed no threat to Quinn.
As she deftly avoided Lloyd's attempts, Quinn pulled out the useless toys and tossed them aside.
“These things are useless in the apocalypse. No electricity, no time, no energy. They’re worthless compared to food.”
“But…” Lloyd protested as he watched his treasures scatter, “won’t they come in handy after things go back to normal?”
“Wait? Go back?”
Quinn laughed, more out of exasperation than humor. Wait? She had waited two years for the apocalypse and never saw a glimmer of its end. She struggled for one-fifth of her life and still couldn’t survive, even after climbing to a certain level, only to be crushed by more powerful enemies.
The morning conflict with Rita had been a life-or-death moment. Rita could have killed them as easily as squashing bugs. Even Quinn herself didn’t dare face Rita directly.
If it hadn’t been for Campbell and Steve intervening at the last moment under the pretext of scavenging for supplies, Quinn didn’t know how the deadly farce would have ended.
Moreover, the person behind the first-tier power-type zombie was still lurking in the shadows, their identity and purpose a mystery. Hidden threats were always more terrifying than visible ones.
Lloyd’s irresponsible behavior at such a time was infuriating.
"Over? How long are you gonna wait for, huh? A year? Ten years? Your whole life?!"
Her voice suddenly raised, startling Lloyd. Though he stepped back, he stubbornly met Quinn’s gaze. She knew that if she looked away, Lloyd would immediately pick up the discarded items and continue as before.
Mere lecturing wouldn’t change Lloyd’s mindset.
"Hey... can you guys keep it down? What's going on?"
Steve poked his head around the shelf, looking tense. This quiet, middle-aged man felt no sense of security with the two middle school students assigned to him. He’d much rather be waiting in the rest area with his wife.
Far from the safety of the employee lounge, the distant, sporadic groans felt like they could materialize right behind him. The terror of that night was etched deeply in Steve’s mind, making him nervously glance around every few seconds.
The loud argument between Quinn and Lloyd heightened his anxiety.
"It's nothing," Quinn replied without turning around, tossing the backpack to Lloyd.
"Just pack it with canned food and water. The backpack should be light enough for you to handle and can also double as a weapon against zombies. Just make sure it doesn't slow you down."
"Steve, no need to freak out so much. Zombies have way worse hearing than regular people do. As long as you're not bleeding anywhere, they probably won't even notice you."
Quinn’s words were factual. The virus currently only controlled the corpse, and full sensory evolution required time. Other than being sensitive to the smell of blood, zombies were otherwise like normal people.
"How do you know all this?" Steve was clearly skeptical. After all, who would believe a child making such confident claims?
“Haven’t you noticed?”
Quinn rubbed her throbbing temples.
“Remember when a zombie accidentally bumped into the door yesterday? Campbell shouted loudly, yet the zombie left after just one hit, indicating it didn’t respond to the noise.”
"Seriously?"
Steve glanced around, still half in doubt, but finding no immediate danger, his trembling hands steadied a bit as he resumed gathering supplies. "But it's better to be safe..."
“Yeah… better to be safe…” Quinn muttered, pulling Lloyd away from the shelves. “You stay here for now.”
“Wait! Where are you going?” Steve’s response was almost frantic. The idea of being alone terrified him.
Surprisingly timid.
Quinn made a mental note about the middle-aged man.
“Don’t worry, we won’t go far.”
“What are you doing? We should stick together…” Steve didn’t trust Quinn’s reassurance. His concern was for himself.
"We're gonna go find those monsters. You wanna come?"
“What?”
What a joke!
He wanted to say that hiding from those monsters was more important, but Quinn’s serious and resolute demeanor told him she wasn’t joking. He hesitated, his feet glued to the spot, ultimately retracting his steps.
"What are you gonna do?"
“Practice.”
The dry question was met with an equally dry response.
Though puzzled by Quinn’s answer, Steve had no intention of following. Without asking further, he watched Quinn and Lloyd disappear around the corner, then returned to collecting supplies.
The shelves and counters were mostly waist-high, creating a more open space compared to the two-meter-high shelves. Lloyd shivered, the open environment making him nervous. This was a natural self-preservation response but made him uncomfortable.
Nervously, he whispered to Quinn, “Hey, Quinn, were you serious about finding those… zombies?”
“Yeah, for sure.”
Quinn’s indifferent glance made him uneasy. Suddenly, she ducked behind the counter, pulling Lloyd with her. Crouching, they crept to the edge of the counter. Quinn cautiously peeked out.
A zombie was feasting on a corpse, blood still flowing from the fresh wounds. Internal organs spilled out, emitting a foul stench. From the freshness of the blood, it was clear this was a recent victim.
“Quinn…ugh…” Driven by curiosity, Lloyd peeked over, only to regret it instantly.
Unable to contain his nausea, he vomited loudly. After all, he was only fifteen, and this scene was horrific even for adults.
Quinn silently watched until Lloyd stopped vomiting, reduced to dry heaving. She then pulled out her katana and thrust it into Lloyd’s hands.
“Quinn… what are you…”
“Kill it.”
“What?!”
“Kill it!”
Lloyd realized he hadn’t misheard. But he’d hoped he had.
“I can’t…”
“You have to!”
Quinn’s tone shifted, making Lloyd feel like he was facing a stranger.
"You can't afford not to. "
"This… is the apocalypse."
- Writer
