Newcomers after the zombie war
“Who among ordinary citizens would remember that there is an armory here?” Yu Dandan looked puzzled. “This belongs to the military district. Usually, only the militia comes here to use the shooting range on the mountain. It’s only once a year at most, and it’s not even for the militia of all units in the city. It’s practically for government departments.”
"Forget it, let's go in and see what happens." Seeing Zhou Yi angrily pounding the steering wheel, I felt a little frustrated too. Less than ten days after the zombie outbreak, someone had already thought ahead of us and died before us.
Upon entering the compound, we saw a three-story building facing south. There were two small warehouses downstairs, their doors pried open. Zhou Yi, undeterred, rushed inside to scavenge for anything he could find. Meanwhile, Han Bo, Yu Dandan, Li Tonggu, and I stood around a corpse in the courtyard, staring at each other in bewilderment.
This isn't a zombie, it's a human corpse. A man around thirty years old, wearing camouflage clothing and leather boots, with greasy, tangled hair, a white bullet hole in the center of his forehead, the blood washed clean by the rain, his facial features swollen, his eyes wide open in death.
Han Bo turned his back and pressed his hand to his chest, looking very uncomfortable. I wasn't afraid. I've seen quite a few dead people at work. Besides those with terminal illnesses and a few who died in accidents, there's also a group of severely depressed patients whose ultimate goal is to kill themselves. Even if the hospital confiscates all potentially lethal objects and tools and keeps a 24-hour watch, they can still find ways to die in the cracks, and there's no stopping them.
I wasn't afraid, so Yu Dandan was even less afraid. He calmly squatted down and touched and pinched the corpse, as if he were picking out cabbages at a market. After a while, he said, "There are no wounds from zombie bites or scratches. This is intentional homicide."
I looked at the messy yard and said, "This person is probably a staff member here. It seems there was a conflict over a gun."
Han Bo's face turned ashen: "Even at this point, they still kill living people. The murderer is utterly depraved. If the item falls into their hands, it's probably not going to end well."
Upon closer reflection, I also felt worried: "I didn't expect that some people would realize the collapse of social rules so quickly and have already become morally depraved. I think what we are about to enter is the stage of the bestiality erupting."
"What do you mean?"
"It means that some people want to do what Zhou Yi expects, to use force to seize resources and territory, and those who obey will prosper and those who resist will perish." I slapped my forehead in frustration: "We are so slow. We have been staying at home for so many days without making any plans, and these guys have gotten there first! If we can talk to them when we meet, that will be fine, but I'm afraid we will run into some idiots, and then bloodshed will be inevitable."
"Tch!" Han Bo scoffed. "So what if it's a fight? Let's fight. We won't mess with others unless they mess with us. Are we afraid of anything?"
Of course I'm not afraid, I thought to myself, but it doesn't seem to make sense. We haven't even figured out the zombie crisis yet, are we going to be dealing with the internal strife among the survivors?
Zhou Yi whistled from the second floor. We looked up and saw him tossing a small piece of metal up and down: "There's still a box of bullets left. I'll carry it down. Why don't you guys move your legs and go downstairs to check? What are you standing there for?"
Han Bo and I went to check the two warehouses separately. I don't know if the armory itself had little stock, or if the group of people in front of us were so vicious that they took everything away so cleanly that not even a single part was left.
Having bullets but no gun is useless; this trip was a waste.
Zhou Yi unloaded the ammunition box and stuffed it into the car, grumbling and clearly annoyed. He dragged the two of us around and searched the place thoroughly, but all we found was a box of pens, two boxes of A4 paper, a tent, and several sets of old training uniforms.
Standing on the second-floor corridor, Zhou Yi listened to our analysis of the corpse and was so angry that he said these people were disgusting. He said that if he ever encountered them, he would make sure they died a horrible death and vomited up everything they had eaten.
While we were talking, Yu Dandan was still examining the corpse at the door, while Li Tonggu stood with his hands behind his back, gazing at the sky in the courtyard like an old cadre. The dazzling sunlight had no effect on him; he was so engrossed in watching the clouds that he was practically dazed, his mouth agape and drool almost dripping down. He had completely lost his violent nature, which used to be so ruthless as to want to kill people at the drop of a hat, and instead looked like a three-year-old child waiting for candy.
As I listened to Han Bo and Zhou Yi speaking, my eyes drifted to Li Tonggu, and I couldn't help but want to laugh. I pointed at him and said, "Look at little Li..."
Before I could finish speaking, I caught a glimpse of a figure emerging from the front door. Han Bo and Zhou Yi were also looking in the direction I was pointing when they all gasped in surprise. Han Bo shouted, "Little Yu, watch out!"
"Hungry~"
Danger struck suddenly. A zombie with sparse hair and a jawbone rotting out of the ground suddenly emerged from the left side of the door and reached out its hand to Yu Dandan, who was squatting on the ground.
The corpse was not far from the entrance, so Yu Dandan was only a few steps away from the zombie. Hearing the shout, he first looked up, then looked back. The zombie moved quickly with its small steps and hopped right up to him. Yu Dandan screamed in surprise and fell to the ground with a thud.
Even from a distance, I could see the long claws on the zombie's paws, aimed directly at Yu Dandan's face.
"Little Li, save your dad!" I yelled. "Go down and help!"
The three rushed downstairs, and Li Tonggu also rushed up. At this moment, Yu Dandan was supporting herself on the ground with both hands, staring blankly at the zombie's claws, gasping for breath, not knowing how to turn over and escape.
Just as Li Tonggu was about to kick, the zombie touched Yu Dandan's jacket collar. A little further and it would have dug its way into her throat. At the last second, Li Tonggu's big foot arrived just in time and kicked it away.
His towering figure, like a tiger descending a mountain, pounced on the zombie whose joints were cracking as it tried to get up, and delivered a series of vicious kicks to its head, turning what was once a human-shaped head into a flat, pancake-like object.
Before I could even catch my breath, I suddenly heard Han Bo yell again, "Holy crap, there's more!"
Upon closer inspection, my heart sank. Zombies were emerging one after another from both sides of the main gate. They ignored the wide and open main gate and seemed to have been lying in ambush on the side of the gate, lining up and waiting for this moment to launch a general attack. They came out one after another.
The zombies were in various poses, walking unsteadily, with varying degrees of decay on their heads, faces, and bodies. Although their clothes were already muddy or tattered, the similarity in style could still be vaguely seen—like the person on the ground, they were all dressed in camouflage.
"Grab your weapons and kill!" Zhou Yi leaped to the side of the car, opened the trunk, and threw over a bunch of axes, kitchen knives, and entrenching tools.
The situation was urgent, and there was no time for further analysis. Han Bo and I grabbed our weapons and charged forward with all our might.
No encounter with zombies has ever been as dangerous as this one. It's broad daylight, a direct confrontation; no sneak attacks, no escape by car. I don't know how many came, but they're all around me. When I'm about to kill one in front of me, I have to be wary of the back of my head as well.
I didn't have time to look at anyone else; for a while at the beginning, I was overwhelmed with my own problems. The zombies' all-around attacks tensed every muscle in my body. I'd just knock down one on the left, and another would come along from the right to join the fray. It took me a while to get used to it and find my rhythm. I'd seize any openings in the zombies' flailing claws and either stomp on their groin or kick them in the stomach. Once they were down, I'd go in and hack away, saving a lot of energy. I didn't have time to admire the black blood bubbling inside the zombie's skull. I parried the attack of another ghostly claw, threw away my entrenching tool, and pulled out my ever-present screwdriver to stab its dead fish eye.
An entrenching tool is not easy to use; a screwdriver is much more convenient.
Zombies truly have no consciousness other than the desire to eat people. Even though their companions all die gruesome deaths, they cannot resist the temptation of living flesh and blood. Their eyes have no whites or light; their deathly gray eyeballs move with difficulty. Their bodies, stiffened by the virus, have only two functions: to grab the living and to open their blood-stained mouths to bite.
I shook off a zombie that was grabbing my sleeve, slashed half of its face with a sharp screwdriver, and kicked it to the ground. Before I could catch my breath, I heard Han Bo shouting anxiously, "What the hell are you standing there for? Get in the car now!"
I turned my head and saw Han Bo dragging Yu Dandan along, while he was wielding a kitchen knife to hold off the zombie and desperately pulling him toward the car door.
Yu Dandan tilted her head back, rolled her eyes, and arched her body upwards, ignoring Han Bo's attempts to pull her. My heart, which had already cooled halfway, sank completely. How come this kid always picks the right time to have an episode?
I had no choice but to grab the entrenching tool again and hack and stab with both hands, killing three zombies in one go. Sticky liquid splashed all over me, but I managed to poke a path through them. I felt my arms starting to give out, but the zombies still seemed to be everywhere in the yard.
"I'll cover you, you quickly get him into the car and tie him up."
Han Bo didn't say much. He grabbed Yu Dandan's arms like he was dragging a big, wriggling fish out of water, and quickly and roughly pulled him into the car. After closing the car door, he turned around and stood back to back with me, and the fight started again.
Zhou Yi cursed and slashed, his movements agile and his strikes ruthless and accurate, almost one axe blow at a time; Li Tonggu, without any tools, was trapped in the horde of zombies, relying solely on his fists and feet to kick and punch, the zombies couldn't get close to him, but he couldn't easily kill them either, a stalemate.
Without Yu Dandan dragging us down, Han Bo and I worked together with the same seamless teamwork we had in our childhood brawls. We took turns delivering flying kicks and finishing blows from all sides, hacking away at corpses in circles. We were exhausted, short of breath, and our arms were numb, but the more we killed, the more excited and thrilled we became, and the more we couldn't stop. The disparity in numbers was balanced by our strength, and I swear this was the most serious and dedicated fight I'd ever had in my life.
We don't know how long this life-or-death battle lasted. The heads of the zombies were either cracked open or fell off before our eyes, black blood splattered everywhere, rotten flesh flew everywhere, and the stench filled the air. The ghostly cries went from low to shrill to sparse, and finally, there was complete silence.
Looking back, I saw Han Bo with a face covered in dirt and bloodshot eyes, his hands trembling so much he couldn't hold the knife. I knew I wasn't much better off.
Li Tonggu clenched his fists and stomped on the head of a long-dead zombie, yelling viciously, "I'll stomp you to death! I'll stomp you to death! I'll stomp you to death!"
Zhou Yi slumped to the ground, wiping the sweat from his forehead. Looking at the yard full of zombie corpses, he forced a smile and said, "I broke my record today. I killed eleven. How about you guys?"
The hideous zombie corpses were laid bare in the sunlight, most of them torn to pieces and decapitated. A rough count revealed over forty of them—a small horde. I hunched over, panting heavily, "Weren't they saying zombies don't come out during the day?"
Han Bo: "Who said that?"
I pointed at Zhou Yi, who scratched his head and said, "Hehe, that's how it's always been. We've been out in broad daylight more than once or twice, how many have we encountered? If you ask me, it's because we let our guard down just now and spoke too loudly that we attracted them."
“That makes sense, but who are they? Why are so many of them gathered around the armory?” I kicked the corpse. “They’re all wearing camouflage uniforms, could they be soldiers from the armory?”
Han Bo said, "No military rank, not a soldier, maybe... a militiaman?"
"Militia? Militia here for target practice?" I exclaimed in surprise. "It can't be such a coincidence, can it? Does this mean that these militia members happened to be here for target practice when the zombie outbreak occurred?"
Han Bo said, "That's possible. Why don't you ask the secretary of the municipal party committee when the militia comes to shoot targets throughout the year? That would tell you."
My heart skipped a beat, and I quickly asked, "You dragged Yu Dandan into the car just now. Did you tie her up when I told you to?"
Han Bo shook his head: "Where would I find the time? If I tie him up and then come down, how could you possibly handle it?"
“It’s over,” I said, shrugging. “You probably won’t see Yu Dandan again.”
"Why?"
The slamming of the van door answered Han Bo's question. Yu Dandan slowly stepped out of the van with a serious expression, her back ramrod straight. Her eyes swept warily over the four of us, then over the zombies scattered on the ground. She seemed slightly surprised, but quickly concealed it, and asked, "Who are you people?"
Those coquettish, shameless, and affected feminine tones were gone, replaced by coldness and defensiveness. His face was still the same, and his clothes still didn't fit him, but no one who saw him would have the thought of him as a "transvestite." Judging from his demeanor, he had become a man again.
I tentatively called out, "Yu Yu?"
He clearly recognized the name; upon hearing it, he took half a step forward and looked at me: "Who are you?"
I knew he wasn't Yu Yu, but my heart didn't warm up. How could this man not recognize me? I've witnessed most of the antics Yu Yu caused in the two years he's been at the veterans' hospital. For example, there's Yu Dandan, and another one who hasn't shown up yet, named Yu Xiaochun. As alternate personalities, I've dealt with them all. The stories circulating in the hospital about his transformation techniques are just about these few personalities.
But who is this man? Is he a new accomplice? Has Yu Yu's condition worsened again?
I didn't answer him, but pointed to Li Tonggu, who was stomping on zombies non-stop, and asked, "Do you know Little Li?"
The man glanced at it, showed no reaction, and said, "You're the ones who brought me out of the hospital?"
I was quite surprised: "You know about the Veterans Hospital? Then how come you don't recognize us? Lu Xiaodou, you don't know us either, do you?"
The man gave a cryptic smile and said, "Oh, Dr. Lu, I know him."
"Then who are you?"
"I am Yu Zhongjian," the man replied, his eyes scanning the surroundings with interest.
Another alter ego with an unclear personality has appeared. Han Bo and Zhou Yi realize this, but they don't care what name the guy surnamed Yu has changed to. Zhou Yi, flicking the shards from his axe, says impatiently, "Let's forget about this kid for now, shall we get out of here?"
Han Bo said, "That's right. If it's the militia shooting, these zombies might have come from the shooting range after hearing the noise. We have to leave to avoid attracting another batch."
Zhou Yi was furious: "Damn it, I almost died from exhaustion without even getting the gun. It's a complete loss."
Yu Zhongjian listened to our conversation, and when he heard about zombies, he looked surprised and suspicious. He bent down to look at the corpse on the ground and whispered, "This is a zombie, not a person?"
He didn't show malice or aggression from the start, so I stopped trying to figure out which alternate personality he was. I just regretted believing Yu Dandan's lies. When he has an epileptic seizure, it's always a life-or-death situation. Who has time to tie him up and watch over him until the seizure ends? They don't even have time to kill him! This isn't a weakness; it's his escape plan. None of Yu Yu's split personalities are good; their cunning and treacherous nature is inescapable.
After a moment's thought, I said, "What's the point of bringing back just a box of bullets? Are we just going to let the zombies play with it? Or should we go to the shooting range? I have a rough idea..."
There's a reason why Han Bo and I have maintained a friendship for over twenty years. We have similar personalities and temperaments; we're both a bit clever, but mostly impulsive. Faced with a one percent chance, neither of us would choose to back down, but rather to take a gamble.
So when I mentioned it, he agreed. As for Zhou Yi, he jumped for joy, patting my shoulder excitedly: "You're so smart! How come I didn't think of that?"
I tricked Li Tonggu, who was still trampling on the zombies, with the promise of illusory chocolates. He was so stimulated by the battle that he also went into a trance, his mind was not clear, and his eyes were full of murderous intent.
Yu Zhongjian was studying the zombie. He pried open the zombie's mouth to examine its teeth and then checked its fingernails, looking very engrossed.
"What do you say?" I said to him. "We're going up the mountain. You can go or stay as you please. This road outside leads directly down the mountain. There are even more zombies at the bottom. You can take a knife from here for self-defense."
He stood up, looked at me, and smiled, "You seem to be very kind."
"Otherwise what?" I didn't really want to deal with him; I was exhausted. "It doesn't matter if you recognize me or not, but I recognize your face... I know your situation very well. I don't have time to chat and tell you stories right now. There are only two paths: come with us or go down the mountain on your own. Decide for yourself."
"I'll go with you."
I didn't expect Yu Zhongjian to make his choice without even a pause. He was so decisive, such a man. I don't know if he thought it through, but having just gotten used to Yu Dandan's pretentious and convoluted way of speaking, I'm finding it a bit hard to adjust right now.
Once I stepped outside the gate and looked closely, I finally understood why the zombies were emerging from both sides. A row of small trees was planted along the mountainside on either side of the gate, and between the trees and the wall, two stone paths, each only wide enough for one person, had been specially carved out to lead up the mountain. If you weren't paying attention, you would easily miss them.
Arrows indicated the location of the target range. We followed the gravel path uphill, each of us gripping our weapons tightly, treading lightly, and wary of any lone zombies lurking in the woods.
Walking behind Yu Zhongjian was intentional on my part. Because I didn't know him well, it was inevitable that I would be wary. It would be best if he meant no harm, but if he made the slightest move, I could stab him directly.
But Yu Zhongjian's performance surprised me. A man who looked like he had just woken up, faced with a group of strangers, an unfamiliar place, and a pile of strangely shaped corpses, showed little emotion beyond a slight initial surprise. He accepted reality with astonishing speed. He may have had many questions, but he didn't ask a single one. He simply picked up the entrenching tool assigned to him and followed behind Zhou Yi. His calm demeanor and steady steps made one wonder about his "identity."
The road was difficult to traverse; the forest was dense and winding, and there were indeed a few zombies that had fallen behind the group, suddenly appearing around a corner to give us a fright. If they hadn't lacked awareness of concealment and hadn't been prone to howling, we might have been seriously injured.
When killing zombies, Yu Zhongjian showed his extraordinary abilities again. Facing a zombie that was twisting and walking towards him, he not only remained calm, but also asked Han Bo in a consultative tone, "Can I give it a try?"
Then we saw him casually flick his entrenching tool, and instantly half of the zombie's head was gone. He sliced it off from bottom to top, from the left cheek to the right forehead, without even a piece of skin remaining; the hairy half flew off.
Despite being the same body, the strength he displayed was vastly different from that of the seemingly frail Yu Dandan. The entrenching tool was thick and much blunter than a knife; this genuine "melon-cutting" technique really took us by surprise.
He seemed to doubt his own strength, picked up the entrenching tool, examined it, and after a long while said calmly, "Zombie skulls are more fragile than human skulls."
A chill ran down my spine, and I asked hesitantly, "Have you ever chopped someone's head off?"
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It's so cold~
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