Auld Lang Syne
My dad started the business of getting my second uncle to work. At first, he was unwilling and even scolded me with a stern parental face: "What nonsense are you talking about? What zombies? Do you think I would fight with your second uncle?"
I was so anxious I was jumping around: "If you don't move him, he'll move on you! I'll take you up to the wall to see!"
As a result, my dad climbed onto the wall and immediately saw my second uncle's cheek, half of which had been gnawed off. His eyes were fixed on my dad like a dead fish, and he was shouting, "Hungry..."
My dad calmly glanced at the other two people blocking the door and said to me, "Bring me the cleaver, the one for chopping big bones."
A moment later, with a swift stroke of the knife, the second uncle lay down without eating anything.
The door was being pounded on loudly, and a battle seemed imminent. While I was pulling on the bike chain, I asked my dad, "You believed it just by looking at it?"
My dad said seriously, "There's a guy with a hole in his chest that you could see for miles around, and he's still banging on doors. What else could he be but a zombie? It wouldn't be illegal to chop him up!"
I turned to my mom and said, "The world didn't end in 2012, but we're experiencing it today! You believe it now, right?"
My mother pulled a screwdriver from the windowsill and tucked it into her belt. Her expression was unusually calm: "I was just thinking that you're not married yet, and we can't let that brat Liu Yu ruin your life. Now that it was a zombie that killed him, I don't have to worry about the police coming to arrest you. I feel much more at ease."
Look at Mom's brain.
After dealing with my second uncle, the remaining two were no match for my dad and me. My dad used the terrain to his advantage to cut down one, and I used a brick to knock down the other. With Liu Yu's help, the two of us were evenly matched.
After I took a picture of it on the wall, my dad said, "Look at that, it's all those people from the demolition office. They're always looking for trouble while they're alive, and even as zombies they still remember this place."
When I looked, it was true. Both of them were from the demolition office, and the guy with the hole in his chest was a director-level figure. I guess these two had gotten up early again to look into my house. While they were eating jianbing (Chinese crepes) at my second uncle's place, someone must have messed with them, turning them into zombies. But they still remembered their official business and came to our house together.
My dad stood at the doorway, hands behind his back, holding a kitchen knife, staring intently at the mutilated corpses, muttering, "Their hearts are all gone, how can they move?"
I spotted a figure moving around at the alley entrance, so I pulled him into the yard, quickly closed the gate, bolted it shut, and braced it against the steel bars. I whispered, "Stop overthinking things, let's quickly discuss what to do!"
"Aren't we fleeing?" My mother was unusually efficient. She packed two bundles and three bags, carrying all the food, clothing, and supplies for the whole family. It seemed she was prepared for a long haul.
My dad threw down the kitchen knife, moved a small stool to sit on the porch, and panted heavily: "Dafeng, you've been working in the hospital for a while now, tell me what's going on. Your second uncle was perfectly fine yesterday, how come he's turned into a zombie today? Have these people caught some kind of infectious disease?"
I threw a brick too, then looked at Dad and then Mom. The three of us stared at each other, still a little shaken. Monster or zombie, after all, we were hitting flesh and blood with our knives and bricks, so it was inevitable that we needed a psychological adjustment period.
I said, "This is my first time in actual combat, but I still have a lot of theoretical knowledge. From my observation, these people, including my second uncle, were bitten and then infected with the virus, which is why they became zombies. Then they went on to bite others, one after another, and the epidemic spread. If it is not contained in time, our city will fall in less than a day, and other places will be affected too. At that time, the whole world will be full of zombies, and the living will have to hide in the ground and fight guerrilla warfare."
"Like rabies?"
I sighed, "It's probably much more deadly than rabies. You haven't seen the scene. Tens of thousands of zombies would grab people and start biting them, and... there was blood everywhere."
My mom said, "Oh dear, you should get vaccinated right away."
My dad rolled his eyes at me: "You must have seen that scene in a movie."
I laughed: "Didn't you see it too? How could you react so quickly if you didn't see it?"
My dad said, "I only watch Lam Ching-ying's movies; I don't like watching foreigners' movies."
Speaking of movies, I suddenly remembered the TV, so I rushed inside and turned it on. I flipped through channels from 1 to 40, watching everything from CCTV to local channels, but the result was disappointing. Domestically, everything was peaceful and prosperous, while abroad, there were still bombings and conflicts everywhere, and not a single news report mentioned any zombies.
I was confused. I turned off the TV and went outside, saying, "Could this be an isolated incident? Is it just happening in our area first?"
My dad waved his hand dismissively: "You believe the TV station?"
I was speechless for a moment, then felt a buzzing vibration in my pocket. I took out my phone and saw it was my childhood friend Han Bo calling. I answered and had barely said "hello" when I heard a pig-like scream from the other end: "Ah! Fengzi, are you alright?"
"I'm fine, what's wrong?"
"Come save me if you're alright! My dad's trying to kill me! That old bastard's gone mad!"
I knew exactly what was going on, and said, "Is your dad going to kill you or bite you?"
"Kill! Bite! No, he's trying to bite me to death!" Han Bo stammered, clearly terrified.
"Take your time and tell me slowly. Where are we now?"
"He's hiding in the inner room!" His voice boomed like thunder, as if only a shout could quell his fear. "He was outside pushing the door and yelling incessantly, it scared me to death."
"Is it calling out... it's hungry?"
"Yes, yes, how did you know? Come quick, save me!"
"Call the police!"
No one answered the phone.
I shook my head regretfully, unable to imagine what had happened in that room at the emergency call center. I quickly said, "Distant water can't quench a fire nearby. You'd better jump out of the window and escape as soon as possible."
Han Bo was furious: "From the 23rd floor, where am I supposed to jump to?"
I said, "Even your own father is about to bite you, don't you understand what's going on?"
There was a sudden silence on the other end of the phone. After a long while, Han Bo whispered, "Zombies."
We both sighed in unison. Han Bo's voice was trembling with tears: "I was wondering why the old man was perfectly fine when he went out for his walk this morning, but when he came back, his neck was covered in blood, and he wouldn't answer any questions. He became a completely different person in no time."
I said, "There were a few in front of my house too. My dad and I chopped them down. I reckon there are still a lot more outside. How about this, I'll ride my bike to your building to pick you up. As for how to get downstairs, you can figure that out yourself."
Han Bo's sobs deepened: "You and your dad really killed each other?"
"Chop it up."
"He chopped him off in the head?"
"That's right."
Han Bo was silent for a while, then said, "Forget it, don't risk coming to pick me up. A bicycle can't keep up with my QQ. By the time you get here, I'll be nothing but a skeleton. I'm not a coward, I'll come find you after I settle my dad in."
We both understood what "settling in" meant, and we both sighed again in unison.
After hanging up the phone, I said to my dad, "Xiao Bo's dad has caught it too, and he's going to bite Xiao Bo."
My dad had already picked up on three points from my phone conversation, so he took out his phone and made two calls. After listening for a while with a frown, he said, "Your second and third uncles aren't answering their phones. Maybe something happened to them too."
I shrugged. It happened so suddenly, there was nothing I could do about it.
My dad added, "Xiao Bo's family lives in the new urban area, so this means there's a large-scale outbreak across the entire city."
My mom panicked: "What should we do? Let's run away quickly, in case those things break in... We can't just wait here to die."
I said, "I see that Uncle and the others are walking slowly, so they probably don't have an advantage in speed. But we only have one bicycle. Mom, do you want to sit on the crossbar or the handlebars?"
My dad glared at me and said, "What are you running for? No matter how fast you run, you can't outnumber them. There's a new district now, how are we supposed to get around the city? Stay home and don't go anywhere!"
"What if zombies get in?"
My dad slowly stood up, put his hands behind his back, and smiled smugly: "With this terrain, one man can hold the pass against ten thousand!"
A Noah's Ark in a sea of bricks—that perfectly describes our home.
This ark is hidden deep within an alleyway that has not yet been demolished, surrounded by courtyard walls and iron gates, making it easy to defend and difficult to attack. Inside the courtyard, folding stools, wrenches, kitchen knives, beer bottles, and other civilian weapons are readily available; the entrance on the first floor is blocked by a heavy security door, and the windows on the upper and lower walls are all sealed with steel bars. The house is well-stocked with rice, flour, cooking oil, chicken, fish, meat, and eggs, enough to feed three or four people for a month or two; the rooftop on the second floor offers a wide view, and there are solar panels and a satellite dish as cover, making it easy for anyone within a hundred meters to see each other and detect any unusual activity.
There's only one building in this vast open space. You think I can't see where the zombies are going?
I slapped my thigh and exclaimed, "Dad's right! Zombies are attracted to human presence. Where there are many people, there's bad luck. Our area is empty now. Even if a couple of lost zombies come, they're no match for us!"
My mother asked worriedly, "Aren't you going to work?"
I laughed: "Going to work? If no one goes to work anymore, Mom, the world will be in chaos."
"If no one goes to work, when will we be able to get vaccinated?"
"......"
I spent the whole day perched on the second-floor rooftop, watching the distant sky turn from blue to gray, the clouds huddled together like dusty cotton candy, and the sunlight seem to have lost its vitality, its rays tinged with a chilling coldness. A few figures had been floating on the ruins earlier, like headless flies, but then they vanished, I wonder which unfortunate soul they drifted off to.
Han Bo knocked on my door in the evening and called softly in a high-pitched voice, "Fengzi, Fengzi."
My mom was cooking when she heard the door open and answered, "Oh, Xiao Bo is here." She was wiping her hands and preparing to open the door when I grabbed her and grabbed a wine bottle. I peeked through the crack in the door and saw Han Bo looking around suspiciously like a thief.
"Are you alone?"
"Nonsense, open the door now."
Where's your car?
"It's parked at the alley entrance; it's all bricks here, so we can't drive in."
"Oh...didn't you summon your old man here, did you?"
Han Bo slammed his fist on the door with a loud "bang." I quickly opened the door and said with a grin, "Just kidding, why are you so angry?"
Han Bo sulked and stormed in, carrying a suitcase.
I didn't let him in. I looked him up and down, then hesitated, wondering whether I should speak: "You..."
Han Bo threw the box on the ground, glanced at the empty bottle in my hand, and said coldly, "You think I'm stupid for not getting scratched or bitten?"
I breathed a sigh of relief and covered up by saying, "I didn't know you were coming. I came out and grabbed a few beers. We'll drink them straight from the bottle tonight."
"Blow air into an empty bottle?"
I smiled sheepishly and said, "I took the wrong one."
Dinner wasn't any less delicious despite the sudden changes during the day. There was braised fish with radish strips, stir-fried pork with chili peppers, a preserved egg salad, a plate of sliced pork tongue, and a big bowl of old hen soup. It was a home-style meal with great flavor. This shows that my mother has a really strong mentality – she's not afraid of immense pressure.
During the meal, my dad and I each drank a bottle of beer and discussed the origins of zombies. The TV behind us was on, and the agricultural channel was broadcasting the story of a large-scale pig farmer's rise to power. The local TV station had been showing only static since the afternoon.
Han Bo, his face ashen, remained silent and ate two large bowls of rice in one go.
His mother passed away early, and for over ten years, he and his father had relied on each other for survival. Although they sometimes argued and talked nonsense like a brat, everyone who knew him knew that the two of them had a deep bond. He didn't say anything, and we didn't deliberately ask. No one would feel good about something like this.
After he let out a burp and his face regained a rosy hue, he pushed away his rice bowl, leaned back, and let out a long sigh, saying, "I haven't eaten all day, I'm starving."
I chuckled: "If you say you're hungry as soon as you walk in, I'll definitely punch you."
Han Bo rolled his eyes at me: "If you had to walk this path like me, I'd like to see if you could still be laughing."
I put down my cup and said, "What happened along the way? What's the situation outside?"
Han Bo took out a pack of Furongwang cigarettes, gave one to my dad, and then tried to hand one to me. Seeing my mom glaring at him, he quickly licked it into his own mouth, lit it, took a deep breath, and exhaled a thick cloud of smoke, saying, "Anyway, I haven't seen a single person the whole way."
"Well, you're driving smoothly, isn't that great?" I started to say, then realized something was off. "You mean...?"
"I didn't see a single living person," Han Bo snorted, his eyes dimming. "I went to my grandma's house for a bit, and the old lady was lying in front of her house. My third aunt saw me and chased me for about a hundred meters. More and more neighbors gathered. If I hadn't had a car..."
After hesitating for a long time, I couldn't help but ask, "Then, my Uncle Han, he..."
Han Bo shook his head: "I didn't touch him. I put him in the inner room and locked him up. I threw all the leftover food in there. Let's leave it like this for now. Maybe things will get better someday."
My mother said sadly, "That's right, that's right. Maybe there will be a vaccine. Old Han is such a good person."
After dinner, Han Bo and I pretended to be looking out, and squatted on the second-floor rooftop, smoking one cigarette after another. He kept dialing on his phone, going through his entire contact list, but unfortunately, no one answered. The moon rose, and the tall buildings in the distance were faintly visible. The rubble field was empty, which gave one a sense of peace.
Han Bo took out the last cigarette from the pack and handed it to me first. I shook my head: "My tongue tastes bitter."
He lit one himself and took a vicious drag, as if he were sulking with someone. He said between drags, "I even got a call from Xiao Sanqiangzi on the way here, but I can't get through to him now."
"They asked you for help too? These two are pretty good, don't worry."
Han Bo muttered, "Who reacts as quickly as you? Not everyone recognizes zombies. You never know what's going on, you know. You didn't see those things? Even though they're slow, they're like hungry wolves seeing fresh meat when they see living people..."
I sighed, "Humanity's retribution has come. After so many years of rampant destruction, it's time to pay the price. If I said I'd been looking forward to this day, would you call me heartless?"
Han Bo glared at me angrily: "Heartless! Your two adults are perfectly fine, but this old man is going to die!"
A pang of sadness gripped my heart: "Sigh, when I was little, Uncle Han would always stuff candy into my pockets whenever he saw me. He'd reach into his pocket and there would be a candy, then he'd reach in again and there would be another. Sometimes, I'd even wait outside your house for Uncle Han to go to work. His pockets were like a candy shop, always having candy whenever I wanted. I always thought, 'I wish I could steal Uncle Han's pants someday...'"
“My dad has low blood sugar,” Han Bo stretched out one leg, pulled a glittering golden object from his pocket, and handed it to me: “Here, there’s only one chocolate. Want some?”
For some reason, my nose suddenly felt a little sore. I reached out and took it, but before I could even put it in my mouth after peeling off the gold foil, I suddenly heard a loud shout from behind me: "Xiao Bo, you're smoking with Da Feng again!"
I was startled and turned around to see my mother standing behind us menacingly, holding a wooden stick, the end of which was pointing at Han Bo.
Han Bo hurriedly explained, "Auntie, it's candy. I gave it to Dafeng Tang. I didn't smoke it!"
My mom glanced at the cigarette butts scattered at our feet and said angrily, "My Dafeng may not be some kind of princess, but she's still the apple of my eye, whom I raised with my own hands. You think you can fool her with a piece of candy? No way!"
I said with a bitter face, "Mom, what nonsense are you talking about? We're buddies."
My mother had a sinister and vicious look on her face. She brandished the stick at Han Bo and said, "You better watch out, or I'll catch you, or you'll be in big trouble!" Then she turned and left.
I chuckled: "Look at my mom, so fussy! She really doesn't mind that her son is ugly..."
Han Bo grinned: "Don't worry, if you're still unmarried by the time you're forty, then don't get married. I'll make sure my children take care of you in your old age and see you off when you die."
I put on a touched face and said, "You're so loyal! Our friendship will last forever. But are you sure you'll find a wife?"
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