The horde of zombies swiftly neared the stairwell, their chaotic footsteps, a cacophony of shuffling and scraping, seeming to hum with a strange desire, much like the frantic rush of elderly shoppers descending upon a supermarket promotion.
At such a moment, absolute silence was paramount.
Yet, subtle rustling sounds permeated the otherwise still space.
Those terrified of making a mistake quietly adjusted their postures, striving for the most stable stance, desperate not to lose their balance inadvertently while attempting to remain perfectly still.
This thought resonated with more than one person, their combined efforts coalescing into a faint, collective murmur.
****
The first zombie darted past the stairwell entrance, leaving a fleeting afterimage in the dim moonlight.
Following close behind came more zombies, their throats rattling with guttural grunts.
They appeared to have a clear objective, not even sparing a glance in the direction of the stairs.
‘How fortunate,’ Jing Lan thought.
‘Their movements don’t seem entirely random; they’re opportunistic, perhaps following a lead zombie like a flock of sheep?’
Just as this thought crossed his mind, a corpulent zombie lumbered past.
Its sheer bulk caused it to collide clumsily with the protruding corner of the wall near the stairwell.
The hefty zombie grunted in annoyance, spun around once, and took two steps, intending to rejoin the horde.
Yet, its body suddenly froze.
Its head began to rotate backward, a movement far from fluid, impeded by the accumulated fat in its neck, which rendered its actions stiff and jerky.
Naturally, by the time it fully turned its head, those upstairs had already retracted their peering gazes, pulling their heads back from their vantage points.
Jing Lan, Keke, and Little Ye exchanged glances.
Jing Lan made a ‘be quiet’ gesture, while Keke pointed to her own ear, silently urging the others to ‘listen carefully’.
The heavy footsteps of the corpulent zombie were unmistakable, allowing everyone to detect its every movement.
As the number of zombies passing the stairwell entrance increased, everyone’s heartbeats quickened in unison.
Approximately twenty seconds later, the corpulent zombie’s ponderous footsteps finally resumed, a hesitant pacing in place.
It likely still wished to rejoin the horde, but with so many zombies passing by, it found itself unable to cut in.
The group collectively breathed a slight sigh of relief.
Their primary fear had been the creature slowly ascending the stairs.
Keke then pointed two fingers to her eyes, then towards the stairs, silently asking, ‘Should I take a look?’
Jing Lan gave an OK gesture.
As Keke rose, poised to peek out, a head suddenly emerged from behind the solid concrete banister of the stairwell.
It was the zombie of a girl with a ponytail.
The girl zombie stood with her back to the moonlight streaming through the stairwell window.
Within her hollow, dark eyes, an eerie, faint green phosphorescence seemed to flicker.
Keke’s heart nearly ceased beating, but a single thought instantly anchored her sanity: ‘Hold your breath, don’t make a sound, or everyone will be in danger. Just seize the opportunity to dispatch the zombie with the dagger.’
As a tough girl who had participated in numerous wilderness treks and even hunted with her father (though she disliked that particular moniker), her nerves were far sturdier than those of an average girl.
However, the adolescent zombie before her slightly tilted its head, and the moonlight from the window illuminated its profile.
Keke was suddenly struck by how much that face resembled Xia Hua.
It was like the one she had… she had…
The concept of ‘eating’ had just resurfaced, and Keke’s psychological defenses were suddenly hollowed out as if by a black hole, her rationality crumbling and falling into its depths.
‘Ah!!!’ The short-haired girl shrieked, a raw, involuntary cry.
Though her sanity returned an instant later, she swiftly drew the whistle-grid dagger from her waist.
With brutal force, she plunged it upwards into the girl zombie’s jaw, then wrenched it out.
A powerful elbow strike from her left arm followed, sending the zombie tumbling down the stairs with a muffled thud.
Illuminated by the moonlight, the group clearly saw the girl zombie’s attire: a gymnastics leotard, and flat dance shoes, which explained her silent ascent of the stairs.
The sudden burst of noise ultimately forced them to implement their final contingency plan.
****
Downstairs, the horde instantly erupted into a frenzy.
The previously hesitant corpulent zombie roared, its heavy footsteps thudding as it charged towards the stairs.
Close behind, the dense mass of the horde converged with alarming speed, their collective sounds growing louder.
The dimness of the stairwell caused some zombies to stumble and be trampled, yet the horde did not falter.
They surged onto the second floor with a frantic intensity, trampling over the bodies of their fallen comrades.
‘Damn it!’ Keke fumed, slamming her fist against the stairwell banister.
She found it hard to believe she had lost control, especially at such a critical juncture.
There was no time to dwell on mistakes now.
Jing Lan tugged at his cousin’s sleeve, signaling for them to immediately jump from the window.
At the stairwell entrance, Little Ye gripped her rebar spear tightly.
Below, the writhing mass of zombies, accompanied by the stench of decay, was rapidly drawing closer.
‘Hold on!’ Jing Lan commanded, leaving only those two words before leaping down.
Keke, having retrieved the car keys from the driver Little Ye had previously subdued, followed suit, scrambling over the window ledge.
Mindful of the situation below, they leaped, ensuring they avoided colliding with any zombies.
The moment they landed, they forcefully pushed their entire body weight forward.
Their slightly curled forms then executed a forward roll, swiftly dissipating the impact of gravity.
After successfully landing, the siblings shouted loudly downstairs, hoping to draw away some of the zombies and prevent them all from surging upstairs.
Indeed, a significant portion of the horde followed them.
‘Those two run fast; they should be able to escape.’
Little Ye gritted her teeth, ‘I can’t falter here. I need to become someone worthy of being their friend.’
Even though she had previously only been able to rely on others for protection, after discovering what seemed to be residual muscle memory of martial arts within her body, Little Ye began to feel a surge of confidence.
‘I can do this. I can become a companion, standing shoulder to shoulder with the people I admire.’
A zombie, utterly fearless (as zombies naturally are), spearheaded the charge, scrambling and clawing its way up the stairs.
Little Ye thrust her spear into its chest, feeling the heavy, tearing sensation of flesh through the shaft.
However, as she attempted to withdraw the spear, the zombie remained stuck, likely snagged by its ribs on the rebar’s threads.
Immediately, a burly man beside her stabbed it from the side and forcefully pried it away, finally freeing the zombie from Little Ye’s spearhead.
This combat method proved inefficient upon its first test.
It took two people such an arduous struggle to dispatch just one zombie, yet in the blink of an eye, two or three more zombies had ferociously bounded onto the second floor.
‘Lights! Draw your guns!’ Old Cao shouted.
Two flashlights instantly flickered on, illuminating the stairwell entrance on the second floor.
Startled by the sudden light, the two zombies’ pale, greenish faces seemed to reflect a faint, oily green sheen.
They glared with wide, vacant eyes at the survivors huddled in various corners, unleashing ferocious howls.
Simultaneously with the survivors’ desperate screams, gunshots erupted.
Cao Renshuang, the painter, and Old Li, the weapons master, simultaneously opened fire, attempting to repel the surging horde.
The gunshots indoors were deafening, the sheer volume almost paralyzing the people into silence.
However, after dozens of bullets repelled five or six zombies, the ones behind continued to press forward relentlessly, trampling over their comrades’ bodies as they squeezed onto the second floor.
Moreover, the few gunmen were not particularly familiar with firearms; Old Cao’s hand trembled so much while reloading that the magazine clattered to the floor.
It was only later that they learned this was Old Cao’s first time handling a gun.
His knowledge of firearms came entirely from watching short videos of overseas Chinese enthusiasts on Bilibili.
Considering that, merely hitting anything was a commendable feat.
In a flash, dozens of unarmed survivors on that floor were on the verge of becoming companions to the zombies.
The thought of fleeing, of ‘greasing her soles,’ flashed through Little Ye’s mind.
She knew it was the option most aligned with her character.
She had never been one to step forward and take charge.
From childhood, all her actions had been prearranged, dictated by a need to follow rules, to look out only for herself, and to avoid meddling in others’ affairs.
Yet, at this moment, something within her sense of self seemed to have fundamentally shifted.
She found that she did not want to retreat.
Even though the fear had not vanished, an inexplicable excitement seemed to whisper and stir within a hidden corner of her being.
‘Act.’
The voice seemed to say.
‘You can do it.’
She thrust her spear forward, plunging it savagely into the chest of an oncoming zombie, then slammed the creature against the wall.
With a powerful twist, she wrenched out the spear, ready to lunge at the next one…
A pained shriek echoed in her ears.
Turning her head, she saw a zombie poised to bite her from behind, only for an arrow to pierce its temple.
The arrow had been fired by a man wielding a crossbow from a corner.
It was the same crossbow that belonged to the man who had shot Du Lan in the convenience store and was subsequently killed by Little Ye.