"Ahhh!"
"Don't run! Wait for me!"
"Mom, where are you..."
"Let go! Let go of me! Are you fucking crazy?!"
The chaos at the shelter spread rapidly. In their panic, people fled in every direction. Whenever someone fell, they were soon trampled underfoot.
Flames spilling from the tents flickered in the darkness, mingling with roars and screams and adding to the inexplicable sense of dread.
"This way!"
There was no time for Tian Wang to figure out where they were. As soon as he spotted a direction with no zombies in sight, he called for Wu Ya and Ke Jiangni to run with him.
Hearing Tian Wang, the two girls had no time to think either. They hurried after him.
They couldn't help it. They were just ordinary high school students, and if not for their instinct to survive keeping them going, they probably wouldn't even know what to do.
And in a moment like this, they needed something to make them feel safe more than ever.
Wu Ya instinctively thought of Lu Bai. Running behind Tian Wang, she suggested, "Let's go to District 7."
"That's too far!" Ke Jiangni still had her wits about her. She glanced back to make sure no zombies were following them, then added, "Let's go to the military camp. The army's over there."
After running full tilt for a while, Tian Wang was forced to slow down. He gasped for breath. "W-Where... where are we going?"
Ke Jiangni was about to say something when she suddenly realized something was wrong. "Why are so many people blocking the way?"
More than a hundred people had gathered at the passage between District 23 and District 22.
The dividers between the shelter's different districts weren't fences. They were corrugated metal walls nearly three meters high. It was hard to say whether they could stop zombies, but they could certainly keep ordinary people out.
"Back up! Back up!"
Fear, panic, anger...
People shoved one another. It was obvious that everyone there was on edge, like a pile of barrels of explosives, ready to blow at any moment.
"Move aside already! Do you fucking have any idea what's going on?!"
"Shit! The monsters are catching up!"
"If you don't move, I'll fight my way through!"
"Please, I don't want to die yet."
Several soldiers carrying riot shields blocked the passage. No matter what the survivors said, they ignored them completely.
A man dressed like an administrative official stood behind the shields, shouting something as he tried to calm the agitated crowd.
Unfortunately, one man's voice was too small to make a difference. It was swallowed up by the mass of curses before it could even make a ripple.
Behind the front line of soldiers, several more troops with automatic rifles held their aim, ready to stop any civilians from forcing their way through.
Of course, they could only keep things under control because no zombies had come running this way yet. If the zombies really charged over, the situation would spiral out of control in an instant.
"Everyone! Please stay calm and listen to me! We won't abandon you. Please trust us."
The administrative official had somehow found a megaphone and was trying to bring the situation under control as best he could. "I know you're all scared, but don't worry. The army will be here soon.
"For now, I want everyone to gather on my right. Anyone who's been bitten, please step forward. Let's all help each other..."
In most situations, the official's response wouldn't have been wrong.
But he had clearly overlooked one thing.
With the zombies' exceptionally acute hearing, using a megaphone was no different from sounding a rallying call in the military camp.
In the passageways between the tents, countless zombies abruptly turned toward the sound of the megaphone, then charged toward it.
As the hideous zombies rushed closer, the tenuous control at the passage collapsed in an instant. Many people screamed and frantically surged against the human barricade.
With so many civilians blocking the way, the soldiers at the passage couldn't find a clear shot at the zombies.
"Run!"
Tian Wang turned pale with fright and shoved his way into the crowd.
"Heh. If you keep groping around, I'll chop your hand off right now." A tall woman with a Ladies' Cigarette dangling from her lips turned around and spoke in a tone that brooked no argument.
Even in such a desperate situation, the woman maintained an air of elegance, completely at odds with the panicked crowd around her.
With the zombies drawing closer by the second, Tian Wang had no desire to make more trouble for himself. He nodded perfunctorily and tried to squeeze past her.
Wu Ya, on the other hand, stepped forward to apologize for Tian Wang, then asked, "Would you like to come with us? It's too dangerous for a girl to be alone."
Ke Jiangni's lips parted. She was about to warn Wu Ya that this was no time to play the saint, but suddenly seemed to realize something and said nothing.
Guo Mi took the cigarette from her lips and teased her meaningfully. "You little sister still has time to worry about me, huh?"
As they spoke, a horde of zombies came charging toward them.
More than ten people on the outskirts of the crowd were knocked down on the spot, their screams piercing the air.
"Don't give up. Come with us!" Wu Ya's voice trembled by the end. Her fear was real, not an act.
"Enough. Look around. Do you think we can get through here?"
Guo Mi pulled Wu Ya along and said to Ke Jiangni, "Get that chubby kid and come with me."
Ke Jiangni seemed to have been waiting for those words. She immediately grabbed Tian Wang and followed.
The group circled around the crowd gathered at the passage and jogged along the corrugated metal wall.
In their panic, plenty of civilians had also chosen to flee along the walls on either side of the passage. Wu Ya and the others blended into the crowd without standing out.
The downside was that the more people there were, the more zombies they attracted.
The zombies seemed almost intelligent, each picking out its own prey. Some charged so hard that they slammed headfirst into the wall, making a deafening clang.
Guo Mi and the others were also blocked by a zombie with only half a face left. It was so close that Wu Ya could smell its fetid breath. There was no time to exchange a word. The zombie roared and lunged straight at Wu Ya.
At the last possible moment, Guo Mi didn't try to stop the zombie's charge. Instead, she scooped up Wu Ya and leaped lightly, touching the zombie's head with her toes. She moved as lightly as a dragonfly skimming the water, then sprang upward again.
Even with someone in her arms, she seemed to float as if unaffected by gravity.
The half-faced zombie's charge wasn't impeded at all. It kept hurtling forward and slammed headfirst into the ground.
Seeing this, Ke Jiangni's eyes flashed with a look that said she'd known it. When Guo Mi landed gracefully with Wu Ya in her arms, Ke Jiangni didn't ask a single question.
"S-So amazing."
Feeling the ground beneath her feet, Wu Ya felt as if she were dreaming. "Are you like Student Lu too, Big Sis?"
At that, Guo Mi raised an eyebrow. "Like him?"
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