Page 15
"Fall back! You take the left, I'll take the right. Into the courtyards!" Zhang Shao surveyed their surroundings and quickly made a decision. Going back to Small Shop Street was impossible, and they could not let themselves get trapped here, either, because neither of them knew whether anyone would come running up behind them and draw more zombies over. So they needed to finish off these zombies as quickly as possible before heading to the smithy for weapons, without having to worry about anything behind them.
Nan Shao answered, and they both turned and ran. The door on the left was shut tight. As Nan Shao tossed what he was carrying into the courtyard and prepared to climb the wall, Zhang Yi called out while running, "Watch out for zombies inside!" As he spoke, he reached the house on the right. Its door was already broken, and since he was carrying more on his back, it suited him not to have to climb a wall. He slipped straight inside.
Nan Shao was lucky. Since the door had been locked from outside, the courtyard was clear, with nothing in it. The moment he jumped down from the wall, he stuffed everything he had been carrying in plastic bags into his backpack. The door rattled and banged. He shouldered his pack and swept a quick glance around the courtyard. Delight showed in his eyes when he spotted a pile of odds and ends in a corner. Tucking his machete into his waistband, he went over and rummaged out a shovel, but the pounding outside the door stopped. He found a battered wooden stool to stand on, caught hold of the wall, and peered over. Unable to batter the door open, all the zombies had gone over to Zhang Yi's side instead. Not daring to delay, he immediately climbed back over the wall, charged over, and knocked down the outermost zombie with one sweep of his shovel. Two zombies turned their attention to him, but the other three had already squeezed into the courtyard and had no intention of backing out and abandoning the fresh prey right before their eyes.
Nan Shao had practiced karate, Muay Thai, and free sparring before, and had also endured more than half a year of tempering in the apocalypse, so naturally his fighting skills were not bad. If he had not given most of his food to Nan Wei, his health would not have deteriorated so much that he could not even withstand the two zombies in the bathhouse. Since Zhang Yi rescued him, however, he had eaten a fair amount here and there. Though he could not compare with his best condition, he at least had some strength.
He retreated a short distance, letting the different strides of the tall and short zombies gradually bring one ahead of the other. He swung the shovel sideways, its sharp edge chopping into the elderly zombie's neck. Its skin and flesh were too tough for the blow to sever its neck, but the force knocked it to the ground. He pressed forward, turned the shovel, and chopped down hard. Without time to check the result, he pulled the shovel free and swung its flat at the small zombie, which had already closed in.
Unexpectedly, the small zombie seemed more agile than the old one. It actually raised its hands and caught the shovel. A powerful force tugged at it, nearly wrenching it from Nan Shao's grip. Startled, he abruptly shoved the shovel forward, released it, and whipped his right foot up in a spinning back kick. The kick sent the small zombie flying into the wall beside them with a heavy crash, throwing up a cloud of dust.
Before the small zombie could climb up, he drew the machete from his waistband, walked over, planted a foot on its back, and chopped off its head. Turning to check the old zombie, he found that its neck had not been completely severed. Dragging its half-detached head, it was struggling to crawl toward him. He went over and finished it with another chop.
When Nan Shao reached Zhang Yi's courtyard, three zombie corpses were already lying on the ground, but another two were still chasing vigorously after Zhang Yi.
As it turned out, two zombies had been shut inside the courtyard Zhang Yi entered. One was in a wheelchair, while the other was still pushing it, perhaps carrying on a habit from life, so both had been trapped inside by the old-fashioned house's threshold. Zhang Yi's arrival immediately excited them both, but the one in the wheelchair had disabled legs and fell to the ground when it lunged forward. The standing one was blocked inside the house by the wheelchair, stuck there excitedly clawing forward and letting out hoarse growls, its cloudy eyes filled with hunger and eagerness for food. Zhang Yi seized the chance to rush over, planted one foot on the fallen zombie's back, and thrust his rebar between its cervical vertebrae, destroying its spinal cord and immobilizing it. Only then did he carefully avoid its head and turn to deal with the other zombie, which had shoved the wheelchair aside and was lunging at him with flailing hands. He finally finished it off before the zombies behind him caught up. Otherwise, caught between attacks from front and back, he probably would have had trouble escaping even if there had been nothing wrong with his leg.
Nan Shao knocked down one zombie and drew away two more, but the remaining three all squeezed into the courtyard. Zhang Yi knew that these small single-story houses had low ceilings and cramped interiors. He was too tall, and going inside would only hamper his movements, so he abandoned the idea of luring the zombies into the house and killing them one by one. Fortunately, the zombies did not know how to outflank him. Otherwise, in this tiny courtyard, he would have had nowhere to run.
Like Nan Shao, he used his advantage in speed to spread the zombies apart, then swiftly dodged the leading zombie's lunging bite, kicked it against the wall, and raised his rebar, driving it precisely and cleanly into the hollow at the back of its head. Before he could pull the rebar out, another old zombie lunged at him. He had to fling up his right foot and kick it away, but the excessive force also aggravated his old injury, sending intense pain through his right leg. It took him two tries just to pull the rebar free.
Beads of sweat rolled down his cheeks, some running into his eyes and stinging fiercely, but Zhang Yi did not even dare blink, lest the slightest lapse let the lunging zombies, one large and one small, scratch him, or let one of the zombies on the ground, immobilized but not completely dead, bite his foot. Then he saw Nan Shao walk in carrying a shovel.
With a wet thud, Nan Shao swung his shovel up and sheared away half the tall zombie's head. At the same time, Zhang Yi seized the opportunity to dart out like a leopard, enduring the pain in his leg as he kicked the small zombie to the ground. Then he walked over and finished it off.
"How are you doing?" Nan Shao scanned the courtyard, making sure no zombies remained standing before turning his attention to Zhang Yi. He immediately noticed his deathly pale face and heavy sweating, and asked.
Zhang Yi shook his head. "I'm fine. Let's go. Two on the ground probably aren't dead yet. Watch out. Don't let them bite you." At least so far, there had been no word of ability users being immune to the zombie virus.
"Give me two minutes," Nan Shao said at that. He went over and checked each zombie on the ground. Sure enough, two were still opening their mouths and growling, trying to bite something, so he gave each another blow, killing them completely. Then he cut off all the zombies' heads. Seeing Zhang Yi's questioning look, he smiled and explained, "Let's not waste them." They had no time now to crack open the heads one by one and dig out the Corpse Crystals, so they could only take them along first.