Chapter 10: Slaughter
The streets remained bustling, lights flashing, vehicles weaving through the crowds. Many people stopped to film the extraordinary spectacle in the sky.
A blood-red hue, tinged with a bloodthirsty aura, filled half the sky, threatening to engulf the earth. The once-pure moon was now a crimson orb, chilling the onlookers; even the air reeked of blood.
As midnight approached, the clock tower chimed, and suddenly, with a crack, the brightly lit streets plunged into darkness.
As people fumbled for their phones, a piercing scream echoed through the streets—a scream of terror and pain.
A faint light revealed a blood-soaked man savagely biting a small woman. The blood spread on the ground, reeking of death; the sounds of chewing and swallowing were horrifying.
A brave middle-aged man tried to pull the man off, but the man, as if sensing his approach, rose and lunged at him.
The middle-aged man kicked him away, but before he could recover, a blood-red figure pounced, biting off a chunk of his arm.
He cried out in pain, seeing the woman he’d just seen bitten. Her eyes were wild, and she lunged, biting him.
Screams erupted; blood splattered everywhere. People fled in terror as more zombies emerged from the shadows.
A woman in black watched in horror, backing away, leaning against a car window. A chewing sound reached her ears.
She turned to see a woman in the car savagely tearing out a man’s heart and eating it. The man’s guts spilled out. The woman chewed the intestines with relish.
Nauseated, the woman screamed and fled, only to be caught by a zombie.
In minutes, the streets were filled with car lights and engines, jammed traffic, fleeing people, and crashes. Fire and explosions punctuated the chaos.
More zombies appeared. Fire and the crimson sky combined to create a scene of carnage. In just fifteen minutes, the streets fell.
On the second floor of a mall, two figures watched the chaos. Su Hao’s face was tense, his eyes filled with disbelief and accelerating heartbeat. Even after being prepared, this scene was terrifying.
He looked at Su Mo; her eyes were calm, devoid of fear, pity, or panic. Only cold indifference.
Su Hao was shaken; his sister had changed. Yet this calmness reassured him.
His fear subsided; he took a deep breath, “Let’s go.”
Su Mo glanced at the street below, then turned. She wasn’t a savior.
In the dark mall, the rhythmic sound of footsteps echoed. They cautiously collected items, reaching a side corridor.
It was a narrow stairwell, a service exit. Two pairs of bright eyes met.
Su Mo gestured, then took several guns from her spatial storage, placing them in Su Hao’s bag, and handed him a combat knife.
Pointing towards the corridor, Su Hao nodded.
They proceeded cautiously, Su Hao leading, in a protective stance.
As they neared the first floor, a chilling sound echoed through the empty stairwell.
They stopped, listening. The sound grew closer. Su Mo took a small, exquisite flashlight from her spatial storage, turned it on, and threw it towards the sound.
The flashlight rolled, its light revealing two zombies lunging toward it.
They saw two men in yellow uniforms. One was covered in blood but unharmed, already mutated. The other had a bloody arm, bitten.
Su Hao gestured to deal with them and began to descend.
Su Mo pulled him back, took out her silenced pistol, and aimed at the first zombie.
A gunshot; the zombie fell, a bullet hole in its head.
Before she could aim at the second, another gunshot sounded; the other zombie fell.
Su Hao stood calmly, his silenced pistol holstered. “Let’s go.”
A small side street held only a few zombies.
Su Mo spoke to Su Hao, “Big Brother, the situation is urgent. A City will fall tonight. The main roads are blocked; let’s take a side street. You drive.”
Su Hao, clutching his silenced pistol, simply nodded.
Su Mo sprinted into the street, kicking a zombie and summoning a black off-road vehicle.
As zombies approached, Su Hao started the engine, kicking open the passenger door.
The engine roared; headlights shone. Zombies swarmed towards them.
Su Mo dodged a zombie, stabbed it with a knife, and saw dozens of zombies approaching. “Get in!” Su Hao shouted.
Su Mo darted to the passenger seat; a zombie lunged but was instantly killed by a knife from Su Mo’s space.
She kicked the body away and got in, “Go!”
Tires screeched; the vehicle swerved and sped off.
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Chapter 11: Frenzy
Rows of zombies, saliva dripping from their mouths, their eyes wild and rolling, their hair matted with blood and grime—like a horde of ghouls emerging from their lair.
Su Mo’s face remained impassive, the stench of blood growing stronger.
Su Hao, tense, expertly navigated the car through wrecked vehicles and zombies, swerving and maneuvering with difficulty.
Suddenly, a sharp turn revealed a blocked side road: a crumpled car, a burning motorcycle, and a large group of zombies. The space was too narrow for safe passage; more zombies pursued from behind.
Su Hao’s eyes widened, his body tensing. They were about to hit the car. He instinctively slammed on the brakes.
Then, a cold, commanding voice, “Crash through.”
Before Su Hao could react, he slammed the accelerator, charging into the zombies.
Bang! Clang!
The sound of flesh and metal colliding as they plowed through the zombies.
The small red car was flipped; a loud crash followed.
Su Mo quickly tossed a grenade from her spatial storage into the red car.
Su Hao, in perfect synchronization, floored the accelerator.
Boom!
A huge mushroom cloud of fire and smoke erupted as the red car exploded. Nearby zombies were blown to pieces; limbs and debris flew everywhere.
The smell of burning flesh filled the air. The explosion blocked the road, halting the pursuing zombies.
Watching the fire, Su Mo smirked, “Good destructive power.”
Su Hao glanced at her, a hint of a smile playing on his lips. The cost had been high, but worth it.
Now, it was all for naught!
The thought brought a sense of relief.
Looking at the dark road ahead, the deserted city, it was already 1 AM, Su Hao turned to Su Mo, “Momo, get some rest.”
“Okay.” They would soon reach the outskirts of the city; the open road would have fewer zombies.
They needed to rest and remain vigilant to face the dangers ahead.
The black military jeep sped across the vast plains, the wind howling.
The moon, no longer blood-red, shone with a silver light, casting a chilling coldness in the summer air.
Su Mo awoke suddenly, startled by the sight outside the window—a layer of white covering everything.
Though the landscape was dark and quickly disappeared, she saw the silvery substance.
Snow?
She was shocked. In her previous life, the weather patterns remained consistent despite the increasing zombies.
Watching the snow intensify, Su Mo realized that her rebirth had altered the timeline.
A deep coldness filled her eyes.
“Are you cold? Turn up the heat,” Su Hao said, concerned at her silence.
Su Mo shook her head, “I’m fine.”
She looked ahead, noticing buildings in the distance, “Brother, where are we?”
“We’ve entered B City territory. A few minutes to the entrance,” Su Hao pointed to a blurred road sign.
Su Mo nodded, frowning, “We’ll need shelter in B City. At this rate, the roads will be impassable within an hour.”
“I know, but we don’t know B City. It’ll be hard to escape if we’re attacked,” Su Hao’s face tightened. A stalled car would be disastrous in the snow.
“But this location is unsuitable. Retreat is impossible,” Su Mo glanced around; they were trapped.
Su Hao agreed, his brow furrowed, “We have to go in.”
B City offered resources, complex terrain, and buildings for shelter and delaying tactics.