BC Chapter 5
by Volare“You’re back!” The woman with disheveled long hair rubbed her eyes and sat up, happily saying. This was a warehouse in the middle of the top floor of the building. The entire floor was warehouses. Lu Ziming didn’t know if there were other people taking refuge in the other warehouses, but as it seemed now, a place without people was much safer than a place with people. This was their second day staying here. Below this floor of warehouses was a large shopping mall. The warehouses had no windows, and the doors were fire doors like those in the safety aisle. Luckily, a small bunch of keys was stuck in the door when they arrived. Inside the warehouse, there was only a skylight made of tempered glass, which could be opened from the inside, but the room was too high. Although the cargo boxes in the warehouse could be stacked together to open the window, Lu Ziming didn’t think it was necessary. The fire door was locked from the inside by Lu Ziming. The space inside the warehouse was large enough, and even without opening the door, the indoor oxygen was enough for the three of them to breathe for ten days or half a month.
“Mommy…” The little boy with a buzz cut felt his mother sitting up and quickly hugged her arm like a koala, calling out in a small voice.
It was dawn, and the morning sunlight poured down from above the warehouse, illuminating everything that was originally dark in the room.
Lu Ziming still didn’t answer the woman, but dragged over the travel bag, rummaged through it, and took out a few bags of things – two loaves of bread, two sausages, a bag of milk… Finally, Lu Ziming grabbed the backpack and pulled out a bottle of mineral water. She slowly stood up from the ground, holding these things, and walked towards the woman and the little boy, then dumped everything onto the down comforter.
“Th…thank you.” The woman instinctively swallowed her saliva, looked at the abundant food in front of her, and thanked her before reaching out, even though Lu Ziming hadn’t said a word to them since she rescued them yesterday.
“Mommy…scared.” The little boy timidly looked at Lu Ziming’s receding back and shook the woman’s arm, signaling his mother to lower her head. He whispered in his mother’s ear.
The woman touched the boy’s head and smiled gently: “Jin Shengzhe isn’t scared, isn’t Jin Shengzhe already grown up? He can protect Mommy, Jin Shengzhe is the best.”
The little boy named Jin Shengzhe, who was only about four years old, seemed to recall what happened yesterday after hearing his mother’s words. Although his tone trembled, he still pretended to be very powerful, clenched his fist and said to the woman: “Yeah, Jin Shengzhe is grown up, Jin Shengzhe is a man! Jin Shengzhe wants to protect Mommy and not let those monsters bite Mommy!”
Lu Ziming, who had returned to her previous position, hadn’t even sat down when she heard the conversation between the mother and son. Although their voices were very soft, Lu Ziming heard them clearly because they were in this overly quiet warehouse.
Yes, people are always susceptible to the influence and bonds of family affection, and even always make some very stupid decisions beyond their capabilities, just like the little boy now, just like herself when she was young. She herself doesn’t even have the strength to truss a chicken, so what is she talking about protecting others? It’s a pity that Jin Shengzhe doesn’t understand now, which is good, because it’s precisely because he doesn’t understand that he dares to make guarantees recklessly and easily brings people touched.
Because she hadn’t slept well for a long time, she felt a stinging pain in her scalp from time to time these past two days. At this moment, the right side of her head started to hurt again. Lu Ziming curled up and hugged her head. Although the long ponytail she had tied up before was also quite neat, Lu Ziming always felt it was inconvenient and was afraid that her hair would become her weakness in such a special moment. Therefore, on the third day after the incident, Lu Ziming cut off her long hair with a snip. Thick hair was also a kind of burden. After removing most of the ‘burden’, Lu Ziming did feel a lot lighter.
However, although half of her troubles were cut off, the worry and fear brought about by encountering the ‘zombie horde’ had not diminished in the slightest…
Her head seemed to hurt even more. Lu Ziming clenched her teeth. As expected, it was not easy to stay awake for a long time. This was only the seventh day. If she had to spend the following days in this semi-conscious state, she would probably die of exhaustion in less than a month… Her fingers were applying force, and the nerves in her scalp were throbbing one after another. With each throb, Lu Ziming’s brows furrowed even deeper. She was clearly so sleepy that she couldn’t keep her eyes open, but the throbbing nerve pain in her scalp stimulated her so much that she couldn’t fall asleep at all.
“What’s wrong?” A questioning voice suddenly rang out not far in front of her. Lu Ziming immediately put down her hands defensively and quickly grabbed the long dagger beside her with her right hand.
Lu Ziming, with no trace of goodwill in her eyes, looked at the woman who had approached her without permission. Behind her, the little boy was still sitting on the down comforter. When he saw Lu Ziming’s murderous gaze sweep over, he was so frightened that he moved his small body inward, clutching the corner of the quilt nervously, with a look of shock on his face. Perhaps in his opinion, this sister was more terrifying than those terrifying-looking ‘monsters’, after all, she was the one who could kill those already terrifying ‘monsters’.
“You…don’t be nervous, I just saw that you seemed uncomfortable and didn’t sleep last night. You must be afraid of those ‘people’ outside breaking in…” The woman was frightened by Lu Ziming’s murderous eyes and the completely genuine self-defense action and quickly waved her hand at Lu Ziming to explain, “My name is Dai Qianya. Seeing that you are also quite young, you can call me Qianya or Sister Qianya. Yesterday…thank you very much for saving me and my son… Oh, right, my son is four years old this year. His name is Jin Shengzhe.”
As she spoke, Dai Qianya turned around and said to the little boy behind her: “Jin Shengzhe, come on, call her sister.”
Little Jin Shengzhe hesitated and looked at Dai Qianya, forcing out the words between his teeth: “Si…sister.” He didn’t dare to look directly at Lu Ziming when he spoke.
“Looking at you, you probably had neuralgia just now. I worked as a nurse for a few years before I became a saleswoman. I can help you massage it a few times. The door has already been locked by you, and it’s still safe here for the time being. You should also get a good night’s sleep. Not sleeping well for too long can cause overwork and death. I’m not trying to scare you.”
Lu Ziming didn’t open her mouth the whole time, but her eyes softened a little. She was still staring at Dai Qianya, seemingly considering the feasibility of the plan.
Finally, Lu Ziming slowly put down her right hand holding the long dagger, and stopped staring at Dai Qianya. She threw away the dagger and hugged her head again.
It hurts, my head hurts so much. I’m sleepy, the scenery in front of me is starting to blur.
…
Lu Ziming didn’t remember how long she slept at all, she only felt that she slept soundly. But thankfully, she felt much more energetic after waking up. The symptoms of headache before had also been alleviated. Although she would still feel some slight stinging from time to time, it was much better than the pain that made her want to smash her head before.
She got up from the ground and found that a quilt was spread under her. Beside her, Dai Qianya was sitting by the wall, dozing with her son in her arms. The child was already asleep in her arms, and because of her posture, she hadn’t slept well the whole time.
Lu Ziming got up quietly. Because she had just woken up, she looked a little dazed. She sat on the quilt and spaced out for a while before she remembered why she was here. She looked up at the skylight, and the outside had turned into a blue-black sky. At this time, dead people wandering in groups of two or three would start to appear outside again.
Lu Ziming hadn’t seen anyone from the company since she separated from them that day.
…
That day, after everyone worked together to finally subdue the crazed zombie mother and daughter, everyone thought that everything was fine, but one of them looked at his phone and fell into another panic.
The phone showed a news push from a client in the city, with the big headline [Riot Phenomena Continue to Occur, Is It an Outbreak of Disease or a Terrorist Attack?], accompanied by a picture of the chaos taken on the street – many vehicles collided at the Hengyang Street intersection, some burned and some were destroyed, some people lay scattered on the street, and more people were running away in all directions. In the photo, everyone also saw people like the mother and daughter just now. Now, everyone who originally planned to abandon their work, save their lives, and run home as soon as possible didn’t know what to do.
But after understanding the situation, everyone had different thoughts in their hearts. The two older women in the company, one named Zhang Caixia and the other Wan Shengyun, who were still muttering that they wouldn’t be fired just now, were at a loss for a while after learning that the situation was gradually becoming more chaotic. After their heads cleared, they clamored to leave first, because they had already thought of their children who were still in school – if the situation was getting worse and worse, then the children in school would definitely be in danger. Compared with the life and death of their children, what was their own life… The others had the same idea, each thinking about the people who were important to them, and talking about leaving. The originally strong crowd gradually dispersed, and the scene became chaotic.
“All of you shut up!!!” How could He Shifeng not understand that everyone would first think of their most valued people, lovers, or children? Even his son was in kindergarten now, and he didn’t know what the situation was. But in the current situation, if everyone dispersed, they would inevitably face a huge risk to their lives. According to the fighting power of the mother and daughter just now, except for a few young and strong lads in the crowd, the others couldn’t beat these ‘zombies’ in one-on-one hand-to-hand combat. It was possible that their family members were still fine, but the people who walked out of the company had already died on the road – this possibility was too high.
He Shifeng originally planned to break through with everyone, but seeing everyone’s scattered minds now, he estimated that even if he made the suggestion, not many people would agree. But if they didn’t stick together, there was no way to guarantee everyone’s safety. In the current chaotic situation, no one could listen to his earnest advice.
“Listen to me!!” Because of everyone’s chaos, He Shifeng had to raise his voice and shouted with a frown and anger. As expected, after his shout, the crowd that was in chaos instantly quieted down.
“I know you are all anxious to find your relatives, lovers, or friends. If you don’t want to live, you can leave now! The door is there, your life and death are up to you, I won’t stop you.” After He Shifeng said these words, he paused and looked around at the crowd in the hall.