Oh my apocalypse [YiZhanFF]

Part 4. No Help Is Coming

For almost 2 hours, Zhan and Yibo sat silently in the shelter, listening to see if anything followed them. But there was nothing to be heard. Nothing but silence, just like the last two nights.

Cautiously Zhan opened the door to the shelter and peeked out through a crack, there was nothing. So he and Yibo went into the hallway and to the first floor to Zhan's apartment. "Luckily I thought to pack my key before we left." He whispered before unlocking the door.

They entered Zhan's apartment, everything looked safe and there were no signs of destruction. Yibo breathed a sigh of relief. They immediately went to Zhan's bedroom, where he pulled out two large backpacks from his closet and gave one to Yibo. Then they went to Zhan's home office, where he had all the things they needed to survive in a wide locker.

Whispering, Yibo enumerated everything while getting everything out of the locker. "2 sleeping bags, a tent, 10 servings of one-man rations, 3 flashlights, 2 packs of batteries, water purification tablets, 2 water bottles, 2 survival knives, 1 small axe for camping, 1 compass, 1 map, 4 cans of baked beans, 2 raincoats, and 2 radios."

"The batteries for the radios are in my desk. Besides, I also have a solar charger and about 8 flares in the living room." Added Zhan quietly.

The two divided everything and stowed it in the two backpacks. They walked back to the bedroom where Zhan packed a change of clothes and gave Yibo some change of clothes. "I guess this should fit you. It's also less noticeable than your uniform." Explained Zhan as he gave Yibo the patch camouflage clothes.

"You have clothes like that at home?" Yibo asked in amazement as he began to take off his uniform."

Zhan, who was also changing his clothes nodded. "Mhm, as I said, until last year, my father was still a general. He always said we hope nothing ever happens that necessitates these clothes and equipment, but we still want to be prepared for everything."

"I see. Um, do you think your parents are still alive?"

Zhan sat down on his bed and shook his head. "No. After my father retired, he and my mother bought an apartment in an apartment building. We drove by that house earlier and it was just a ruin. Since my parents hardly ever left the house, I don't think they survived."

"I'm sorry to hear that."

"Mmm, me too. But at least they were both able to grow old you know?"

"I understand what you mean. I'd like to know if my parents are still alive. They live just outside of town."

"Maybe we can find a way to get there and check."

"Yeah maybe. You Zhan? Tell me, the man in the parking garage, do you think there are any more survivors like him?"

"It's possible. Maybe they're waiting for help to come."

"Maybe we should wait for help, too."

"Yibo, honestly. I don't think help is coming yet. In the past 3 days, I haven't seen or heard any helicopters, haven't seen any planes in the sky. I didn't hear any gunfire. Nothing. There's no help coming."

"We should have turned on the radio in the car earlier. If there was still a working infrastructure somewhere, they would contact the survivors through it, right?"

"Mhhh, if we had turned on the radio, maybe it wouldn't have been just that one creature that attacked us. Which I'm not even sure we were really attacked. I mean, the creature was just standing there licking its teeth. Why didn't it just move away from us when I came upon it before?"

"Maybe it was blinded by the headlights of your car?"

"Yeah maybe."

"I think we should take the car and not the crawl space. I can understand why the crawl space sounds safer. But Zhan, we'd be way faster in the car. And who knows if the crawl space even exists after the earthquake and all the destruction."