Oh my apocalypse [YiZhanFF]

Part 28 - Suspicious survivors

The group around Zhan and Yibo is now already since eight days on the way on the search for the survivors, who called over two weeks ago over radio for help. But so far they still have not found them and they are now almost back in Beijing! Or rather, they are already there. Because last night they reached the dam, where they spent the night.

For today they planned to go back to the city and look for durable groceries, as well as to visit the hospital where Zhan worked as a surgeon and to get the rest of the medicine from there.

The longer they were on the road, the less Yibo liked the fact that they were getting further and further away from the hotel. Somehow it all seemed strange to him. Again and again he asked himself and Zhan, as well as the soldiers, why the group of survivors did not approach them and instead moved further and further away from them. Had this perhaps been a trap? Were they supposed to be lured away from the hotel?

In order not to immediately reveal everything about the hotel to all survivors in the country, they told help-seekers on the radio that they were a small group of survivors, but had enough food, water and medicine.

Since they were too far from the hotel and their radios have limited range, they could not simply radio the hotel and ask if the survivors might have gotten there by now and tried to take control there. That would possibly explain why they were lured farther and farther away from the hotel.

It could be that some of the survivors stayed behind to lure Zhan, Yibo and the group of soldiers further and further away from the hotel so that the others could have free rein and take control. But they do not expect that they will have no easy game there. Because at the hotel there are already almost 100 soldiers, several policemen and their helpers waiting and would certainly not allow anyone to enter the hotel and take control.

Still, Yibo was worried. Because the further they got from the hotel and had to spend their night somewhere where they were at the mercy of the weather. At the moment, a cold wave was sweeping across the country, bringing with it a lot of snow.

Except for that one night they spent in the hangar, and now the night in the dam, they slept in the bus. The driver thought it would be safer if they all stayed in the bus, just in case they had to leave quickly. Although they were protected all around by the bus, it was still cold. After all, they couldn't leave the heater running in the bus all night.

After a hasty low breakfast, from which probably no one in the group really got full, they got ready again to drive to the city.

Since they did not expect to be away from the hotel for more than 5 days, they had not brought enough food with them, to be able to satisfy themselves at least halfway every day. They could have also taken food that had been left in the hangar. But they didn't expect to stay away that long and would be dependent on this food.

Therefore, they were also forced to search for food in the city. They desperately needed to find food and water!

As Yibo and Zhan sat in the very back of the bus again and so got the warm air from the heater directly, they both got tired and would have liked to sleep some more. But they are so close to downtown now that they could already see the first skyscrapers.

"What do you think it looks like there now? Do you think it's close to the burnt city?" Asked Zhan.

"I don't think so. We can see the skyscrapers and if the downtown had burned down too, I'm sure they would have been destroyed by now." Explained Yibo.

"I'm really curious to see if the hospital still looks the same as where we left it."

"Mhm. I think it does, though. Let's just hope the pharmaceuticals are still there."