Undead

Chapter 8

It was 8 o'clock in the evening.

Night had fallen, and the streetlights were yet to be illuminated. Looking out the car window, the highway had turned into a massive abandoned parking lot, and the distant cries of zombies echoed from the wilderness.

Zhou Rong gripped the steering wheel, his eyes bloodshot, but he remained silent.

Si Nan climbed into the driver's seat from the back of the car. The heavy scent of nicotine assaulted his nostrils, causing him to cough. "Let me drive."

Zhou Rong shook his head.

"You've been enduring for too long."

Still, Zhou Rong didn't say a word.

Si Nan remained silent for a moment as the car bounced, then gently advised, "You can't go on like this, Rong-ge. Dozens of people in both cars are counting on you. If something happens to you, what will happen to the others? The minibus behind has already changed drivers twice."

"...The biohazard vehicle is not easy to drive," Zhou Rong finally spoke hoarsely, "The wilderness road is treacherous, and we need to be fast, the farther from City T, the better."

Si Nan was about to say something when suddenly the radio came to life: "Yan Hao calling the front vehicle, Yan Hao calling the front vehicle! Captain, please respond. Our radio is silent on this end. How are you?"

Zhou Rong's expression changed slightly, and he opened the car's radio.

Countless crackling electrical noises poured out, all channels merging into a dark void.

—No shortwave signals.

In the back of the car, three special forces soldiers woke up sensitively, as if they sensed something. They got up and approached. Zhou Rong's face turned ugly, and he slapped the base communication equipment several times. However, the central command channel seemed to have disappeared into the ocean of radio waves, and despite their efforts to adjust it, it remained frustratingly silent.

Zhou Rong suddenly slammed on the brakes, took a deep breath, and quickly got out of the car.

The minibus behind them also stopped, and the exhausted survivors, jolted from their slumber, began to murmur in confusion.

Yan Hao and Chun Cao also got out of their vehicle, and both of them showed signs of fatigue they couldn't hide. However, Zhou Rong wasted no time with pleasantries and got straight to the point: "We can't establish communication with the base."

The remaining team members gathered around, standing on the grass, their faces filled with fear as they looked at each other.

"...There's also no sign of the nuclear bomb," Yan Hao said in a hushed voice. "Wasn't it supposed to be launched at 8? It's already past eight."

"Could the plan have changed..."

"If the plan changed, the base should have notified us," Yan Hao interrupted Chun Cao and explained, "If the launch was postponed to 9, the base would have allowed us to leave to rescue more people. They would also send another helicopter. More importantly, delaying the launch time would allow the zombies to spread from the city center to the outskirts, so the sooner we cleanse, the better."

Si Nan walked up from behind and stopped a few steps away, arms crossed, quietly watching them.

Everyone was gradually filled with a dreadful thought, but no one said it, or even moved. It was as if, by remaining silent, they could keep the terrifying possibility at bay.

On this late autumn night, the air was already chilly. The desolate wilderness undulated in the night, and in the distance, near the railway tracks, dim yellow lights shone.