Captivity

Chapter 3: Returning Home

【Three】

Wu Zhi could no longer remember how he avoided wave after wave of zombies when he returned to his neighborhood. He looked at the unit number on the door, a small ray of light finally glimmering in his eyes. Bright and warm light exuded from the house in front of him, as if showing the way home for lost children. Although he had the house key, Wu Zhi still pressed the doorbell out of a desire to have someone open his home’s door for him.

Ding— dong—

Ding— Dong— Ding— Dong—

Ding— Dong— Ding— Dong—……

The hand that pressed the doorbell had already begun to stiffen and shiver. Wu Zhi gritted his teeth hard, trying hard to dismiss the increasingly heavy sense of foreboding.

Perhaps, just perhaps, they only left for a moment, so they did not turn off the lights— Right. His parents might have suddenly received the news and headed to school to search for him and Wu Yuan. That was why they left so hurriedly…

Wu Zhi sucked in a deep breath, pulling out his key from his pocket. He opened the door to despair.

The house was not very quiet. From the doorstep, he could hear the news playing from the TV in the living room. The corridor was in the dark. The only light was coming from the dining area. Wu Zhi could even imagine that in the next moment, his mother would walk from the dining room to smile at him, Zhizhi, you’re back late again? Go wash your hands quickly and get ready for dinner. Then, when he entered the dining area, he would see his father eating as he watched the TV. And Wu Yuan would even spite him bluntly, telling him he could have come back even later as he’d be just in time for supper.

This was his home. Tiny, but warm.

Wu Zhi mused, before a smile surfaced on his lips. He walked impatiently towards that radiance, yelling as usual, “I’m bac—”

Wu Zhi’s smile froze.

This was hell, right?

His mother was smiling at him as usual. She was lying face-up with a grin, staring fixedly towards the dining room entrance. Her bulging eyeballs looked like they would fall out of the sockets the very next moment. His father was having his meal as usual. His meal was Wu Zhi’s mother. That monster clothed in his father’s skin was engrossed in eating the woman’s abdomen. Saliva mixed together with the pus as it dripped into the bloody intestines.

Dad… Mom…?

Wu Zhi was at his limit. With a retch, he threw up everything.

This was a dream, right? Wu Zhi vomited uncontrollably. Even when all that was left was his stomach acid, he still dry-heaved, as if he wanted to throw up all of his internal organs. Could anyone, anyone at all, come and tell him this was all a dream—

The noises that Wu Zhi emitted appeared to have startled “his father” who was binging “his” food happily. It raised its head, its rotting brain facing Wu Zhi. Then, without any hesitation, it threw away its half-eaten “wife” — the fresh, living “son” was much more attractive.

Wu Zhi staggered backwards, leaning on the wall feebly, watching his “father” approach him step by step, benumbed. He no longer had any strength to run, nor did he want to escape. This world had turned into this state. The living could only face despair. So, was there any point at all in painstakingly trying to live on?

In his darking swaying vision, Wu Zhi watched his “mother”, who was crippled from being eaten, “revive” as if it did not want to be left out. It began to get up with its damaged limbs, wobbling its way over to him.