Warning: Slight Gore
The two made preparations to leave the house.
They found backpacks in the house and some camping gear in the garage.
Yichen’s family owned a station wagon, and had a considerable amount of space in the back, allowing them to pack more necessities for the trip. Food and water, extra clothes, a first aid kit, a couple of blankets and small pillows—they weren’t entirely sure what to bring so they used their knowledge from school trips and retreats.
Yichen also carefully fitted in several tools and things that could be used as weapons: flashlights; paracords; tents and sleeping bags; one of the two shovels that they’d used earlier; the bat that Kyle had; long knives and the chopper from the kitchen; an axe and a nail gun he’d also found in the garage. He also found a metal box filled with the family’s assortment of batteries and a mini-tool kit. He wasn’t sure how much use any of them had, but having them on hand wouldn’t hurt.
Yichen also dug out cash from his family’s wallets.
“Do you think we’d need it?” Kyle commented when he saw Yichen stuffing cash and identity cards into a small pouch.
“You don’t know that we don’t,” Yichen replied, “The radio advised us to not act rashly. If we find ourselves in need of something while we’re on the road we might need to get it from a gas station or a supermarket. Even if the cities are under lockdown and are possibly filled with infected, we don’t actually know the condition of our current surrounding areas. Maybe there are areas that are still operational and mostly unaffected. The fact that we can still use the phone lines, have power and water is a testament to the fact that whatever is happening is still somewhat under control.”
Kyle nodded at the reasoning and quipped, “Man, you really did think this through, huh.”
Yichen rolled his eyes, “You didn’t really think I was actually going to take movies and tv-shows as an example and possibly commit theft and burglary did you?”
Kyle blushed, “Uh… yea?”
Yichen gave him a look of disappointment.
“Okay, not really, but still… you know.”
***
The boys were ready after a day of packing. They had decided to leave the following morning. After raiding the kitchen and pantry clean, they had realized that the food situation was much worse than they thought.
Yichen stared at Kyle with much disapproval when the latter expressed his diligence in wiping clear the perishables.
“I’m a growing boy,” said the 180cm tall blackhole to the 172cm person beside him.
That night, Yichen visited his family’s graves once more. He stood in front of his mother for the longest time. Kyle stood with him.
“Are you okay with not heading to the safe area in City M instead?” Yichen asked, “You’re more likely to meet your family in one of the safe areas in City M than City B.”
City B and City M were in opposite directions, almost equidistant to their current location.
“I’ve definitely thought about it,” Kyle said. “I mean my mom and little brothers are all there. But they have each other. This time I came to City B with my dad. Since we’re closer to there I wanna go to the City B safe areas to find him first. Once we find him we’ll go to City M.”
Kyle met Yichen’s eyes with a firm look. He didn’t say it out loud, but Yichen understood that Kyle was including him in his ‘we’. Affirming that the two would stick together no matter what.
Yichen felt warmed by Kyle’s words, and couldn’t help softly humming in agreement. Despite everything, he was glad that Kyle found him; he didn’t think he could hold himself together if he had been alone.
The two boys started heading back inside the house.
Just as Yichen was about to pass over the threshold, he heard a small knock against the wooden fence. He looked back, but after waiting for a while he heard nothing else.
He went inside.
They went to bed early, knowing that they’d have a big day ahead of them.
***
Yichen awoke with a jolt in the middle of the night. Before he could make a sound, a hand covered his mouth.
He panicked.
“Shh–shh, shh,” Kyle whispered as he pushed the boy down. “Chill! Yichen, it’s me!”
Yichen stopped flailing and slowly calmed himself. He vindictively jabbed Kyle with his elbow, forcing the taller to let go.
Kyle fell off with a grunt and hissing, “Damn, Xiao-Chen. That frigging hurt.” He sat back up, “Never mind that, look.”
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
He pointed out the window.
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He heard it before he saw it.
It wasn’t loud; a small thud if anything. As he squinted and leaned forward a little more before he realized what it was.
It was too far away for him to really tell the difference; it looked like every other normal human being. Except its movements were jerky. It kept banging its head and shoulders against the backyard’s wooden fence without hesitation—over and over with the same amount of strength as if it felt nothing from the impacts. It was like watching a game character glitch against a wall.
All the blood in Yichen’s veins were drained as he belatedly wondered if this was what he had heard earlier when they were visiting the graves.
“Let’s get closer,” Kyle said, tugging him towards the door.
“Huh?” Yichen finally yanked his arm away from the other boy.
“It’s alone, Yichen,” Kyle whispered, “We can find out more about it.”
When it looked like Yichen wasn’t convinced, Kyle continued his explanation.
“We don’t know anything about them. What draws them to us? Is it sight? Sound? Smell? All of the above? Plus it’s alone right now, so we can handle it with the two of us.”
“Handle… it…”
“Oh come on, Xiao-Chen, you can’t possibly tell me that you were hoping to avoid all contact with them when we go outside. It’s impossible. You may not have witnessed it first hand, but I know that the virus spreads fast when it’s a bite. And there’s a lot of people that’s sick, there’s no way of knowing how many have died and turned, and how many that won’t.”
Yichen knew he had a point, but he wasn’t ready yet. He didn’t know how to face the thing that was downstairs. But he had to learn.
“We won’t go outside the fence first,” Yichen said with a small, shuddering breath. “We’ll test sound now, where we can see.”
“With what?”
Yichen scanned the room. Then, just beside the door of his closet, he saw a basketball.
“With this,” Yichen grabbed the basketball sitting on the floor, untouched since the day his aunt left with Xiao-Mi. He roughly shoved it into Kyle’s arms, “You can aim. Right?”
Kyle looked at the ball with an expression of unwillingness. Yichen had a sudden moment of regret. Before he could rescind his request, Kyle sighed, “Where am I aiming at?”
Yichen paused briefly, but not long enough for Kyle to notice his abnormality. He turned back to the window, and focused on the gate of the fence.
They were on the second floor, so the fence was a little far away; however, it was close to the patio just below them. With good arm strength, it was possible for the ball to reach the fence.
“Aim it near the gate, but not exactly. Just in case we accidentally open it. Then – if it reacts – it’ll head over and we’ll see it. We can try multiple things to attract its attention. We’ll go grab the ball when it falls. If it reacts to our smell it’ll start banging harder if we get closer. When we grab back the ball, we’ll hook it up to one of my uncle’s fishing rods. I saw it in the garage. We can use the fishing rod and hang up the ball in front of it, then we’ll know if they can see.”
“Why are we luring it to the gate?” Kyle asked.
“Because. You say that it’s alone, but it’s so dark out there that we aren’t completely sure. So the only way we can be sure is if we isolate it from outside.”
“By locking it into the yard and figuring how to put it down. Smart plan.”
“One of us will need to open the door, while the other will stand in front and lure it in.”
“What if it reacts to smell? Wouldn’t the person opening the door be in danger?”
“Use the ball, throw it at it and anger it. Who wouldn’t be angry when a ball gets thrown to their heads?”
“Touché,” Kyle conceded, twirling the ball on one finger, “Let’s do it.”
Yichen secretly eyed Kyle’s wrist, feeling a little worried, yet relieved.
Kyle wasn’t the previous ace of his team for nothing. He easily threw the ball at the fence, an inch away from the gate.
The zombie reacted. It paused in its quiet thumping, and wildly ran (slightly limping) towards the source of the sound.
Kyle beamed at Yichen, which he answered in turn with slightly less enthusiasm. Even if it was his plan, he still had doubts about its implementation.
The two boys made their way towards the garage first, quickly grabbing the fishing pole and some duct tape. When they got to the back door they looked through the window first. They still heard the thumping against the wooden fence.
Kyle, armed with his bat, slipped out first, trying to make the least sound possible. Yichen’s heart pounded as he gripped the door knob, ready to bolt back inside should anything happen.
The thumping against the wooden fence remained steady, it didn’t change even as Kyle inched his way down the patio stairs, getting closer to the gate. Yichen took a deep breath as he released the knob from his harsh grip. He slowly followed Kyle at a distance.
When Kyle stood less than an inch away, the sound still hadn’t changed. He grabbed the ball that had fallen close to the gate and then slowly, he made his way back.
Yichen let out a small breath of relief when Kyle moved away from the gate.
He handed the ball to Yichen. Yichen then carefully wrapped the string of the fishing rod around the ball and taped it up tightly. He bounced it a little in the air with the rod before handing it to Kyle.
“Let’s go zombie-fishing,” Kyle whispered as he exchanged his bat for the contraption.
Yichen blankly stared at him while taking the bat; the fear was almost scared away by the horrid sense of humour.
Carefully, Kyle made his way to the gate once more. Yichen also moved a little closer to him; the bat readied.
Kyle steadied the ball a little, loosening some of the string before tossing it lightly over the fence.
It was badly executed, Yichen realized, just as the ball hit the gate on the other side.
Before the two could react, Kyle was harshly dragged towards the gate. Luckily due to his newfound strength, he managed to stop himself from slamming into the fence.
“Cut the string, cut the string!” Kyle hissed in panic.
There was a hissing sound and an odd screech.
Without much hesitation, Yichen cut the line using the serrated blade of the tape dispenser. Kyle fell back a few steps with the fishing pole still in his hands.
The two waited for a while before the sounds died down. Then it was quiet. Neither Yichen nor Kyle knew if their experiment was considered a success or a failure; however, they had understood that the zombie reacted to the sound and accurately attacked the ball.
After a moment, Kyle gestured towards the gate as if to tell Yichen to continue on with the plan.
Yichen hesitated a bit before giving a curt nod.
They had decided beforehand that Yichen would open the gate. He was quieter, and lithe; he had a better chance of dodging. Kyle stood a little ways off, but still in front of the gate. He held up the bat that had migrated back into his hands.
Slowly, Yichen moved his hand towards the latch; he unhooked it then quickly swung the gate open with a sharp squeak.
He could see a little through the gap between the gate and the fence.
It was a man, or what was left of a man. He was wearing a pair of casual shorts that were covered in blood and a dirty, white t-shirt. It took a moment for it to react; it slowly turned its head and didn’t really move.
Then it bolted towards Kyle without warning.
Kyle hesitated a little before he managed to shake the fear off his limbs. Yichen, on the other hand, was doing much worse. He had seen the white irises of the man’s eyes, the blank look on his face before it turned rabid at the sight of Kyle.
“Xiao-Chen, close the door!” Kyle grunted, swinging the bat and knocking the man to the ground. It started crawling, clawing its way to Kyle like a frenzied animal.
Yichen took a while before he was able to move his limbs again. He immediately shut the door and redid the latch.
When he turned around, Kyle had gotten in another hit, right to the side of its head. Kyle didn’t stop. He continued his attacks, slamming the bat stroke after stroke. Yichen wordlessly watched as the blood splattered all over. Suddenly, he was struck with the image of his mother doing the same thing. When he saw the patterns on the grass, he was reminded of a similar one near the top of the stairs.
Yichen couldn’t stop the brief upheaval of his stomach, yet no vomit came out.
Kyle continued hitting the corpse even after it stopped moving. As if he hadn’t registered that the zombie was killed. He stopped hitting when the head was no longer that – just pieces of mush scattered all around.
He dropped to the ground, gasping for air.
Yichen stared at the mess a little longer. After a while he moved towards Kyle and plopped down. They stayed on the ground in silence, staring at the headless thing before them.
After a while, Yichen asked,”Should we bury him too?” Yichen asked.
Kyle pondered for a bit before answering, “Nah, we need to leave soon. Let’s just get cleaned up and go to bed.”
Kyle manoeuvred to stand, but Yichen stayed sitting with a frown on his face. He silently stared at the decapitated corpse before him; the wheels in his head turning.
“Xiao-Chen? What’s wrong?” Kyle asked, holding his hand in front of Yichen to help him up.
Yichen took his offered hand and stood up. They hadn’t taken two steps before Yichen opened his mouth. “Let’s leave now.”
“Ah?”
“Leave now,” Yichen repeated. “Think about it, Kyle, those things follow sight and sound. If one of them already made their way here, think about all the noise we made just now. We’ll be surrounded by morning. Let’s leave now.”
After a brief moment of thought, Kyle nodded in agreement.
They walked back to the house.
It was unknown whether it was too dark or the boys were too tired, but no one noticed the tiny, coloured stone lying in the grass—right next to the decapitated corpse.
***
The two boys changed the clothes and grabbed their remaining things before making their way to the garage.
The garage was a separate building from the rest of the house. While the house was surrounded by the fence, the garage intersected it so that half of it sat outside the perimeter with the garage door facing the road.
During the day, Kyle had spent an entire afternoon analysing the car’s mechanisms. With the help of the still functional internet and several self-help videos—thank goodness wifi was still usable—Kyle was quite confident in being able to properly operate the vehicle (or at least, getting the engine running and the car moving).
Yichen’s family car was an older model, and didn’t have the option of syncing the garage door with the car’s system. Instead, it still used the old beeper system. When Yichen and Kyle realized this, they spent a few hours looking for the keys only to discover that it was nowhere to be found. They could only open the garage doors using the switch located by the side door leading to the house.
Kyle had just keyed the engine when they heard a loud bang against the gates. Alarmed, the two glanced towards each other.
There was a brief moment of pause before Yichen quickly whipped up a plan. “Put it in drive. I’ll leave the back door of the car nearest to the switch open. After flipping the switch, I’ll run to the car and you can floor it.”
Kyle nodded, following the other’s orders. He threw the gear stick into drive; his feet firmly on the brakes. He also double checked the windows just in case. He watched nervously as Yichen in the rearview mirror as the latter made his way towards the side door where the switch was located.
There was another loud bang at the gates again which made Yichen look up from his task. He slowly counted to ten to calm his nerves before flipping the switch and hurrying his way to the car. Yichen already had the car door shut behind him by the time the gates were halfway up. He could see a lone figure standing in front of the rising gate, illuminated by the headlights of their vehicle.
“He’s standing in front of us, Xiao-Chen,” Kyle stated nervously.
“I can see that, Kyle.”
“I mean what are we going to do?”
“Run him over?”
“Excuse me?”
“He’s coming. Just run him over!”
Kyle stomped on the gas pedal, ramming into the figure that was running towards them. Contrary to their expectations, the moving corpse laid on their hood as they drove out of the garage and onto the road. The car and corpse swerved slightly as Kyle corrected the wheel.
“Oh my god, oh my god. Yichen, he’s not coming off.”
“Don’t panic, just go a little faster.”
“I can’t see! There’s a freaking zombie plastered on the windshield!”
“Go faster, then slam on the brakes. We’ll use the inertia.”
Yichen didn’t have to explain much as Kyle kept steady pressure on the gas pedal before abruptly stomping his foot on the brakes. There was a loud screech from the wheels as they watched the body on their hood limply fly off the car and into a set of bushes.
There was silence before Yichen said, “How lucky, if you stopped any later we would’ve flown into the bushes too.”
Kyle gave the younger teen a look of disbelief, “You know, it’s amazing how you can say that so calmly in this kind of situation.”
“It may not look like it, but I was sincerely terrified just now,” Yichen admitted with a deadpan face.
Kyle couldn’t help but let out a short huff of amusement. Even Yichen couldn’t stop the soft smile on his lips.
Kyle probably knows what happens or is a result of the feverish state that leaves you in a pool of sweat and other stuff, like an ability or physical enhancements or something along those lines
Its strange, who is kyle, dies he disappear after ml appears? Who the ml? Will he kill them?? So many mysteries
hfaofff This writing is??? So good???? Give me your skills >:0
+1
+1 at first I thought this was a translated novel because of how good it was
sobb all my writing makes me physically cringe I want author’s talents
The core stone
😳🥰 thanks for the compliments. (your comments feed my vanity, lol)
well then it’s vanity well-deserved. Your writing is just very doubleplusgood
Oooh, the crystal core/nucleus/whateveryouwillcallit appeared.
I like the comedic parts, they’re well placed :3
Thx for the chs so far, I look forward to how their journey will be ٩(｡˃ ᵕ ˂ )و
Let’s try doing scary stuff at night…why? Thanks for the chapter! Hahahaha!❤️
tbh, I dunno. I think Kyle’s an adrenaline junkie.
We can rule out Kyle being the ML because the author said he doesn’t appear until 10+ chapters
So… my question is: Is he gonna be an antagonist or sm cuz he’s very much giving me a antagonist back story vibe rn
Ikr. I’ve been having to remind myself he’s not ML and that I hope he doesn’t turn into an antag. Just someone that accidentally causes shit to happen but not purposely
thanks for the chapter <3
Gosh! My heart’s beat went wild! This chapter made me so nervous!! It’s been some time since I got so hooked up in the reading! I loved it!
Now now, let’s steady my heart…
Thank you for the chapter!!
You’re welcome. I’m glad that I’ve gotten you hooked. Means I’m doing something right.
This novel gives me Anxiety, but I still like it.
I hope Kyle doesn’t die…. From the synopsis it seems MC is alone 😱😱i hope not…
I’m liking Yichen’s dry humor. I didn’tthink Kyle was sus, just holding back bc he’s still processing the trauma he recently went through
what’s with the child imprint in the closets where Yichen once hide, Kyle didn’t even tell yichen about that, tsk tsk. So sus….
So yichen is the kind of character who is expressionless or with very little emotion displayed on his face?
Kyle not being able to wave a ball in a zombie’s face without making noise 🤫. Yichen is like me as a passenger; me calmly giving instructions to a panicking person while inside, “F—! AaaaAAaaaAh! We’re bloody lost!! AaaAaaaAaAah!! Just stop!” Hahaha but then Kyle’s like me as a driver when I’m lost.
I really am enjoying this thus far. The crystal from the zombie is a little weird. Portal world connection caused by a chemical dump?
♥️❤️♥️❤️♥️❤️♥️