Apocalypse Escape: Day One of Survival

”There were still quite a few people unconscious inside. They must have all become zombie food.”

”And you can blame us for that?” Chen Chong sneered. ”Weren’t you all scrambling to run downstairs, too? If we hadn’t locked the door to the stairwell, do you think you would’ve escaped?”

”So that gives you the right to pull the same trick again?” a long-haired girl demanded, furious. ”You saw the conference room had some water and fruit, so you insisted we stay and wait for rescue.”

”Shijun said it wouldn’t work—there wasn’t enough water to go around, and we had to go downstairs.”

”But you refused and forced us all to stay in the conference room! And what happened?” The girl was seething.

Luo Jinyong chimed in. ”Yeah, what happened? What happened was two people from your Su City Second Middle School hid the fact they’d been bitten. They turned in the conference room and immediately attacked a bunch of others.”

”When you saw things were going wrong, you scrambled to get out and locked the door on your way. I really have to thank you and the rest of Su City Second Middle School!”

Xie Ning’s face was cold as she looked at Chen Chong and his daughter.

”Director Shen was the one who locked the door, it had absolutely nothing to do with my daughter and me! Why won’t you listen?”

”I don’t have time to waste on this nonsense.” Chen Chong pulled his daughter and turned away. ”Stop hounding me over this. The important thing is to get out of here now.”

”If it weren’t for this secret door, dozens of us would be dead.” Song You’ai’s grip on her knife tightened.

It was true. If the secret door hadn’t been flush with the wall, with no handle to give it away, it never would have completely masked their presence.

The zombies couldn’t get in at all, giving them a brief respite.

Most importantly, the secret door was surprisingly sturdy.

”We were originally trying to see if we could crawl out through the air vents. It’s a good thing you came,” Song Shijun said with a sigh of relief.

”Thank you so, so much.” A big, heavyset guy squeezed forward, reaching for Xie Ning’s hand to express his gratitude, but Song Shijun smacked it away.

The big guy gave a sheepish laugh. ”If you hadn’t shown up, I’d have just been waiting here to die. The rest of them might have escaped, but there’s no way my body would fit through those tiny air ducts!”

The others didn’t know whether to laugh or be exasperated.

Luo Jinyong smacked him. ”We told you to lose weight, but you never listen. Now it could’ve gotten you killed.”

”Most of the zombies here were led away by the director from Su City Second Middle School and his people. We should be fine to leave. First, find whatever you can for a weapon,” Xie Ning instructed.

Everyone sprang into action.

Most people grabbed chairs. Some tried to break off table legs, but they weren’t strong enough and had to give up.

Xie Ning nodded to herself.

This was what survival was like for ordinary people during the first two years of the apocalypse.

Unlike the chaos in other countries, firearms and blades had always been strictly controlled here.

So when the apocalypse began, nearly everyone in the country had to fight with kitchen knives, mallets, and hammers.

The better tools, aside from kitchen knives, were riot batons.

Those things were solid and reliable; every swing hit its mark.

As for things like guns and artillery, they would eventually show up on the black market. But buying them required a huge amount of Crystal Cores, and you couldn’t get them without connections.

When most ordinary people fled their homes, they armed themselves with kitchen knives, baseball bats, and the like.

Rural areas were a bit better off. The land was vast and sparsely populated, so there were fewer zombies. Every household had sickles and hammers, so people could grab their farm tools to hold them back.

”Let’s go!” Xie Ning took the lead, guiding the motley crew—armed with chairs, lamps, and even a glass teapot—as they charged toward the first floor.

For a moment, everyone was swept up in a rush of adrenaline.