A summer thunderstorm is brewing over the city of F.
The lights went out, and the whole city fell into a long darkness. In the apartment, Jue Ming still had his suit and school uniform on, sitting on the edge of the living room, staring blankly at the darkness outside the floor-to-ceiling windows.
Tangled bright lightning flashed from the thunderclouds, connecting the tall buildings standing on the ground with the dark night sky, and the distant scenery swirled in the boy's dark eyes.
The first burst of thunder exploded, illuminating his pale face, something rang out amidst the thunder, the thunder rolled past, and the phone rang one after another in a hurry.
"Dad, how soon will you be home." Jue Ming said.
"Baby!" The man on the other end of the phone shouted anxiously: "What are you doing?! I didn't come back so soon!"
"Yes, I see." Jue Ming replied, and another thunderbolt exploded.
Zhang Min's voice shouted: "I have to delay on the road for a while! It is estimated that I will not be home until midnight! You have dinner first, there is cooked food in the refrigerator!"
The other end of the phone was noisy and chaotic, as if there was some disturbance, people shouting, urging, and the sound of heavy rain.
Cassia said: "The power is out, and the microwave oven can't be used."
Zhang Min shouted anxiously: "What are you talking about?! Louder! I can't hear you!"
Cassia Ming said loudly: "Nothing! Hang up!"
Zhang Min finally heard his voice, and shouted with a smile: "Wait for me! Dad will be right back!"
Jueming hung up the phone, went to get a glass of water, and sat quietly in the dark house without turning on the refrigerator. Live on campus five days a week, attend high school in City F, come back from a rare holiday to reunite with her adoptive father.
Zhang Min went on a business trip on Thursday and agreed to go out for dinner. After Zhang Min finished his work, he was stuck in traffic when he came back on Friday.
It was another two hours before another day, and Caesar sat in the dark, motionless.
At twelve o'clock sharp, a call came in, and the whole house lit up in an instant. Cassia's pupils couldn't adapt to the sudden light, and narrowed unnaturally.
He turns on the TV, it's all snowy and rustling, then turns it off. There was the whine of an ambulance in the distance downstairs.
The phone rang again urgently, and Jue Ming went over to answer it, but the voice over there was much quieter.
Zhang Min: "Baby... are you okay?"
Cassia: "Yes."
Zhang Min's voice could be heard trembling, and he spoke intermittently: "Don't go out, hell, what's going on? Is there someone knocking on the door? Don't open it if someone knocks."
Jueming replied, "Oh."
Zhang Min panted for a while, the place was very quiet: "Come downstairs and wait for me, we're entering the city."
Jueming replied: "Understood."
Zhang Min immediately changed his words again: "No, no, you are at home, um, pack it up, take your card, money, medicine, and pack a few changes of clothes, Dad will take you to camp."
"Baby! When I come back, don't open the door no matter who knocks, I'll be home in ten minutes." Zhang Min said: "Don't open the door who knocks! Remember!"
Jueming hung up the phone silently, walked into the room, and without asking any questions, took out his school travel bag, unzipped it, dug out the laundry, and put it in the washing machine. Then he packed Zhang Min's, along with a few pieces of his own clothes, medicine box, cigarettes, money and cards.
Zhang Min's drugs and cash were all in the same drawer, and Jue Ming found a small box in the drawer. Inside the box was a pair of platinum mobile phone pendants—Capricorn and Cancer.
Jueming tied the Capricorn one to his mobile phone, and hooked the other with his little finger. After packing up his things, he sat and waited in the living room.
A shrill scream sounded outside the door, and Jue Ming sat up straight involuntarily. His eyes were very dazed, he turned on the TV, but there was still no signal, turned off the TV, turned it on and off, repeated several times, and finally turned it on. Slowly got up, walked to the cat on the door and looked out.
The aisle was pitch black, and nothing could be seen, which logically shouldn't be the case.
"Help—" the woman yelled miserably, and the door slammed loudly. Cassia Ming's eyebrows were touched by the vibrating door, and she stepped back a little.
He thought for a while expressionlessly, and when he lowered his head, he saw neatly lined up by the door, his sneakers, Zhang Min's military boots, and two pairs of flip-flops, one big and one small.
Jue Ming said: "My father told me not to open the door for anyone."
There was frantic banging on the door in the corridor, and a wail sounded after a while, and Caesar stood for a while, bowing down to put on his shoes.
When kneeling on one knee to tie the shoelace, a mass of viscous blood seeped in from under the door, Caesar stared at it for a moment, stepped aside a little, and continued to put on the shoe.
After putting on his shoes and getting up, Jue Ming put his hand on the doorknob, and there was silence outside the door, and the screaming stopped.
Cassia changed his mind again, sat back on the sofa, and stared at the door.
After a while, there was a rhythmic knock on the door, accompanied by a beast-like cry of "ho-ho-".
Cassia watched blankly, and then the elevator dinged.
"Dad." Jue Ming said.
Zhang Min's voice roared in the corridor, the glass of the fire hydrant shattered, shouted, and crashed. Jue Ming stepped forward to open the door, and opened the door that was tied with a safety chain. Zhang Min shouted: "Don't Come out! Don't come out now!"
Jueming was standing at the door, when he was hit by the ground, a rotten hand stretched out from outside the door to scratch, and he was dragged out immediately.
Zhang Min said: "Close the door!"
Cassia closed the door.
There was a dull sound of heavy objects falling to the ground, and it was quiet outside.
"Dad?" Jue Ming said.
"It's okay..." Zhang Min said in a trembling voice, "Don't look at the cat's eyes, wait a little longer."
Caesar nodded silently, and after a while, he couldn't help but look up at the cat's eye, Zhang Min was hiding something in the safe passage, wiped off his sweat, and said, "Honey, you can open the door now."
Cassia took off the safety chain and opened the door.
Zhang Min was covered in blood, panting and staring at him, his eyes were red, the two stood facing each other.
Zhang Min was 1.8 meters tall, and Jue Ming was only fifteen years old. He was a head shorter than him, and looked up at him.
Zhang Min swallowed his saliva, hugged Jue Ming in front of him, patted his head, and said, "Finally... seeing you, I thought I couldn't come back this time."
Cassia didn't say anything, just answered briefly: "Yes."
Zhang Min: "I love you, baby."
Cassia nodded.
Zhang Min closed the door, leaned against the door and panted, Jue Ming asked, "Have you eaten yet?"
Zhang Min replied: "I'm afraid I won't be able to eat, the shops outside are closed, let's try another day."
Jue Ming said: "I asked if you have eaten."
Zhang Min shook his head blankly, and said wearily, "What about you, baby."
Jueming said: "There's a call, I'm going to heat up the meal."
Zhang Min immediately realized the danger: "No, we have to go, have you packed your things? The car is downstairs, go right away, get out of here."
Jueming said, "Can you drive?"
With red eyes open, Zhang Min entered the room like a gust of wind, found a bottle of Red Bull, opened it and drank it, then went into the bathroom, turned on the shower, and Caesar went inside to find a change of clothes for him.
Zhang Min is twenty-eight years old. He has studied, served in the army, and traveled to many places. He was young and strong. His skin was a healthy bronze color. He stood under the shower and was dripping with heat. The water, naked\naked, the water flowed down his toned abdominal muscles, like a wild but gentle leopard.
Cassia stood aside and watched quietly.
The hot water made Zhang Min relax a lot, the nervous tension before had subsided, and he finally calmed down, he looked sideways at Cassia Ming, and wanted to say something.
Caesar said, "Dad, I love you too."
Zhang Min wanted to beckon him to come and wash together, but realized that time was running out, so he hurriedly said, "Honey, are you packing up?"
Cassia shook his head, nodded again, and walked out of the bathroom.
"How's business going?" Jue Ming asked.
Zhang Min sighed, and replied: "Very good, let's go out of the province on the highway in the north, go to another city, find the brother Wang who invited me to dinner last time, and we can drive there in two days."
Jueming asked again: "Where is it?"
Zhang Min got dressed, changed into a pair of trousers and a shirt, came out in a hurry, and said, "I can't take care of it anymore."
Cassia: "What about the company?"
Zhang Min was quiet for a moment, and then said: "There is no way to open it again. After we leave, we will call them tomorrow and go."
Zhang Min took the travel bag, put his hand behind his shoulder, opened the door with one hand, and took his adopted son with the other hand, stopped at the door, the pool of blood was still there, it had become dry and sticky.
"Don't look, baby." Zhang Min said in a low voice, then put his right hand around the shoulder of Cassia Ming, put his palm on his brow, and walked out of the corridor with him half in his arms.
Cassia Ming did not struggle, but staggered along with Zhang Min, entered the elevator, and went down to the underground garage. Zhang Min took Cassia Ming into the car all the way, took a deep breath, and set the window of the passenger seat to dark brown. Ask Cassia to fasten his seat belt and fetch a blanket to cover him.
"You sleep for a while, dad will call you when the time comes." Zhang Min said.
Caesar nodded, like a cat curled up in a blanket: "Is there enough oil?"
Zhang Min reversed the car and looked back, and after a while, he turned sideways, and Caesar consciously moved closer, and Zhang Min kissed Cassia's face.
Cassia stretched out his hands to hug Zhang Min's neck, a bit attached, Zhang Min said: "Let's go." He rubbed Cassia's forehead vigorously, started the car, and drove out of the apartment building.
City F seemed to be cleansed by an apocalyptic catastrophe. The dim street lights on the street were on, newspapers were flying all over the street, empty vehicles were just thrown on the side of the road, and the light boxes on the billboards flickered.
Zhang Min drove along the road through the deserted urban area, his eyes widened in disbelief, there was no such scene when entering the urban area from the high speed, and in just one night, the entire park and streets of F City were actually empty.
A man wandered on the road.
Zhang Min slammed the steering wheel, and the brakes made a piercing and sharp sound, but after all, he couldn't turn in time, and with a loud bang, the man who was crossing the road was shoveled and flew straight up.
Cassia immediately opened his eyes and woke up.
Zhang Min said: "It's okay... I'll get out of the car and go take a look." He said and unbuckled his seat belt, but Jueming grabbed his sleeve with one hand.
I saw the overturned "corpse" not far from the road propped up on the ground again, and stood up unsteadily.
Panting, Zhang Min put on his seat belt, avoided the living dead, and continued driving all the way.
The car drove through the blockade, and the policeman signaled Zhang Min to roll down the window, looked inside the car with a flashlight, and took a look at Jue Ming's handsome face.
"Are you injured?" the policeman asked, "I was scratched and bitten and went to the next door medical office to be bandaged."
"No." Zhang Min couldn't help feeling terrified: "What happened?"
"Peak wave of rabies." The policeman said, "Didn't you listen to the radio?"
Zhang Min shook his head, his and Cassia Ming's expressions were as usual, not like people infected with the disease.
The policeman asked: "What about you, take out your ID card to see, what do you do? Where is your home?"
Zhang Min said: "He is my son, adopted son, and I am his guardian."
A policewoman came over and waved, "Let me see your eyes."
Jueming's pupils were not well adapted to the light, and shrank slightly. The policeman commented: "You are a beautiful boy, where's your mother? Why didn't you say anything? Are you feeling unwell? What's your name?" He checked his ID card.
Zhang Min said, "Baby? Tell Uncle your name."
"Jade." He said.
Zhang Min smiled embarrassedly: "The child doesn't like to talk, his mother..."
Jue Ming suddenly said, "I don't have a mother."
Zhang Min was very embarrassed, but the policeman nodded in understanding, gestured and let him go.
The number of living people finally gradually increased, Zhang Min's breathing was still trembling, and a long queue of convoys formed on the way out of the expressway. There were cars in front, back, left, and right, and many car owners rolled down their windows and cursed from time to time.
Zhang Min finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Two hundred meters away is the high-speed toll booth, and four dazzling incandescent lamps illuminate the intersection like daylight. There are quarrels in the distance, and the announcement of the loudspeaker:
"Citizens, please wait patiently. You need to be scanned and checked when you pass through the border..."
It seems that he won't be able to go out for a while. There are armed police everywhere, so it shouldn't be a big problem. After driving for nearly fifteen hours, Zhang Min couldn't hold it anymore. He turned his head and said, "Baby."
Jue Ming leaned in front of the car window and looked out, when he was called, he looked back at Zhang Min in bewilderment.
Zhang Min said: "Sleep for a while, be obedient."
Jue Ming shook his head, Zhang Min followed his gaze and looked out, and said, "Dad, rest for a while, call me when the car in front leaves."
Jue Ming nodded, Zhang Min took off his coat and covered it in front of him, leaned on the driver's seat, and closed his eyes.
Jueming looked out of the window, and the dark sky was filled with lightning. At the intersection of the highway, the end of the wilderness connected the sky and the earth.
Another jeep was parked next to their car, which was slightly staggered, and Cassia was sitting facing the rear side window of the jeep.
There was a woman sitting there, turning her head to look at Cassia with a smile.
Cassia pressed one hand on the car window, and it started to rain again, with crystal clear water dripping down the glass.
I don't know how long it took, but the woman behind the window of the jeep opposite disappeared.
Immediately afterwards, a stream of blood splashed on the car window, and there was an extremely shrill scream, and one hand grabbed the car window, grabbing a bloody handprint.
Zhang Min was awakened suddenly, and the police shouted from outside.
"what happened!"
"Open the car door!"
"The people inside put their hands on their heads and get out of the car!"
Jueming looked around and saw that the driver's seat of the jeep had been pulled away, and several police officers had pressed the owner of the jeep to the ground.
The father and son watched this scene quietly.
The police dragged the biting car owner away, blood dripped from the car, and was washed into the roadside by the rain. Half of the corpse of the woman who smiled at Jueming before got out of the car, her face was bitten beyond recognition.
Jueming said, "Teacher Xiao."
Zhang Min: "..."
The deceased was a teacher at Jue Ming School, Jue Ming waved at her, Zhang Min said: "Don't look out, let's go, baby."
The congested convoy moved again, and Jue Ming looked at the convoy with flashing lights in a daze.
Finally it was their turn to pass, and the two were taken to a lighted cabin, where several doctors sat.
"Where are you going?" one asked.
Zhang Min replied that he was going to S City.
"The clothes are off."
Zhang Min took off his coat and trousers, several people glanced at them, Zhang Min put them on, and undressed Cassia Ming.
"Come here for an injection." Another nurse said.
The needle tube of the vaccination is very thin. After the injection, Zhang Min asked, "What kind of serum is this?"
A doctor raised his eyes and said, "There was also an outbreak of rabies in the place you went to. It is recommended to go northwest. Do you have any relatives in the northwest?"
"Mr. Zhang!" A doctor in charge spotted Zhang Min.
Zhang Min hurriedly shook hands with him, Jue Ming walked to the side of the car, Zhang Min said: "Is it an epidemic?"
The doctor in charge whispered: "I'm not sure, can Mr. Zhang mobilize some medicinal materials for support?"
Zhang Min shook his head with a wry smile, the staff had all left, what kind of medicinal materials should they be mobilizing? Zhang Min's hometown is in the countryside not far from here. He was discharged from the army a few years ago. He has no relatives and no reason. He has business dealings with several large hospitals in the provincial capital, and the doctor in charge in front of him is the one who received his red envelope.
Zhang Min said: "The inventory is running out, and I'm planning to go out to buy goods. I just came back, the goods haven't arrived yet, and the deposit has already been paid..." As he spoke, he fumbled in his jacket pocket, but couldn't find anything.
Cassia walked over and handed out a pack of cigarettes. Zhang Min didn't know whether to laugh or cry, and thought that luckily Jue Ming took the cigarette carefully.
The doctor in charge picked it up, and Zhang Min lit a cigarette for him, then asked, "Is there a vaccine already?"
The supervisor said: "The effect is not clear yet, but it is harmless to the human body. Let's take an injection first, and we need to be careful."
Zhang Min nodded, and the doctor in charge said: "Listen to the radio carefully. Although this epidemic is fierce, it has not yet reached the scale of SARS. It should get better."
Zhang Min said: "Let's go, you must also pay attention to your own safety." After saying goodbye to the doctor, he got in the car and left the highway intersection. Set off towards S City.