In the scorching summer, the scorching sun was in the sky, and at noon the next day, a round of scorching sun scorched the asphalt road as hot as it was about to melt.
They arrived at the outskirts of city s.
"What's going on here?" Zhang Min took off his sunglasses and muttered.
In front of him was the dilapidated entry toll booth. Zhang Min got out of the car, and many people rushed out of the toll booth, all shouting in fear. Seeing that posture, they seemed to be coming to grab the car. Zhang Min made a decisive decision, sat back in the car, and slammed the steering wheel Get off the highway.
"Brother Wang, hello, can you hear me?" Zhang Min put on the earphones and said anxiously, "Yes, we're almost there, we still have 20 minutes' drive away. Okay, no problem, where are sister-in-law and Xiaoshan?"
Jue Ming stared at the people in the distance outside the car window, and as soon as Zhang Min entered the car, the people on the opposite side immediately stopped and watched from a distance.
"What about others?" Jueming asked.
Zhang Min didn't care about checking the surroundings, and drove to the place specified on the phone, and replied: "He's not at home, it might be a bit crowded later, baby, you have to sit in the back seat."
Cassia Ming nodded in understanding, Zhang Min parked the car in the parking lot behind a small two-story building, looked left and right, but there was no one there.
The street trees on the side of the road are sluggish, and the empty streets are full of garbage. The overturned garbage cans are pushed back and forth by the hot wind, rolling gently and making a clanking sound.
After getting on the expressway, Cassia slept all night, but Zhang Min hadn't closed his eyes for forty-eight hours straight, and now he couldn't stop drooping his head in front of the steering wheel.
"Go to sleep." Jueming said.
Zhang Min nodded tiredly, turned sideways, pillowed on Cassia Ming's lap, and said in a daze, "Call me when he comes."
Cassia hummed, staring into the distance in a daze.
The father and son were waiting in the car, Jue Ming covered his left ear for a while, then covered his right ear, tilted his head to listen, raised his hand to touch Zhang Min's handsome side face - his eyebrows were wrinkled.
Caesar opened his adoptive father's eyebrows with his fingers, and looked up.
In the distance, a group of children were walking aimlessly under the scorching sun, with their hands slightly raised, shuffling, and crossing the road. One of the little girls had her head sunken and her neck tilted in an unnatural position.
Jue Ming narrowed his eyes slightly, the person they were waiting for here was Zhang Min's business partner, named Wang Bo, a middle-aged man in his early thirties, and also a comrade introduced by the company commander when Zhang Min was in the army. one.
Wang Bo is married, his wife is very beautiful, and he has a four-year-old daughter. Zhang Min once brought Cassia to play. The couple likes Cassia very much.
Cassia also likes them quite a bit. Of course, with his personality, he won't express himself too enthusiastically. Wang Bo's daughter is close to him. When Caesar is a guest, he will accompany her, take her to the playground, let her play, and watch from the side.
Cassia's travel bag still has Xiaoshan's self-adhesive stickers on it.
After a full three hours, Caesar shook Zhang Min and said, "Dad, he's here."
Zhang Min was so sleepy that his mouth was parched, so he stood up, looked out, and saw a middle-aged man standing beside the sidewalk, it was Wang Bo.
"He's the only one?" Zhang Min suddenly felt ominous: "Honey, you sit in the back." After finishing speaking, he got out of the car.
As soon as the car door was pushed open, a heat wave swept in. Zhang Min quickly ran to his friend, and found that Wang Bo was in a trance. He hurriedly took his hand and put it on his shoulder, and led him to the car.
Jueming bowed and looked out, his eyes followed him all the time, until Zhang Min helped Wang Bo into the car, Wang Bo was exhausted and paralyzed, his face was ashen, he didn't look like a living person, and his eye sockets were sunken.
Zhang Min probed Wang Bo's forehead, then touched his pulse gate, pressed his fingers on his pulse, and fell silent.
Cassia Ming fetched mineral water, and a minute later, Zhang Min said, "I'm suffering from heat stroke...why is my pulse so slow? Drink some water."
Wang Bo nodded, and when he raised his hand to take the mineral water, the bright red flesh on his wrist turned out and was blurred by the bite. Zhang Min was startled, and asked, "Have you been bitten?"
Wang Bo gasped for a moment, and said, "Go quickly, leave me alone."
Zhang Min said: "What is this called? Where are sister-in-law and Xiaoshan?"
Wang Bo shook his head, as if he had just experienced a thrilling death battle or blow, and murmured: "I don't know."
Zhang Min said, "Xiaoshan isn't at home? Isn't sister-in-law with you?"
Wang Bo seemed to remember something, and hurriedly said: "She... took Xiaoshan back to her mother's house."
Zhang Min frowned, Wang Bo's words were a bit out of line, before he could think about it, Caesar brought the medicine box, Zhang Min pulled out a bandage, and bandaged Wang Bo's injured wrist.
"I'm going to die." Wang Bo said again: "Brother, leave me alone, run away."
Zhang Min said: "How can I ignore you?!"
Wang Bodao: "I was bitten, I am afraid... I will infect you with the virus..."
"Don't talk about it." Zhang Min said: "You take a break. At the toll booth on the way when we came, the Seventh Hospital was vaccinating. We have already vaccinated. I will take you back for treatment. Brother Wang, hold on."
Zhang Min glanced at Jueming, as if he was afraid that Jueming would be in danger, and Jueming said: "It's okay, I will take care of him."
Zhang Min nodded. Both Jue Ming and himself had been vaccinated, so they must be fine, so he went to the front seat to start the car, turned around and drove back to City F.
It was another long journey, halfway through the car was almost out of gas, Zhang Min pulled over at a gas station, no one was there.
The convenience store was empty, so Zhang Min glanced around and said, "Honey, come down and walk, pee."
When Cassia came down, Zhang Min pulled the oil gun and refueled himself, and then ordered: "Don't go too far."
Wang Bo was coughing violently in the car, Jue Ming came over pulling his trousers, Zhang Min motioned, "I'll go and see him."
Wang Bo coughed violently, until the sky was dark and the sky was dark. He opened the car door and spat out a mouthful of blood on the side of the road.
Zhang Min hugged him, helped him out of the car, let him lean against the wheel, slightly opened his eyelids with his slender fingers, and observed his pupils.
Wang Bo panted slowly, and said weakly, "Xiaoshan..."
Zhang Min said: "Don't think too much, sister-in-law and niece will be fine."
Wang Bo's face was almost sallow, and he said slowly: "Brother, have you seen them?"
Zhang Min asked nervously in a low voice: "What? Don't tell Jue Ming, he will be afraid."
Wang Bo glanced outside, and Jue Ming walked towards the convenience store.
Wang Bo asked, "Is Cassia better?"
Zhang Min nodded: "Now I don't have a headache anymore, and I like to talk. Who are you talking about 'they'?"
Wang Bo nodded, took out a gun from his waist, patted it in Zhang Min's hand, and said, "Hit them on the head."
Zhang Min took it, looking into Wang Bo's eyes, Wang Bo said: "It's a virus, my brother knows... People who are bitten by them will be infected and become monsters that are neither human nor ghost. "
Zhang Min took a deep breath, and said in a low voice, "Can it be cured anymore?"
Wang Bo shook his head, and Zhang Min said: "Brother, when I went home, I saw a lot of them on the road. They said it was rabies. What is the reason?"
Wang Bo said: "No, I don't know...Brother took Shanshan...to the hospital..."
Zhang Min held his breath immediately.
Wang Bo said: "Once the virus breaks out, it can't be cured anymore. The whole hospital is full of monsters that bite people... The patients, they said, these people are already dead, they have no ability to think, and they don't know who they are. Only a small amount of electric charge is in operation, the whole body only consumes... a very low amount of calories, leaving the instinct of a beast, biting... to eat."
Zhang Min said: "Can... the dead still live?"
Looking at the blood-red sunset in the sky, Wang Bo murmured: "If they can't survive, even if their stomachs are torn, their intestines flow out, their hands and feet are broken, they can still struggle without pain... unless..."
Zhang Min said: "Unless what?"
Looking at Zhang Min's eyes, Wang Bo's face was almost completely gray, his eye sockets were deeply sunken, his lips turned purple, and he said slowly: "Hit their heads and destroy their brains. Or twist their heads and the end of their spines." ... Cough! Cough!"
Wang Bo coughed violently again, Zhang Min hurriedly supported him, and said, "Because the brain also sends action commands to the limbs through the spinal neurons, so the spine must be amputated, that's what it means."
Wang Bo nodded while coughing. Zhang Min and Wang Bo are both engaged in the pharmaceutical industry, and they know a little bit about western medicine theory.
"They are not human anymore." Wang Bo grabbed Zhang Min's hand and said, "We must shoot."
At some point, Jueming stood behind Zhang Min, looking at Wang Bo, and Wang Bo said as if he was giving his last words: "Brother, if...became like that, you must... break my neck, or shoot me!" , do you know, bro?"
Zhang Min hurriedly said: "No, you can cure it, you must hold on, Brother Wang."
Wang Bo couldn't help but wryly smiled, turned over and climbed into the back seat of the car.
Caesar stared at the gun in Zhang Min's hand. Zhang Min adjusted the bullet, then put it away, took Cassia's hand, and hugged him tightly in his arms without any explanation.
The two cuddled together for a while at dusk, Zhang Min said, "Are you hungry?"
Cassia nodded.
Zhang Min said: "Dad went to find something to eat, have you seen the store?"
Jueming said, "Not anymore."
Zhang Min said: "There is always something, come."
With a gun in one hand and Cassia in the other, he entered the convenience store in the gas station. The convenience store was turned into a mess, obviously after several waves of cleaning by passers-by, the shelves were turned into a mess, Zhang Min was rummaging in the back warehouse, and there was the sound of cars outside the door.
A couple stopped to refuel, Zhang Min came out immediately, protecting Cassia Ming behind him, and the two looked out.
The man pulled out the fuel gun and stared at Cassia vigilantly. Zhang Min said, "Hello, brother."
The man didn't answer, Zhang Min took out the cigarette in his jacket, stepped forward and said, "Just to inquire, are you from City F?"
The man remained silent and did not come to pick up the cigarette. After refueling, he backed away. Zhang Min asked again: "Have you been vaccinated? How is the situation at the toll booth... Stop! Otherwise, you will be shot!"
The man still didn't answer, Zhang Min pulled out the gun, only to hear the woman in the car screaming desperately, the man immediately raised his hands.
Zhang Min said: "I don't mean anything malicious, you can leave after asking."
The man said: "Yes... yes, but you'd better... as soon as possible, the army has already passed."
Zhang Min nodded and said, "It's okay, let's go."
The man immediately jumped into the car like a rabbit, and disappeared without a trace.
Zhang Min put away the gun, with a complicated expression of helplessness in his eyes, and went back to the store to carry things.
"Handsome." Jue Ming said suddenly.
"What?" Zhang Min asked.
"Father is handsome." Jue Ming gave a rare smile.
Zhang Min didn't know whether to laugh or cry, but there was a tinge of warmth in his heart, and he said with a smile: "It's Commander Gun, come on, baby, I'll give you this."
He handed some jelly to Cassia, and told him to go back to the car. He carried a cardboard box, which was filled with a little leftover food found in convenience stores—luncheon meat and canned beef, instant noodles, chewing gum, mineral water, Vitamin C tablets and a few packs of cigarettes from the vending machine.
He stuffed the carton in the rear compartment, took out two two-liter bottles of Nongfu Spring, raised his head and drank a few sips, and asked, "Does baby drink water?"
Cassia: "?"
Zhang Min fed him a few mouthfuls with the jar, and the two washed their hands with mineral water, Zhang Min poured the cold water on his head again, his short hedgehog-like hair was wet, and even his snow-white shirt was almost transparent. Close to the majestic bronze back muscles.
After wasting the two large bottles of water, Zhang Min filled the tank with gasoline and put it in the car with a grease gun.
Cassia changed Wang Bo's dressing in the back seat. His bitten wrist was almost purple, and the flesh gave off an unpleasant smell. Cassia poured hydrogen peroxide on it and made a slight noise, but Wang Bo didn't open his eyes.
Zhang Min turned the steering wheel, looked back for a while, and whispered: "Baby, sit in the front."
Caesar wrapped the bandages and shifted to the passenger seat. Zhang Min drove the car to the high speed and looked back at Wang Bo in the back seat from time to time.
"Dad." Jue Ming said suddenly.
Zhang Min asked softly, "What?"
Jueming said, "I think Xiaoshan is dead."
Zhang Min swallowed his saliva, he also guessed, the inconsistency in Wang Bo's words, and the hesitant expression when he mentioned the zombie, plus the wound on his wrist... such a low wound, he couldn't help but think of Wang Bo hugging him. Looking at the infected little daughter, who was bitten on the hand by her.
Zhang Min reached out and touched Cassia Ming's head, and said, "Don't think about it, sleep for a while, and be obedient."
Wang Bo's breathing became more and more heavy, with asthma-like chest and lung tightness. Caesar woke up several times, and when he looked back, he only felt that he was about to die out of breath.
Zhang Min drove very fast all the way, and it was already midnight when he arrived at City F again.
The lights outside the toll booth were still on, waste paper was flying everywhere in the wind, there was no sound of people, and there was a roadblock set up by the army before the gate. The whole road was empty, no cars entered or exited.
In the distance, someone could be vaguely seen standing in the temporary medical room, wearing a white coat.
"Brother Wang?" Zhang Min pulled over, heaved a sigh of relief, and patted Wang Bo: "Wake up, we'll be there soon."
Jue Ming looked there suspiciously. Zhang Min got out of the car and carried Wang Bo out. Wang Bo made a muffled sound and dragged his feet on the ground. Zhang Min put his hands on his shoulders and hurried towards the infirmary.
Cassia held up the handle, the two pushed open the door, and Zhang Min hurried in.
He put Wang Bo on the bed in the outer room, and entered into the screen partition like a gust of wind, only then did he clearly see someone.
Jue Ming looked around and found that there were unopened disposable needles in the iron box.
Jueming tore open the needle packaging, which contained light blue medicine. He remembered that it was the one he had been injected with when he came here earlier, so he gestured to Wang Bo's arm and pushed the needle upwards.
Zhang Min turned around the screen, suddenly suffocated for breath.
In front of them was a bloody corpse, and the doctor in a white coat was the one who had personally vaccinated them two days ago.
At this moment, he was bending over a female corpse, grabbing her internal organs and feeding them into his mouth, Zhang Min took a step back slowly, wanting to let Cassia Ming back out.
Jue Ming threw the needle tube into the iron box and made a crisp clang, Zhang Min secretly thought it was bad, and shouted: "Run!"
The zombie doctor turned his head immediately, let out a vague roar, knocked over the screen and rushed towards Zhang Min! Cassia Ming was startled unexpectedly, and knocked over the medicine shelf. When he turned his head, he saw a rotten face in front of him.
"Ah!" Jue Ming finally cried out loudly.
Gunshot! There were four or five zombies in the medical room! Before Zhang Min could retreat, he was entangled. He overturned the screen and staggered back. The small medical room was full of broken and tumbling medicine bottles. The female corpse lying on the hospital bed also fell to the ground, dragging blood and crawling towards them. .
Another shot was fired, brains sprayed all over the wall, Zhang Min dragged Wang Bo out of the infirmary, slammed the door shut, and shouted, "Run to the car!"
Caesar Ming staggered and ran towards the car carrying the heavy and unconscious Wang Bo. Zhang Min raised the gun, and a moment later there was a loud crash, the glass window shattered, and a zombie rushed out.
Zhang Min fired another shot, and the loud bang woke Wang Bo up.
Caesar dragged Wang Bo halfway, when suddenly his shoulder hurt sharply, and his cry pierced the night sky.
"Baby!" Zhang Min yelled, and rushed towards Caesar, only to see Wang Bo biting Cassia's shoulder hard, blood burst out and splashed all over his face.
Zhang Minfei pounced on the mutated Wang Bo and pushed him away from Cassia. Wang Bo couldn't stop struggling, strangled Zhang Min's neck, and threw him to the ground, the gun was thrown far away.
"Ahh—" Zhang Min yelled fiercely, his elbow was bitten by Wang Bo, both of them were veterans, Wang Bo became a zombie without any precautions, Zhang Min was caught off guard and wanted to push him away, However, Wang Bo's strength was enormous, and the two of them turned over several times on the ground.
There was a deafening gunshot.
Cassia was panting tremblingly, and shot Wang Bo's head off.
Zhang Min pressed the trunk of the car blankly, and stood up unsteadily.
Both of them were bitten, Zhang Min's elbow was torn apart, and the bone was visible in the wound; Caesar Ming's shoulder was bitten to a bloody mess, and the blood soaked his shirt.
Three hours later, under the highway from city f to city s, there was a lake.
A bonfire was lit by the lake, and the car was parked not far from the fire.
Zhang Min leaned against the wheel, held his adopted son in his arms, looked down at Cassia Ming: "Does it still hurt?"
Cassia shook his head.
Zhang Min said, "Don't be afraid, it will be fine when the wound heals."
Cassia said, "We're all going to die, we're all going to be monsters."
Zhang Min whispered: "Don't talk nonsense, baby, you won't become a monster."
Caesar said: "The doctors have also been vaccinated, and they have become monsters. The vaccine is useless."
Zhang Min was silent.
"You still remember." Zhang Min opened his shirt, looked at the bonfire and said, "The day Dad picked you up in the mountains?"
Cassia did not speak, but leaned against Zhang Min's chest.
Zhang Min smiled and said: "After Dad retired from the army, there was no one at home and no money. I went to find medicine that day, and when I found you, my luck gradually improved. We have a company, and we also bought a house. You don't need to rent a house anymore, you see, you are the one who brings good luck to Dad."
Caesar hummed, Zhang Min lowered his head and rubbed his forehead, and said, "We won't become monsters."
Jue Ming didn't answer, and put his ear on Zhang Min's left chest, listening to his beating heart.
Jueming said: "I'm not afraid of becoming a monster. If I become a monster, I won't be able to find you. You should change first, and eat me after the transformation. I will be in your stomach."
Zhang Min smiled and said, "Did you eat?"
In the darkest hour before dawn, the bonfire gradually dimmed.
Jueming said, "Sleepy, Dad."
Zhang Min held back his sadness and said, "Sleep for a while, I haven't slept well all this way."
Jueming said: "When I wake up, I will become a monster, and I won't be able to see you anymore."
Thinking of those zombies wandering around, Zhang Min's eyes turned red immediately, and he said in a low voice, "Yes, if you want to run around, you won't be found, so what should I do?"
Cassia held Zhang Min's hand tightly.
Zhang Min smiled and said, "There is a way, find a rope and tie us together."
Jue Ming smiled and said, "That's right, that's it."
Zhang Min dug out the rope from under the car seat, found out the clothes, and said, "Well, this looks good on you."
After Juming put on his clothes, Zhang Min tied one end of the rope around his waist, and he himself put on a pair of camouflage army trousers and a tight vest—that was his favorite, and tied the other end of the rope. Tie a knot around his waist.
A rope length of about 30 centimeters was left between the two for movement.
Jueming couldn't help being happy when he thought that after becoming zombies, he and Zhang Min would be just a small zombie followed by a big zombie, tied by a rope aimlessly, walking in the wilderness.
Zhang Min knew what Caesar was thinking, and he was also happy.
Both of them were too sleepy to speak, Zhang Min hugged Cassia, opened the sunroof of the car, and the breath of late summer grass and night wind blew.
"Don't eat me." Caesar said in a daze.
"No." Zhang Min said, "I won't eat you, baby."
The night passed, the sun was in the sky, and the sun came in directly from the skylight.
Zhang Min woke up, feeling uncomfortably hungry, he glanced at Cassia Ming who was sleeping soundly in his arms, and barely suppressed the thought of biting him. I thought frightenedly, will this become a zombie
Zhang Min looked left and right, his headache was about to split, he stood up, the rope moved slightly, Cassia Ming was still asleep, his face was pale and rosy.
Zhang Min glanced at the car window. In the reflection, everything was as usual. He carefully unwrapped the bandage on Jueming's shoulder. The wound did not fester or rot. The bitten place was dry and covered with a layer of bloody skin.
Zhang Min lowered his head to look at his arm again, the wound had already scabbed over.
Zhang Min pressed Cassia Ming's wrist, his pulse was stable, and there was no sign of Wang Bo's sudden illness that day.
A beam of light poured in from the skylight on the roof, and the cicadas were singing outside, and it was another new day.