She yawned lazily, and when she saw Sergey sitting by the campfire with a pale face, she blinked and said with a smile, "Good evening, Sergey."
"Good evening." Sergey heard his voice, a little vague, not as refreshing as his usual voice, he tried hard to behave as usual, but the muscles on his face were uncontrollable and stiff , "How did you sleep?"
"Not bad," said Elena. "It's time for you to sleep."
"Just... there's nothing uncomfortable, right?" Sergey whispered.
"Uncomfortable? No." Elena didn't think there was anything wrong with her, she sat up from her backpack, "I'm quite comfortable, go to sleep."
Sergey had to answer vaguely.
But he said he was going to sleep, how could he fall asleep, lying flat on the ground, half-squinting his eyes, out of the corner of the eye observed Elena who started vigil from the gap. She sat by the fire for a while, then turned, turned her back on Sergey, and after a rustling, seemed to have pulled something out of her backpack. The next moment, Sergey heard the sound that woke him up last night. At this time, he was extremely sure that it was indeed a creepy chewing sound.
It seems to be chewing raw meat, and even tearing it from time to time. Contacting the notebook belonging to Elena that he saw just now, Sergey was horrified. He stared at Elena, as if he was staring at a twisted monster, and did not dare to relax his vigilance for a moment.
The whole second half of the night, Irina was eating, and she only slowly stopped until the light of day dawned. Sergey wanted to sit up and ask her what it was, but he was a little hesitant in his heart, because he was really not sure, if this thing was not Elena, and he tore his face with it, would there be any? what more serious consequences.
And he didn't judge that Elena was infected before, so she changed a person from beginning to end.
In the sound of despair, Sergey finally ushered in the morning, and he swore that he had never looked forward to the dawn so much.
Elena packed her backpack and returned to her usual lively appearance in the daytime, and continued on her way with Sergey. But this time, Sergey deliberately stayed away from her, but fortunately, Elena didn't notice it. She just kept her head down and followed Sergey's pace, unaware of Sergey's attitude towards her. What is the difference.
The two walked for three days in this shattering atmosphere. When Sergey, who couldn't sleep, was about to reach the limit of his spirit, he discovered another thing that made him even more broken... He found that Elena's stomach changed. big.
It was just a few nights of work, and her fairly flat belly swelled like a balloon. She habitually touched her belly, with a loving smile on her face that belonged to her mother.
"Irina, are you alright?" Sergey couldn't remember the first time he asked this question. He repeatedly confirmed to Elena that it was better to get an answer from her than to get an answer from her. Say you want to deceive yourself.
However, Elena's answer was no different from before. She smiled, looked at Sergey, and said, "It's okay, I'm fine, Sergey, you don't have to worry about me."
Sergey said: "Your belly... seems to be bigger... a lot?"
Elena didn't care at all, she smiled: "Didn't I tell you that I'm pregnant? It's normal for a pregnant person to have a bigger belly." She touched her belly, her tone was so natural, as natural as Sergey It was the one who asked the strange question.
How can it be normal, Sergey thought numbly, or, in this abnormal world, the abnormal she is the normal person? On the contrary, it was me who became strange? As soon as this thought appeared in his mind, he tried to restrain himself with reason. He knew that this kind of thought was very dangerous. Once he stepped into this logical trap, he might be the next Irina.
From the map, he was not too far from the river, but he could not be sure how long it would take him to travel at such a slow speed with Elena, and for the rest of the journey, Elena Will there be any other changes in Lianna
Not being able to sleep peacefully for a few days caused Sergey's mental state to decline extremely quickly, but he still persevered and even began to try to use the pain to wake himself up. The only good thing is that Elena doesn't seem to be any different - except for her growing belly.
In just a few days, she was already pregnant in August. The slender limbs matched the exaggerated belly, forming a strange sense of incongruity. Sergey had seen the victims who died of famine. Most of them had a bulging belly, which was said to be filled with indigestible dirt.
And Elena, from the outside, looks more and more like those people.
It was another silent night. Sergey fell into a short deep sleep because of exhaustion for a long time. He suddenly woke up again. He looked around in a daze and found that Elena, who was supposed to be sitting beside the bonfire, fell into a deep sleep. disappeared.
"Irina, Irina??" Although he felt that she was out of the normal category, Sergey still called out her name. He noticed that although Irina was gone, her huge pink The backpack is still in place.
Sergey's eyes stopped on the backpack.
On weekdays, Elena guards the backpack very closely, not letting him touch it at all, but she disappeared at this time, which seemed to be the best time for him to reveal the secret. The backpack in front of him was like a Pandora's box, constantly tempting Sergey's already fragile nerves.
He licked his lips, finally unable to bear the temptation, walked slowly to the front of the backpack, and gently opened the zipper of the backpack.
With a creak, the zipper was pulled to the bottom, and the backpack opened a dark gap, revealing the contents inside.
Sergey smelled a bloody smell. He couldn't see clearly, so he pulled the backpack further open, trying to see the contents clearly.
With the flickering light of the bonfire, his goal was finally achieved. He saw the things in the backpack. The moment he saw the things clearly, Sergey took a few steps back uncontrollably and vomited directly. His eyes overflowed. Tears, unable to suppress their own physiological reactions. It was the corpse of a person. I don't know how long it had been dead. The flesh and bones on the body had been gnawed to reveal the white bones, but this was not the reason for Sergey to vomit. The face of the corpse was still intact - it was the daytime , accompanied by Elena beside him.
"Ouch-vomit-" Sergey softened his legs and knelt on the ground, almost spitting out the entire contents of his stomach. He couldn't think for a while, why Elena appeared in the backpack, all the logic It was completely invalid at this moment, and he felt that his mental state was seriously declining, so that when he staggered up from the ground, the scene in front of him even distorted. Sergey didn't want to look at the backpack again. He turned around and stumbled into the dark jungle. He didn't know where he was going. He just wanted to get out of this place quickly, and leave that horrible pink Backpack.
Sergey rushed into the dense forest behind him in a trance, and by the time he reacted, he was already some distance away from the bonfire. He still wanted to vomit, but he couldn't spit out anything. Tears streamed down his cheeks uncontrollably. He let out a small sob, with fear in it, but more of grief.
There is no doubt that Elena is dead, and those who have followed him these days are monsters who don't know anything. Why did the monster eat Elena's corpse, but didn't do anything to him? Sergey was lying on the tree and thinking with his last strength, he silently wiped away the tears that kept flowing, and sobbed uncontrollably.
I don't know how long it took for Sergey to forcefully extract his soul from this feeling of despair. He wanted to turn around and go back to the campfire, but when he was walking back, he heard a rumor not far away. Here comes the sound of Elena crying and screaming. Sergey was stunned when he heard the sound, and he looked towards the place where the sound was, it was dark and couldn't see anything clearly.
Is it Elena crying? Why is she crying? Isn't she already dead? Sergey was in a trance for a while. It stands to reason that his best choice now should be to quietly return to the campfire and pretend that nothing happened, but the guilt over Elena's death made him move. The footsteps slowly moved towards the direction of crying.
The cry got closer, and in the dim moonlight, Sergey finally found the source. He saw a woman with a big belly falling to the ground, holding her stomach and crying desperately, as if the child in her belly was about to be born—
"My child, my child—" Yelena cried out in a desperate and desolate tone. Although Sergey couldn't see her face clearly, he also realized that she must be full of tears at this time.
"My child, we can definitely go out. We can definitely go out—" she screamed, like a terrifying monster, forcibly trapped in a human skin, screaming constantly, "but I'm so hungry, so hungry, I'm so hungry—I want to eat, I want to eat—" The voice was gradually deformed and twisted, like a roar, and Sergey was horrified to hear it.
However, the most terrifying thing had just begun. Sergey heard the sound of a cloth being torn apart in her cry. The next moment, he realized what this sound meant.
Elena's bulging belly was torn from the inside by a pair of hands, first the wrists, then the elbows, and finally the torso—a head with long hair emerged from Elena's belly, and she struggled hard. It was as if he had escaped from his mother's body. It was difficult, and he propped himself up little by little. It was a woman with the same appearance and expression as Irina. The moment she was born, Irina with a big belly stopped crying, as if she had died.
But the woman laughed happily. From the moment she was born, she wore the exact same clothes as Elena. No, they were almost the same person. She looked at the breathless corpse under her body, which was exactly the same as her own, and laughed in surprise. She said, "It's great, there is something to eat, it's great, there is something to eat—" She He lowered his head, touched his stomach gently, and whispered softly, "Dear child, we don't have to die, we will be fine, I will give birth to you, we have a lot of food..."
After watching all this, Sergey was almost like a statue, frozen in place, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't move.
After an unknown amount of time, Elena, who was lying on the ground and devouring her body, was finally satisfied. With an excited look on her face, she started the next move. Sergey watched from the side, neither daring to speak nor move. He saw Elena bent down, dragged the broken body up, and then began to move in the direction of the bonfire. The corpse was supposed to be heavy, but she dragged it very easily, with a satisfied smile on her face, and dragged her corpse to the side of the bonfire little by little.
Irina naturally noticed that Sergey, who was supposed to be sleeping by the bonfire, disappeared, but she didn't care. She pulled out the pink backpack on her own, and put her body in an incredible posture. The corpse was shoved into the backpack. Her face was extremely clear under the reflection of the firelight, and there was a color of contentment on it, but at this time, this smile formed a strange contrast with everything she had done, and it was extremely terrifying.
Elena went back to the bonfire and added some firewood to make the bonfire burn even more vigorously. The contented expression never faded from her face for a moment. All the weirdness, here, finally ended.
Sergey reached out and wiped his face heavily, forcing himself to stay awake, but he was involuntarily shivering, and when he started walking, he even found his body trembling involuntarily—
The night was calm, and Elena was still that beautiful young girl. She didn't cry anymore, and her stomach didn't swell, just like before.
But Sergey, he could no longer deceive himself.
He stepped out of the bushes, picked up the shotgun, and loaded it.
"Sergey?" Elena saw him, her smile unchanged.
Sergey whispered her name: "Irina."
"What's wrong?" Elena tilted her head, looking innocent, "Why do you look like that."
"No, you're not Irina, what the hell are you?" Sergey raised his gun and shouted like a lunatic, "Speak!! What the hell are you??!!"
"I'm Elena." Elena stood up and looked at Sergey in horror.
The expression of fear on her face was so vivid that no one would think that she was not human, nor would he think so if Sergey hadn't just witnessed everything with his own eyes.
"You're not Elena." Sergey said indifferently, "Elena, she's dead."
The words fell, and with a harsh gunshot, Elena looked down at her chest with an expression of disbelief, where a huge hole was opened, but no blood came out, and the black liquid emitted a shrill Screams poured out of her body, and her body began to melt like a candle, but in an instant, it became a pool of black mud that melted into the ground under Sergey's feet.
From the middle of the shot to the disappearance, Elena's expression gradually returned to serenity, her eyes filled with sadness, Sergey thought she would say something, but she didn't say anything until she disappeared.
Sergey's hand softened, and the shotgun in his hand fell to the ground. He fell to his knees and let out a howl like a beast, as if to dry the tears of his life.
By the time he stopped crying, it was already dawn and the bonfire was out, as if everything that had happened last night was just a terrible dream.
Sergey stood up from the ground and unzipped the pink backpack again. Inside, he saw Elena's body.
A serene corpse. Sergey wiped his eyes, used the shotgun in his hand as a tool, and dug a small grave for Elena in the soft soil beside him. marked above. He still has to move forward, and he may die from some curious reasons soon, but if he has a chance to come back here, he will definitely bring Elena back, even if she had rotted into bones at that time, but He will definitely take her out of this place too.
Sergey finished everything and set off on the road again, until in the evening, the sound of water rushing in his ears, the sound of water relieved his spirit that was about to collapse, and he ran, almost using his life. The fastest speed rushed to the river.
When clear running water appeared in front of his eyes, Sergey choked up. He couldn't care less, picked up the clear running water with his hands, and vigorously washed his already numb face.
He let out a sigh of relief and sat on the bank of the river with almost no strength, staring blankly at the running water beside him, and finally regained the peace he had not had for a long time.
That night, Sergey decided to spend the night by the river.
After confirming the campsite, he planned to find some firewood nearby, but he didn't go far when he saw a bright fire near the river bank, as if there were traces of human activities. If it was before, Sergey would have rushed over excitedly, but after experiencing what happened to Elena, he did not dare to go forward directly, but carefully observed from the side.
The bright fire was a bonfire that had just been raised. There were two people walking beside the bonfire. Sergey looked at it from a distance and found two Asian faces, one of them was in their team, and the other he didn't know. The two surrounded the fire and seemed to be eating something. Judging from the strong aroma emitted, it seemed to be meat. The thought of meat made Sergey feel a little sick in his stomach.
Lin Banxia was indeed eating meat, but he was eating serious meat, which he had just caught from the river. He and Li Su had been waiting by the river for three days, and still no other team members came over. They had nothing to do, so they simply caught some fish from the river and beat their teeth. The fish was caught by Lin Banxia. He was born in a water town and has good water skills. He likes to go into the river to catch fish since he was a child, but the only thing to worry about is whether the fish here can be eaten.
"It should be edible." Li Su analyzed this way, "We don't have much dry food, and we definitely need to find some other food source, otherwise we will starve to death here. Rather than starve to death miserably, I'd rather go crazy."
Lin Banxia agrees with his statement. It may be that he was always hungry when he was a child, and he doesn't like the feeling of starvation. So when the two of them came together, Lin Banxia went into the water and quickly caught a few fatty fish.
Li Su volunteered, actually took out a lot of seasonings from his backpack, cooked the fish, then put it on a wooden stick and grilled it with oil.
Lin Banxia was roasting her clothes in the fire next to her, and wondered, "Why do you still carry seasonings with you?" Although he kept joking that he was traveling, he didn't really relax to this point.
"It's all experience." Li Su sighed. After dark, he took off his mask and sunglasses, and the firelight shone on his too-white skin, making his whole person look sparkling. He was gentle. "This place is too big, and it's in the wild. Who knows how many days dry food can last? If you can't last, you have to eat other things. Even if you dig up the roots and stems of plants to eat, it's better to add some salt. "
Lin Banxia thought about it too.
"I'll give you this big one." Li Su said, "I have a small appetite, so just eat this one."
Lin Banxia was about to say something polite and stared at the pattern on the fish, but suddenly felt a severe discomfort. He covered his mouth, hurriedly ran into the forest, and vomited exaggeratedly.
"Hey? Lin Banxia? Are you okay??" Li Su was taken aback by his reaction, "What's wrong? What's wrong?"
Lin Banxia vomited for a while before turning around: "I feel a little nauseous when I see the fish, vomit..."
Li Su: "Ah? Disgusting?" He glanced at the grilled fish in his hand. At this time, the heat was just right, the oil was scorched brown, sprinkled with salt and spices, giving off a strong aroma, and eating it for the past few days Compared with other foods, it has been much better, and I really don't understand why it is disgusting.
Lin Banxia supported the tree and said with difficulty, "No... I remember when I went to the village last month and saw a crocodile gar in the water..." He just retched, "and the alligator sparrow." Carrion under the eel—"
Li Su was silent for a while, with a very complicated expression on his face. Finally, he stepped forward and handed Lin Banxia a bottle of water to signal him to rinse his mouth, saying, "You really do this job."
Lin Banxia vomited tears, sniffled, and said, "Let's eat the fish, I don't want to see meat these days."
Li Su: "Okay, okay, but you don't eat it yourself, you can't complain to Song Qingluo that I bullied you."
Lin Banxia said that of course.
So, in the end, it turned into a situation where Li Su was nibbling on the grilled fish, and Lin Banxia was eating biscuits beside him.
The two were having a pleasant dinner, and Li Su suddenly stopped, turned his head and glanced at the dense forest behind him.
"What's wrong?" Lin Banxia immediately became alert when he saw that his expression was wrong.
"It seems that there is someone in the forest." Li Su said.
Lin Banxia was stunned, and was about to stand up, but was held down by Li Su. Li Su whispered, "Don't move, let's see what he's doing." He said, and took out a pistol from his pocket. , calmly loaded.
The atmosphere was stagnant for a few minutes, and then there was a rustling sound in the forest. Lin Banxia turned around and saw a familiar face. It was one of the Russians named Sergey who got scattered.
"Know?" Li Su glanced at Lin Banxia.
"I know." Lin Banxia said honestly, "But I'm not sure if it's a real person."
"Aren't you familiar with him?" Li Su asked.
"I'm not familiar." Lin Banxia said, "I didn't say a few words."
"Looking at him like this, it should be a real person." Li Su pondered for a while, as if he was considering something, and finally stood up and shouted a few words in Russian.
Lin Banxia was worried about their language barrier, but Li Su could not understand Russian.
Sergey moved forward, and he was determined. He knew that he could not get out of this place by himself. The best situation was to find a monitor, so as to ensure the safety of his life. So after weighing it again and again, he still went to the bonfire, but he squeezed the shotgun in his hand, and made up his mind that if there was something wrong, he would shoot immediately.
Unexpectedly, the person next to Lin could speak Russian, so he stood up and shouted at him, asking if he was a lost person.
Sergey said: "Yes, I am separated." He glanced at Lin Banxia, and found that Lin Banxia was dazed. Obviously, he didn't know anything about Russian, and he was a little anxious.
"Just call me Li." Li Su said, "Don't come here yet - I need to confirm your identity."
Sergey stopped.
"Where did you come from? Did you encounter anything on the way?" Li Su said, "Do you know his name?"
Sergey replied one by one, but still omitted the terrible things that happened to Elena. Maybe he knew that if he continued to think about it, he would go crazy, so his reasoning deliberately blurred those pictures. He just said, halfway through the road I met a person who was exactly the same as my former teammate. After that person was killed, he turned into a pool of mud.
Li Su pondered: "We are going to the opposite side through this river next, do you want to come with us?"
Sergey smiled bitterly: "I can't go back alone... I can't pass through that swamp alone."
Li Su said, "Yes." He took a big mouthful of fish and chewed it slowly, "You can come with us, but you must hand over your gun."
Sergey seemed a little hesitant, which was normal. The shotgun in his hand was his only life-saving equipment, so he gave it to two people he didn't know well... This is really a risky thing.
Li Su was not in a hurry, just waited so slowly.
Finally, Sergey made a decision. He took a deep breath and threw the shotgun towards Li Su. Li Su gave Lin Banxia a wink, and Lin Banxia took a few steps forward and took the shotgun. hand.
"Okay, you passed, come and have something to eat." Li Su said, "By the way, I want to see your notes."
Sergey said with a wry smile.
Li Su handed Sergey a fish and took the black notebook in his hand. Sergey nibbled at the food in his hand blankly, feeling the warm fish filling his mouth, such a delicious food , he should have felt happy, but in fact, he found it difficult to even move the corner of his mouth.
Sergey's notes were also in Russian. Li Su read it very quickly. After reading it, he patted Sergey on the shoulder and said, "Suffering."
Sergey didn't speak, just continued to eat silently.
Li Su then translated what Sergey described to Lin Banxia in Chinese, saying that this person should be very likely to be real, and so far no special flaws have been found in him. Then he simply repeated what happened to Elena. Although Sergey didn't want to say more, he still dutifully wrote down all the encounters in his notebook.
After hearing this, Lin Banxia also felt sympathy for the poor Russian.
After Sergey finished eating the fish, Li Su told him that his schedule for tomorrow would be to cross the river first and then go to the middle of the plain.
Sergey didn't ask why after listening, just nodded and said yes.
The team finally got together and became three people. Li Su let Sergey have a good night's rest, and he and Lin Banxia were in charge of the vigil. After Sergey finished eating the fish, he seemed to have completely let go of his guard against them. He casually looked for a flat place and fell asleep. He looked tired and looked like he hadn't rested for a long time. Lin Banxia was in charge of the second half of the night. When she woke up, it was the most beautiful time in the night sky.
He has seen such a night many times, but he is still moved by its beauty. This is a beauty that cannot be seen in a city full of light pollution. He listened to the crackling of the bonfire and unexpectedly felt a kind of Unprecedented tranquility.
They passed the peaceful night like this and ushered in the rising sun.
The author has something to say:
Li Su: Is there anything more attractive to you than gold
Lin Banxia: Yes, yes, Song Qingluo in gold! !
Song Qingluo: …
Li Su: Pfft.