Shu Ning cursed loudly in his head as he stabbed the throat of yet another zombie in his path. His hand was already numb from gripping the handle of the knife too hard and a disgustingly sticky substance was steadily dripping down his fingers.
It's been a month already since he carefully climbed out of the wreckage that was left of his stolen car. He had been a bit shaky on his legs and a bit lost as he stumbled along the path that was barely visible under the dirt and leaves. But to his eternal gratification he could feel the steady thrum of his heart beating in his ribcage. That meant that he was still very much human.
Since then Shu Ning had been fighting his way up north, stealing cars along the way until they ran out of fuel, ransacking supermarkets for any leftover food he could find and grabbing weapons from the bodys of less fortunate human beings. One of these weapons being a somewhat longer kitchen knive than he was used too. Now barely recognizable under the dried mucus and dirt.
Shu Ning stepped over the still form of the zombie and plunged his knife into the next body to enter his line of sight. Like this he worked himself steadily through the last handfull of undead that had obstructed his drive. Of corse he could have just run them over with the pale yellow van he had been on the move with, but then there would have been no chance to retrieve the colourful stones from the zombies head.
Nucleo. That was at least what Shu Ning decided to call them. And only because he had read about them in some novel his friend once forced on him. Because the book had also been about the zombie appocalypse, he had chosen to collect these stones, or crystals, or what ever, to see if it really was similar to the story.
Shu Ning sighed as he looked at the meager collection of nucleo he had gathered and stored them safely away in his system space. Then, with a shove of his free hand, he forced the still form of a zombie from the hood of his van and settled back behind the steering wheel.
It only took another few hours of driving until the walls of B-Base finally appeared on the horizon, making Shun Ning speed up even more to shorten the distance faster. In expectation he even craned his neck a little to look up at the walls edge, but except for rough black stone and behind it the dark grey sky there was nothing else to see. No roofs, no guard towers, no anything.
Shu Ning was slightly dissapointed but hid it quickly behind a slight smile as he approached the gate of the Base. A Man in dark green uniform stood ramrod straight on the side of it and lifted his hand to halt Shu Nings advance.
"Do you have a pass, or are you new?"
"New."
"Drive to the left to park your car, then go right into quarantine for ten hours, there you give half the food you have to the guard stationed there. Your room will be alocated to you after, as will you receive the rules. Most importantly: Don't kill humans, don't steal food, help fight zombies and gather recources. Breaking them means getting thrown out. Any questions?"
Shu Ning felt slight amusement tick up the corners of his mouth as the guard finished rattling off his practiced speech. Not even once did the man look in his direction or relx his stiff posture. Shu Ning wasn't even sure the other actually would answer any questions that would derail him from his practiced pattern. So with a shake of his head, which the guard surprisingly must have noticed as the iron gate slowly opened it's wings, Shu Ning made his way through the gap to follow the Mans instructions.
After the quarantine was over and Shu Ning held a small golden key in his hand, he made his way through the streets of the Base. There were rows and rows of houses and appartment blocks and here and there there were tables littered with useless objects that someone was obviously trying to sell. If you completely ignored the haggard looking faces and the ripped and too loose clothes hanging off of their frames, then this could be a normaly functioning town, in a normaly operating world. But even in the relative safety of the high walls there was still an unmistaken fear hanging over everyones head.
Shu Ning walked around the streets for what felt like ages, just basking in the presence of othe human beings. After a while though the exhaustion of the past few days were too much for much for him to continue looking around and he decided to get some well needed rest.
The appartment that he received from the Base had only one room already furnished with a small and simple bed at one wall and a narrow wardrobe on the other. There was barely enough space between them to open the closet's drawer, but as Shu Ning was too exhausted to do anything else but sleep, it fit his purpose quite well.
Early the next day, Shu Ning set out again to make his way through the completely deserted streets and into the mess hall. Inside, all the other citicens of B-Base were already assembled to receive their share of food and he quickly grabbed a paper plate as well to await his turn. All the while he stood inside the steadily growing queue he imperceptively inquired about the parents of the original Shi Wei.
Shu Ning hoped that the two had safely made it into B-Base as well, but none of the other survivors seemed to know anything about them. That didn't stopp Shu Ning from asking anyone he came across though and even after he had finished eating his breakfast and the people started to leave the mess hall, he was still looking around for someone he would recognize.
"Oh? Shi Wei! That you?"
Shu Ning froze in the middle of talking to a young couple and cringed internally at the spitefull voice calling out to him. It was his luck that instead of finding Shi Wei's parents, he would instead run into the one person he didn't want to see.
In two long strides a young fellow in a spotless light blue shirt and jeans and unruly brown hair stalked over. A tight grin was plastered on the youth's face and his eyes indifferently raked over Shu Ning's thin frame, pausing shortly on the tears and stains of his clothes.
"Who would have thought that I would meet you here Shi Wei. this past few weeks must have been horrible for you. With your mental illness and all."
Xu Dan smiled amiacily at Shu Ning before replacing his expression with a concerned frown and continuing.
"You look so thin and worn out. What happenned to you?"
"Xu Dan. I really hoped to never have to look at such an ugly visage ever again. Maybe I should have let the zombies dispose of me, so that I would be spared such a sight."
Shu Ning sighed loudly as he pressed two fingers against his temple, rubbing there in slow circles as if to alleviate an oncoming headache. It had the desired effect as Xu Dan glowered at him and menacingly took a step closer. All pretence gone from his expression.
"You.... You sure have some nerves. I am still your brother."
"No. You never were my brother. Don't pretend anymore."
"Pretend?"
"You think I'm so stupid? I know that you don't give a damn about me or my parents."
Xu Dan's expression darkened, an angry glint in his eyes. Shu Ning was sure that the other would hit him if there weren't still people loitering around them, waiting for a show. But suddently Xu Dan's mouth quirked up in a self satisfied smirk and his chin liffted in superiority
"Speaking of those parents of yours. Do you know where hey are?"
"No. But you seem to?"
"Oh, I sure do. It was so horrible. There were zombies all over the place. It went so fast that I didn't even see it happen. But suddenly there they were. Lying in their own blood, dead."
Shu Ning slowly flexed his finger at his side, trying to decide whether to deck Xu Dan or not. But harming the other would not help his own cause, so he instead just breathed in and out a few times to calm the roaring anger inside of him. Shi Wei's parents might not have been his own, but they didn't deserve an end like this and from the look in Xu Dan's eyes it probably could have been averted.
"Where."
"Where what?"
"Where are they."
"You mean their corpses? Or what is left of them? Well if you need to know, it's half way between here and K-city."
Without another word, Shu Ning turned around and sauntered off, making his way back through the streets and to his own appartment complex. There he just breathed for a short while while contemplating on what to do now. Though there wasn't much to think about as he had already made up his mind on the way.
Shu Ning grabbed the bag that he had stored under the bed and packed some clothes, spare food and other essentials inside. The knive was stored inside the system space so that he could always carry it around with him.
After a quick sweep of the small room, making sure there was nothing left he could need, Shu Ning walked back outside and this time quickly strode over to the Bases gate. His car was still parked on the side of it and he checked if the fuel would be enough to get him to the next town. It would.
Shu Ning started the engine and drove out of the opening gates, waving the guard goodbye before leaving. He turned the car in a sharp curve and sped up in the direction Xu Dan had pointed him.
It was two days, and a fruitless search, later that he found himself inside of K-city. Shi Wei's parents still not found, but the food reserves completely gone, as was the fuel repertoire of the car he had picked up after the van broke down. Now there was no other choice but to stock up on some edibles and return to the base.
Alpha: "Don't be sad, host. I bet Shi Wei's parents are very happy where ever they are."
Shu Ning: "I'm not sad. I knew that the chance of finding their bodys were slim. Just unfortunate that I can't fullfill that mission."
Alpha: "If you knew they were goners, then why did you leave the Base?"
Shu Ning: "It would have been too uncomfortable to stay there. The Protagonist was there too after all."
Alpha: "That was the reason you chose to leave?"
Shu Ning: "Partly. I did want to find the parent's bodys. I hoped that there would be a memento I could take with me for a proper grave. Other then that I also didn't plan on staying near a human settlement for too long. There is bound to be a lot of intrigue, chaos and anger. Not a thing I want to be involved in. Keep an eye out for any zombie."
Shu Ning carefully opened the car door and when no roaring could be heard in the near vicinity he clambered out of the seat. The streets were completely clustered with debris and abandoned cars, making for good hiding places as he made his way closer to the nearest supermarket.
It was a bit eary that there was no sound to be heard except for Shu Ning's own nervous breathing. Not even the wind was rustlingthe leaves and dust on the ground. It felt a bit like he was caught in a horror movie and any second now a clown with a bloody ax would jump out of the shadows.
Nothing of that sort happened though and Shu Ning reached the doors of the supermarket unobstructed. With a swish they opened and he surveyed the mess inside for any hidden movements before fully stepping inside.
The long lasting groceries were stored on the second floor of the supermarket which was were Shu Ning went. The steps of the stairs were broken in some parts and when ever he climbed a bit higher another part would brittle off. In the end though he made it to the top and started digging through the food ans shelves strewn across the floor.
It was when he had gathered a few cans of beans, some biscuits and a squashed pack of instant noodles that things started going wrong. The hairs of the back of Shu Ning's neck suddenly stood to attention and a cold shiver ran down the spine of his back. Before he could really register what was going on he had already thrown himself to the side and a heavy object slammed into the ground where he had kneeled just seconds before.
Shu Ning lept back onto his feet already holding the knive in a tight grip when he got a good look on his enemy. It was a zombie, no doubt about that. The skin was a sickliy pale, the black hair standing up from the head in knots, the nails a dark gray and sharp as a razor blade and the eyes piercing and rutheless. But there was something different about the movements of the other, something more animalistic and more agile then that of other zombies. And then there was the way that this undead was staring at Shu Ning as if it was trying to decide which part he should bite into first. There was only one word that this impression evoked in Shu Ning's head and that was 'Danger'.