Zombie Apocalypse: Creation

"Probably some looting back before the outbreak..." Xiaoyun murmured as the two headed inside the stairway to the second floor.

As they arrived at the second floor, there were dead bodies all over the floor. But all of them were already dried to the bones, indicating they had died a long time ago.

"Ugh, the smell is so weird. Can we just go to the third floor?"

Kate couldn't help but cover her nose, as the stench smell was only getting worse. But Xiaoyun shook his head despite her plead to leave.

"The bodies had dried up a long time ago, and the windows are all broken... It doesn't make sense for the smell to be here."

Intrigued by the thought, the two started walking around the office block, trying to find a hint of someone arriving here recently.

After searching around the entire floor, they finally found the cause of the smell at the very last place.

It was in the restroom, with a freshly opened canned fish right on top of a propane stove at a sink counter.

As the two walked closer to examine it, they noticed the print date was way past the expiration date, so far back that it was even before the outbreak.

"Someone just heated this and left it open here... They must have been here less than an hour ago." Kate pointed out as the stove was still hot.

"But why would they just leave it here?" Xiaoyun murmured as the two checked every single stall.

But just as the two were about to go back outside to check the other floors, footsteps could be heard coming from the outside.

They looked at each other for a second, then instantly turned on their invisible cloak and entered one of the stalls.

After positioning themselves on either side of the stall door, Kate tried to close it. But Xiaoyun pushed her hand back, keeping it open so the two could see what was happening.

---

"Bro, I already told you this building has nothing in it. It's just a useless office block. Why are we looking here?"

The man who was asking the question looked like he was in his early twenties, but his unkempt beard and hair made him didn't match his baby face at all.

"It's not just looting, okay? Remember, we're out here to check the nearby surroundings in case there's some rescue mission."

The person answering had a much deeper voice, a chiseled, well-defined face, and a stubble beard that made him look more mature.

As the two entered the restroom, the two didn't show any sign of stopping their argument.

"Rescue mission? Lianzheng, it has been two years now. Whatever rescue mission they have out there is probably given up."

"Tingliao, the country wouldn't just abandon us... We have millions of soldiers in active reserve and more in reserves——"

"All I've seen is nothing from them. It's all I needed to know... Everyone is living for themselves."

Seeing his younger brother's cold attitude, he looked a little disappointed. But he couldn't argue back, as Tingliao was only speaking about the reality they faced.

"Let's just eat and stop arguing... Half-half?"

"Half-half."

After the two split up the canned food and finished eating it, the two packed up their stove in their backpack and left.

But as they headed down the staircase, they both noticed more broken glass in the reception area than when they had first entered.

The alert in their heads was immediately raised. They did not take it as a random occurrence as they looked at each other, holding two fingers up before putting it back down.

As soon as the two stepped into the street, they split up, with one heading east and the other heading west.

An hour later...

After running and sneaking past several blocks full of zombies wandering in the streets, the two brothers reunited again before a metro station entrance.

"Anyone following you?" The older brother asked.

"Nope. If they were following me, they would have gotten lost."

Seeing the younger brother's confidence, the older brother didn't think much of it and entered the dark metro entrance with a flashlight.

After walking for almost a minute with only a flashlight on, the two stopped at the ticket checker.

Right before them was a completely blocked-off brick wall, with a wooden board and all kinds of furniture thrown in to make moving impossible.

The older brother took out three coins and headed over to a vending machine, putting it in and pressing the coke button.

Within seconds, a red light appeared on the vending machine screen.

"Password." A robotic voice asked as it appeared from behind the vending machine.

The older brother quickly pressed a number of combinations on the keypad, then waited for a minute as the vending machine slowly moved to the side.

Right behind the vending machine was a man armed with a rifle, and behind him was a long hallway.

"Finally, you guys are back. Any news from the outside?" A man asked as the three of them headed inside.

"Nope, dead silent as usual... But I heard a few gunshots in the far distance." The younger brother pointed out.

The man looked over to the older brother, who nodded in support. Despite hearing the news, the man didn't look happy at all.

Instead, his face was full of concern, as if he was worried that they could be enemies arriving at their city.

"Let's leave it to the elders to decide... Are you two hungry? I can go report the news to the elder instead."

The man suggested with a kind tone, but his face indicated as if it was a demand that the two couldn't refuse.

"Sure, go for it. We'll just head back to our room to take a nap."

After the older brother agreed to the man's demand, he handed him a coin.

"Here's for your trouble. Don't tell anyone this," the man warned, his kind tone disappearing.

"Of course."

As the three arrived at the end of the hallway, they went their separate way as the man headed up turned left while the two continued forward.

The two finally arrived at the metro proper, which had a long metro line and a staircase down to the metro lines.

Tents were all along the station platform, with stoves and every possible living equipment next to them.

The lights were barely on, but it was just enough to see where everyone was located. However, many of the people on the floor were extremely skinny, as if they hadn't eaten for days.

Some of them were holding up signs that read 'one night for one bread.' or 'selling wife for one week's worth of food.' despite having two kids next to them.

The two brothers ignored all of the signs as they jumped down the metro platform and walked on the railway all the way until they stopped at one of the temporary rooms meant for repair units in the middle of the metro lines.

After closing the door behind them, the two immediately removed their shoes and jackets before unzipping their backpack.

"How's the trip outside?"

A woman in his twenties asked as she held a little girl's hand, who looked extremely similar to her.

"Not the best... Everything in the city is almost completely cleaned out at this point. We might need to go out again next Monday." The older brother replied as the two hugged each other.

"Again? But it's so risky out there... So many people headed out and never came back."

The younger girl's voice sounded extremely worried for the two, but she didn't explicitly ask them to stay as she knew supplies were already running low.

"Don't worry about it. We had so much experience looting. We're not going to be like the others...

Besides, I need to earn enough to pay for you to move up. Our kids are not going to live here."

The older brother moved behind the woman, gently rubbing her belly as the two looked at each other's faces with love.

"Ahem, I'm still in the room, you know..." The younger brother reminded the two.

"And me too." The girl added.

The two quickly separated as their face blushed a little, but their eyes for each other hadn't changed a single bit.

"Come on, Zhezhe. Are you jealous that Brother Lianzheng is so nice to me?" The woman asked as the four of them sat down on the mattress.

"I-I have Brother Tingliao! H-He's all I need!"

The younger sister grabbed Tingliao by the arm, showing all three of them that she was clearly jealous of how close the two were.

"Zhezhe, stop. We can't be together——"

"Why not? Is it because I'm not as good-looking as my sister? Or is it because I'm not your status——"

As Tingliao struggled to push Zhezhe away, he couldn't bear it anymore and busted out the truth.

"I like older women, okay? You're just too tiny and young——"

"Tingliao! Shut your mouth, would you?"

Lianzheng's outburst instantly ended the argument, just as Zhezhe was just on the verge of crying.