Zombies Are Evolving

Having shot the suspicious child dead, Su Jin turned to look at Fu Hu and Cheng Du. Both men stood frozen on the spot, utterly speechless. After a beat or two, they stiffly turned their heads in unison to stare at him. The kid was still crying... and he'd just walked up and dropped him with a single shot. "Director! That was a kid—why did you kill him?" Fu Hu finally blurted out in shock. "Yeah! Why?" Cheng Du's face was pale. Su Jin knitted his brows into a tight knot and leaned in close, eyes narrowed. "What the hell is wrong with you two?! How could you miss something so obvious?!" "Never mind whether that kid might be infected—there are three corpses and one kid here, so where's the zombie? Without targets or special circumstances, zombies don't roam far." "We checked upstairs and downstairs. Did you see any sign of a zombie?! Did you two shove wax in your brains? You see a kid and your first instinct is to save him?" The two blinked, exchanging a bewildered glance. Hesitantly, Cheng Du raised a hand and pointed at the pile of bodies. "Isn't... isn't the zombie right there? One of them has a puncture through the heart. The other two, a man and a woman, fought it to the death. The kid hid, and after the parents went down taking the zombie with them, he came out." "Yeah, that's what I was thinking too," Fu Hu added. "Even if the kid might be infected, he looked fine for now. There was no rush to shoot him right off the bat." "Huh?" Su Jin turned back, dumbfounded. Looking closer, he realized they were right! A body with a wound over the heart lay on the floor, mouth smeared with blood. Another had its neck torn open, clearly looking as though it had been gnawed on by the first corpse. As for the third, lying face down with long hair, it was visibly a woman. Su Jin scratched his cheek, bewildered. *Wait, so I was the one who didn't look carefully?* "Director, did you... shoot by mistake?" Cheng Du asked tentatively. "By mistake? What mistake? There was no mistake!" Su Jin's expression hardened as he glared at them. "I don't care if that kid was a zombie or not—he had to die! We don't have the means to screen for covert mutants! You two listen to me: under no circumstances do we take chances. Once you find anyone alone, as long as it's a living creature, shoot to kill!" Ignoring their reactions, Su Jin stepped forward to inspect the small body. Flipping the child's corpse over, he instantly drew a sharp breath. "Both of you, get over here!!" Hearing his tone, Fu Hu and Cheng Du rushed over. "Look at this! What the hell is that?!" When their eyes focused, their expressions changed drastically, a chill of lingering terror washing over them. The child's mouth was full of razor-sharp fangs, with bits of shredded flesh and fresh blood stuck between them. Clearly, he had been the real man-eater. "Is that... a covert mutant?!" "The body temperature isn't right—it's a zombie!" Su Jin pressed two fingers against the creature's neck, his face grim. "Zombies are evolving. They're starting to grow brains." Only a few days had passed since the outbreak of the apocalypse... If things progressed at this rate, it was practically guaranteed that covert mutants and zombies would eventually join forces. He had to bring this news back. They needed to hurry and secure a solid foothold. Lowering his head, he continued to observe. Su Jin separated the three bodies. "The woman has been dead for longer. These two men died recently... Mm, they came out for medicine. There must be a group gathered somewhere, probably with elderly folks too." Staring down at the two male corpses, Su Jin sighed and gently closed their open eyes. "They fell for the zombie's trap. Anyone willing to risk their lives for the group like this probably had good character. People like them will only become rarer..." Fu Hu and Cheng Du felt a pang of sorrow. "Both of you stay sharp! I'll say it again: outside the residential complex, no strangers approach us—shoot immediately!" After scolding them, Su Jin still felt unsatisfied and looked up. "Tsk... How did you two even serve in the military? Your risk awareness is worse than mine!" "Well, sure..." Fu Hu muttered. "How can we compare to you, Director? You carried out missions abroad. I only served two years before a slipped disk during training got me discharged... You already know about that." "What about you, then? You should be fine!" Su Jin turned to Cheng Du. Cheng Du's face stiffened. "I... I never saw combat either. Truth is, I only did half my service before being discharged midway." "Why?" "Nothing much... I was sleeping in the middle of the night, someone hauled me up, and the next day they kicked me out." Fu Hu leaned in, puzzled. "Are you pulling my leg? They kicked you out just for sleeping?" "That's what happened... My bunkmate got booted too. Sigh... Guess our emotional intelligence was too low and we offended someone," Cheng Du stammered. "Fine! Enough chatter. Grab the meds, and let's move!" With the medicine secured, the three got into the car and resumed their journey. Su Jin pointed ahead. "A little further up is Longshan Middle School. There might be a horde. Watch for obstacles and let's speed through." "Got it!" Fu Hu gripped the steering wheel and stepped on the gas, surging forward. In less than a kilometer, they entered the vicinity of Longshan Middle School. When the scene before them came into view, their scalps collectively tingled with dread! Zombies... far more than anticipated. There were roughly over a hundred of them—stragglers left on the street when the torrential downpour hit. Umbrellas littered the ground. Judging by their clothes, they didn't look like students at all. As the car appeared, the zombies ahead turned in unison, charging straight down the road toward the vehicle. Fu Hu jerked the wheel, steering toward a thinner patch in the horde. "In that heavy rain, why were there so many people on the street? Were they parents coming to pick up their kids?" Cheng Du gripped the grab handle, his expression a mix of shock and anger. "Dammit! Of course that's it!" Su Jin said darkly. "Hold steady, we can push right through." "Isn't the sidewalk wide enough? Run it up there!" "Alright." Fu Hu gritted his teeth and cut the wheel, evading the bulk of the horde and veering onto the sidewalk. Before long, they had put dozens of meters between themselves and the zombies. Su Jin looked back, carefully memorizing their distribution. The horde moved fast, running at roughly twenty kilometers per hour, but without external stimuli their positions wouldn't shift drastically. They would have to return along this same route later, so noting the zombies' locations in advance would help him plan the return path. Through the iron railings of the school to their flank, dense clusters of zombies could be seen stirring faintly. "Watch out!!" Cheng Du suddenly shouted. A loud *slam* rattled the front of the vehicle. A zombie in a school uniform, clutching artificial flowers, was now sprawled across the hood. Judging by the attire, it had likely been a student assigned to welcome visiting leaders, only to turn into a zombie and wander out. "Holy crap, a greeter zombie! Hit the brakes!" Su Jin roared. Fu Hu slammed on the brakes, flinging the student zombie several meters away. "Quick! Hit the gas!" The car surged forward again, leaving the horde far behind. Still shaken, Su Jin glanced at Fu Hu's pale face. "Lao Fu, can you actually drive or what? There were barely any zombies in front of us just now and you still hit one?" "It was pretty far from me at first..." "Don't blame Lao Fu—that zombie was way too fast, much faster than normal ones," Cheng Du chimed in. "Must've been a varsity athlete when he was alive." "How do you know he was an athlete?" Su Jin looked back and asked. "I can tell just by looking. Drop it, don't distract Lao Fu."