This is apocalyptic

Chapter 15: Fortunately

A long time ago, she still liked to be lively and could not hold back. Even if she was locked in the yard, she liked to climb the ladder, go up to the roof, and look at the white sky in the distance. But that was many years ago.

Now she could sit on the threshold all day and do nothing.

No, there is a zombie who does some weird exercises all day long, disturbing people's peace.

There are so many locust flowers that you can smell the fragrance before you get close. The flowers are in bunches, very beautiful, not only can you eat them, but you can also dry them and make tea.

She brought two sticks, one bare and one with a hook on it. She put the gun on her waist. When she got close, she would hook the branch with the hooked stick and pick the fruit.

Lin Duoduo pressed down his hat, while being alert to possible dangers around him.

In less than half an hour, a snakeskin bag was filled to the brim. She tied the mouth tightly. In the distance, a zombie seemed to be attracted by the noise and staggered towards this side. Lin Duoduo looked at it while continuing to hook the branches with a hook.

After picking some more, the zombie slowly approached. Its hair was dishevelled like dead grass and its face was horrifying. Lin Duoduo then picked up another bare stick and stabbed the zombie in the chest, saying, "Go!" It was pushed back a few steps and fell to the ground like a fragile child.

The fall seemed to have broken a bone. Lin Duoduo heard a snap, but was not sure if it was the sound of a branch breaking.

She was wondering why Bai Xiao was bitten.

She hadn't seen a fresh zombie for a long time, and these guys were very old, so old that even if no one touched them, they might fall down on their own, break their legs and never stand up again, and eventually return to dust.

Fresh zombies are dangerous, but these old guys have long lost their former danger. They wander around like ghosts or resentful souls that don’t want to leave, wandering around all day long.

Lin Duoduo picked a lot more locust flowers, and the zombie finally crawled closer and stood up with great effort, still trying to get close to humans. Then she poked it again with a wooden stick, making its efforts go to waste.

This thing was wandering outside the yard that day, scaring Bai Xiao into being very anxious. She was anxious for the whole afternoon and it was hard for her to understand.

Even when the bag was full and Lin Duoduo was carrying it away, the zombie was still struggling on the ground, crawling towards where Lin Duoduo had left. But after a long time, when it staggered to its feet, it was no longer aware of where it came from or where it was going. It was like a homeless traveler, wandering in the empty streets, exuding a rotten smell.

The house where Aunt Qian lived also had a sense of decay. When Lin Duoduo came, she opened the door. Her once kind face was now shriveled, but her movements were still quite agile.

She was very happy and accepted the locust flowers sent by Lin Duoduo.

"What a good girl, ah..." She looked at Lin Duoduo, who looked very much like her mother, "Wait a minute."

Aunt Qian asked Lin Duoduo to wait a moment. Lin Duoduo stood at the door. This place was the same as where she lived. There was a small buffer area extending out from the gate, surrounded by a fence.

This was in the past when zombies were still very dangerous. They moved quickly, had a keen sense of smell, and would quietly stay outside. If you were not careful and went out, you would be pounced on. So people installed this to ensure the safety of this place near the door.

There was a trail of blood extending from the door all the way to another courtyard wall in the distance. It should be the deer that Aunt Qian mentioned a few days ago that broke into the door and was shot dead by Aunt Qian and dragged back.

"Here, take it and eat it."

Aunt Qian took out two cabbages and some yellow vegetables from the yard. Lin Duoduo didn’t know what they were called. These were all grown by Aunt Qian in the yard herself.

"I am an old woman and cannot finish all this. Good food cannot be thrown away. Take it."

Aunt Qian stood at the door and waved, watching Lin Duoduo leave, "Be careful."

Looking at Lin Duoduo's figure, she seemed to want to say something but stopped herself, and finally sighed imperceptibly.

What a nice girl. Lin Duoduo carried a bag of locust flowers and two cabbages and walked slowly back home. Fortunately, even if a bag of locust flowers was filled, it was not too heavy.

There are many empty houses in the village. Because no one maintains them, some have collapsed, and some that have not collapsed are overgrown with weeds and moss and have long since become ruins.

There is a big difference between a house that is occupied and a house that is unoccupied.

However, the house where Aunt Qian lived was not among them. Although it had not yet become a ruin, it was beginning to show signs of being uninhabited.

Aunt Qian is probably going to die soon.

Lin Duoduo thought.

It's not a curse or anything, it's just a sign.

She has seen people living alone, who gradually stop taking care of their houses, stop liking to move, just get by in life, and seem to have no interest in anything. Then one day, there is no movement in the house until it becomes a ruin and collapses in a rainstorm.

The sound of footsteps echoed clearly in the streets. There was no other sound in the dead silent streets. The empty houses were like empty graves, burying many people who had long since died.

In the early years, there were seven or eight families living here. Later, they either moved away, died, or turned into mindless beasts wandering tirelessly in the wilderness.

Walking a little further, she came to the bluestone road in the village. Lin Duoduo suddenly heard a slight noise. She turned her head sharply and looked over there with sharp eyes.

"Oh!"

There was a gunshot.
-
Wow!
Bai Xiao stood up suddenly and looked into the distance through the wall. He heard gunshots, which were very clear in the quiet environment. He couldn't help but worry about Lin Duoduo.

He held a thin wire broken off the pillar in his hand, looked at the chain, hesitated a little, and finally decided to wait another ten minutes.

Fortunately, after about ten minutes, footsteps were heard outside the yard, the lock of the gate clicked twice, and someone pushed the door open. Lin Duoduo put down the snakeskin bag on her back. Bai Xiao sniffed and looked at her right hand holding a gray-haired animal with blood dripping. It seemed that she had shot this thing.

"Did you meet a dog?"

Bai Xiao asked. Lin Duoduo had already walked in, dropped everything, and shook her head, saying, "It's not a dog."

Bai Xiao saw clearly what she threw on the ground and his eyelids trembled involuntarily. It was not a dog, but a huge gray-haired rat, about the same size as a puppy, with dirty gray fur, and what was exposed were not the fangs of an ordinary rat, but sharp fangs.

Lin Duoduo packed up the things bit by bit, including the locust flowers, Aunt Qian's vegetables, and the mice she encountered on the way back.

"Fortunately you were not bitten by it." Lin Duoduo said.

Seeing Bai Xiao wearing the chains, her mood inexplicably became a little better.

"Otherwise there's no point in exercising."

If some mutated animals bite people and unfortunately they are infected, they will not turn into zombies, but their whole body will fester. They will start to rot while they are still alive, and they will die in pain.

Many people would rather be infected by zombies than be bitten by this thing. Zombies will go crazy soon after infection, while mutated animals will allow people to retain clear consciousness and watch themselves rot little by little, but they cannot change anything.

(End of this chapter)