Sometimes a sudden generosity is harder to deal with than a fist fight. Under the vibrations of the car, Pei Ran’s hands, which were resting on Qu Yan’s shoulders, would occasionally touch his neck and create a slight ticklish feeling. Through his touch, his palms felt distinctly warm except for his fingers which were slightly cold.
Qu Yan suddenly felt a bit sleepy. This kind of nameless comfort and safety made him afraid and wanting to reject it. His hands that were quietly resting on his knees suddenly pinched his skin and only let go when that sharp piercing pain faded away from his senses, leaving a crease in his school uniform pants that slowly smoothed back out.
On the way to their destination, the number of zombies was visibly increasing. Pei Ran already regretted his decision; why did he have to come along. It was fine if he had to kill these disgusting things, but face to face, fighting it head on, he could vomit all the food from last night out.
Dropping his chin on top of Qu Yan’s shoulder, Pei Ran remained alert as he looked out the window. But then he felt that the shoulder he was resting on was a bit boney and hard, so he switched his position.
He whispered into Qu Yan’s ear,
“Ah, can you even fight with this body of yours?”
As he said so, he squeezed up and down Qu Yan’s arm, trying to see if he had any muscles.
Perhaps it was because Qu Yan was too skinny that, with even just the slightest of movements, the sleeve on his school uniform was pulled up halfway and revealed scattered old scars on his upper arm.
There was a moment where Pei Ran thought his eyes had gone senile. He blinked and used his fingers to confirm before realizing that those were real scars. He pointed at the biggest wound, one that looked to be caused by a knife, and asked Qu Yan,
“How did this happen?”
Qu Yan didn’t respond. His blank inky eyes only stared at the redhead delinquent sitting beside Sang Yan and then retracted his gaze, silently shaking his head.
Pei Ran understood immediately. He pulled down the sleeve and patted the other’s shoulder in a meaningful way,
“Don’t be afraid. When others try to mess with you, you have to be even worse than them. When I was at school, two delinquents tried to rob me, but instead, I lured them to the forest and beat them up there. They were so scared that they even peed themselves. If you were in the same school as me, I would have definitely been able to protect you.”
And of course, he said nothing about bringing over ten people with him.
Most teenagers were probably like this, reckless and afraid of nothing. Qu Yan stared at Pei Ran’s raised eyebrows that projected a grandiose arrogance over his face and suddenly asked in all seriousness,
Pei Ran paused and then blinked. His marks weren’t that great so money was spent to enroll him into a private school. Poking at Qu Yan’s unknown school badge on his uniform, he said,
“Well it’s just a shitty school. My marks were terrible, not as good as yours are.”
He could still remember Qu Yan’s exam with full marks, but in this apocalyptic world, there doesn’t seem to be much of a use.
“Srrrkkk—-“
Wheels suddenly dragged on the ground, letting out a long piercing screech. Zhou Cang Ming had quickly stepped on the brakes, almost sending everyone flying out of the car, not expecting a zombie to suddenly appear right in front of the car. Everyone else was fine, but Pei Ran with his half sitting posture was in the worst shape. He had been tilting his head to talk to Qu Yan and his head bumped on the window with a loud sound which anyone could tell hurt.
“Fuck—-“
Pei Ran held onto his head, mind blank from the pain. He was just about to run his mouth off when he suddenly saw a female zombie right by the window. Its rotting flesh filled up the entire window as it tried to paw with aggressive strength and roaring screams, causing Pei Ran to seize up as if someone pinched his throat, unable to utter a single sound.
So……so gross……
Feng Tang was the first to react, immediately grabbing his knife and quickly flinging the zombie off just as Zhou Cang Ming’s soul almost flew out of this world from fear. He stomped on the pedal to escape, but the zombie only climbed back up from the ground and started to chase them with even faster speeds.
Without anyone noticing, the red sky above had slowly been fading away, finally revealing normal sunlight and yet what it represented was not anything good.
The zombies were about to complete their evolution…..
The car quickly sped away and finally reached the gas station. Zhou Cang Ming anxiously said,
“Get out of the car and grab supplies quick! That zombie will soon catch up to us!”
He could sharply sense that the female zombie was more nimble than ever. With two bangs from the door opening and closing, he and Feng Tang had already rushed into the supermarket next to the gas station. Sang Yan and the others quickly followed behind, leaving only the two frozen people behind.