Bai Qingqing saw the strange acne on Yang Li’s face that looked just like plant spores and her blood froze in her body.
Mutation.
“Move! Otherwise you will be shot too!”
Soldiers could never allow an infected person who was a threat to the base itself to enter, even if said infected was still human during the inspection. They couldn’t know when they would transform.
When the incident had broken in Wucheng, the former safe area had turned into a monster’s haven in just a few days. Now, corpses lay everywhere on the ground and rotting zombies were destroying everything.
Mutant zombies were much more terrifying than ordinary ones. Ordinary ones would aimlessly bite humans while the mutated had both gained bloodlust and abilities. Their explosive powers and savage instincts made it difficult for humans of the same level to fight back.
Moreover, mutated zombies could infect others before they even changed themselves and outbreaks were completely uncontrollable.
The survivor’s base was just in front of him. Zhou Hang had taken his girlfriend in hope to be granted safety but was turned away at its door. In just a few seconds, half a year of expectations were destroyed and despair and sadness spread in his heart.
He had to go in! They were human, not infected, not zombies! They were humans and just wanted to find a home!
The soldiers were dressed in full military gear and raised their guns towards Yang Li’s head. Zhou Hang was still protecting her; the sadness in his eyes turned into anger and he shouted: “She is not infected! Just check again!”
No one believed him. No one dared to. Wang Feifei, her boyfriend, and the fifth man looked frightened and stayed away from them. They were full of fear, anxiety, and horror as they prayed they weren’t infected too.
Bai Qingqing was pushed back by the crowd. Yesterday, the lovers had expressions full of hope but today, they were facing death. The end of days and what it had made mankind become was so cold and cruel. The soldiers only trusted the testing equipment, Zhou Hang could not change their minds.
“Move! We will give you three seconds, if you don’t, you will die together!”
Bai Qingqing squeezed Cheng Rui’s hand, her eyes full of pity for the couple and the surviving humans.
Cheng Rui looked down at her and hugged her, quietly comforting her.
Yang Li’s eyes were hollow and desperate. Facing the guns around her, her heart was suffocating in pain.
“Don’t kill him!” She begged with tears streaming down her cheeks, “I am the only infected, just kill me. Please.”
Zhou Hang turned to look at her: “No! I promised I would bring you to safety!”
He had promised her that he would give her a future, a home, no matter how bad the world turned.
Some people in the crowd sighed, some people complained that he was too emotional and was risking everybody’s safety. Some urged the soldiers to act and kill anyone who disobeyed too.
“Zhou Hang, I… I…” Yang Li started shaking and a weird roar escaped her throat as she spat blood.
Zhou Hang noticed the unusual behavior and held her anxiously: “Lili. Lili, what’s wrong? Where does it hurt?”
Bai Qingqing answered in a low voice and a complicated mood: “She had begun to change.”
Cheng Rui was no stranger to the mutation process of ability-wielders and looked at the situation indifferently. The guards of this base were not of low rank, they should not have any problem dealing with the girl.
The soldiers fired at Yang Li and Zhou Hang used his power to block them with a shield of sand.
“Out of the way!” The soldiers ordered the crowd.
Bai Qingqing and Cheng Rui followed the movement to the edge of the tunnel. The soldiers kept shooting at Zhou Hang and Yang Li but all bullets were stopped.
“Agh!” Zhou Hang suddenly choked and clutched his neck.
The sand around him fell to the ground and a terrifying scene appeared to the crowd. Yang Li’s eyes were milky, her face was blue, and she had trapped Zhou Hang in her arms as she bite his neck violently. She tore the skin like a beast but Zhou Hang did not resist and stroked her head instead, a desperate and powerless expression on his face.
The soldiers crept closer to kill them but Zhou Hang roared. He carried the love of his life in his arm and quickly rushed in one direction.
Bai Qingqing’s heart beat violently and she stared at the way the lovers went.
“Aaaaah!” People screamed in fright.
The captain ordered: “Quickly! Don’t let them escape! Kill them!”
No one had expected that Zhou Hang, who had been hoping for a better life since the outbreak, would be bitten by his girlfriend at the base’s entrance. No one had expected that facing death, he would choose to take the woman away and run out of the base desperately.
They couldn’t join the other survivors. They would die if they tried or they would become zombies if they escaped.
In the end, death was upon them but he could still choose how they would go.
This happened almost every day at the inspection gate of the base. People would panic, people would scream, people would die. But after months in this apocalyptic world, inspectors had become too numb to care anymore.