CH 101

Chapter 101: Zombie hodgepodge

A female zombie clad in a thin hospital gown suddenly pounces out from around the corner, only to have its head split in two by a blade. Grey brain matter and rotting flesh fly into the air in a diagonal arc. Nimbly sidestepping, Huo Zaiyuan avoids getting filthy goop all over himself.

Glancing down at the motionless corpse by his feet, Huo Zaiyuan feels that the appearance of these zombies is much more disgusting compared to before. The trio has slaughtered their way up to the tenth floor, leaving behind countless bodies. This entire journey has been filled with rotting flesh, dismembered limbs and mushy brains. Coupled together with the ever-present putrid stench, it really makes one feel like they are walking through hell on earth.

"Blurghh…" Unable to hold it down any longer, Zhou Xingfeng retches at a corner of the hallway.

"We can't go on like this. I reckon we'll be done in by the putrid odour even before we manage to find the medicine." Zhou Xingfeng's vomiting only serves in making Huo Zaiyuan's urge to do the same increase.

The only one who didn't seem all that affected by their surroundings is Long Zhanye. Throughout this entire journey wading through rotting meat, bones, blood and innards, his expression remains constantly calm and collected. Not once did he wrinkle his nose at the stink or in any way indicated a desire to puke. Inwardly, Huo Zaiyuan wonders if every elite soldier is forced to go through special training and acquire this heaven-defying ability…this type of endurance is truly supernatural.

"This staircase ends at the eleventh floor. We need to leave it and go through this level to the other side in order to keep heading upwards." Having already memorised the entire hospital layout, Long Zhanye plans out their next route as he encourages the other two to endure a little longer. "The eleventh floor is for inpatients and there is also a lounge for doctors. We can search that area later for surgical masks."

"Un."

The two younger men nod and off they go again, breathing in shallowly to avoid tasting the putrid air at the back of their throats. Spurred on by the thought of finally acquiring masks, their pace accelerates quite a bit. But it doesn’t mean they let their guards down more, for every zombie that attacks is put down mercilessly, with a slash or a stab.

Arriving at the eleventh floor, sure enough, there are no more stairs leading upwards. Huo Zaiyuan sets another array at the top of this stairs to ensure no more zombies will appear in this area.

"Inpatient Department. This means that the number of zombies here will definitely be a lot. Be very careful. Although there is a charm on each of us to conceal our aura, if an undead gets too close, they will still be aware of our presence." Huo Zaiyuan warns, handing another charm to the others just in case the first one lost its usefulness already.

Originally, Zhou Xingfeng didn't really believe Huo Zaiyuan's charm and talisman to be of any use. However, that view changed immediately when a zombie he overlooked clawed at him, only to be blocked by a flash of silver light. Personally witnessing the wooden tile save his little life, he nearly got down on his knees and worshipped it.

This thing is too goddamn mystical ah!

"Let's get going." Long Zhanye says, then reaches out to turn the knob of the staircase's exit door, pulling it open slowly. Confirming the way is clear after peeking out, he leads the way forward, footsteps soundless against the tiled floor.

Following behind Long Zhanye, Huo Zaiyuan and Zhou Xingfeng continue sweeping their gaze in all directions, not wanting to risk overlooking anything.

The long deserted hallways of a hospital appear rather sinister in itself. Adding on the lack of electricity, the entire stretch before them is cast into shadows, as though they are looking into the gaping maw of a large creature. Just the thought of walking down this path is enough to make one's hair stand on end. Their surroundings are eerily silent, the stench from before mixing together with the strong smell of disinfectant…sight, smell and hearing…this current situation really puts a lot of strain on these senses.

Beckoning the other two, Long Zhanye plasters his back as close as possible to the wall before treading carefully in the direction of the doctor's lounge. Not wanting to be left behind, Huo Zaiyuan and Zhou Xingfeng have no choice but to catch up.

With barely a few steps left to reach the lounge, a sudden burst of footsteps echoes through the dark hallway. Heads snapping up, what appears in their sight is an undead clad in loose maternity dress with a bulging stomach, a large chunk of meat missing from a cheek. With stiff movements, the pregnant zombie waddles its way towards the trio.

"A zombie carrying a child in its womb…does this level have a labour ward?" Zhou Xingfeng murmurs as he turns to glance back the way they came to ensure nothing unexpected appears from that direction.

"It's possible." Huo Zaiyuan replies just as lowly, gaze fixed on the approaching pregnant zombie.

It shuffles especially slowly down the hallway. The moment it walks close enough to be seen clearly in the darkness, what truly leaves the three men flabbergasted is not the state of this female undead anymore, but rather, the large crowd of assorted zombies that are apparently following the female's every step. Elderly zombies, zombies with IV drips still attached to their bodies, children zombies, zombies clad in doctor and surgeon uniforms…

"F**k me. What inpatient department? This is clearly a zombie hodgepodge!" The constantly cool as a cucumber senior officer Long eventually cannot help swearing under his breath.

The appearance of so many miscellaneous undead will cause anyone who sees it to feel a growing sense of doom.

"Xingfeng, Zhanye and I will stay to obstruct this horde. You go to the doctor's lounge and find some surgical masks, then continue onwards to the other side." Huo Zaiyuan whispers before tightening his grip on his sword and charging forth with Long Zhanye.

"You two best keep an eye on the rear too, even if it's clear at the moment." Zhou Xingfeng warns as he follows behind the two who are currently chopping and hacking their way through the group. It doesn't take long for them to reach the lounge.

The door of the lounge is opaque and windowless, disabling anyone from peeking in to observe the interior. Zhou Xingfeng pushes it open slightly and a figure instantly leaps towards him. Automatic reflexes kicking in, his foot lashes out in a fierce strike, sending a naked male zombie flying. Before he can jerk backwards in shock, another naked undead, a female this time, charges towards him with a ferocious growl. Swinging his knife, he beheads the female first before doing the same to the male undead, who by the time had gotten back on its feet and attacked again. Danger eliminated, Zhou Xingfeng quickly enters the room and finds a few unused surgical masks in the drawers of a low cabinet.

Task accomplished, his attention drifts to the two undead he slew.

A couple sets of clothes have been strewn carelessly on the floor of the lounge, a white doctor's coat, shirt and pants as well as a pink nurse's uniform. Obviously, the doctor and nurse were in the middle of having sex in the lounge when they were attacked and turned. Who was responsible for biting who or if they were both bitten at the same time…only they themselves know.

When Zhou Xingfeng exits the lounge with masks in hand, Long Zhanye and Huo Zaiyuan have nearly cleared the horde of zombies. With a little assistance from him, the entire hallway is finally filled with the motionless corpses of the undead.

"We've to leave quickly. I doubt there are only this many zombies on this level. In addition, we made quite a bit of ruckus when eliminating them. There is most probably already other zombies making their way over." Long Zhanye announces, eyes roving his surroundings unceasingly.

The long hallway returns to its original silent state, but his keen instincts are blaring in alarm, the feeling of possibly being ambushed anytime making his skin itch…Long Zhanye's intuition tells him that in some unseen place, a great danger lurks. Leaving this building as quickly as possible would be the wisest choice.

"Un." Huo Zaiyuan expresses his agreement.

Taking over a mask each and putting them on, the trio take the left turn into another corridor.

When the three men's silhouettes disappear down the corridor leading towards the staircase that will take them to the uppermost floor, in the darkness of the eleventh level, a faint sound rings out. Along with this strange noise gradually increasing in volume, one can finally hear a set of footsteps drawing nearer in its direction. However, it is not just one individual approaching the noise…but a group of beings shambling forth. From all directions, similar crowds of undead begin to conjugate, every one of them heading towards the eleventh floor.

Amongst the pile of freshly slaughtered undead, the bulging stomach of the pregnant female zombie who was beheaded by Long Zhanye suddenly twitches. Then the flesh of the stomach begins to fluctuate up and down, the greyish-green, veiny surface becoming bumpy and uneven, as though something is wriggling enthusiastically in the belly.

Suddenly, a razor-sharp, purplish-red claw punctures through the skin of the stomach and reaches out to the dark ceiling above.

The first thing that emerges is an extremely small, short and chubby hand. Each of the five fingers ends in a tiny purplish-red claw measuring half an inch in length. Following that, the opposite ends of the hole split, tearing the skin of the belly in two. Thick black blood and internal organs flow out from the rip, and out crawls a small being covered in viscous, reddish-yellow liquid, making it an extremely gross sight to behold…if one squints and move closer, one can vaguely tell that little being is a zombie baby.

Dark red skin and bulging purplish-black veins covering its entire body, its head is fairly large, with not a single strand of hair on it. Instead, a pair of strange-looking antennas extend from its forehead, with its completely black, protruding eyes resembling that of an insect. The small mouth is devoid of lips, exposing two rows of sharp knife-like teeth.

"Hiss - " The infant emits a series of low sounds, a small hand extending slowly to grab hold of an undead's head lying nearby, split in two. Opening its mouth, the zombie devours the two halves in several bites.

It doesn't stop there, instead crawling around swallowing down head after head. The first startling transformation occurs shortly after. Following a sharp crack of bones snapping, the skin on its back breaks and an exoskeleton grows from there until it covers the infant's body from head to toe.

As for the conjugating zombies gathering on this level, they all come to a halt a meter away from this tiny being, not daring to approach any closer…

~~~

Incessantly swinging the sword in his hand, bodies collapse before him, one after another. Abruptly throwing out a hand, several peach wood coins shoot forth, sinking halfway into the wall. With a flash of silver light, a triangular formation is made, creating a barrier to allow the trio a chance to catch their breath.

Their present location is the eighteenth floor, meaning they only have two more levels to go in order to reach the top. However, as they keep pushing forward, they discovered something really weird. That is, the zombies in the corridors seem to keep increasing in numbers…

"What in the world is going on?" Zhou Xingfeng wonders aloud as he stands in the middle of the barrier, frowning at the undead still pouring forth.

"Who knows? But I feel our circumstances is fast becoming disadvantageous." Huo Zaiyuan's eyebrows draw together.

"I feel the same way. This hospital is really strange as if there's something even more terrifying existing in this building. We still have two levels to go. Using swords alone will be too slow. Little Yuan, set more arrays on this level to keep the undead off our backs. We will use guns and shoot our way to the top." Long Zhanye's hand drops to the QCW-5 submachine gun at his waist.

"All right."

Reaching an agreement, Long Zhanye immediately open fire. Along with the tinkling sounds of empty bullet cases dropping on the tiles below, the wave of zombies pressing against the barrier falls in droves. Tossing out more wooden coins, Huo Zaiyuan lays more arrays down and the trio continue their upward climb to their destination.