Chapter 18: The changed world

Chapter 18: The changed world

Luke smiled at this.

He then took Lori and ran in the southwest direction where her home was.

As they stealthily crossed blocks after blocks, they only encountered a few stray zombies who Luke easily dealt with. However, it was mostly because this was a residential area and most of the people had gone to college or work.

When they were only one block away from her home, Luke halted in his tracks on a turn.

"Huff... why did you stop? Are there zom..." Lori was panting after running for so long. Seeing him suddenly stop, she became confused.

Whoosh!

However, before she could finish her sentence, Luke grabbed her by her waist and rapidly retreated toward the nearby house.

When Lori looked toward the corner where he had stopped, her face turned pale in fright because she saw a big horde of zombies turning in their direction.

Grawr! Grrr!

When the zombies saw the duo running away, they growled and started running toward them.

The house was only ten meters away from the turn, so Luke reached it just in a few seconds. But when he tried to open the door, he found it was locked from the inside.

"Damn it!" He shouted and just as he was about to move toward the next house, he heard a voice from inside the house. However, when he heard what the voice said, he became angry.

"P-Please go away quickly. Don't attract those zombies here."

"You... you are heartless." Lori said in anger. Although she knew people won't be the same and would become cruel and selfish in such disastrous times, experiencing it herself was different.

"Save your breath. No one cares about another in this changed world." Luke coldly said before shooting toward the next house. Fortunately, it wasn't locked. He quickly entered and locked the door.

Grawr!

However, he suddenly heard a snarl from behind him.

Slash!

Even before he turned around, he had slashed out with his sword.

Thud!

His sword cut through flesh and chopped off the hand which was coming at him. The hand fell to the ground with a thud.

When he turned around, he saw two zombies coming at him.

"Lori. Stay behind me." He shouted before kicking one of the zombies back and slashed toward the other zombie's head with his sword.

Unfortunately, the zombie was in motion, so the sword didn't land on its head, but on its shoulder instead.

Grawr!

Since the zombie didn't feel any pain, it growled and slash at his chest with its hand.

Rip!

It's sharp fingers easily ripped his shift apart and scratched his chest.

Ahhhhh!

Lori, who was right behind Luke, screamed in horror when she saw this. She had heard professor Nina say that once the zombie bit or scratched someone, he will also turn into a zombie.

"No, no, no." Tears streamed down her eyes. He was her only hope to reunite with her daughter and if he turned into a zombie, not only she won't be able to meet her daughter, she will also die here.

Slash!

Just then, she saw Luke slash his sword at zombie's head horizontally and chopped off its head. He then looked at her and said, "Calm down. I'm alright."

Grawr!

The first zombie who he had kicked a moment before came running at him this time.

Luke calmly took a step forward and,

Katcha!

He stabbed his sword through its skull, effectively killing it.

The announcement sounded in his head, but he ignored them.

Thud!

He then flung the zombie away and said to Lori, "Zombies outside can sense your presence if you stay near the door, let's go upstairs."

Saying this, he bent down to pick up two red treasure boxes before walking upstairs.

Lori hesitantly followed him and asked weakly, "You... that zombie scratched you, right?"

"Yes, it did." Luke nodded.

Hearing this, Lori immediately stopped in her tracks.

Luke knew what she was thinking. So, he turned to face her and took off his shirt, revealing the undamaged vest beneath.

"This blocked that strike. So, don't worry. I won't turn into a zombie." Saying this, he turned around walked to the second floor.

Phew!

Lori sighed in relief before following him up.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

Just as they went to the second floor, the zombies outside had arrived before their house and started scratching and banging on the door.

"Luke, they... have they sensed us?" Lori asked in terror.

When Luke heard her question, he looked around, and then a bitter smile appeared on his face. "Yeah. This house isn't big enough to let us avoid their detection range."

Hearing this, Lori's face turned pale, and she asked. "What should we do now? The door can't keep them out forever, right?"

"We move." Luke calmly said.

"How? They are right outside and they are too many. You can't fight them alone." Lori said. She was almost breaking down in worry.

Seeing her panic so much, Luke frowned and coldly said, "Stop panicking. It'll only get you killed sooner."

Hearing this, Lori took a few deep breaths to calm herself down and then asked, "How are we going out?"

Luke didn't answer but walked to the room, which was at the backside of the house. He then opened the back window and looked outside. When he didn't see any zombie in the house's vicinity, he sighed in relief.

Lori had followed him inside. Seeing him open the window, she asked in surprise, "You want us to jump down?" n//o//v-)e)(l()b-(I-)n

Luke shook his head. "No. The zombies haven't broken in yet. We can use the window on the ground floor. I was only checking if there was any zombie at the back of the house. Let's go down before they break the door and charge inside."

After that, both of them ran downstairs.

When Luke glanced at the main door, he saw many cracks on the wooden door. It was only a matter of a few seconds before it completely collapsed.

"Move quickly."

Lori ran toward the room in the back with all her might.

Bang!

Just as she entered the room, Luke locked the door. At the same time, they heard the sound of the main door breaking down.

"Let's go." Luke opened the window, and they both jumped out.