After taking the supplies home, we decided to check each floor, one by one, to see if there were any neighbors who had forgotten to lock their doors... or any who had turned.
"Honey, should we check on the neighbors across the hall? There's been no sound from their apartment at all." After leaving our apartment, I looked at their door. We hadn't called the elevator yet.
My husband gave their door a cold glance. His impression of them was really bad. Actually, it wasn't just him; our whole family strongly disliked the neighbors across the hall.
They were a crude couple, probably in their forties, no children, running some kind of business.
When we first moved in, we had enthusiastically visited them to introduce ourselves, but were met with cold, arrogant refusal at their doorstep.
A few times, when their快递 (kuaidi - courier) packages arrived and they weren't home, I accepted the deliveries for them. When they returned in the evening, I brought the packages over. They didn't even say thank you, just took the items and slammed the door shut.
Another time, our whole family was taking our child to the play centre, and my快递 (kuaidi) was delivered. I asked if they could hold it for me, but they flat-out refused. This made the delivery guy angry, and I was furious too. I felt they had no basic human decency.
We encountered them a few times in the elevator. Our family would smile at them, but the couple was always frosty, their eyes rolling skyward.
From then on, our family acted as if these neighbors didn't exist.
But we often heard them fighting in the middle of the night, cursing in the most vulgar ways. Thankfully, Shuai Shuai was a sound sleeper and wasn't scared awake crying. Shuai Shuai is a little guy with nerves as thick as his mom and dad's.
So, even though so many days had passed since the outbreak, we never considered contacting them to build rapport or cooperate.
They didn't need friendship. They didn't need love. Moreover, deep down, I felt that in an environment like this, they were dangerous.
But thinking of them made us realize we hadn't heard them arguing for ten days.
Were they not home? Or were they already...?
Their door was tightly shut. As usual, we pressed our ears against it to listen for any sound inside. Nothing. Not a sound.
It seemed the neighbors never had a chance to come back! Their apartment was empty!
For some reason, my husband and I both sighed with relief at the same time. With them not home, our floor was absolutely safe!
Truly, evil humans are much more terrifying than those mindless creatures that hunt based on instinct!
Thinking about it, it was obvious. If they were home, they probably would have come over with knives to rob us of our food long ago. They couldn't possibly be this well-behaved, this quiet!
My husband and I decided to start from the 17th floor and work our way down, checking floor by floor. How many households had living people? How many were empty? How many had... the living dead?
Both apartments on the 17th floor were empty. It seemed those people also never had the chance to return home.
On the 16th floor, one apartment was empty. The other had people inside, but they stubbornly refused to open the door. We didn't force it, just confirmed they were alive! But we didn't tell them which floor we were from. We couldn't reveal that. The day would come when they were starving and lost their rationality. They could go to the supermarket downstairs themselves; there should still be supplies there. But if they weren't willing to go, they couldn't count on us for rescue! Especially since they were quite young. Agile, capable of moving freely. Pity they were as timid as mice!
Both apartments on the 15th floor had people. And one of them opened their door, which gave the other family the courage to open theirs. We learned that after the incident, neither family had dared to step outside their apartment even once. Sigh.Furthermore, both families had run out of food. They just didn't dare come out to look for any. Perfect. We正好 (zhènghǎo - exactly) needed allies to go on a big supply run to Carrefour together!
We gathered in apartment 1501 for a small meeting. The couple in 1501 were surnamed Qiao and Hui, aged 39 and 37 respectively. No children. The family in 1502 was a trio: the husband surnamed Liu, the wife surnamed Ling, aged 39 and 37. They had a three-year-old daughter named Guo Guo. The child was already emaciated, her face gaunt from hunger! This couple was forced to a point where, even though terrified, they had no choice but to go out.
For the sake of their child, even the most cowardly person can find courage!
The meeting agenda was simple: how to kill zombies, how to cooperate, how to act. We would take Guo Guo to my apartment first. Then, the six adults would go to the underground garage, take two cars, and head to Carrefour.
The first step was easy. Guo Guo had a full meal at our place.
The second step was much harder. Who knew how many terrifying man-eaters were lurking in the underground garage?
After taking Guo Guo to our apartment, we went back to the 16th floor. This time, I decided to invite the young couple to join us. After all, they were young and strong. More importantly, they needed supplies. If they didn't come out soon, they would starve to death at home, if the zombies didn't get them first.
Hearing that we had a sizable group, those two cowards finally opened their door to let us in. This time, I brought them some food.
What a timid couple they were! Wang and Qu, 25 and 24 years old. Newlyweds.
They had survived ten days because they couldn't cook and only knew how to boil instant noodles. So their home was always stocked with various flavors of instant noodles, which had sustained them until now. But the noodles were finished too.
Watching them wolf down the canned food and pastries I brought, I shook my head.
"Didn't you think about going to the supermarket downstairs to get some food?" I asked. "Who else besides you two would dare go out?!" Qu looked up at me and my husband. Apparently, they had seen us looting the supermarket from their window.
"Did you two know beforehand? Why did you go get so much food on the very first day?" Wang, now full, began voicing his questions.
"When it happened, did you know what was going on?" my husband countered.
"Looked kinda like the movies. The foreign ones," Wang said. He was a young guy, after all; his interests were exactly the same as ours!
"Zombie movies aren't anything new anymore. We knew what was up as soon as we saw it. We just acted a bit faster," my husband said lightly. I thought he was super cool right then. Actually, I think he wanted to say, "Who told you to react so slowly?"
After the young couple finished eating, my husband and I instructed them to change into lightweight, practical clothing. All three families had cars in the underground garage. What was surprising, after we exchanged information, was that the most timid couple, Wang and Qu, drove a Land Rover!
Who would have thought? Driving such an intimidating car, yet so timid.
Wang smiled sheepishly and said, "Let's take my car. It's sturdy, has plenty of power, and I just filled up the tank before this happened!"
Eight people definitely couldn't fit in one car, plus we needed to bring back loads of food. So, the other two families brought their car keys too. However, they drove ordinary sedans.
Preparations complete, we squeezed into the elevator, each gripping the sharpest kitchen knife from our homes! The only difference was me, carrying the long sword on my back.
When the elevator steadily stopped at the first underground level, all eight of us were so tense we hardly dared to breathe!
The moment the elevator doors opened, we simultaneously heard that unique, hungry low growl characteristic of zombies.
"Damn, right on cue!" Little Wang complained under his breath. I immediately glared at him, raising my index finger vertically in front of my lips.
Gently, I drew the long sword, holding it horizontally in front of me. But my husband immediately pulled me behind him, his eyes leaving no room for argument telling me, Big brother goes first!
I used hand gestures to tell the other allies behind us to defend from different angles, not to all stare forward. Zombies don't have a great sense of direction; they don't play by the rules!
There was a corridor from the elevator to the garage. At the end of this corridor was also a security door, usually locked, requiring a key card to open. This was probably why the corridor was clean, why the zombies hadn't gotten in.
We crept softly towards the security door. My husband first pressed his ear against it to listen, then turned back and nodded, meaning there were no zombies immediately outside for the moment. So, we pressed the button to open it. This door required a card swipe from the outside, but there was a button on the inside, just like the main entrance door on the ground floor. Opening the door, we found the garage was still lit by those dim, yellowish lights! We had brought flashlights, originally thinking it would be pitch black!
Props to the property management! Still holding on with the electricity.
They really deserve a hundred years' worth of bonuses!
The light was dim but enough to see clearly. About a distance of a dozen cars away, five or six bewildered zombies were shuffling around. Two of them were women!
Their eyesight was probably poor, though. All eight of us had slipped out of the unit entrance and closed the door behind us, and they hadn't even noticed us!
This was good, but also not good, because to get to our cars, we had to pass by them!
"Don't hold back. They're not human anymore. Understand? Don't make the stupid mistakes they do in the movies!" I gave one final warning, even though this had been repeated countless times during the meeting.
And so, the group of eight quickly and orderly advanced towards those five or six terrifying monsters. Actually, you couldn't really call it 'advancing stealthily' because we basically charged over. If those five or six had been sharp enough, they should have seen us long ago.
At least we had numbers on our side, I thought smugly.
My husband chopped one down with a single knife stroke. So accurate!
The consequence was that the remaining ones seemed to 'aggro' fully. Damn! Their faces were so much uglier than in the movies! Oozing pus and fluids! So damn disgusting! The long sword was effective; I didn't need to get close. I brandished it and charged at one female monster. But unfortunately, my swordsmanship was highly unprofessional. Unlike Michonne in the movies, who could cleanly slice a head off, I only managed to hack into her arm.
Clearly, a slash on the arm had no effect on this lady. She snarled, drooling, and closed in on me. In a panic, I kicked her in the chest with a front kick, simultaneously pulling my sword back with force. The female zombie fell over. Before she could get up, a kitchen knife chopped into her skull. It was Qu! The timid girl!
In that instant, the other zombies were taken down by someone—who knows who exactly. Seems like I was the most embarrassing one! I had acted all leader-like before! And I had that super cool, professional-looking weapon, yet I used it so unprofessionally!
But there was no time for shame or to say something to save face. The eight of us quickly rushed forward.
We had agreed beforehand: my husband and I would go with Little Wang and Little Qu. The other two couples would separately go to get their cars once it was confirmed there was no immediate danger.
Luckily, their three cars weren't parked too far apart. We quickly got into position. The three cars sped swiftly towards the exit. Normally, you needed a card to exit, but obviously not now. The garage door was wide open. We drove straight out.