Chapter 10: The Fork in the Road

“There’s a fork ahead.”

What Zhao Qiang had dreaded most had finally happened. Once the mentality of preparing for war and famine had taken hold in the minds of most people, this vast and sturdy underground facility had been designed as a maze—and forks were among the most maddening features of any maze.

In such a dark and enclosed environment, the human mind was forever giving birth to all manner of bizarre thoughts. Those thoughts inspired an inexplicable fear and an endless loneliness, as though one had entered another world—a world without light or hope, a world that felt no different from hell itself.

The cold wind rushing through the tunnel carried the zombies’ low growls from somewhere deeper within, constantly reminding the squad that this place was far from safe.

“Maybe we should turn back.” Chen Ergou disliked this place even more than Cai Jiashu did. Having grown up in the countryside, he had encountered far more stories of ghosts and supernatural forces, and materialism remained, to him, an unfathomably profound scientific theory. “We’ve already come too far. Who knows how many more forks lie ahead? We’ll get lost.”

Chen Ergou was right. No one knew how many forks awaited the squad. At every junction, they would have to split up and explore every possible route. Without a map or any proper lighting, exploring a completely unfamiliar underground maze was exceedingly unwise. Reinforced concrete would interfere with communications, and once they became lost, everyone would be plunged into an utterly hopeless situation. What was more, even the strongest flashlight could illuminate no more than ten meters in this place. That severely limited the squad’s combat effectiveness, meaning that when faced with zombies, they would have only ten meters in which to react. For a zombie dog, crossing that distance took no more than the blink of an eye.

“We can’t just leave this place!” Cai Jiashu was the first to object. As long as the zombies in the air-raid shelter remained alive, the valuable small-arms production line at Jianglu Machinery Factory could not be put into operation. And the Wise One hidden inside the shelter would summon more and more zombies, making their future work increasingly difficult—even if the conditions here were almost unbearable.

For a time, the squad split into two factions. One advocated retreating and waiting until more equipment arrived before beginning a fresh exploration. The other insisted on continuing the search until the last zombie in the shelter had been destroyed.

Under Wei Tao and Jundao’s training, every member of the squad had learned to think independently. The squad had always upheld democratic traditions, and so the two sides stopped at the first junction and began arguing incessantly. Each faction had ample reasons to support its position, and neither could overwhelm the other or secure a democratic advantage.

“Brothers, brothers!” Zhao Qiang could no longer endure the endless dispute. Though their argument was indeed democratic, the squad had already remained there far too long—and the wind blowing from the depths of the tunnel had weakened considerably.

“Shh!”

Zhao Qiang raised a finger to his lips, then lay flat on the ground with his ear pressed against the floor. Seeing what he was doing, the others finally realized how serious the situation was. They fell silent one after another and strained to listen.

After listening for a while, Zhao Qiang suddenly sprang to his feet. His expression grim, he pulled out several glow sticks, bent them sharply a few times, and hurled them toward the tunnel entrance on the left.

The glow sticks had been found in a specialty outdoor-goods shop. Each consisted of a glass tube and a plastic tube containing different liquids. When bent under pressure and shaken gently, the glass tube hidden inside the plastic casing shattered, causing the two liquids to mix and produce a chemical light bright enough to illuminate a small area. The squad had not used them earlier because they had far too few left.

The glow sticks tore through the dense darkness. After tumbling through the air dozens of times, they struck something, bounced back, and landed on the ground.

“The Shatterer!” Zhao Qiang suddenly shouted.

Though the sight lasted only an instant, the faint glow was enough for everyone to see the Shatterer’s hideous, terrifying face, along with countless zombies whose features were twisted into savage snarls.

“Fall back!”

Zhao Qiang’s cry clearly provoked the zombie horde. The Shatterer immediately let out a roar of its own, a deafening bellow that nearly drowned out Zhao Qiang’s order to retreat. Then came the heavy thunder of its footsteps.

“Open fire! Open fire!”

The squad did not turn and run. Instead, they retreated toward the entrance in an orderly fashion while firing at the advancing horde.

“Old Cai, grenades!”

The zombies’ attack was confined to a narrow passage, but the darkness made shooting extremely difficult for the squad as well. The soldiers could only rely on the muzzle flashes and the streaks of bullets cutting through the air to judge whether they had hit their targets. As the horde drew closer and closer, Zhao Qiang hurriedly pulled out the grenades he was carrying.

Cai Jiashu understood at once. He drew the only two grenades on his person. By then, most of the squad had reached the exit, and without the slightest hesitation, the two men hurled all four grenades at the zombie horde close behind them.

“Grenades!”

Zhao Qiang and Cai Jiashu were the last to emerge from the air-raid shelter. They both threw themselves forward, and a tremendous explosion erupted behind them, followed by a towering ball of flame.

The blast had clearly failed to halt the zombie army. The four egg-shaped grenades had done little damage. So long as their heads did not suffer fatal injuries, the zombies would not stop pursuing the survivors. The first to charge out through the concealed exit was a large group of zombies, their bodies charred black and trailing wisps of white smoke.

“Take them out!” Cai Jiashu decisively issued the order.

The terrain here was open and the light was good. Since the zombies could emerge only from a relatively narrow opening, the squad had little reason for concern. What was more, two of the finest Tiger armored vehicles stood behind them, their supplies abundant and retreat always possible.

All kinds of zombies poured continuously from the entrance to the shelter. A small hill had already formed on the open ground outside, yet the horde showed no sign of stopping. The Shatterer, zombie dogs, and other strange varieties followed the expendable masses and continued surging out.

“Watch the sky!”

Zhao Qiang suddenly noticed a vast swarm of bats pouring from the air-raid shelter. They wheeled overhead, squeaking sharply as they launched their attack on the squad.