Chapter Eleven: Penicillin (Part Two)

Hearing the commotion in the clinic, Wei Tao quickly shot down the two nearest zombies and rushed inside. At that moment, Zhao Qiang, his face grim and murderous, was just getting to his feet and spat on the corpse of a zombie lying on the ground.

"Are you alright?" Wei Tao glanced at the chaos strewn across the floor—clearly, a fierce fight had just erupted here.

"I'm fine." Zhao Qiang yanked his dagger out of the zombie's eye, wiped the blood clean on the white coat, and turned to pick up his gun and the backpack on the floor. "I'm fine. Did you take care of the ones outside?"

"Be careful!" With a glance at the approaching wave of zombies outside, Wei Tao cocked his gun and turned to leave the clinic.

Back at the counter, Zhao Qiang hurriedly stuffed all sorts of medicines into the backpack he’d found. The strength of these creatures was truly monstrous. Zhao Qiang looked nervously at the motionless zombie—his shoulder still ached from where he'd been clawed. No wonder even Wei Tao couldn't shake them off at the time.

Soon, Zhao Qiang had managed to pack most of the medicines. Just as he shouldered the bag and was about to call Wei Tao to retreat, Wei Tao burst back in.

Before Zhao Qiang could ask, he saw the reason through the glass wall: a hundred or more zombies were converging on them. Wei Tao's bullets were nearly gone, yet more zombies kept coming. "Get upstairs, quick!" Zhao Qiang shouted.

A security door temporarily blocked the zombies’ advance. Sensing their breakfast so close, the monsters grew frenzied. The glass door shattered as the horde surged inside like a flood, and those who couldn't squeeze in pounded relentlessly on the glass wall.

In the infusion room, two zombies barely had time to stand before Wei Tao dispatched them with ease. The door opened outward, so the masses of zombies could only hammer madly against what seemed a flimsy barrier. Zhao Qiang braced a hospital bed against the door and slumped to the floor, gasping for breath.

"What do we do?" he asked anxiously, glancing at Wei Tao by the window. "We can't just hole up here. Zhang Yongming's son is still waiting for our medicine—if we don’t get back, that little guy won’t survive."

Zhao Qiang surveyed the room. There were two windows leading to an open space behind the building, but both were fitted with security bars. They were trapped, with zombies swarming outside and the battered door behind them threatening to give way at any moment. The only possible exit was sealed.

Wei Tao said nothing, quietly scanning their surroundings for an almost impossible escape route.

With a splintering crack, the door finally gave way as the zombies forced open a gap. Sensing their prey, they tore at the door, the hole rapidly widening. Zhao Qiang took aim at a zombie poking its head through and fired—the bullet whistled through its skull.

As the zombie collapsed, another immediately took its place, clawing at the door. "Think of something, now!" Zhao Qiang shouted, firing as he spoke. "If we don’t, we’re dead men!" Despite his efforts, the breach kept growing—one zombie fell, but more kept coming.

Wei Tao roared and, realizing Zhao Qiang couldn't hold them off much longer, kicked at the security bars—once, twice—until they began to give way under his relentless assault.

"Hold on! I can't keep them back much longer!" Zhao Qiang yelled, slamming in his last magazine, desperation edging his voice.

With a final crash, the bars tore free at last. "Go, now!" Wei Tao shouted.

Without hesitation, Zhao Qiang grabbed the medicine-filled backpack and leapt through the window. He crashed through several branches and landed heavily in the snow, the impact nearly knocking the wind out of him. He patted the pack, relieved it was intact, and stood, rubbing his aching backside.

Inside, the wooden door finally succumbed, shattering under the zombies’ assault. Wei Tao, not far behind, saw Zhao Qiang rise outside, then turned and emptied his pistol into the oncoming zombies, dropping several that burst into the infusion room. With his magazine spent and the horde still pouring in, Wei Tao pulled a grenade from his chest, yanked the pin, and hurled it.

A violent explosion lit the second-floor window with fire as Wei Tao landed beside Zhao Qiang below. "Let's go," he said, grabbing Zhao Qiang and racing into a nearby alley.

Even as flames roared above, a few zombies tumbled from the window, their bodies ablaze, still crawling after the two men, while more crowded the sill, some being pushed out by their fellows.

Following Wei Tao, they twisted and turned through the streets, returning to the main road. The horde was still swarming the clinic, oblivious that their prey had slipped behind them. Skirting carefully past, Zhao Qiang and Wei Tao finally reached the entrance to the SWAT headquarters.

With a single hand, Wei Tao vaulted over the retractable gate the zombies hadn’t managed to cross. Zhao Qiang, burdened with the heavy pack, tossed it over first and scrambled after, using both hands and feet.

With a clatter, Zhao Qiang dumped the medicines onto the operating table beside Li Zihan. Li Yun, busy assisting Li Zihan with a wet towel to cool her son’s fever, jumped at the sudden noise.

Scanning the pile of drugs, Li Zihan quickly found the penicillin injection she needed. She looked up at Zhao Qiang, bloodied and exhausted, and gasped.

"I’m fine," Zhao Qiang said, shaking his head with a weary smile. "Go take care of the little one, don’t worry about me."

She looked him over carefully, confirming the blood wasn’t his, then hurried back to her son with the syringe. Swiftly, she drew the penicillin into the needle and injected it into the prepared IV bottle. After a flurry of practiced movements, she finally exhaled in relief.

"Sister-in-law, give the child a cool-down every half hour. He’ll be fine soon," Li Zihan instructed, then went over to where Zhao Qiang was washing his hands.

"Are you hurt?" she asked with concern.

Zhao Qiang shook water from his hands, exhaustion etched in his face. "I don’t think so. Pretty sure it’s all zombie blood." He didn’t mention the aching in his shoulder and hip; there was no need to worry this young woman further.

"And Brother Wei?" Li Zihan’s cheeks flushed and her voice softened.

"Heh, why don’t you ask him yourself? How would I know?" Zhao Qiang chuckled, easily reading her feelings for Wei Tao. He wondered if Wei Tao would be able to handle it. "He went straight to the storeroom—you can find him there," Zhao Qiang added casually.

"But Brother Wei—" Li Zihan began, but stopped abruptly as Wei Tao entered, her face reddening as she turned and hurried away.

Glancing at the ever-stoic Wei Tao and the flustered Li Zihan, Zhao Qiang smiled and went to stand by Li Yun.

She looked at him, tears in her eyes, one hand resting on her son’s forehead. "Thank you so much. I—I…" Overcome with emotion, she could barely speak.

Zhao Qiang adjusted the military coat covering the boy. "Don’t worry, sister-in-law. The little one will be fine," he reassured her. "It’s nothing, really. We look out for each other—that’s how it should be, right?"

"But you didn’t even know us before, and you risked so much to help us…" Li Yun said, her eyes still wet as she gazed at her son.

"As long as the boy’s alright, nothing else matters. Look, Wei and I both made it back safe, didn’t we?"

"By the way, where’s Brother Zhang? I haven’t seen him since we got back," Zhao Qiang asked, eager to steer the conversation away from the awkwardness.

His words had barely left his mouth when Zhang Yongming’s anxious voice echoed from outside, "How’s my son?"