Chapter 657: Major Lan’s Journey
"Go go go!"
As soldiers busted through the doors and windows, the insides remained dead silent as not a single zombie sound came out.
The loud noises didn’t even cause any zombies to come out from the nearby building. It was almost as if the entire area near them had nothing alive.
"Southern entrance clear!"
"Northern entrance clear!"
"Continue the search. Over."
Major Lan’s face turned a little grim as he held the walkie-talkie. He was starting to have a bad feeling as he looked towards the distant.
Boxes of food and water were all lying on the floor of the gas station ahead—Things that usually would have been taken by survivors were right out in the open.
"Major Lan, we had met up together in the middle. Everything seems to be in the clear still."
"Search the second floor. Over."
As the order was passed out, Major Lan could hear footsteps from behind. Turning around, it was a squad of soldiers with a middle-aged man in jeans.
"You’re the survivor?" Major Lan curiously asked as the soldier brought the middle-aged man all the way up to him.
"Y-Yes, Y-You guys are from the military?"
The middle-aged man nervously asked, glanced at the rifle in the soldier’s hand, before looking away.
"Yeah, we’re from the military in Guangzhou... What happened to everyone in the town? Why is everything so abandoned here?"
Major Lan asked directly, not wanting to waste any more time as the soldiers from the 2nd floor reported clear again.
"Everyone left Fengkai for Wuzhou when the outbreak happened. C-Can you guys bring me to Guangzhou? I-I don’t want to live alone anymore."
Seeing the middle-aged man’s body shaking more and more, Major Lan nodded in agreement.
"We can bring you back to Guangzhou, but we need you to guide us around the town... Is there any zombies around here?"
As soon as the middle-aged man shook his head, all of the soldiers let out a sigh of relief at once.
"I haven’t seen a single zombie since I came here."
"Came here? You aren’t from here?"
"I came here two weeks after the outbreak. I have gone through the town multiple times. I-I can guide you guys anywhere."
Noticing the middle-aged man still looking so nervous, Major Lan looked over to the soldier before giving them a hand gesture.
The three soldier near him lowered their rifle, strapping them onto their backs as squads of soldiers began coming out of the building.
"Major Lan! We found a transportation document from a commissar in Guangxi!" A soldier with a captain’s rank reported as he handed the file over to him.
"Transportation document?"
"That’s the document that showed people leaving for Wuzhou before the outbreak. The Guangxi military organized the whole transportation."
With the answer from the middle-aged man, Major Lan realized this whole place was once again a ghost town.
"Dang it... Oh, I almost forgot to ask, what’s your name?"
"My name is Wen Zhang."
---
As Wen Zhang guided Major Lan’s troop around the town, it soon became clear that the whole place really was a ghost town.
No matter how much noise they made, no zombies came out, nor were there any other survivors they had encountered.
The only thing they found alive was a bunch of stray dogs and cats running around chasing each other near the other side of the town.
Even as they reached the very outer edge of the town, there were still no threats. It seemed to be another mission of just marching.
All of the soldiers were a little bummed out, but Major Lan wasn’t about to cross another highway towards Wuzhou just to fight zombies.
"Everyone, we’re going to settle down here for a week before going back! The faster we work, the faster we get back!"
Within seconds of the news announcement, the soldiers suddenly gained more strength to carry more and more concrete on their backs.
Everyone was working harder and harder, pushing themselves to the limit as they used everything they could gather from the construction site nearby.
"Major Lan, what is this for?"
Wen Zhang curiously asked as he watched the soldier working in the middle of the night, seemingly building a wall at the western entrance of the town.
"Just in case zombies come in from Wuzhou... You said everyone headed that direction, right?"
"Yeah... But I haven’t seen a zombie coming from Wuzhou ever since I lived here. I don’t think it’s really necessary for that."
"Better safe than sorry."
Major Lan’s answer made Wen Zhang fall into silence, as he didn’t really have any reason to stop them from building it.
"Hey, Wen Zhang, where are you from originally? Did you actually live in this town all alone for the past two years?"
"I’m from Dazhou town, just further up upstream from this river... I came here with my family."
"Where are they now?"
Seeing the man fall into silence once again, Major Lan quickly realized he had asked the wrong question.
"Sorry for your loss." Major Lan apologizes.
"It’s fine. I had already gotten over it. You aren’t responsible for it."
The two of them stood in silence as the cold breeze blew over their faces... until Wen Zhang suddenly turned around.
He didn’t say anything as he headed downstairs alone. When he came back to the rooftop, he held an entire box full of glass bottles.
"Want one?" Wen Zhang offered.
"I’m good."
Wen Zhang didn’t ask again as he put the box back down onto the floor, taking one for himself before attempting to open it.
"Crap. I forgot my bottle opener."
"Let me open it for you."
After popping it up with his pocket knife, Major Lan tried to hand the bottle back, only to be rejected.
"Just take a sip and try it... You won’t regret it." Wen Zhang offered again as he pushed the bottle into Major Lan’s hand.
"I don’t drink. I’m an active duty soldier."
Seeing Major Lan stubbornly refusing the drink, Wen Zhang finally gave up as he took the glass bottle back for himself.
"You’re missing out on the good stuff, you know that?"
Wen Zhang’s comment was only met with a deafening silence as large construction lights started to shine brightly onto the road.
"You know this light might draw attention to the town, right?" Wen Zhang questioned as he took a big sip.
"I know."
"You aren’t scared of the zombies?"
"It’s my job to fight zombies. I wouldn’t be in the army if I were scared of them... Have you killed a zombie before?"
"Me? Hell no. Why would I try to fight that shit? I can just hide and wait for it to leave on its own."
"What if you can’t hide?"
"Then... I guess I have to run."
"What if you can’t outrun them?" Major Lan questioned again.
"Then I fight them... But I’ll probably lose."
"Why do you think you’ll lose? You said you never have fought one before."
"Just because I never fought one doesn’t mean I haven’t seen someone try to fight them."
Wen Zhang paused for a second as he glanced over to the rifle on Major Lan’s back before speaking up again.
"You got a gun. Of course, you think fighting a zombie is easy. I don’t have any weapons at all——"
Before he could finish talking, his eyes widened in shock as Major Lan handed him a pistol.
"What if you had this? Would you fight?" Major Lan questioned.
"I-I... I don’t know."
As Wen Zhang stared towards the weapon in his hand, his heart felt conflicted. He never expected him to hand him a gun just like this.
No warning or anything. Just gave it to him without even asking if he wanted to join the army or not.
"You want to join us?" Major Lan offered.
"I... I do. But I really don’t think I’m ready to join the army yet."
"Joining the army? Who told you you’re joining the army? I was asking if you want to go to our settlements in Guangzhou."
"Oh. Of course, I want to go to Guangzhou. I have never been to a big city before... Are there a lot of people there?"
"More than you can ever imagine. Last time I saw on the news before I left, there were around a million people there."
"That’s crazy... B-But are there any zombies there?" Wen Zhang nervously asked as a hint of fear emerged from his face.
"It’s the safest city you’ll find in this apocalypse. You’ll see when you get there... You should probably start packing up."
"Now?"
"Unless you want to stay here for another month——"
"I’ll go pack up now!"
With Wen Zhang gone, Major Lan stood there in silence, staring at the soldiers below working hard... until he looked over to the box next to him.
After standing next to it for a bit, curiosity took over as he grabbed a bottle, popping the cap open with his pocket knife.
He could feel the coldness through the glass. A perfect cold drink for the hot night, before noticing it started fizzling a little.
"Huh... This is soda?"