The Creatures That We Are

Chapter 187: Escape

Nine Frost ordered, “Back to the construction site!”

There would be less people around the basketball court behind the auditorium, and there were more hiding places inside the court. Moreover, that was where their equipment and supplies were. It was best to recuperate there.

No one disagreed.

However, Lithe Snake, who was running in the lead, came to a sudden stop.

“We can’t go through this way.”

A swarm of zombies chased after a few students out of the corner on the side of the teaching building, blocking the shaded path leading to the auditorium.

Panicked, Can shouted in a cracked voice, “Why are there more of them here?!”

Gao Yang was a little caught by surprise before coming to a realization. It must be Yu Pengliang. He had been bitten to death by Li Zhuanghu on the rooftop, and he was most likely turned as well. While everyone was rushing downstairs to get a look at Li Zhuanghu, Yu Pengling must have gone down and attacked the other students as well.

The zombie at the front pounced on a girl and broke her neck with a bite.

“Ahhhh!”

Amid the screams, Gao Yang took a better look at the zombie, and it was indeed Yu Pengliang, now reanimated.

“Captain!” Yellow Butterfly shouted.

Gao Yang and Nine Frost turned to see a dozen more zombies catching up to them from behind.

“This way!” Gao Yang rushed toward the stairway of the teaching building.

With zombies coming from both their front and back, they had no other way to go.

They rushed up the stairs along with the panicked crowd. Some students fell and got immediately caught by zombies, and all that could be heard were their screams.

Among the twelve of them, the men ran a little faster in the lead, while Can and Yellow Butterfly were in the back, and two zombies caught up with them as soon as they reached the second floor.

With a growl, one of the zombies lunged at Can. Thankfully, Gray Bear reacted immediately and grabbed Can by the elbow, yanking her forward by half a meter. The zombie ended up missing the target, but still managed to grab Can by the heel of her shoe.

“Ahh!” Can screamed and struggled, but couldn’t break out of the hold.

Gao Yang whirled around and kicked the zombie in the face with full force. The zombie shook and fell down the stairs. He and Gray Bear helped Can up before continuing to run to the third floor.

Two zombies appeared at the other end of the hallway.

“We can’t go up further,” said Gao Yang. “The rooftop’s a dead end!”

“There’s no other way to go!” Xiran shouted.

“Inside!” Nine Frost pointed at the infirmary not far from them. “Old Joe, pick the lock!”

The bald man immediately rushed to the door and dropped to his knees, taking out a metal wire from his pocket. Despite his panting and shuddering, his hands remained steady.

“He was a thief before his awakening,” Nine Frost said as he walked up.

Black Sparrow followed. “He was in prison for half a year for burglary.”

“Stop talking about my dark past!” Old Joe complained as he worked on the lock.

“Then hurry the fuck up!” Black Sparrow snarled. “Or we’re all gonna die!”

“Move back, the rest of you,” Nine Frost ordered while making fists and getting into a fighting stance. Black Sparrow readied herself too on his side.

The two zombies sped up and ran toward them from the far side of the hallway.

Gao Yang sprang into action too, rushing to the stairway on the left. “Gray Bear, Lithe Snake, we’ll block off the stairs!”

“Got it!”

Gray Bear took off his belt and wrapped it around his right fist, spitting at the wall, while Lithe Snake drew the shortsword he always had on him.

Gao Yang looked around and opted to grab a foldable stool.

“They’re coming! Don’t get bitten!” Gao Yang yelled. “Aim for the heads!”

Growling, the two zombies in the hallway lunged. Nine Frost kicked one of them in the chest, sending it flying two to three meters away. Then the other zombie leapt at Black Sparrow. She dodged to the side, and when the zombie missed her, she brought her knees down on its back to pin it to the floor.

Grabbing the zombie’s head and chin with her hands, she twisted its neck.

Crack!

The neck broke, and the zombie fell with a thud. Just when Black Sparrow was going to stand up, however, the zombie lifted its head and bit at her calf.

Bam! A red fire extinguisher slammed into the zombie’s head with the full force of its heavy weight.

Bang, bang, bang!

Holding the fire extinguisher with both hands, Xiran brought it down at the zombie’s head repeatedly until its skull shattered, and its blood and brain matter splattered.

Panting, Xiran shouted at Black Sparrow with a pale face, “What were you doing? Haven’t you seen any zombie movies?!”

He continued in a serious and angry tone, “Remember, you must destroy their heads! And it’s too dangerous to twist the neck like you did earlier. You could’ve gotten bitten! That’d be your death sentence!”

Black Sparrow was stunned.

She was an orphan raised by human traffickers, and she had been trained since she was young to become a fighter for illegal matches. She didn’t have a regular childhood, nor did she grow up like normal teenagers. She had never seen a zombie movie, played a horror game, or made more than a couple friends.

While others were enjoying their youth, she had been fighting her opponents to the death in illegal arenas. One time, her bones got broken in eight parts of her body, and she almost didn’t make it.

She looked at Xiran with gratitude. “Thanks.”

At the same time, Nine Frost was still fighting his opponent.

The zombie he had kicked away was practically unhurt, and it picked itself up unsteadily before rushing at him again.

Nine Frost made a flurry of punches, keeping it at bay.

“Take it.”

Then Lithe Snake threw him a throwing knife.

While making a swing with his right hand, Nine Frost grabbed the throwing knife and thrust it into the zombie’s left eye, making blood splatter.

“Grrrr—”

The zombie continued to struggle. Nine Frost pushed the knife further in until the blade buried entirely into its eye socket, damaging the brain.

With a shudder, the zombie toppled to the ground and stopped moving.

Splat!

Meanwhile, Lithe Snake had already taken out a zombie with his shortsword.

A group of zombies continued to rush up the stairs. Thankfully, half of them were drawn by the screams coming from the second floor rather than heading to the third floor.

Lithe Snake had already stabbed the first zombie in the head. Then the second zombie was thrown off by Gray Bear’s belt-wrapped fist.

The third and fourth zombies were hit in the head by the stool Gao Yang was hurling around, and they fell to the ground.

Gray Bear rushed up to help, grabbing the head of one of the zombies and slamming it into the floor, breaking it with a few hits.

Then Lithe Snake stabbed the other one in the head with his blade.

In thirty seconds, all six zombies had been taken out, and the pungent smell of blood permeated the air.

More zombies were rushing their way. They couldn’t defend against all of them.

“Hurry, Old Joe!” Nine Frost called out urgently.

“Done!” Old Joe didn’t disappoint them. He pulled out the wire and pushed. The door opened.

“Come on! Inside!” Yellow Butterfly waved them over at the door.

Everyone dove into the infirmary with Gao Yang, Nine Frost, and Gray Bear staying in the back.

Bang!

Nine Frost was the last to get in. The moment he shut the door, a few dull bangs followed. Nine Frost and Gao Yang kept the door closed by pressing their backs against it. Then Gray Bear and Lithe Snake joined in to help.

Bam! Bam, bam!

“Stay quiet,” Gao Yang said in a low voice. “Don’t make any noise. Then the zombies will be drawn away by other sounds.”

Bam, bam! Bam, bam, bam...

After about half a minute, they heard the screams of other survivors.

As Gao Yang said, the zombies outside left one by one.

Gray Bear and Lithe Snake moved the metal cabinet for documents and medicines over, blocking off the door.

Only then did everyone let out a sigh of relief.

“Captain Seven Shadow,” said Can. She was standing by a bed and pointing at the white curtain covering it.

“There, there seems to be...someone on the bed.”