The farther the sun dropped, the more Chenghai and Zhenlan started moving like they were racing against the clock.

Which, to be fair, they probably were.

But as much as they were trying to hurry up and glancing up at the sky like the position of the sun might change at any given moment, they also weren’t stopping.

Which really was indicative of just how my day was going.

Yuche could see it, Lingyun could see it... I could see it.... leaving home was a massive mistake and yet, somehow, Chenghai and Zhenlan still acted like downtown Rongdu was one good shopping trip away from becoming a reasonable place to live.

"We hit two more stores," Chenghai announced as he adjusted another duffle bag over his shoulder.

"Nope."

The word came out immediately just the way I intended it to be: flat, simple, and very much final.

Everyone looked at me, but apparently, I still needed to work on my tone because... after that brief pause, Zhenlan and Chenghai continued to do they five fingered shopping.

If they weren’t useful... I would have left them by now.

But they had information that I needed about what would happen in the future. Since I didn’t know their names, hadn’t heard peep about them in my past life, that meant that what they knew was probably different than what I knew.

And I wanted to know what they knew...

You know?

With my mind on my goal, I continued to get through their thick skulls. "The sun is going down," I stressed, pointing to the big, orange ball of fire in the sky. "We’ve already filled most of the SUV. You can always come back, but we need to leave. Now."

Zhenlan glanced upward between the buildings before looking back toward the street ahead.

"We still have time."

And people wondered why horror movies happened.

Lingyun pointed toward me immediately. "I vote for Rouxi’s plan. I enjoy not dying."

"We are not dying," Chenghai replied.

The ground beneath my feet vibrated again and it seemed like for whatever reason, I was the only one to be able to feel it.

Fuck my life.

I immediately looked down at the pavement and I could see the movement like tiny waves in the ground. Like something was shifting very far below the city.

And that was absolutely concerning.

Yuche shut the back of the SUV after loading another box of supplies inside before finally speaking. "We should head back soon."

The traitor had been redeemed again.

Honestly, his survival instincts were improving.

Chenghai looked frustrated, but after several long seconds, he finally nodded once. "One last store."

Of course.

There was always one last store. Just like there was always one last swim.

The sporting goods shop sat halfway down the block beside an expensive clothing boutique with display windows that were cleaner than my windows back home.

At this point I was beginning to think the people in Rongdu had more stores than actual homes.

The group moved toward the entrance while I followed several steps behind them with my hands shoved into my pockets.

The streetlights flickered overhead one by one as the city darkened.

Not all of them worked, but of course, we needed ambient lighting to show that we were probably going to die a gory, bloody death. But that, too, seemed to be something that only I noticed.

The sporting goods store turned out to be massive inside with everything that any outdoorsy person could possibly want. Camping gear, fishing supplies, winter clothing for a season that wouldn’t be coming any time soon, hunting equipment.

Blah, blah, blah.

As far as I was concerned... even glamping was too rustic for my personal preferences.

But I digress. Sufficient to say, Chenghai probably thought he had died and gone to heaven with the rows upon rows of survival supplies stretched beneath dim overhead lighting.

Zhenlan, like before, immediately headed deeper inside like he’d just found paradise. Yuche, followed him with one of the carts while Chenghai and Lingyun started grabbing sleeping bags and heavy winter coats from nearby shelves.

Shaking my head, I wandered farther down one of the aisles while the others worked.

Not because I wanted to help, but because there were shelves full of protein bars and candy that deserved a better home.

My home.

The second nobody was looking, several boxes disappeared neatly into my space.

Then more.

Then an entire shelf of jerky.

What?

Protein mattered during the apocalypse.

A loud crash echoed somewhere deeper inside the store and everybody froze immediately.

Chenghai reappeared from the next aisle over holding several boxes of ammunition.

Ah.

That explained it.

"Careful," Zhenlan snapped quietly.

"I know."

Lingyun rubbed one hand down his face slowly. "I miss when my biggest problem was forgetting to answer emails."

I pointed toward him immediately. "See? Finally. A normal person."

"We are standing in a dead city stealing camping supplies while the apocalypse does whatever the hell it wants outside."

"Exactly."

"...And somehow that is your argument for normal?"

"Yes."

Yuche looked suspiciously close to laughing again.

Good.

Somebody appreciated me.

The vibration rolled beneath my feet again.

Stronger this time.

Not enough to shake the shelves.

Just enough that several fishing lures hanging nearby clinked softly together.

"...Okay," I muttered quietly. "Now I’m getting annoyed."

Lingyun looked over immediately. "What?"

"The ground keeps moving."

Of course, now I have everyone’s attention.

Chenghai frowned slightly. "Moving?"

"Like something underneath us."

Nobody answered immediately, they furrowed their brows and stared at their feet like that would give them all the answers that they wanted.

"I don’t feel anything," grunted Zhenlan as if I was making shit up and he didn’t want to deal with me anymore.

He was useful... I had to keep telling myself that he was useful.

"Good for you," I snapped when I was sure that I wouldn’t say something else.

But before he could reply, somewhere outside the store, something metallic slammed loudly against the pavement.

Everybody went still again automatically, the men looking at each other.

The sound came again, closer this time. Then another noise followed it.

I tired to figure out what it sounded like... maybe dragging? Whatever it was, it was slow and heavy.

My stomach tightened immediately.

That wasn’t a zombie sound. At least not the kind we were used to.

Yuche moved quietly toward the front windows while Chenghai lowered the box in his hands without making a sound.

Nobody spoke, nobody so much as moved as the dragging noise passed slowly outside the store entrance. Then another followed it.

Lingyun swallowed hard beside me. "...Please tell me we’re leaving now."

Yeah... that was where we needed to be. Anywhere but here.

Yuche slowly looked back toward us from the front windows. His expression had gone tight even if every muscle in his body went tense. "We need to go," he said quietly.

This time, there were no arguments.

Good. Maybe we might survive this.

That thought up and vanished the moment we stepped outside and I finally saw what was going on.

Zombies.

Not wandering, not hunting, essentially... not being zombies.

Instead, they seemed to be moving with some type of purpose down the street in small groups.

One was dragging a person behind it by both arms, another was carrying somebody over its shoulder, and a third was shuffling forward with what looked like a blanket wrapped around a struggling body.

And they were alive...

Not the zombies, of course, that would be stupid... but every single one of the survivors was alive.

My entire body went cold instantly. I didn’t like it when people... living or dead... didn’t follow the script, and these zombies were definitely not following their script.

None of the zombies even looked at us, they just kept moving deeper into downtown Rongdu like workers returning to a nest.

"That is a nope for me." There was no way in Hell I was trying to figure out why the zombies were acting weird. I didn’t want to know. I didn’t need to know. Just nope, nope, nope, nope, nope.

"We should follow them."