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The Walking Dead: The Final Assault
墨書 Inktalez
In August, late at night, there was a breeze.
Jiang He crouched low, sneaking out from around the street corner. He glanced left and right, confirming that no one was around before carefully shifting his body and quickly running toward the opposite side of the street along the wall.
Vehicles were parked haphazardly on the road. To avoid making noise, Jiang He had to slow down, carefully maneuvering around these metal beasts.
Three minutes later, he arrived at the entrance of a 24-hour convenience store at the street corner. He took a slow breath and leaned closer to the glass door, turning on his flashlight.
The flashlight seemed to be malfunctioning; its light was dim. Through the glass, the interior appeared murky and yellowish. Following the beam of light, Jiang He saw that the store was in disarray, with shelves toppled over. There was a large patch of dark red blood at the cash register, but he couldn't see its owner.
“Damn it…” Jiang He sighed, his expression grim. All he had was a flashlight and a Swiss folding knife tucked in his pocket. He wasn't sure if there were zombies inside; if there were, he wouldn't dare enter with just a folding knife.
After thinking for a few seconds, he finally pulled out the folding knife and gently pushed open the convenience store door.
“Ding-a-ling-a-ling…”
“Fuck!” Jiang He broke out in a cold sweat, freezing in place as he cautiously raised his flashlight toward the ceiling, where a string of wind chimes hung above the doorframe.
“That scared the hell out of me…” Jiang He exhaled deeply, gently holding the door to prevent it from hitting the wind chimes as he crouched down and slipped inside.
Inside the convenience store, nothing seemed amiss; the crisp sound of wind chimes didn’t attract any unwanted attention. Jiang He swept his flashlight around a few times, confirming that there were no humanoid figures before feeling relieved enough to approach a row of collapsed shelves to search through them carefully.
Unfortunately, all he found were some useless promotional flyers and empty boxes—no food or water.
“A cigarette butt would be nice…” Jiang He murmured to himself as he began searching deeper into the store, glancing up at the cash register once more. Aside from the glaring bloodstains, everything appeared normal.
"Hey, there's something!" Jiang He pulled a box from the shelf and weighed it in his hands. His excitement quickly faded as he held it under the flashlight.
It wasn't the cigarettes he had imagined; it was just a pack of unopened mint-flavored condoms.
Disappointment aside, Jiang He stuffed the condoms into his pocket. With supplies so scarce these days, who knew when they might come in handy?
The convenience store was small, and Jiang He quickly swept through it, except for behind the cash register.
He felt a twinge of fear at the sight of a bloodstain. What if there was a body back there? He wasn't particularly afraid of dead people; after all, he had seen plenty of corpses over the past two months. What scared him was the thought of a corpse coming back to life. He still couldn't understand why some bodies, which looked completely lifeless and still, would suddenly spring to life and start chasing after the living. Just last week, while searching for food with two others, one of his companions spotted a corpse with a cigarette pack sticking out of its pocket. As he went to grab it, the corpse suddenly lunged and caught his wrist, then bit into his throat.
Jiang He picked up a half-empty bottle of mineral water from the floor and stuffed it into his pocket. Disappointed, he retreated to the door, preparing to leave, but couldn't resist taking another glance at the cash register.
The beam from his flashlight was dim, but he could still see several boxes on the shelf behind the cash register.
Regulars at the convenience store knew that the shelves behind the cash register usually held quick consumables: cigarettes, tissues, gum, and of course, condoms.
Safety first was the primary principle, but with just a box of condoms and half a bottle of water, Jiang He felt somewhat unsatisfied. After a brief internal struggle, he steeled himself and quietly moved toward the cash register.
He raised his flashlight high, directing its beam steadily at the counter while his right hand flicked open a folding knife blade. If any zombies showed up, he wanted to be ready to strike first.
Perhaps it was too quiet; Jiang He felt like he could hear his own breathing much louder. The closer he got to the counter, the more hurried his breaths became.
Just as Jiang He leaned over to look inside the cash register, a sudden jolt shot through his mind!
What is that breathing getting louder?! It’s clearly another breath!
Unfortunately, Jiang He was too slow to react. By the time he realized something was wrong, half of his body had already leaned forward. Under the beam of his flashlight, a pair of white eyes flashed by, and a shadow lunged out from beneath the counter!
Jiang He instinctively let out a scream, swinging both the flashlight and his folding knife downward! Then, a hard object struck him sharply on the chin, causing him to cry out in pain and fall backward.
"What the hell?!" In that moment between life and death, Jiang He finally reacted a bit quicker. As he fell, he rolled to the side and grabbed a shelf's goods to throw at the counter.
After the collision, the flashlight and folding knife slipped from his grasp, leaving him in complete darkness. He saw a shadow leap over the counter and pounce at him again!
Without thinking, Jiang He turned and ran. Just as he was about to push open the door, he felt a heavy blow to his lower back that knocked him flat on the ground.
Having taken two hits in quick succession, Jiang He's mind finally cleared a little. He suddenly realized that zombies eat people; they don’t punch!
He turned around, rolling on the ground while shouting for help: "Stop hitting me! I’m alive!"
As soon as he said that, indeed, the blows ceased. Jiang He moved his hands away from his face and squinted to see more clearly, only to receive another heavy hit right on his face.
Now Jiang He was furious. Damn it, I said I’m alive—why are you still hitting me?!
Covering his face, he rolled a few more times before lunging at the shadow, throwing a punch based purely on instinct.
With a thud, both of them fell down together. Jiang He's fist connected with the figure, who cried out in pain as they tumbled: "Ouch!"
Jiang He was ready to unleash a flurry of punches, having flipped onto the shadowy figure, but a sudden cry of pain from the other party left him momentarily stunned.
"A woman?" Jiang He blinked in disbelief.
"Get off! You thug!" the shadowy figure cursed.
Jiang He, still dazed, stood up and picked up the fallen flashlight to shine it over. He saw a Short-Haired Woman propped up on her hands, one hand covering her cheek, cursing as she got to her feet.
"What are you shining that light for? Turn it off!" the Short-Haired Woman snapped irritably.
"Hey? What’s wrong with you? I said I’m alive, yet you still hit me like I’m dead. Are you crazy?" Jiang He thought to himself, feeling utterly bewildered by how she could act so self-righteous after knocking him around.
The Short-Haired Woman didn’t bother to argue. She covered her face with one hand and squatted down to pick up a wooden stick.
When Jiang He shone the flashlight over, he realized it was a rolling pin.
"Damn, I almost got taken out by a kitchen utensil," Jiang He muttered angrily, starting to rub his chin. He hadn’t felt any pain during the scuffle, but now that he saw the weapon was a rolling pin, he suddenly felt as if his jaw might shatter.
"I’m not a cook!" the Short-Haired Woman said as she tucked the rolling pin into her waistband and walked over to sit at the Cash Register.
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