After cutting down the zombie that was close to him, Stel took a moment to catch his breath. He leaned against the wall by the door, breathing heavily. His chest heaved with each breath.
Killing these zombies wasn't particularly difficult, but the pressure Stel felt during the process was immense. This was his first time facing zombies since his rebirth. These weren't three-year-olds, these were zombies, and killing them was nothing like his combat training.
"Huff... huff..."
Stel's breaths grew shorter as his tension subsided. He shook his arms and realized his clothes were soaked with sweat.
"That cold sweat must have been from almost getting bitten by a zombie..."
"Gulp!"
Stel was about to move outside the apartment building when he accidentally kicked a zombie's head at his feet. The head rolled a short distance from the pile of corpses and hit a piece of glass.
"Crash!"
The poor-quality glass shattered on impact, making a piercing noise.
"Hisssss!!!"
The zombies closest to the door heard the noise and instinctively turned around.
Not good!
Stel quickly hid behind the door, holding his breath, not daring to make a sound. He had hidden before the zombies could spot him, avoiding detection.
The zombie saw nothing human and took a few steps towards the door, then stopped. It stood still like a post.
"Damn, that was close..."
Stel breathed a sigh of relief, ensuring no zombies were coming his way. He stayed behind the door, peeking through the crack to observe the zombies outside. There were quite a few of them.
One, two, three...
Stel estimated there were at least fifty zombies.
This was just the number of zombies he could see, not counting those hiding in his blind spots. If all these zombies charged at Stel at once, death would be inevitable.
"I need to think of a way..."
Stel rubbed the stubble on his chin, contemplating how he could get out safely. At that moment, he noticed the body of a nearby zombie.
"Is that...?"
The zombie's body itself wasn't particularly special, but its clothes had a slight bulge. The bulge was about the size of half a hand and rectangular in shape. Stel examined it closely and had a guess.
It's a phone!
Of course! Some humans turned into zombies after being bitten, which meant they still had their belongings on them. The zombie's clothes were covered in bloodstains, obscuring its original appearance, but Stel could tell from the pockets and buttons that it was likely a programmer.
"Now I have a plan..."
Stel was grateful for this programmer zombie. Taking advantage of the moment when no zombies were looking his way, he quietly tiptoed over to the zombie's body. He grabbed the collar and, using his strength, dragged the body behind the door. Stel's physical strength was impressive; he could lift objects weighing up to two hundred pounds. But no matter how strong he was, his strength would eventually run out. Facing nearly a hundred zombies, he would tire out sooner or later. He had to rely on wit, not brute force.
"Rustle, rustle, rustle!"
Stel crouched down and reached into the zombie's pocket. Sure enough!
Stel pulled out the phone from the pocket. It looked relatively new, though one corner was slightly damaged, and the screen had a few cracks.
Stel guessed that this person had likely turned into a zombie while biting others or being bitten, causing the phone to get damaged from hitting the wall.
"Let's see if it still works."
As he spoke, Stel gently pressed the phone's power button.
"Beep!"
The screen lit up, illuminating the dark stairwell. Startled, Stel quickly hid the phone under his shirt, using his body to shield the light.
"Damn, why did this guy set the brightness to max? Almost got me killed!"
He turned off the screen and peered through the door crack again, confirming that the zombies were still in place and not attracted by the light. Relieved, he adjusted the brightness to the lowest setting.
"Only twenty percent battery left, but it should be enough..."
Stel also checked the phone's signal, unsurprisingly finding that it couldn't receive any signal either.
"Dear phone, it's up to you to help me lure these zombies away..."
Stel opened the phone's timer function and set it for one minute. Once activated, the timer would ring after a minute, drawing all the zombies towards the sound, allowing Stel to safely reach the car.
"Alright, this should work..."
Timing it perfectly, Stel cautiously peeked out, activated the timer, and threw the phone in the opposite direction of the car with all his might.
"Whoosh!"
Stel's throw was powerful, almost like a shot-put athlete, and the phone arced through the air, landing about twenty meters away from the car.
"Thud!"
After the phone landed, Stel held the door handle with one hand, watching the zombies' movements and determining the best route while waiting for the timer to go off.
"Forty, forty-one..."
Cold sweat broke out on Stel's forehead, and his palm gripping the door handle was already drenched.
"Ring, ring, ring, ring!!!"
Exactly one minute later, the phone Stel had thrown exploded with a deafening ringtone.
"Raaaagh!"
All the zombies reacted to the ringtone, crazily rushing towards the sound. Nearly a hundred zombies stomped towards the phone and quickly surrounded it.
"Perfect!"
Seeing his chance, Stel bent his knees slightly, lowered his body, and stealthily moved towards the car under the cover of darkness.
"Now, I need to figure out how to open the trunk..."
Reaching the car, Stel tried lifting the trunk's latch. As expected, it was locked. The trunk had a small gap that allowed Stel to see the food inside, but to retrieve the supplies, he first needed to open it.
But...
He couldn't just smash the trunk open. The noise from breaking it would be louder than the ringtone and would surely attract the zombies back, making escape impossible.
"What to do...?"
Stel furrowed his brow, unable to find a suitable solution for the moment.