Long ago, she used to enjoy lively surroundings and couldn't stay put. Even when confined to the courtyard, she would climb ladders to the roof and gaze at the distant, white sky. But that was many years ago.
Now, she could sit on the doorstep all day without doing anything.
Well, not exactly. There was a zombie always doing some strange exercises, disturbing the peace.
The scent of locust flowers was strong in the air even before she got close. The flowers, growing in clusters, were not only beautiful but also edible; they could be dried and used to make tea.
She had brought two sticks with her, one bare and the other with a hook. A gun was tucked at her waist. When she reached the tree, she used the hooked stick to pull down the branches and pick the flowers.
Dora Lin pressed her hat down, staying vigilant for any potential danger around her.
In less than half an hour, she had filled a burlap sack to the brim. Tying it tightly, she noticed a zombie, perhaps attracted by the noise, shambling toward her. Dora kept an eye on it while continuing to hook branches.
After picking a few more flowers, the zombie slowly approached. Its hair, like dried grass, hung loosely, and its face was ghastly. Only then did Dora pick up the bare stick and jab it into the zombie's chest, saying, "Go away!" The creature stumbled back a few steps, like a fragile child, and fell to the ground.
It seemed to break a bone in the fall; Dora heard a cracking sound but wasn't sure if it was a branch breaking.
She wondered why Alex White had been bitten. She hadn't seen any fresh zombies in a long time, and these ones were so old that they might trip and break a leg even without anyone touching them, eventually returning to dust.
Fresh zombies were dangerous, but these old ones had long lost their threat. They wandered like ghosts, unwilling to leave, haunting the land.
Dora picked more locust flowers while the zombie struggled to get up, stubbornly trying to approach her. With another poke of her stick, she thwarted its efforts.
That creature was wandering outside the courtyard that day, making Alex White anxious all afternoon, a reaction she couldn't quite understand.
Even when Dora Lin left with her full bag, the zombie was still struggling on the ground, crawling towards where Dora had been. After a long while, when it finally managed to stand, it looked around in confusion, not knowing where it came from or where it was going. It was like a lost wanderer, reeking of decay, roaming the deserted streets.
Aunt Jones's house also had a decaying aura. When Dora arrived, Aunt Jones opened the door; her once kindly face was now gaunt, but she still moved with surprising agility.
She was pleased to receive the locust flowers Dora brought.
"You're such a good girl..." Aunt Jones said, looking at Dora, who looked so much like her mother. "Wait a moment."
Aunt Jones asked Dora to wait at the entrance. The entrance area was similar to where Dora lived, with a small enclosed space surrounded by a fence.
This setup had been made when zombies were still very dangerous, quick, and keen-sensed. They could silently lurk outside, and a moment of inattention could lead to them pouncing as soon as someone stepped out. The barrier ensured the safety of this small area by the entrance.
There were bloodstains leading from the door to another courtyard wall in the distance. It was probably from the deer Aunt Jones mentioned the other day, which had wandered to the door and was shot and dragged back.
"Here, take this to eat." Aunt Jones brought out two cabbages and some yellow vegetables that Dora couldn't identify, all grown by Aunt Jones in her yard.
"I can't eat all this myself, and good food shouldn't go to waste. Take it."
Aunt Jones stood at the door, waving as she watched Dora leave. "Be careful." She watched Dora's figure, wanting to say something but stopping herself, finally letting out a barely audible sigh.
What a good girl.
Dora walked back slowly with a bag of locust flowers and two cabbages. Fortunately, even when the bag was full, the locust flowers weren't heavy.
Many houses in the village were abandoned. Without maintenance, some had collapsed, while others were overgrown with weeds and moss, long since becoming ruins.
A house inhabited and a house abandoned are completely different. Yet Aunt Jones's house did not belong strictly to either category. Though it hadn't become a ruin yet, it was showing signs of disuse, as if no one lived there.
Dora Lin thought Aunt Jones might be nearing death. This wasn't a curse or any sort of ill-wishing, just an observation. She had seen people living alone who gradually stopped taking care of their homes, stopped enjoying movement, and barely got by, showing no interest in anything. Eventually, the house would fall silent, until it finally collapsed into ruins in a storm.
Footsteps echoed clearly on the deserted street, where empty houses stood like vacant tombs, burying those long dead. Years ago, seven or eight families still lived here, but they had all either moved away, died, or become mindless beasts wandering the wilderness, never tiring.
Further ahead was the village's cobblestone path. Suddenly, Dora heard a faint sound and quickly turned her head, her eyes sharp.
"Bang!" A gunshot echoed.
Alex White sprang to his feet, peering towards the distant noise beyond the wall. The gunshot was clear in the quiet, and he couldn't help but worry about Dora.
He held a thin wire he'd twisted from a pillar, glancing at the chains with some hesitation, eventually deciding to wait another ten minutes.
Fortunately, after about ten minutes, footsteps approached outside the courtyard. The lock clinked twice, and someone pushed open the gate. Dora entered, carrying a sack. Alex White sniffed the air, noticing the gray-furred animal in her right hand, with blood still dripping from it. It seemed she had shot something.
"Did you come across a dog?" Alex White asked. Dora walked in and dropped everything, shaking her head. "Not a dog."
Alex White then saw clearly what she had dropped. His eyelids twitched. It wasn't a dog but a huge gray rat, about the size of a small dog. Its dirty gray fur was matted, and instead of normal rodent teeth, it had sharp fangs.
Dora methodically unpacked everything: locust flowers, vegetables from Aunt Jones, and the rat she had encountered on the way back.
"Good thing it didn't bite you," Dora Lin said. Seeing Alex White with the chains clinking somehow lifted her spirits a little, though she wasn't sure why.
"Otherwise, all that exercise would have been for nothing."
If bitten by some mutated animals, a person could suffer a severe infection. It wouldn't turn them into a zombie, but their body would start to rot while they were still alive, leading to a painful death.
Many people would rather be infected by a zombie than be bitten by one of these creatures. Zombie infections cause a quick descent into madness, but with the mutated animals, a person remains fully conscious, watching their own body decay, unable to stop it.