"It can't be worse than being bitten by a zombie, can it?" Alex White remarked, looking at the giant gray rat. He'd prefer a rat bite over a zombie bite—as long as it didn't turn him into one. Then he noticed Dora Lin looking at him like he was clueless.
His heart sank. Was this creature more dangerous than a zombie? No wonder Dora had shot it.
"You should consider yourself lucky if you're bitten by a zombie," Dora said.
"Why would I be lucky?" Alex White asked. If he could choose, he'd much rather be relaxing with a cup of coffee than getting bitten by anything.
"Becoming a zombie means losing your intelligence compared to when you were human," Dora explained, noting his nervousness around decaying zombies. Brave enough to feel anxious and fearful, but...
He was a stubborn zombie.
Alex White shifted his gaze and noticed the cabbages. He was curious where Dora had gotten them, as if she'd been out scavenging rather than just picking flowers.
"They're from Auntie Jones. She grows them," Dora said.
"She's a good person," Alex White commented. In this apocalyptic world, sharing food was a rare kindness. If that didn't count as being a good person, he didn't know what did.
Dora was a good person too.
"She said she couldn't eat it all," Dora continued. She knew Auntie Jones probably didn't need so much, but with the seasonal surplus, there was more than enough for one person. Auntie Jones had originally grown enough food for three people. They had just enough to scrape by, but now, with only her left, there was an excess.
"Are you really going to eat that?" Alex White asked, watching as Dora began preparing the giant rat with a small knife.
"Or would you rather I eat you?" Dora asked.
"I wouldn't taste good," Alex White said.
Dora glanced at him before expertly skinning and cleaning the rat.
Alex White disliked the smell of blood; it made him feel uncontrollably hungry.
"How did zombies start appearing?" Alex White asked, trying to shift the topic.
"They turn when bitten," Dora said matter-of-factly.
"I mean, how did the first zombies come to be?"
"Who knows," she replied.
"You don't know?" Alex White was surprised. The world had ended, zombies were everywhere, yet she didn't know where they came from. Even with a plague, there should have been some explanation.
"Of course I don't know," Dora Lin frowned. This zombie was starting again, always asking odd questions. "It happened so long ago, how would I know?"
Alex White paused, then asked, "So... how long ago was it?"
Dora casually replied, "My family said zombies started appearing the year I was born." She paused, initially wanting to ask if Alex White hadn't heard from his family but reconsidered. In this world, many people didn't have families.
After a moment's thought, she continued, "I've heard that before then, there were no zombies at all. People were everywhere, and it wasn't dangerous outside. To see a rat, you had to go to the zoo. Those tall buildings were built by people. If it weren't for those buildings and houses, I wouldn't believe it either. What do you think?"
"Well... I don't think people would go to the zoo to see rats."
"Really?" Dora said nonchalantly.
Alex White didn't respond. Seeing that Dora seemed to be in her twenties, he realized that twenty years was enough time for a newborn to grow into an adult.
Suddenly, he understood why Auntie Jones had enough food to share with Dora. The fact that Dora was raising a zombie suggested they weren't short on food. While they couldn't indulge, they weren't starving either.
This wasn't the time when disasters first struck, forcing people to flee. A twenty-year-long disaster was less of an apocalypse and more a state of ruin. Those who survived had found their way of life, having experienced and adapted to the new reality.
"Oh, right. It seems someone developed a cure... for cancer," Dora was reminded of something. She had asked similar questions to her family, and whenever they gathered, it was often mentioned. She looked up, thought for a moment, then continued washing the meat, "Maybe, I can't remember. It's been so many years."
"That's terrifying," Alex White said.
"It's not so bad," Dora replied. "Are you going to eat?"
"No," Alex White declined.
"You're not much help," Dora Lin said, stretching her arms.
"I could be," Alex White replied.
"What if you drool all over the meat?" Dora asked.
Alex White was left speechless.
"My mom used to be a teacher. She loved talking to me about... a lot of things," Dora said. "She liked it when people asked a lot of questions, like you do."
"What did she talk about?" Alex White asked.
"She said..." Dora paused, struggling to recall. Though her mother had said many things, trying to remember felt like playing hide and seek with her memories. "She said rain is water that evaporates from the ground, goes up into the sky, and then falls back down."
"Thunder is caused by electric charges in the clouds; a difference in electric potential between the upper and lower parts causes it," Alex White said. "Wind is a natural phenomenon of air movement, not because some god is casting spells up there."
Dora's eyes widened slightly, staring at Alex White.
"I know a lot too," Alex White said.
"Did your mom tell you that?" Dora asked.
"My teacher did."
"Then why did you ask me?" Dora said.
He wanted to say, You had parents who loved you. It was unimaginable to him how they managed to keep her safe as an infant during the outbreak, evading zombies and surviving for over twenty years.
By the time they finished processing the fresh meat, it was already afternoon. Mealtimes were never precise. Dora was just about to start cooking, and Alex was already very hungry. He always felt hungry, even when he was full; it was just a slightly different kind of hunger.
"When you're really hungry, do you feel like biting me?"
"I don't bite friends," Alex White said.
As Dora stoked the fire with a stick, Alex White stopped asking strange questions, so she stayed silent. She still couldn't understand why a zombie would be so talkative.
Do zombies always have all sorts of questions?
Dora stared at the dancing flames. Many years ago, there were no zombies in the world. Now, they were just another dangerous animal like tigers or wild boars, capable of turning normal people into similarly dangerous beings.
At least, that's what she'd heard. Ever since she could remember, zombies had always been around, existing as naturally as breathing.
Habit is a terrifying thing.
From the outbreak of zombies to the constant fleeing, the apocalypse defined her childhood and her youth.