Cooper gently pushed the door open, the shaft making a harsh creaking sound. His palms were sweaty and his fire axe was raised high, ready for potential danger.
The room was dimly lit, but with the aid of a flashlight, he got a good look inside. It was a simple apartment with a simple layout, the living room couch was littered with clutter, some empty bottles and bags were scattered on the floor, and there was a bed that had obviously been improvised in the corner. A man was curled up, leaning against the wall.
"Who!" Cooper whispered, his axe pointed straight at the figure.
The man cringed and looked up, revealing a young face. It was a young man around his early twenties, his thin face covered in dirt and exhaustion. His eyes were tinged with fear and vigilance, and his voice was hoarse, "Don ... t kill me! I'm not one of those monsters!"
Cooper stared at him, his eyes sweeping over his body, noticing that his clothes were disheveled, but there were no obvious tears or wounds. He relaxed a little, but still didn't quite drop the axe.
"Who are you? Why are you hiding here?" Cooper asked, his voice calm and low.
"My name is Alen," the youth stood up from the wall with difficulty, holding his hands up to show he was no threat, "I ... ran down from the 28th floor, those monsters were chasing me so hard I had nowhere to go, so I hid here. "
"28th floor?" Cooper frowned, "You ran down from a higher floor?"
Alen nodded, her voice shaking slightly, "Yes. There were a few monsters there on the 28th floor, blocking the hallway. I had no choice but to head down ... but it was more dangerous down there, so I had to hide here." His eyes fell on cooper's fire axe with a hint of envy, "I saw you take out that thing, right?"
Cooper didn't answer, just gestured with the axe to the rest of the room, "You're the only one here?"
Alen nodded, "Yes, I've been alone ...." As he spoke, there was more than a hint of a desire for survival in his eyes, "Brother, I beg you, don't leave me here alone. I ... can help you, we can live together."
Cooper didn't answer right away, but sized up Alen in silence. his experience had taught him that he couldn't trust anyone so easily. Humans in the post-apocalyptic world were not necessarily more trustworthy than zombies, and some survivors were even more dangerous than zombies for their own survival.
"If you harm me, I won't be soft." Cooper said coldly, his eyes looking straight at Alen.
Alen nodded repeatedly, a plea in her voice, "I swear! I just want to survive. I can't hold out on my own, I really can't."
Cooper contemplates for a moment, finally easing the fire axe down. He knew that while fighting alone made him more agile, one man's strength was always limited in the face of a constant threat. A partner might increase the danger, but it could also be a survival aid in a pinch.
"What can you do to help?" Cooper asked bluntly.
Alen scratched his head, his tone carrying a bit of embarrassment, "I used to study engineering, and I know a bit about mechanical equipment. If there's a chance to find generators, tools, and the like, I ... I should be able to get them working." He finished and added, "Besides, I'm a fast runner. Coming down from the 28th floor earlier, I could shake off those monsters."
Cooper nodded, showing no visible emotion. He turns towards a corner of the room and picks up an empty bottle that Alen dropped there, picking it up and tossing it back to him, "Alright, follow me for now, but don't drag your feet."
Alen catches the empty bottle and gives a relieved look.
After a brief division of labor between the two, cooper decides to take Alen out of the room to search the neighborhood for more supplies. As they left the room, cooper had Alen walk behind, always keeping a distance. He didn't want his new partner to get too close, after all, trust would take time.
They arrived at a vacant floor, the hallway was dead silent. cooper signaled Alen to be quiet, then the two carefully began checking the nearby rooms.
Upon opening the first door, they found several cans of compressed cookies and an unopened bottle of mineral water. alen looked excited and said repeatedly, "good luck, it'll last a few days."
However, just as the two were about to enter the next room, a heavy shuffling sound came from the stairwell. cooper immediately raised his hand to signal Alen to stop, and the two quickly retreated back to the corner.
The shadow of a zombie appeared around the corner, it moved sluggishly but headed straight in the direction they were in.
Alen's face turns white, but he grips the iron pipe in his hand and tries to look calm. He whispered to cooper, "Let me do it, I can handle it."
Cooper glanced at him, not lowering the fire axe in his hand. He didn't fully trust this new partner, but he also knew that sooner or later Alen would need to face these things head on, or he wouldn't last long at all in the end times.
"Don't miss." Cooper said coldly, his tone tentative and warning.
Alen took a deep breath, his palms already filled with cold sweat. He slowly stepped out of the corner and took a few steps in the direction of the walkers. His movements were careful, his eyes dead set on his target, like a cat about to pounce on its prey. But the twisted body and cloudy eyes of the walker made his stomach roll and fear stabbed into his mind like an awl.
When he was only two meters away from the zombie, Alen suddenly let out a low roar and swung the iron pipe towards its head. **Bang! **The iron pipe hit the side of the zombie's face hard, but the angled force wasn't enough to cause fatal damage, only causing the zombie's head to jerk to the side.
The zombie staggered for a moment, then let out an angry hiss as its head slowly twisted back, its cheek on the side where it had been struck already sunken, black blood gushing out from the broken skin. Instead of slowing its movements, however, it reached out with hands covered in sharp nails and lunged at Alen.
Alen's breathing was instantly disorganized, and the iron pipe in his hand slipped free for a split second from the strain. He stepped back in panic, his foot accidentally stepped on a piece of broken glass, making a piercing sound, and then fell to the ground.
Alen stared in horror at the approaching walker, his legs desperately stomping backward in an attempt to pull away, but the walker's hand had nearly touched his ankle. It let out a low hissing sound, its open mouth full of rotting teeth as if it was going to crush his bones the next second.
"Get away!" Cooper roared angrily and rushed out from his hiding place, his fire axe slashing at the zombie with the sound of whistling wind.
**Click! **The axe blade hacked heavily into the back of the zombie's head, and the entire skull made a toothsome cracking sound. Black dirty blood splattered on the floor, and the zombie's body convulsed for a moment, then collapsed helplessly on the ground.
Cooper stood firm, the axe in his hand still embedded deep in the zombie's head, and he stomped down hard on the body, drawing out the blade with a dull, sticky sound. Black blood dripped down the axe head, but he didn't pause, instead turning to Alen the first time.
"Are you alright?" Cooper asked coldly, a hint of hidden anger in his voice.
Alen sat paralyzed on the ground, his face as pale as paper, his chest rising and falling violently. He raised his trembling hands and stammered, "I ... I almost ..." He didn't say any more, he just clutched his pants leg tightly, his whole body looked like he had just been just pulled back from the edge of death pulling back.
"Almost died." Cooper took over, his voice low and unforgiving. "It's not enough courage for you to deal with them. Every swing you take must be assured of lethality." He walked over to Alen and bent down to place the fire axe on the floor, his gaze cold, "Next time, you may not have the chance to wait for me to come to the rescue."
Alen gritted his teeth and tried to calm himself down. He knew that cooper was right, the world doesn't give people second chances. If cooper hadn't made a timely move just now, he would have turned into a corpse on the floor by now.
"I'm sorry, I ..." Alen whispered, but he himself didn't know whether the apology was for cooper or for his own incompetence at that moment.
Cooper said nothing more. He stood up, lifted his foot and kicked the slipping iron pipe, kicking it back into Alen's hand. "Get up and get your weapon." His voice was still cold, but not as sharp as it had been earlier.
Alen lifted his head and looked at cooper with mixed emotions in his gaze. He nodded, took a deep breath, picked up the iron pipe, and slowly stood up. Though his hands were still shaking.