Arthritis… Shao Ming couldn't help but think to himself how bad it must have been for Feng Yusheng to have been bedridden for nearly half a month.
"Rheumatism?" Shao Ming immediately thought of that.
"Hahahaha," Feng Yusheng laughed. "It's traumatic. I fell once, and the doctor said it was a dislocation. The joint was damaged, which caused the inflammation."
"That must have hurt…" Shao Ming glanced at the rearview mirror as he spoke.
"Not too bad," Feng Yusheng said casually.
The bus drove out of the neighborhood and back onto the main road.
They chatted lightly, and Shao Ming noticed how different Feng Yusheng was now compared to her earlier phone conversation. He had expected her to be more panicked, but the atmosphere in the bus felt more like two old friends on a spring outing.
On the right side of the road, there was a fairly large hospital, but the entire first floor was completely sealed off, and the situation inside was unclear.
However, they didn't need to see inside. As the bus passed by, the deafening roars from within made the situation clear enough.
Shao Ming slammed the gas pedal, eager to leave the area as quickly as possible.
The bus turned onto the expressway, and although there were several scattered cars on the main road, the closer they got to the airport, the denser the traffic became.
Around two kilometers from the airport, at a busy overpass, Shao Ming saw the endless line of cars blocking the way toward the airport.
He stopped the bus on the overpass and looked ahead.
The road leading to the airport was packed with vehicles. Some mutated creatures were resting in between the cars, while many others had abandoned their vehicles and disappeared into the distance.
In the distance, the airport stood eerily silent, with only a few planes sitting on the tarmac. The terminal building was still smoking with thick, black plumes of smoke.
At this sight, Feng Yusheng stood up from her seat and walked toward the front of the bus.
"Looks like we can't go back to the airport…" Shao Ming said, his voice a bit flat.
"So, what do we do now?" Feng Yusheng asked. "I've tried calling over ten people, but no one answered."
Shao Ming pulled out his phone and began searching for alternate routes on the map.
"Let's head to Liverpool," Shao Ming suggested. "It's the nearest port city. Maybe we can find a boat there?"
"A boat…" Feng Yusheng muttered. "How long would it take to sail back?"
"Assuming we can even find a boat that works," Shao Ming answered. "If you don't think it's feasible, I can take you to a safer place, like a village or somewhere in the mountains, away from the crowds."
Feng Yusheng thought for a moment before saying, "Let's try for Liverpool."
The bus came to a stop on the overpass. There were no mutated creatures nearby, so Shao Ming decided to take a break and send a message to his family.
It was already 3:00 PM, and Shao Ming hadn't eaten since leaving home.
He pulled out two packets of biscuits from his bag and handed one to Feng Yusheng.
She took the biscuits and pulled out a piece of jerky from her bag, offering it to Shao Ming.
"Thank you," Feng Yusheng said. "I like these. I have more, if you want."
"Thanks." Shao Ming accepted the jerky and stepped outside to make a phone call to his family.
His family seemed to be doing well. Although there were mutated creatures around, the basic order of society was still intact. Apart from one or two cities that had been completely overrun by mutated creatures, other areas were still relatively safe.
While Shao Ming was talking to his parents, the signal suddenly started to lag, and he watched as the connection dropped.
"What is going on…" he muttered, waving his phone around. It seemed there was no signal left.
He quickly switched back to the map, and thankfully, the route was still visible.
After a quick lunch, Shao Ming restarted the bus and drove down from the overpass.
The bus weaved through the city, and if all went well, they would soon be leaving town and heading toward Birmingham.
However, before they had driven too far, they were confronted by a sight even more despairing than the abandoned airport.
The street was jam-packed with mutated creatures, and the number seemed to be in the tens of thousands.
Well, now they knew where all the people from the cars on the airport expressway had gone.
"My god…" Feng Yusheng, who had been standing beside him, was so startled that she sank back into her seat.
Thousands of mutated creatures heard the sound of the bus and turned their gaze toward it.
Shao Ming yanked the steering wheel sharply, but it was too late. The bus nearly tipped over, and he quickly corrected the wheel, stabilizing the vehicle.
The mutated creatures surged forward like a tidal wave from the far end of the street. Shao Ming was forced to drive off-course, avoiding the mass of bodies.
The terrifying sound of the creatures' roars seemed to summon even more of them. As the creatures at the sides of the road poured out of nearby buildings, Shao Ming had no choice but to plow through several mutated creatures. He realized that the bus's bumper had already been knocked off.
A dozen or so mutated creatures jumped down from a building on the left side. Shao Ming quickly swerved to the right and drove the bus onto the sidewalk to dodge them.
The bus crashed through piles of debris on the sidewalk, and its side scraped against the walls of nearby buildings, creating a shower of sparks.
Through the rearview mirror, Shao Ming saw that the mutated creatures were still closely pursuing the bus. They were even pushing parked cars out of the way.
But the distance between the bus and the creatures was steadily growing.
Shao Ming hit the gas again, taking a series of sharp turns. It seemed that the mutated creatures had been outrun—after all, even they couldn't move faster than the wheels of the bus.
Both of them let out a sigh of relief. At least, with the bus, they could escape the tide of corpses.
Shao Ming glanced at the map. To get back onto the main road, he needed to make another turn. However, just as they turned a corner, they found a small car blocking the middle of the road.
The bus collided heavily with the abandoned car, and Shao Ming reacted quickly, steering the bus, but it veered uncontrollably into a nearby plaza.
He slammed the brakes, and the bus came to a halt in the middle of the plaza.
Just as the bus stopped, it sputtered and shut off. The engine was emitting thick white smoke from the back.
Shao Ming turned the key again, and the bus made a groaning sound before falling completely silent.
"The bus is broken…" Shao Ming muttered.
Feng Yusheng didn't respond to him, but instead, she patted him on the shoulder. She seemed to have noticed something—dozens of mutated creatures were running toward them.