Desolate. Barren.
In the city, wild weeds forced their way through the cracked concrete, and the ground was littered with white bones.
Lin An dragged his weary legs, struggling to run.
A sharp pain burned in his lungs, and every breath pulled at the broken ribs inside him.
Behind him, a horde of zombies roared, their faces twisted with hunger.
He couldn't afford to stop.
If he did, the reanimated dead would tear him apart, devouring his flesh and blood.
December 2035.
The apocalypse had erupted three years ago, dragging the entire world into hell.
As he neared the makeshift shelter, his once-despairing face flickered with a glimmer of hope.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
"Open the door! Open the door!"
Lin An pounded desperately on the heavy iron gate, the zombies barely a hundred meters behind.
The stench of decay assaulted his senses.
"I brought the medicine! Open the door, now! Tang Wan!"
Inside the shelter were his fiancée's family of three.
Shua.
A window slid open, but the iron door stayed shut.
An eye peeked through the narrow iron bars, filled with concern.
Lin An immediately recognized it—Tang Wan.
"Tang Wan! It's me! Open the door!"
His voice was raw, his chest wound torn open further, blood spilling and agitating the zombies behind him. Their speed intensified.
The eye inside shifted toward the medicine in his hand.
It was the fever medicine Lin An had risked everything to find for Tang Wan's younger brother.
"Lin An, I'm opening the door for you now."
Her voice was urgent, calming his frantic heart.
Once inside, he'd be safe.
At the edge of the perilous city, this hand-built shelter was his only home.
"Pass the medicine through first, and I'll remove the bolt."
Lin An, exhausted and barely able to stand, shoved the medicine box through the bars with trembling hands.
But something felt wrong.
Why... hadn't she opened the door immediately?
The hand inside quickly snatched the medicine box but didn't open the door.
"Tang Wan?!"
Lin An's voice cracked, disbelief and despair clashing inside him.
His heart sank. His body grew cold.
Why... why hasn't she opened the door?!
The zombies were almost on him now.
"Lin An, I see your chest wound."
Tang Wan's voice paused. It was no longer the concern he had heard before—it was flat, calm.
As though she were speaking to a stranger.
"You might be infected."
"I won't let you in."
Lin An felt as though he had been plunged into ice water. The zombies were already on him, tearing at his flesh.
"Also, there's something I need to tell you."
"The captain of the safe zone already agreed—if I sleep with him, we'll be allowed in."
"Of course, you have to die."
Inside the shelter, Tang Wan casually ran her fingers through her hair, as though talking to him like it was any other day.
Lin An couldn't believe his ears. This betrayal was like a thunderclap to his soul.
The searing pain of his flesh being torn apart couldn't even compare.
"Why... why betray me?!"
His voice was anguished, and his hand pressed against the door, leaving a bloody handprint.
His vision blurred as the zombies ripped into him.
Inside, Tang Wan's eyes were calm, tinged with mockery.
"Because you're useless."
"I don't want to starve, to live in fear anymore."
"He's strong—he's an awakened one."
"And you? You're just an ordinary man."
Behind him, the zombies savagely tore at Lin An's head, their rotting fingers gouging into his eyes.
"Darling, why are you talking to this worthless man?"
"Let him die far from our door."
Inside, the shelter's warm light illuminated the cold, indifferent faces of Tang Wan's family.
They stood side by side until Lin An's body was devoured completely, before finally walking away.