Before the outbreak, I was just a third-year high school student getting ready for the Gaokao.
My younger sister, my parents, and I were all living in a small apartnt, just barely surviving paycheck to paycheck.
Every day, I was studying harder and harder for the test, hoping that I could change my family’s life around by getting into a good university.
I even started reading the online Admission Brochure from last year, thinking of what kind of university I can get into.
The school I’m aiming for?
Anything good with Civil engineering, or just sothing that could pay well? But it doesn’t hurt to be sothing related to construction.
I just wanted to fulfill my dad’s dream job—the goal of designing a house for others, before he was hit with the reality of waking up to carry bricks across the field.
Soon, the date of the test ca closer and closer as my family prepared everything to support , until everything suddenly stopped.
The whole world froze. It was almost as if every country had co together to stop Earth from spinning.
I could still rember the exact date, June 6th, 2020.
A normal sunny Saturday in Kaifeng. The sa typical warm weather as every other day in Kaifeng.
A day that everyone would have forgotten... Until the ergency broadcast suddenly appeared.
No one, not even my parent, had ever even seen this kind of broadcast in their life. A surprise warning so early in the morning.
The news anchor told everyone to remain calm, saying it was just a severe case of viral influenza. But suddenly, the outside world was completely disconnected.
Every news outlet was gone, and everything was silent until it resud uncontrollably. The online space beca absolute chaos.
Pictures and videos were being posted online like wildfire. All the footage of zombies biting another human was on full display.
It lasted for a few minutes before everything was shut down again. But by then, it was far too late.
Every road was filled with people trying to leave the cities, even as police officers and soldiers tried to maintain order and send everyone back.
Soon, the officers themselves ran.
Under all this chaos, my family chose to stay put in the city. We thought this panic was just people’s overreaction. But we couldn’t be more wrong.
A day after the ergency broadcast, the entire street was completely silent.
No one was trying to leave anymore. All the roads were jamd with burnt cars. Streets filled with rotting corpses and wandering monsters.
Inside the apartnt, it was no better for us.
The next-door neighbor was wandering in the apartnt hall, banging on the door every ti one of the rooms made a noise.
My family and I still believed. The governnt was going to co any ti now. The army was going to liberate the city and save everyone.
But after a week of staying put, our family soon began to run out of food. We couldn’t stay put any longer.
My sister was starting to pass out from dehydration as the water stopped working. Every resource we needed to survive had run out.
With the hope of rescue nowhere near in sight. We needed to save ourselves. My dad and I refurbished and sharpened a few long pipes into a spear.
We marched out of the apartnt door for the first ti since the outbreak. I panicked as our next-door neighbor imdiately rushed towards us.
My brain went blank. I didn’t know what to do until a collapsed body fell before .
Dad had stabbed the zombie right in the head, just like what we had discussed a few hours ago before taking action.
I could still vividly rember his voice, telling it was okay. But I knew I was panicking, letting my dad down when he needed the most.
We were fortunate enough to live in an apartnt that had mostly retired elderly. I told myself we couldn’t afford to risk another mistake like this.
I had to stand firm. Hold my ground with the spear. Stabbing it forward and killing the next zombie all by myself.
His eyes were proud. I did it. Soon, we cleared the entire hallway. Door by door, we had the entire third floor all to ourselves.
After using all the available resources, we were able to hold on for another month, one of the longest months in my life.
It felt like torture. There was nothing to do other than to sit idly. The only entertainnt was to look out the window.
This was the ti when I started to beco religious. I started to pray for soone out there to rescue them.
But that day never ca. The reality in front of us reminded all of us that we are starting to run out of supplies once again.
With the entire floor emptied, my dad and I began to set up a plan to clear the lower floors for more resources.
This was when we t our first survivor. A young woman nad Jieqiong, coming straight up from the 2nd floor.
When we asked what she wanted, she pleaded with us for food. It was instantly t with rejection.
Even as she fell onto the floor and begged, my parent just remained firm. Food was scarce, and we couldn’t risk soone who could be infected.
I felt a little bad as she walked away from the 2nd floor. But there’s nothing I can do. My dad was the leader of the house—the man who made the final decision.
After a while, both my dad and I did a little investigation, and it turned out the 2nd floor had no zombies.
Or rather, all the zombies were still locked inside their rooms. We imdiately got to work and started clearing them one by one.
Stab, stab, stab.
The endless amount of stabbing, pulling the zombie corpses inside the bathroom, as we gathered all the supplies back up to our house.
The mundane, exhausting work was starting to take a toll. The sll of a rotten corpse kept haunting in my sleep.
Soon, I found myself unable to fall asleep, so I got out of bed in the middle of the night and took a little walk.
The moonlight illuminated the hallway I took as I looked out the small window. Outside was calm, with no zombies in sight.
When I arrived downstairs, what I witnessed shocked to the core.
A small chair was kicked aside, and right above it was a woman hanging from the ceiling. The sa woman he had seen this morning.
I imdiately rushed over, pulling her back to the floor as she lay there, not moving at all. She was dead.
My heart began to feel more and more guilty. Our family had caused soone to die just because we refused to spare any food for them.
How could I not realize it sooner? Her malnourished body was in clear need of food, yet I did nothing to help her.
We had killed Jieqiong—a living human being now dead. All because of our greed and distrust.
Tears fell from my eyes. Even though she was a stranger, the imnse guilt overwheld as I held onto her body.
Suddenly, a cough. She wasn’t dead! I quickly realized to check her pulse around her neck.
It was a heartbeat, a sign of life.
With all the strength I had, I slowly carried her upstairs, bringing her all the way back ho.
I woke both dad and mom up and explained everything I saw downstairs. Mom imdiately ran over to my bed to see her.
Before I knew it, she was up and alive with only a small cup of water. I could still rember the first word she asked.
"Am I still in hell?"
After a week of Mom taking care of her, she finally fully recovered and thanked us for saving her.
During the ti she recovered at our place, Dad’s view on Jieqiong also slowly began to change.
He had realized she was no different than my younger sister. The only exception was that Jieqiong was all alone in Kaifeng while my younger sister had a family to rely on.
With a short discussion, we all unanimously accepted her. Partially, we all felt a little guilty for what we had almost done to her.
But more so over ti, she was a very fun person to talk to. From my dad’s favorite subject of history to my mom’s sewing habit, she just knew everything.
Even my favorite ga back in middle school, she happened to play it too! Out of all the gas out there, she just happened to share the sa interest as .
We soon beca very good friends, since she’s the only one near my age that I could talk to, or at least closer than anyone else in the family.
With more and more ti going by, the supplies we gathered from the 2nd floor were surprisingly plentiful.
The burden of having one extra mouth wasn’t all that bad in the end... until another month flew by.
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