Apocalypse Ground Zero: Refusing To Leave Home

Chapter 326: Looking For A Way Out

Yuche didn’t wait for me to tell him what to do next.

He caught the metal buckle on the dead man’s belt and dragged the body away from the dirt, stopping only when it reached the middle of the road where there were no roots, flowers, or weeds close enough to touch it.

"Farther," I ordered, watching the loose shirt shift over the man’s sunken stomach.

The buckle tightened again, scraping the corpse several more meters across the pavement before Yuche let it settle.

Chenghai moved to one side of the road while Zhenlan took the other, leaving enough distance between them that whatever was inside the man couldn’t reach both at once. Lingyun stayed beside me with a small flame flickering over his fingers, apparently determined to be ready the moment I finally let him use it.

Yuche remained directly in front of me.

I leaned slightly to the side so I could see past his shoulder. "You know standing there doesn’t stop me from looking."

"I know," he replied without moving.

"Then what are you doing?"

He glanced back at me, completely calm. "I like feeling useful."

At least he was honest.

Chenghai picked up a long branch from beside the road and threw it at the corpse. The wood struck the man’s shoulder hard enough to roll him partly onto his side before he dropped onto his back again.

For several seconds, nothing happened.

Lingyun raised his burning hand a little higher. "Now?"

"Wait."

He sighed but didn’t argue, which probably meant he was planning to ignore me the moment the situation became interesting enough.

Yuche moved the buckle again, turning the body until the front of the shirt was completely visible. The man’s arm slipped away from his stomach, and the fabric beneath it dipped inward far more than it should have.

I frowned as the hollow slowly changed shape.

Something slid beneath the shirt, travelling from the lower stomach toward the ribs before stopping. It didn’t look like the twitch of a dead muscle or the beginning of a zombie waking up. The movement was too narrow and controlled, like something was pushing its way through the body instead of the corpse moving on its own.

Lingyun’s flame grew brighter. "Rouxi."

"I see it."

Chenghai stepped closer to my side while Zhenlan tightened the air around the road. Dust and dried leaves began circling the corpse in a wide ring, giving us a clear boundary around the body.

Yuche held it still using the metal left in its clothes.

The dead man’s fingers bent.

One snapped inward so hard that the nail dug into the palm. The next finger followed, then another, until the entire hand had curled into a fist. His wrist twisted against the pavement, and the movement travelled up the arm in a series of sharp jerks that lifted the shoulder before dropping it again.

Lingyun leaned forward, his attention fixed on the body. "Do you think it’s a new zombie?"

"No."

He glanced toward me. "That was fast."

"It isn’t trying to stand, bite us, or crawl in our direction."

"So it’s a lazy new zombie."

I ignored him and watched the dead man’s leg kick against the road. His heel struck the pavement twice before the knee bent, then straightened hard enough to drag the corpse sideways.

Chenghai started forward, but I lifted one hand to stop him. "Don’t touch it."

"I wasn’t planning to."

"You were moving closer."

"I was moving between it and you."

That was apparently different in his mind, so I let it go.

The corpse jerked again, but it still wasn’t trying to rise. Its arms and legs only moved when something travelled through them, using whatever muscle remained as it pushed toward another part of the body.

A thin line appeared beneath the skin of the man’s neck. It started near the collarbone and travelled slowly upward until it disappeared beneath his jaw.

Yuche pulled the metal zipper open without going near him. The jacket spread across the pavement, exposing the shirt underneath and making it easier to see what was happening.

The man’s stomach had almost disappeared.

His clothes weren’t hanging loose because they were too large. There simply wasn’t much left beneath them. The skin around his waist sagged toward his spine while narrow shapes twisted through what remained, never staying near the surface long enough for me to see exactly what they were.

The chest dipped next.

For a moment, every rib pressed sharply against the shirt. Then something shifted beneath them, and the shape slowly collapsed inward. The fabric sank into the hollow where his lungs and muscle should’ve been, leaving the body flatter than any corpse had a right to be.

"Well," I murmured, "he definitely skipped more than breakfast."

No one laughed.

That was rude.

A narrow movement travelled beneath the dead man’s cheek. The skin lifted, then dropped again before another line appeared near the corner of his mouth.

Lingyun’s expression lost the last of its amusement. The fire around his hand spread across both palms as he waited for me to give the order.

The dead man’s lips moved, but there was no breath behind them and no attempt to form words. Something pressed against his mouth from the inside, forcing it open a fraction before sliding along the inside of his cheek.

For one second, something pale appeared behind his teeth.

Then it vanished into his throat.

The corpse jerked hard enough to lift one shoulder from the road. Yuche forced it flat again while Zhenlan’s wind tightened into a smaller circle, spinning faster around the pavement.

"Nothing gets through that," I told Zhenlan.

"It won’t," he promised, his attention never leaving the body.

Yuche pulled every remaining piece of metal from the corpse at once. The belt buckle, buttons, coins, and another zipper tore free and began circling inside Zhenlan’s wind, ready to crush anything that escaped.

Without the clothing holding the body together, the damage became impossible to miss. The stomach had nearly folded against the spine, and the chest continued sinking as dozens of thin shapes moved beneath the loose skin. Some travelled toward the arms and legs, while others climbed through the throat toward the head.

Whatever had entered the man had already consumed most of him.

Now it was looking for a way out.