Another day passed.

Early the next morning, I poured the water from my room into a small bottle and put it in my backpack.

Fortunately, the snacks only had some bloodstains on the bags, so they were still edible.

I also packed all the instant noodles into the bag.

After thinking for a moment, I picked up the scissors from the table and put them in my pocket.

The phone and tablet were out of battery, but the only thing that had power was the flashlight by the bedside.

It was reliable, so it was necessary to bring a flashlight.

The weather in April was really hot, and it hadn't rained for many days.

But it was so dangerous that neither Yanzi nor I dared to take off our thick clothes.

I gave Yanzi my baseball cap and found a few scarves to wrap around her. It made her feel safer.

We each had a backpack, and after preparing everything, we saw determination in each other's eyes.

Looking through the peephole, there wasn't a single zombie outside the door. For safety reasons, I pounded the anti-theft door with a baseball bat a few times.

A few minutes passed, but there were still no zombies.

Without waiting any longer, I opened the door, made sure it was safe, and quietly walked out.

Yanzi followed behind me, holding the kitchen knife I used to chop zombies yesterday.

I was afraid of close combat, and Yanzi was afraid too.

So I unscrewed a chair leg, nailed it to the handle of the kitchen knife, wrapped it with cloth several times to make sure it wouldn't fall apart no matter how it was used, and then attached a kitchen knife to my baseball bat.

After a month, we finally walked out of the door again. There was a stench outside, but fortunately, we had thick masks on and had somewhat adapted to the smell. Otherwise, we would have been walking and vomiting at the same time.

Yanzi followed me to the safe passage. I stuck my head out and, using the sunlight, confirmed that there were no zombies at the corner of the stairs from the third floor to the second floor before waving at Yanzi.

We successfully reached the second floor.

There were no zombies on the second floor either.

But there were too many zombies on the first floor, and the door to the fire escape was open.

Just as I was thinking whether to run directly to the basement or quietly pass by,

I suddenly heard faint footsteps behind me.

The sound seemed human.

Yanzi and I stood at the corner between the first and second floors, waiting quietly for the people upstairs to come down.

It was a couple with a little girl.

We pointed our weapons at them, but they seemed to have no ill intent, so they put their hands on their heads.

I breathed a sigh of relief, patted Yanzi's hand, and signaled her to lower her weapon.

The couple quietly came down, and with my gloved hand, I gestured to the man.

Horizontal one, vertical one. (-1.)

He seemed to understand my meaning, nodded, and took out the car keys from his pocket.

I also nodded in response and took out my car keys.

The four of us looked at each other and immediately understood what the others were thinking.

The man pointed to himself and made a forward motion with his index and middle fingers.

I nodded in understanding.

Then he pointed at me and his wife's back.

I made an OK gesture.

It meant he would go in front, and I would be at the rear.

At this moment, if we wanted to survive, cooperation was the only way.

We followed the man's footsteps and slowly approached the first floor. Just as we were about to reach the entrance of the fire escape,

We suddenly heard a group of zombies outside!

The man remained calm and threw a pre-prepared sound system far away from the door.

The scattered zombies that had gathered at the door ran toward the sound.

We followed the man and successfully reached the basement.

But there was no sunlight or light in the basement, only the occasional sound of zombies howling.

The already terrifying environment now seemed even more sinister.

The man suddenly stopped and groped his wayforward, searching for something.

After a moment, he found what he was looking for—a flashlight.

He turned it on and the dim beam of light illuminated the gloomy basement.

With the flashlight guiding our way, we cautiously moved deeper into the basement.

We could hear the echoing sounds of our footsteps, along with the occasional groans of zombies in the distance.

The atmosphere was tense, and we all held our breath, trying to minimize any noise.

As we made our way through the labyrinthine corridors, we came across a storage room.

The man cautiously opened the door, and inside, we found a stash of supplies—canned food, water bottles, medical supplies, and even some weapons.

We couldn't believe our luck. It was a jackpot in this dire situation.

We quickly divided the supplies among ourselves, making sure to distribute them evenly.

Feeling more prepared now, we continued our journey through the basement.

Time seemed to stretch as we navigated the maze-like corridors, avoiding areas with too many zombies.

Occasionally, we would come across locked doors, and the man would skillfully pick the locks to see if there was anything valuable inside.

After what felt like an eternity, we reached the end of the basement, where we found a heavy metal door.

The man tried to open it, but it was locked from the other side.

He looked at us and gestured to wait.

He took out a set of lock-picking tools and started working on the lock.

After a few tense moments, the lock clicked open, and the door creaked as it swung inward.

We cautiously stepped through the door and found ourselves in an underground parking lot.

The place was eerily quiet, with rows of abandoned cars and a few scattered zombies.

We quickly made our way to the nearest car, which belonged to the man.

He unlocked it and we all piled in, relieved to have found a means of escape.

The engine roared to life, and we drove out of the parking lot, leaving the horrors of the basement behind.

As we drove through the desolate streets, we couldn't help but feel a glimmer of hope.

We had found allies in this apocalypse, and together, we would face whatever challenges lay ahead.

Our journey was far from over, but we were determined to survive.

With renewed optimism, we set our sights on finding a safe haven, where we could rebuild and start anew.