6

Zombies kept swarming in from all sides. Even though they looked scary, the zombies actually moved rather slow. Under Zheng’s full concentration, the zombies couldn’t get close to them. But as the number of zombies that died under his gun increased, he was only left with one magazine.

On the other side, the mercenaries opened the door leading to a laboratory. However, a bunch of zombies suddenly swarmed out and pulled the mercenary who opened the door inside. His last scream was horrifying. As said before, you may not think much of this when watching a movie, but when the same thing happened next to you. That horror was indescribable.

One shouted, “Back to the Red Queen’s room! Back there!”

Before long over ten zombies had moved in between Zheng’s group and the mercenaries. As they were stumbling towards Zheng, the three could smell that stink. Xiaoyi couldn’t help but yell, “Zheng, shoot them, hurry!”

As the viewers know, anyone who got bit or clawed by the zombies will get infected. The only vaccines were still in the train. They would die before getting to the train, they were still only normal people.

Zheng was getting anxious as he saw the mercenaries get farther away. More zombies were appearing through the corner yet his ammo was getting lower.

“Ten, nine, eight…”

Zheng silently counted the bullets in his gun. Then suddenly the zombies in front of him were dropping down one by one. Jie appeared behind them and shouted, “What are you doing? Didn’t I tell you to follow them? Haven’t you seen the movie? A Hunter will appear here.”

Jie kept on shooting, and without taking another look at the three, he ran towards where the mercenaries went. Zheng, Lan and Xiaoyi followed.

‘His speed is about 20% faster than us. He probably enhanced his muscles.’

Zheng was inspecting Jie when they ran. He found that his body couldn’t catch up with his thinking speed or reaction speed. It was most prominent when he was shooting.

With the addition of Jie, the four of them finally arrived at the central computer room. Then with a loud bang, the door was shut and the zombies were blocked outside.

Everyone suddenly dropped to the floor. Aside from Jie, they were panting heavily, gasping for air. Even when their lungs were filled with air, the terror kept them breathing heavily. It took a while for the three to calm down.

“That was not bad.” Jie put his gun on the waist and laughed at Zheng.

“What do you mean?”

Jie turned around to look at the mercenaries. They were looking at the corpses in that laser corridor. Then he said in a low voice. “The most dangerous time for a newbie is usually the first movie. Mentality is the most important. First you have to understand your situation. I have seen many people who thought this was some illusion or a TV program so they died the fastest. But the three of you quickly adjusted your mentalities. Especially you and Lan. You were the best out of all the newbies I’ve met. Not only did you adjust your mentality quickly but also overcame your fears.”

“Secondly, overcoming your fears isn’t enough to live. You are still only a normal person in the first movie. Even if you know the plot, it’s still easy to die. So the first movie also heavily depends on luck. As long as you lived through the first movie, you can enhance yourself and exchange weapons; like my gun.”

After saying all this, Jie took out a pack of cigarettes and handed one to Zheng. “Congratulations, newbies. How does it feel to be alive? Hahaha.”

Xiaoyi came over, “Jie, give me one too.”

Jie glanced at him, “Don’t think I can’t smell it. You do not have a hint of cigarette scent on you. If you don’t want to die then follow us.”

Xiaoyi lowered his head, “Jie, I am already at negative ten points. What should I do?”

Jie laughed and said, “You lost ten points instead of earning any? Your luck is better than average. Don’t worry, you will get 1000 points at the end; but remember, if you are still in the negative after that 1000 points, you will be erased from the world.”

Then someone knocked on the door. Alice’s voice came from outside the room. “Open the door. Hurry!”

The mercenaries came over and Jie opened a crack for Alice and Matt to get in.

One asked them, “How is it outside? Can we go back the way we came?”

Alice shook her head, “They are all over the place.”

Everyone fell to a silence. Kaplan broke down. “We can’t escape. There’s no other path in the Red Queen’s room. We’re done!”

Then Spence said, “Couldn’t we stay here? Once the outside finds out we are missing, they will send backup. I think we’re safe here. I don’t want to go out and fight those undead.”

But the mercenaries looked embarrassed, Spence asked curiously, “I say something wrong?”

Kaplan replied, “There probably isn’t anymore backup.”

Spence was irritated and grabbed his collar. “What do you mean no backup?”

One sighed, “Our orders were to bring back the Red Queen’s main circuit and isolate the Hive from the outside. Remember the path that goes from the building to the Hive? If we’re not back there by three hours the gate will shut, thus isolating the Hive. F*ck the corporation, I understand why we received such orders.”

Zheng’s group looked at each other. They also knew what the timer meant on their watches. They had to survive until that gate shuts. And before that they couldn’t get injured by the zombies, couldn’t fight too many zombies at once, and–with just a desert eagle–couldn’t fight a Hunter.

Spence let go of Kaplan but he was panicking, “No! They can’t do this. Are they trying to kill us all down here?”

Rain said, “This is the safest way to keep the secret of their research. If we all die down here then no one will leak anything out.” Her hand was bloody where it was bit.

People were silent, then Spence got more irritated. “Why are you telling me this now? Why didn’t you say this before everything happened?”

Then Alice intervened, “Stop arguing. Let’s find a way out. We will first find a way out of this room.” She picked up the Red Queen’s main circuit and went into the Red Queen’s room.

“What’re you doing.” One asked.

“Turning her back on.”

As the mercenaries went away, Zheng asked Jie, “Aren’t we going to take a look?”

“What is there to look at? Not like you haven’t seen the movie. You’re better off saving your stamina here and killing a few more zombies later.”

Lan touched her forehead, “Oh right, Jie, I have a question. How are we going to go back to God’s place? Does it shine a light on you? We slowly fade away? Or a path appear in front of us?”

Jie said, “I don’t know how we get back. Every time after the mission was over, I’m in the lobby of God’s place the next moment. You don’t have to worry about not being able to go back when the time comes. As long as you are alive–even if you got infected by the T-virus or something–as long as you still have your consciousness everything will go away. Similarly, if you lose an arm or a leg you can repair it with just some points.”

Lan frowned then asked, “You mentioned mission?”

“Of course, I said we’re merely struggling to survive. Like when we just got here and couldn’t leave One. That was a special mission. So that’s how it is, sometimes we have to complete some special missions, that’s God’s way of increasing difficulty.”

Lan sighed, “That’s unfortunate. I originally wanted to… nevermind.”

“What did you want to do?”

Zheng interrupted, “You mean let us stay here?”

Lan smiled at Zheng, “Right. That’s what I wanted to do. Like Jie said we will leave here instantly when the time comes, so we can be at any place unlike the cast. Then why not stay here? I remember in the plot they will go into an underground tunnel and almost get killed by a Hunter. Even after they get into the train they are still not safe, then what about this place?”

Zheng and Jie were surprised at Lan. “You’re afraid God will give us some mission later? Like make us follow another cast? And if we aren’t near them we will die?”

“Right, this is the safest place if we don’t consider that possibility.”

Jie took a smoke and thought for a bit. “Okay, we will stay here. God won’t give us impossible missions. Like when the mercenaries go away and we have to be within 300 feet of them. Since it’s decided, we will stay here.”

The three were surprised. Zheng said to Jie, “You don’t have to stay here like us. We are still normal people but you have a gun and enhanced yourself. Why not go kill zombies for rewards? And if you happen to kill a Hunter that’s a hundred points! We’re only staying here because we have to.”

Jie forced a smile, “To be honest, who the heck wants to be in this place. Anyone will break down from going from one movie to another. This is my fourth one and sometimes I’ve thought about just killing myself.”

“And I want you guys to live. Sometimes you can’t survive by yourself. If there are some experienced survivors other than myself, then our chances of surviving will be higher. Okay then, we will stay here. Think of what to say to the cast.”

The four of them started discussing until the cast came out. Then they went over to the cast with a smile. Zheng understood, not only did he want to live, everyone else was the same.