Survivors

Xiaotian slowed down, and came to a stop near the trailer. She put the engine on standby and took her hands off the wheel.

She released a long breath and looked at her hands. They were shaking on their own, and slightly numb, and her blood was still pounding in her temples. Because of the silence, it sounded quite loud in her head. She chuckled a bit, trying to keep calm, but lost it.

"HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!"

Liushi, who was still checking the feeds from the camera out of caution, was startled by the sudden bout of laughter. He watched as she laughed, as she tilted forward and supported herself with the wheel, her head down and her shoulders shaking. A smile grew on his face, until the laugh turned into sobs, erasing the previous smile.

"Xiotian?"

"It was scary" she said in a low voice between her sobs. "The driving was amazing. The power of the engine. The response speed. The mobility. Thrilling. But the attack? It was scary."

She raised her head and looked at her companion. She had tears streaming down her face, and an expression that was equally amused and shamefull.

"The omnious humming of numerous wings. The ferocious attacks on the windshield and the windows. It was frightening. After each strike I couldn't help but think thatI the following one would breach the window, and that their scythes would pierce my head or slice it of my shoulders. I haven't been so scared since that moment in Jiangbei, when you saved me and my friend."

"And yet, despite all ofthat, you handled yourself like a pro. You kept your composure and held on until the end. I'm impressed, and very proud of you. You were wonderfull."

Hearing his praises, she hastly turned her head the other way, her mood greatly improved, her heart raced, and with the remnants of the previous excitement, got slightly aroused. Liushi enjoyed her reaction very much, though he didn't notice the last part. However much he wanted to stay in place and admire the charming girl at his side, there was work to do that couldn't be delayed.

He went back to the living module and got 2 buckets. He filled the first with a mixture of water and cleaning products, got out, climbed on top of his truck, and spread the liquid as much as possible. Xiaotian was tasked with filling the second bucket, pass it to him, recover the first empty bucket and fill it again. It took 15 min to give the truck and the trailer a rudimentary rinse, just enough to temporary mask scents. Then, they slowly moved toward the outskirt of the town. On the way, they encountered a bit more zombies, but not much, and settled in the small parking of modest hotel.

It was getting late, and Liushi urged Xiaotian to take a rest. She went to the living module and left him alone in the driving cockpit. He decided to work on what kind of automated or remote controled drones he needed. They had to be hard to notice, as it could alert possible hostiles of his presence, something he would rather avoid. The Doomsday Ride was already noisy enough. Flying drones for a quick survey of the area. Rolling drones to see things hidden by foliage, shelters and the like. Walking drones to explore dangerous buildings due to the possible unmanageable number of hostiles inside.

Bip! Bip!

All activity in the truck was interrupted by the proximity alert. As Xiaotian made her way toward him, Liushi gazed at the screen of the tablet. A small group of people had appeared at the corner of the street, and was cautiously moving in their direction. The group was made of 3 men and 2 women, with hand axe, machete, sticks and staves as weapons. They seemed to be carrying supplies, and moving back toward to their shelter.

"Survivors..." Xioatian whispered in a tone full of hope.

"Let's wait for them to get close enough to talk. We don't know them, they could try to steal from us."

As they got closer, they noticed the truck and stopped. They talked to each other for a moment, then started to move even more cautiously toward them.

"LU!!!" Shouted Xiaotian in joy.

Liushi almost jumped out of his seat in surprise.

"Who??"

"Lu! That's my little sister with them!" she replied with tears gathering at the corner of her eyes.

"Fine, you can go see them, but for the love of god, no more screams please. And stay near the truck."

"Ah, yes" she replied while blushing in shame. "I'll be carefull, thank you."

With that said, she got out of the truck and went to the edge of the parking. She happily waived her arm at her sister, who, after a few seconds, recognised her and rushed to her. It warmed Liushi to see the 2 sisters embrace each other. The other people in the group relaxed slightly as they observed the same scene.

They gave them a little space for privacy, and turned their attantion toward his vehicle. For anyone, the Doomsday Ride would always be an impressive vehicle. Even more so since the day of the Outbreak. It was as impressive as it was intimidating, and the group of survivors couldn't help but gulp in anxiousness. At that time, Xiaotian sister turned toward the truck with raw admiration in her eyes as she drunk in its appearance.

Liushi rolled the window down, and all eyes went to him. He simply nodded in greetings, while assessing the group. There was a man that was past his prime, and seemed to be the leader of the group. The second man was middle aged, and looked like he was recovering from wounds. The last man wasn't really a man, but a teenager who seemed to be in a bad mood. The woman with them was average looking and seemed to be in her late 20s. Their clothes were rumpled and slightly dirty, probably just worn today. For some reason, probably due to entertainment works, he expected survivors to wear the same dirty clothes. He was reminded that there was plenty of clothing and laundry products available for the survivors.

Finally, his eyes landed on the sister duo. Lu was similar to her sister in many ways. However, she was shorter and slightly less busty, as well as more athletic than her older sister. The 2 of them side by side made for a nice view, and a small smile formed on his lips. The little sister gave him an enthusiastic greeting with her hand.

"Brother Liushi, my little sister, Lu. Lulu, my saviour and comrade, Jiang Liushi."

"Nice to meet you, brother Jiang."

"Nice to meet you too. It's good to see that there still people surviving, especially with the big buzzing bastards around."

Hearing that last sentence, the faces of the survivors grew grim. The teen of the group snarled is in barrely restrained fury. As for Lu, she lowered her head, looking at the ground.

"What do you know about those beasts?"

The old man was the apparent leader of the group, so he was the one to answer the question.

"They appeared on the second day of the outbreak. At that time, there weren't many of them, and the zombies were a much bigger threat than them. It was on the third day that things started to change. First, their numbers had drastically increased. Then, they started to attack anyone, including zombies. Most of the zombies were killed, but when it came to human victims, most were captured. We don't know why they took humans and zombies, and we don't want to know what happen to them."

Her head still lowered, Lu spoke softly.

"We used to be part of a bigger group, nearly 20 people. We were in an empty house when a group of beasts went straight for us. We took care not to show hints of our presence to avoid zombies, yet the bees found us. It was then than someone familiar with bees told us that they probably detected us through body heat. Large group of people emit enough heat to attract them, so we had to split up."

She raised her head and looked at her sister in the eye.

"That was when I got separated from dad. We were to busy fighting fro our lives and escaping. I know that 3 other people died or were captured at that time. On top of that, the noise we made also attracted zombies. We don't know what happened to the rest of them."

"What about our mother?"

"We don't know what happened to her. We haven't seen her since the day of the outbreak when she left for work."

The sisters embraced each other with tears streaming down their faces. Liushi suppressed a grimace. He felt bad for the 2 sisters. The male teen of the group had angry tears as well. He probably lost people close to him. He would need to have a talk with the sisters to decide what to do next.