Chapter 16 - Bitten

Zou Yue keenly gazed at the target. His arms were aching, but he held his position until he was clearly sure that he would hit the target. With a smooth sliding motion, he released the taunt arrow room from his bow.

It whooshed loudly and hit the target right in its centre.

He lowered his bow with a wide smirk on his face. "Bull's eye!"

"You are doing better than expected," an old man behind him who was tending to the arrows whispered.

"That was my only bull's-eye," he mumbled awkwardly, and went over to pick out his arrows. In a consecutive order of ten arrows, he was only able to hit the bulls-eye once. "With practice I can do much better," he whispered to himself and pushed the arrowed into his quiver.

For the next hour and a half he patiently practiced until at least three of his arrows out of ten hit the bullseye.

As he was knocking his final arrow, a hand tapped his shoulders. "Don't strain yourself, kid. Go home and come back tomorrow," the young man whispered.

"But just another arrow," Zou Yue pouted.

The man relented and let him do his thing.

Zou closed his eyes and concentrated solely on the target in front of him. His eyes narrowed and his target aligned right with his arrow's tip. He gently released it from its taunt string.

This time his arrows whooshed and plunged right into the centre of another arrow. Just like in that movie 'brave'.

"Wow, double bullseye," he cheerfully chuckled.

Seeing Zou Yue jump around in glee, the old man behind him smirked slightly.

This man was the owner of this training hall. Usually school student come here to practice, but it was a surprise to him when a young man came running with an exited look in his eyes. He let him have a go at it. The young man had a good talent in it.

"You should buy some good arrows, young man. Wood arrows snaps easily I suggest you get metal ones," the training hall owner mumbled.

"Please have a set ready for me!!" Zou Yue happily held his hand and shook it. "Thank you for giving me a chance."

"Good, good, youngsters these days are good," he chuckled, and sent him out.

Zou Yue happily pulled the arrow bag over his shoulders and ran in the unfamiliar road. His parents live in a slightly popular metropolitan city in G city, their residential area was quiet close to retirement housing, so its residents were mostly old aged people. Now and then he would wave at a few old people who were crossing by.

"Little Yue, where are you hopping around," an old man shouted from across the road.

"Planning on getting ice cream, grandpa Shu," he shouted and waved at him.

"Good, don't eat too many or you will have rotten teeth like mine," the old man showed him his teeth, which were black and broken down.

Zou chuckled and nodded. "Definitely will not follow your footsteps." As the old man walked past him, he sadly sighed. This old man also became a zombie at the end of the world. Old people did not have that much immunity to fight against the virus. Simply to say all the members of the pension residential area either died from the sickness or turned on the first day itself.

It was quiet chaotic.

Zou remembered the time when this same jovial grandpa ran to him with a bloodthirsty look and tried to bite him. Thankfully, the old man did not have teeth, so he was not able to break skin. It was the first time he knew that cruelty of the apocalyptic world.

Just thinking about it brought a shiver down his spine.

"agh, let's not think about it." he ran into the convenient store and brought a few cake rolls, dried strawberries, Goji berries for his father and some sweet peaches for his mother. Only after buying those did he pick out a grape flavoured ice cream from the box and happily hopped out the door.

He speared his hands out and gently felt the breeze. It was fresh and devoid of any rotting smell he was used to. "I still can't believe I'm back here," he mumbled, and bit into the cold treat.

For a second it made his teeth ache, but he decided to ignore it and enjoy it thoroughly.

He hummed a small tune and walked over into the alleyway. The Popsicle was soon eaten off with only the stick remaining. A trashcan was just nearby a crossing. He tossed it. But the stick did not end up in the box. "Che, my aim is still bad." he stumblingly walked over and leaned down to pick it up.

But before his hands could even touch it, a small dark figure swiftly took it and dashed under the trash can.

"What the hell," he stumbled back in fear. The creature that took it was fast. Just as fast as any mutated beast he had met in the apocalyptic time. Calming his pounding heart, he slowly leaned down and glanced into the dark space under the trash bin.

Only two mug bean size eyes shimmered blue.

"A rat? How come it's so fast," he mumbled and gently snapped his finger at it. "That is just the stick, little one. Do you need food?"

The rat threw the stick down and glanced at him with its gleaming eyes.

"Guess someone is hungry. You should be thankful that I am partial to rats like you. I even had a cute daughter called la Trexa. She was just a bread hoarder, Always stealing my bread," he whispered as he opened a packet of cake rolls and placed it on the clean road.

The rat hesitantly scurried out with his whiskers shaking slightly

"Don't have to be wary. I won't do anything to you," he whispered with a soft smirk.

The rat confidently walked out and started chewing on the cake roll loudly.

"Aww, I miss my rat child. I hope she ate her share of bread. Or at least take it from my corpse and hit it somewhere where she can eat later," he mumbled softly and glanced down. The grey rat also peered up at him. "she looked so much like you, Grey, and normal. I guess most rats do....but my girl is special alight, she loved to bathe in gutter that nasty fellow," he nostalgically had a one-way conversation.

The rat occasionally glanced up at him and continued chewing until it reached the part where the cover was unwrapped.

"Oh, let me help you with that little Girl." he pulled at the plastic wrapping but the cake itself seemed to be sticking to the inside.

The rat that was happily eating its food got annoyed by him. She stood on his hind limbs and bit his finger.

"ow!" Zou dropped the cake and accusingly glanced at it. "Rude! I was just helping you." the rat turned its face and continued eating.

"I am talking to you, young rat. See, it's blending," he showed it his bleeding wound and grumbled.

The rat squeaked in annoyance and stood on its hind limbs again. It waved its paws vigorously, with a strange expression of frustration on its face.

Zou secretly chuckled. "You cutie," he poked it belly. Right then, something strange caught his eyes. He gently held the rat's forepaws and glanced at its chubby belly. A small white mark in the shape of a heart stood out to him. "Oh my god, even your marking is similar to la Trexa!!!"