Chapter 303: The golden fruit 14.

The second zombie rushed into their path.

Yan Cijin drew her weapon and struck once.

The blade cut through the zombie’s skull with a clean, efficient motion.

The body fell behind them.

Bai Li accelerated again.

The remaining zombies tried to give chase, but there was no real chance of catching them.

They reached the garage exit.

Bai Li drove through the security barrier without slowing down.

Metal screamed against metal.

A second later they were outside.

The city road stretched ahead of them, wide and nearly empty.

Bai Li leaned into the turn and guided the Ninja 400 onto the main road.

Yan Cijin tightened her grip around Bai Li’s waist for balance.

It lasted only a moment, but Bai Li noticed.

So did Yan Cijin.

Neither said anything.

The city ahead looked like something that had been abandoned in the middle of a sentence. Cars sat crooked across lanes. Buses were lodged against curbs. Traffic lights blinked uselessly or remained dark. Storefronts had shattered windows, and old advertisements hung from walls in strips.

The first kilometer passed quietly.

Then they saw the roadblock.

A pile of abandoned vehicles blocked three lanes ahead. Smoke rose from a delivery truck that had burned days earlier. Zombies wandered between the cars.

Bai Li slowed slightly.

Yan Cijin looked over her shoulder. More zombies were coming from the side streets.

"How many?" Bai Li asked.

"Thirty, maybe forty."

Bai Li nodded.

"Too many?"

Yan Cijin almost smiled.

"No."

The motorcycle kept moving.

Bai Li aimed straight for the gap between two buses.

Three zombies rushed toward them.

Yan Cijin raised her weapon and cut down the first.

Bai Li ducked beneath the arm of the second, then leaned the motorcycle hard enough that the footpeg nearly scraped the asphalt. The zombie flew past them.

The third reached the motorcycle from the side.

Bai Li extended one boot and kicked it away without even looking.

They broke through the first cluster.

Then the street seemed to erupt.

Dozens of zombies poured out from a parking structure on the left.

Yan Cijin’s eyes narrowed.

"Bai Li."

"I see them."

The motorcycle slowed.

Then Bai Li deliberately stopped.

Yan Cijin looked at her.

"Why did you stop?"

"To avoid damaging the bike."

The first wave was already within reach.

Bai Li dismounted.

She moved forward alone.

Yan Cijin stepped down after her.

The zombies came in a mass.

Bai Li disappeared into them.

There was no wasted movement. She struck, turned, sidestepped, and struck again. Every motion was precise. A zombie swung at her and she caught its arm, rotated, and drove the creature into another. A second creature lunged and she struck the side of its neck with the edge of her hand. A third was kicked hard enough to crash through a windshield.

Yan Cijin fought beside her.

Where Bai Li’s movements were brutally direct, Yan Cijin’s were clean and controlled. She stepped around reaching hands, cut tendons, broke knees, and ended each fight with a single precise blow.

Within a minute, the road was covered in bodies.

Bai Li brushed dust from her sleeve.

Yan Cijin looked around.

"That was thirty seconds."

"Thirty-two."

"You counted?"

"I like accurate numbers."

They got back on the motorcycle.

A few distant survivors had been watching from a rooftop.

One of them shouted.

"Wait!"

Bai Li stopped.

A man appeared at the edge of the rooftop, waving both hands.

"Please!" he shouted. "Please help us!"

Bai Li looked up.

There were seven people on the roof. Two older adults, three children, and two younger men. They looked exhausted.

Yan Cijin lowered her weapon.

"They were trapped."

Bai Li nodded.

The building entrance was blocked by rubble, but the side wall had a fire escape.

Bai Li led the way inside.

It took less than five minutes to reach the roof.

The family had been there for two days.

The older woman was shaking from hunger. One of the children had a scraped knee. The younger man who had shouted for help looked embarrassed that he had needed to call strangers.

"Are you alone?" Yan Cijin asked.

"We were with more people." He swallowed. "They went looking for food."

"And?"

"They did not come back."

Bai Li glanced toward the street.

"We are going toward the western district," she said. "If you can move, we can take you part of the way."

The man looked stunned.

"You would do that?"

Bai Li shrugged. "We are going that way anyway."

The older woman lowered her head and tried not to cry.

The children stared at Bai Li as if she had stepped out of a story.

One little girl asked, "Are you a superhero?"

Bai Li looked at her seriously.

"No."

Yan Cijin glanced at her.

Bai Li added, "Superheroes usually work harder."

The little girl laughed.

They found an abandoned minivan nearby. Its battery was dead, but the system restored enough charge to start it. Bai Li drove it while Yan Cijin sat in the passenger seat. The younger survivors packed the children inside.

For the next several kilometers, they moved slowly.

The road became worse.

There were more zombies now, and they had begun to gather in larger groups around the busiest intersections. Some had adapted to the sounds of engines and learned to swarm moving vehicles.

The first major group hit them near an intersection.

Bai Li did not even brake.

She accelerated.

Yan Cijin lowered the window and struck at anything that came too close. A zombie climbed onto the hood. Bai Li swerved, sending it sliding across the windshield. Yan Cijin finished it through the glass.

The children inside screamed.

The older woman covered their eyes.

"Do not look," she whispered.

Bai Li remained calm.

"Hold tight."

The minivan broke through the cluster and continued.

They stopped near a narrow side road where the family could travel toward a safer district.

The younger man thanked them several times.

Bai Li waved him off.

"Stay indoors at night."

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TO BE CONTINUED.