Chapter 311: The golden fruit 22.

Bai Li kept moving.

Then she heard a sound from the left.

A child’s voice.

"Please!"

She braked.

Yan Cijin looked toward the sound.

A small white van was wedged between two concrete blocks.

Inside were three people.

A woman in her thirties, a boy around ten, and a teenage girl.

The woman was trying to push the driver’s door open.

Behind the van, shadows moved.

Zombies.

A lot of them.

Yan Cijin sighed.

"We are really bad at ignoring people."

Bai Li turned off the engine.

"That is your fault."

"My fault?"

"You said we should save them."

"I said no such thing."

"You thought it."

Yan Cijin stared.

"You cannot read my mind."

"I know."

Bai Li got off the motorcycle.

"Come on."

They reached the van just as the first zombies climbed over the nearby cars.

The mother panicked when she saw them.

"Please help us!"

Bai Li nodded.

"We are trying."

She looked at the teenage girl.

"Can you walk?"

"Yes."

"Then get ready."

Yan Cijin moved toward the rear of the van.

The first zombie lunged.

She struck it across the jaw.

Another reached for her from behind.

Bai Li caught it before it could touch her and threw it over the van.

More zombies poured into the parking lot.

The mother stared.

"How are there so many?"

Yan Cijin looked around.

"They were hiding."

Bai Li smiled faintly.

"Not very well."

The fight began.

The parking lot became a maze of motion.

Bai Li stepped between parked cars, using the tight spaces to force the zombies into single lines. She struck the first, kicked the second into the third, and used the hood of a sedan to vault over the next wave. Yan Cijin moved around the opposite side, cutting through the ones that tried to flank them.

The little boy watched through the broken window.

His eyes were huge.

"Mom."

"What?"

"They are really strong."

The mother swallowed.

"Yes."

The girl looked at Bai Li.

"She is not even scared."

The mother shook her head.

"No."

Bai Li turned toward them.

"Get out now."

The mother opened the door.

The girl climbed out first.

The boy followed.

A zombie appeared behind them.

Bai Li crossed the distance instantly.

Her hand struck the creature’s chest.

It flew backward across the parking lot.

The boy stared.

"That was awesome."

Bai Li looked at him.

"Keep moving."

They ran.

Yan Cijin guarded the rear.

The family reached the motorcycle.

The mother looked confused.

"There are only two seats."

Bai Li looked around the parking lot.

"There is another vehicle over there."

A battered pickup truck sat nearby.

The keys were still inside.

Bai Li tossed them to the mother.

"Take that."

"You want us to drive?"

"Yes."

"I have not driven since the outbreak."

"You know how?"

"Yes."

"Then drive."

The mother got behind the wheel.

The teenage girl climbed into the passenger seat.

The boy crawled into the back.

Bai Li kicked open the pickup’s blocked gate.

"Follow the main road east," she said. "There is a shelter near the old stadium."

The mother nodded.

"Thank you."

"Go."

The truck started.

It moved away.

Yan Cijin watched until the family disappeared behind a line of cars.

Then she turned back to Bai Li.

"You always say go like you are commanding an army."

"They listen."

"That is the strange part."

Bai Li climbed onto the motorcycle.

Yan Cijin followed.

They started again.

The mall was closer now.

Less than a kilometer.

The enormous building seemed to fill the entire horizon.

A huge decorative arch marked the main entrance.

Most of the glass doors were shattered.

The signs above them were blackened.

The parking lot between them and the entrance was empty.

Too empty.

Bai Li slowed to a crawl.

Yan Cijin leaned closer.

"I do not like this."

Bai Li nodded.

"Neither do I."

That was the first time she had said it without a trace of humor.

They moved forward.

The city behind them had gone strangely silent.

No engines.

No gunshots.

No zombie cries.

Nothing.

Yan Cijin glanced over her shoulder.

The convoy was gone.

The streets behind them were empty.

Even the armored figure had disappeared.

Bai Li looked toward the mall.

The system flashed.

[Energy source stable.]

[Distance to target: 0.8 kilometers.]

Then the warning appeared.

[Additional entity detected.]

Bai Li’s eyes narrowed.

Yan Cijin noticed.

"What now?"

Bai Li looked up.

A shadow moved across the mall’s upper floors.

It was too large to be human.

Another shadow moved behind it.

Then another.

Yan Cijin’s grip tightened around Bai Li’s waist.

"They are inside."

"Yes."

"How many?"

Bai Li watched the silhouettes.

"I do not know."

Yan Cijin laughed softly.

"That is the first honest answer you have given me all day."

Bai Li smiled.

"Enjoy it."

They continued.

The mall’s entrance was now visible through the rain.

Above it, several broken digital displays flickered back to life.

One word appeared on every screen.

WELCOME.

Then the screens changed.

TARGETS.

Yan Cijin stared.

"That is definitely for us."

Bai Li did not slow.

A low hum filled the air.

The same sound they had heard from the armored figure.

Bai Li glanced at the mirrors.

Nothing.

She looked up.

The sky above the mall was now glowing green.

Something massive shifted inside the clouds.

The system began to overload with warnings.

[Critical energy density.]

[Multiple spatial fluctuations.]

[Unknown source approaching.]

Bai Li’s hand tightened slightly on the throttle.

Yan Cijin felt it.

"You are concerned."

"Not really."

"You are."

Bai Li thought about it.

"Interested."

"That is not much better."

They were almost at the final intersection.

The mall entrance lay directly ahead.

But before they could cross the intersection, every abandoned vehicle in the parking lot turned on its headlights.

Hundreds of headlights.

They illuminated the entire road.

Yan Cijin looked around.

"This is getting ridiculous."

A figure appeared on the roof of the mall.

Then another.

Then a third.

.

.

.

TO BE CONTINUED.