Apocalypse Ground Zero: Refusing To Leave Home-Chapter 76: How Long Until Sunrise?

"Run!"

Chenghai didn’t repeat himself. He didn’t need to.

The word hit like a command and the others moved immediately, instinct taking over where thought would have slowed them down.

Zhenlan turned first, his boots striking pavement in hard, controlled strides, the crowbar steady in his grip as he cut through the narrow street ahead.

Yuche followed half a step behind, Lingyun’s weight dragging heavily against his side, forcing him to compensate with every step.

Chenghai brought up the rear, firing twice more to buy them space before the gun ran out of bullets for the last time. The parked SUV disappeared behind them almost instantly, swallowed by darkness and the surge of movement that closed over the ground they had just abandoned.

The street ahead should have given them space.

Only... it didn’t.

Zhenlan saw the first shift before his brain was actually able to process it. A single zombie broke from the mass behind them. It wasn’t following them, it wasn’t chasing them like the others.... but it was running at an angle.

It cut across a side street and then vanished behind a row of parked cars as if it was never there in the first place.

Zhenlan felt a chill go up his spine that had nothing to do with the night temperatures. That zombies wasn’t trying to catch up, but to intercept. Like hunters trying to cut off escape routes.

"They’re cutting us off," he warned, his voice low but tight.

"I see it," Chenghai replied, his steps never slowing down, even for an instant.

Another zombie vaulted over the hood of a sedan ahead of them, landing in a crouch that lasted less than a heartbeat before it sprang forward again. Its movement was wrong. Too clean. Too efficient. It didn’t waste motion. It didn’t hesitate.

Yuche felt it in his gut before he said it out loud. "They’re not trailing anymore. Now they are setting up an ambush."

Lingyun didn’t respond. His head hung forward, his breath shallow, his weight pulling Yuche down harder with every step.

The alley to their right narrowed into darkness, a tight corridor between buildings that would have been safe during the day.

But it wasn’t safe now.

Two zombies dropped into it from above, one from a fire escape and another from a second-story ledge, both landing with jarring impacts that didn’t slow them for a second.

"Left," Zhenlan decided.

As one, the four of them turned.

The new street wasn’t any better. The dead were already moving through it shifting direction as they picked up the sound and scent of the living. One of them hit the side of a delivery truck, caught the edge, and pulled itself up onto the hood before launching forward again.

They were learning.

Not thinking or necessarily planning.

But adapting.

A storefront loomed ahead, glass shattered, door hanging open just enough to slip through.

"Inside," Chenghai ordered.

Zhenlan didn’t argue. He veered toward it, ducking through the broken doorway with Yuche right behind him. Chenghai entered last, grabbing the door and slamming it shut with a sharp crack that echoed through the space.

For a second, nothing hit it.

Zhenlan’s chest rose sharply, his eyes scanning the interior. Shelves overturned. Products scattered. No movement.

Then—

A single impact struck the door.

Just one.

Low. Right at the hinge.

The metal creaked and Zhenlan’s head snapped toward it.

Then there was another hit, slightly higher this time.

Zhenlan held his breath, but there was nothing after that.... just silence.

Yuche froze beside Lingyun, his grip tightening as he listened. "They’re not—" he started.

A scraping sound cut him off.

Not dragging so much as tracing.

Something on the other side of the door was moving along the frame, short, deliberate motions, testing edges instead of clawing blindly.

Chenghai’s expression hardened. "We’re not staying."

Zhenlan didn’t hesitate. "Back out."

They moved fast, abandoning the space before the door could give in and they would be trapped.

The moment Chenghai pulled it open again, two zombies lunged from either side of the entrance as if they expected the movement. Chenghai hit one hard enough to send it sideways into the display rack while Zhenlan drove the crowbar into the other’s skull.

They were moving again before the bodies hit the ground.

The next shelter was worse, it was a concrete stairwell that was enclosed enough to make the men feel safe..

But one thing that Zhenlan was learning that everything in this new world was a lie... especially the things that screamed safety.

He slammed the door open and they rushed inside, boots hitting the steps as they took them two at a time. The stairwell swallowed sound, the narrow space amplifying their breathing, their footsteps, the harsh scrape of Lingyun’s shoes against concrete.

They reached the first landing and came to an abrupt stop.

A shape moved above them... a zombie. It wasn’t falling so much as descending in a move that would have many any parkour athlete jealous.

It gripped the railing of the floor above, its body flipping over the railing and onto the sent set of toward them with a determined motion.

"I didn’t think they did stairs," Yuche muttered as he cursed under his breath. "I can’t even do stairs like that."

The thing dropped the last three steps in a single movement and lunged forward.

Chenghai met it halfway, his fist snapping its head back with a brutal strike, but another was already coming behind it.

"Out!" Zhenlan snapped.

They didn’t argue, they saved their breath and ran again.

The world had closed in around them. Every option they chose collapsed within seconds, every direction they turned was already compromised by a zombie that had already managed to predict their movements.

They weren’t navigating anymore, they were reacting. And that was what was making everything more dangerous.

Zhenlan’s eyes lifted as they broke into the next street. The building ahead cut into the sky, its upper levels barely visible against the darkness. "If we can’t go straight, we go up," he announced.

No one questioned it.

They hit the lobby at a run, the glass doors already shattered as they pushed through. The elevator needed a key. Of course it did.

Running to the end of the stairwell, the door opened easily so they took it. But the climb was brutal.

Lingyun was barely conscious now, his weight forcing Yuche to slow despite everything in him screaming to move faster. Chenghai stayed behind them, clearing anything that came too close with his fists, his strikes landing with bone-breaking force that didn’t falter.

Zhenlan pushed ahead, clearing the path, counting floors without realizing it.

Five. 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

Ten.

Fifteen.

The sounds below followed them at first before it became silent. The zombies weren’t climbing the stairs like the men were. They were breaking apart, trying to cut their escape off again.

The rooftop door appeared above them like a lifeline and Zhenlan hit it hard.

But it didn’t open.

He hit it again even harder, his shoulder driving into the metal.

The latch protested for a moment before the door burst open.

Cold air hit them immediately, the rooftop stretching out under a sky washed in silver light. The full moon hung low and bright, casting enough light to turn unknown shapes into something visible again.

They stumbled out onto the roof.

Chenghai turned immediately, grabbing the door and slamming it shut behind them. The impact echoed across the open space, and for a split second, there was nothing. He looked around and found several long metal poles that were thick and strong.

He shoved them into the handle, making sure that they continued past the door frame in either direction. Then he found even more... even thicker ones and jammed them in the opposite way so the poles made an X.

Then the sound came. Not pounding, not moaning, not scratching. But tapping, light and precise. Just like the store from before. This tapping wasn’t random. It was moving, testing the strength of the door.

Yuche lowered Lingyun carefully to the ground, his own legs giving out seconds later as he dropped back against the door. His chest rose and fell hard, his arms shaking from the strain of holding Lingyun up for so long.

Zhenlan slid down beside him.

Chenghai followed last, pressing his back against the reinforced metal, his breathing controlled but heavy.

Above them, the sky stretched wide and endless.

They felt exposed, there was no other way to describe it. There was no walls on the rooftop. No shelter or barriers. Nothing that would keep them safe from falling off the edge if they moved too close.

Yuche tilted his head back, staring up at the sky, his voice quieter than it had been all night. "So," he sighed, closing his eyes. "How long until sunrise?"