The Undead

Chapter 5

Index | Chapter 4

“Normally people die within twenty-four hours after getting infected. You sure you didn’t just get too passionate with your lover?”

Si Nan sat with his back to the door and his elbows on his knees. He shook his head.

Before Zhou Rong could continue the doctor lowered the thermometer and said, “Your man’s got a fever, Captain Zhou. Thirty-seven. He’s in the initial stage of the infection and should be isolated.”

Everyone’s faces changed. No far away, the crowd of civilians stepped back and began to whisper among themselves. “He’s been infected…” “Will he turn into one of those monsters?” “Quick, stay away from him!”

“Throw him out!” one man bellowed. “We’re all just normal civilians here. What if he bites someone? What then?!”

The muttering voices became a clamour. “He can’t be infected!” shouted Yan Hao “Or else he’d have turned before we even got here! Outside’s all zombies, where would you have him go?”

The whispers started again. “These soldiers are too reckless…” “Yeah!”

Zhou Rong crouched down in front of Si Nan. He reached out a hand and took him by the chin.

His skin was paler than the average Asian person’s. His lips were chapped and he looked exhausted. When he looked down he looked even more like his mother. Like Zhou Rong he had callouses from handling guns and his muscles were well-defined.

Zhou Rong coolly sized him up for a moment, then suddenly rose again. “Lock him in the warehouse office under supervision.”

The doctor was not happy with this. “Captain Zhou…”

“My man,” Zhou Rong said. “My responsibility.”

Before the outbreak, the warehouse office had been a rest area for the people working there. It was a small, five metre square room with thin boards separating it into three areas. The door was thin with a spring lock and a deadbolt on the inside.

Si Nan sat in the corner with his back against the wall and one hand on a crooked knee. After a while, the door pushed open and Zhou Rong came in. He closed the door behind him, shutting Yan Hao and Chun Cao outside.

“Hey.”

Si Nan looked up and found a meat floss bread bun in floating in front of his face.

“Took it from storage. Eat up.”

For a few moments Si Nan didn’t move, then looked away.

“What, I lock you in here for half a day so you go on a hunger strike?” Zhou Rong scolded. “Let me tell you, I haven’t got an ounce of care for being tender or pretty things. Back in training, whatever Omega pheromones, sexy honey-pot traps, nothing. When I suddenly became the Captain, Yan Hao wouldn’t listen at all, so I beat the crap out of him, alright? Now… be good, okay? Don’t make me get physical.”

Silence fell between the two of them until Si Nan finally decided to speak the truth.

“… Resources are limited. Don’t waste them.”

Zhou Rong hardly even tried to hide his grin and shoved the bread bun into Si Nan’s chest, saying, “Missy, you’re as dramatic as an Omega.”

Si Nan: “…”

Zhou Rong dusted his hands and left.

The sky darkened and Si Nan could hear people bustling about distributing food.

He thought for a long time if he should eat the bread. When he finally did, it managed to calm him and he leaned against the wall in a half awake, half asleep daze. From there he felt himself drift off, drift off through the ice cold wind, away from the burning city.

In front of him the great doors of the manor slowly opened. This seemed to be from his childhood. Inside hung a chandelier between marble pillars and on the ground was a thickly patterned rug. In the centre stood a tall, winding staircase. On the stair second from the top leaned a boy in Western clothes. He leaned against the bannister and looked down at Si Nan then suddenly, harshly said, “You’re real amazing.”

Si Nan could feel his nails dig into his palms as he tried to leave, but the body in the dream couldn’t move.

The boy skipped down the stairs. He reached out a hand and grabbed Si Nan by the hair, forcing him to look up at him.

“From now on I’m you’re big brother, got it?”

Hot angry, emotion boiled up within Si Nan. He wanted to pummel this boy, but the him in the dream was too young and small and all he could do was glare up at that sneering face with those sky blue eyes.

I’ll smash you…, he thought.

One day, I’ll beat you into the ground under my feet…

Space seemed to warp and time ran forward. That boy’s face morphed and changed into that a handsome young man. His expression changed to an expression of shock as the fist hit his face.

Bam!

Like a rushing wave, Si Nan surged forward and grabbed the man by the collar. From his nose was streaming blood. Those blue eyes that had watched him for so many years clouded over.

“…You’ve wanted to hit me for a long time, haven’t you…?”

Yes.

Always.

But he didn’t say it out loud and instead punched him again. And again. And again until the man’s nose broke with a crack. Until long after when he could still feel the jubilation of the moment.

…

Night fell and Si Nan’s fever rose.

He felt hot, too hot, like he was submerged in a sea of heat just floating down to a bottom that didn’t exist. He blearily heard the sound of footsteps going to and fro, arguing voices. One sharp voice shouted: “You have to send him away! He could turn at any moment!”

“You think you soldiers are worth your weight in gold, huh? We just have to live with the danger?!”

“What do we do when he turns?! We’re done for…”

The sounds of things moving about drifted closer until they were right next to his ear. It was strange though. It was like there was a wall of water between him and it. After didn’t know how long he heard footsteps stop next to him, crouch, then lay something on top of him.

Si Nan tried to struggle up but that person wrapped him up tightly.

“It’s a normal sickness. He’s just tired,” that person said. “Betas bodies just aren’t that good especially with this kind of fever.”

“Rong-ge…”

The person rose then said in a quiet voice, “Give me the car keys. I’m going out for a bit.”

The next time Si Nan woke was when someone put something into his mouth. He struggled to open his eyes. It took a few seconds for his eyes to see anything.

“Drink some water,” Zhou Rong said as he pressed a military canteen to Si Nan’s mouth.

Si Nan drank the water and tasted something bitter in his mouth. He realised that the thing that had been put in his mouth earlier was medicine: “…You…”

“Fever medicine.”

…From where exactly?

Zhou Rong took off his jacket and squeezed in next to Si Nan to sit as he quietly reprimanded him, “Are you stupid or just foolish? You go to a pharmacy and you don’t even pick up some common medicines. I had to drive twenty kilometres at 3 AM to find some. Nearly became a midnight snack for a few hundred zombies you know. If it weren’t for your good looks…”

Si Nan coughed, then said hoarsely, “No need to thank me for the time I saved all of you.”

Zhou Rong shut up.

Si Nan wanted to poke fun a little more until he suddenly smelt blood. It was coming from the jacket Zhou Rong had just taken off.

Si Nan reached out and touched it. The fabric was sticky and wet.

In the dark all they could hear were each other’s breathing. “…Thank you,” Si Nan said after a while, his voice quiet.

“No need,” said Zhou Rong.

There was a click and a small flame appeared. Zhou Rong lit a cigarette and leaned back against the wall. He breathed out a cloud of smoke. “Were you dreaming? Sounded like you were scolding someone.” His voice was playful.

“…”

“Do you miss your family?” Zhou Rong asked with an indifferent tone.

Si Nan shook his head.

“What did you do before? Your body’s well built. Private security? Police?”

Si Nan shook his head again and didn’t reply.

“Don’t be so nervous. Relax a bit and chat. If it turns out you really are infected and are going to die, I’ll be your last will and testament.” Zhou Rong knocked against his shoulders and continued to tease him. “Are you married? Got a partner?”

“…No.”

“Good, good. Me neither. The whole squad, from top to bottom, are all single.”

Si Nan eyed him. That’s cos you’re getting down with a guy, he thought.

Zhou Rong smoked his cigarette and continued on, his voice filled with awe. “There’s enough electricity and water in Military Region B to allow hundreds of thousands of people to be self sufficient. After all this is over, you’ll definitely be set up to live there. Make a home, go on blind dates, get married, have kids, you know, help replenish the population…

“Not just that, Region B’s will have the most Omegas. Most of them are a reproductive age. There’s a special team set up to protect them.” Zhou Rong licked his lips then laughed. “Whoever thought up this plan’s really something.”

“Why?” Si Nan asked, his voice a little strained.

“During any large scale disaster, it’s the Alphas who need to get things done militarily. Any region that has more Alphas will have the advantage in competing for resources, arms and land. Not to mention that Alphas will naturally congregate where Omegas are. At that time, the upper command can distribute them out as a strategic resource. Don’t you get something so simple?”

Zhou Rong took a long drag, the small glimmer at the end of his cigarette flickered. Si Nan said nothing. For a while there was silence until something suddenly poked his side. “What are you thinking about?”

“Do you also want to go to Region B to get a hand out of ‘resources’?” Si Nan asked casually.

“No way,” was Zhou Rong’s immediate response.

Si Nan assumed this would be followed up with ‘because I have Yan Hao’, but before he could imagine more about the love story of these two Beta gays, Zhou Rong forcefully continued, “I hate Omegas!”

“…Why, Rong-ge?” asked Si Nan.

Zhou Rong changed his sitting position so that he was looking at Si Nan. “Let Ge give you some advice,” he said sincerely, “Dear, if you ever want to look for a partner, absolutely do not go for an Omega.”

“…”

“The best would be a Beta.”

“…”

They stared at each other for a minute. The corners of Si Nan’s mouth twitched. “I plan to.”

Zhou Rong patted his shoulder approvingly.

“But… why?” Si Nan asked.

He thought Zhou Rong would reply and say something to the effect of ‘gay life between two Betas can be just as satisfying, just look at me and Yan Hao’, but yet again his expectations were subverted. “Because,” Zhou Rong said seriously, “there’s something inherently wrong with Omegas.”

In the dark, the pair of them stared at the other. Zhou Rong still had his arm over Si Nan’s shoulders and the distance between their faces was not even ten centimetres.

After a while, Si Nan carefully leaned back and asked with much politeness, “Rong-ge, did you get your heart broken?”

The words ‘heart break’ were clearly words he’d never thought about before. He scratched his chin then, after a moments thinking, shook his head. “To some extent it I guess you could say it was, but also not really… Actually this was all a long time ago. You ever heard of the International Special Forces Forest Competition?”

Si Nan shook his head.

Zhou Rong continued. “I was eighteen when I became my country’s representative to the competition. Initially, I led the competition by a wide margin, right up until the ‘hostage situation’ round in Country A. The ‘hostage’ was a kid of Chinese descent… A fifteen year old Omega.”

Chapter 6