Caught a Cowardly Little Zombie - Chapter 3

Ling Mo navigated her vehicle through the wreckage-strewn streets.

A week had passed since the apocalypse began, and driving had become an obstacle course. She had to weave past shambling zombies that clawed at her car and steer around abandoned, derelict vehicles. Discarded limbs lay forgotten in corners, while trash and blood curdled into a pungent, rotting stench that hung heavy in the air.

The sun beat down ruthlessly from above, baking the earth and accelerating the decay, making the sour smell of death even more suffocating.

Adjusting her sunglasses, Ling Mo knew she had to move fast. If she didn’t finish gathering supplies before nightfall, the danger would double. While she had enough food, water, and basic necessities, she was still short on backup medical supplies. Since the sun was at its peak and the hospital where she used to work was nearby and familiar, she decided to head there to scavenge for common pharmaceuticals.

As she drove through the familiar streets, Ling Mo kept a vigilant eye on her surroundings. Zombies lurched toward her, their movements sluggish and predictable. Shielded by her car, she felt no fear.

Her gaze happened to brush past a shop window, where a figure wrapped in deep green cloth was fussing with its reflection. The outfit was bizarre—that splash of vibrant green stood out like a defiant spark of life against the bleak, ashen ruins. It caught Ling Mo’s attention immediately. That can’t be a person… can it? The surrounding zombies completely ignored the figure at the window, which likely meant the person had already turned.

A zombie checking itself out in a mirror? Ling Mo scoffed at her own stray thought. Why would a walking corpse care about its appearance? Shaking her head at the absurdity, she hit the gas and drove on.

Entering the hospital, she found a scene of absolute chaos. Cabinets had been ransacked, and the floor was littered with the mangled remains of zombies that had clearly been blown apart by explosives. She was too late; someone who’s likely the military or a group of well-armed militants had already swept the place. She could only pray they hadn’t taken everything.

In the pharmacy, a zombified staff member had been taken out by a single, clean shot to the forehead. The corpse looked almost indignant in death with a face that’s a bruised purple, eyes bulging, and mouth agape to reveal yellowed, blackened fangs. It looked as if it might spring back up to attack at any moment.

Ling Mo knew the thing was dead, but in this world, a crisis could erupt in a heartbeat. She maintained her guard as she cautiously stepped into the pharmacy.

The medicine racks had collapsed, and pills were scattered everywhere. She picked one up—an auxiliary drug for cancer chemotherapy. Not exactly a household essential. She sighed; if it were something high-demand like antibiotics or painkillers, it wouldn’t have been left behind on the floor.

After checking several more discarded boxes, her heart sank. The previous looters had been thorough, stripping the shelves of every last scrap of anti-inflammatories, cold medicine, bandages, and disinfectants.

She looked up at the now-desolate hospital. The vast, silent lobby was a graveyard of white walls stained with black grime and dark, crusted blood. On one wall, several bloody handprints were pressed deep into the plaster—a haunting testament to the owner’s final, desperate moments.

This was Ling Mo’s hospital. She had finished her shift and gone home like any other day, only to wake up to a world transformed. She had moved decisively, gathering food, water, and clothes from her immediate vicinity, but her lack of a powerful weapon or a vehicle had kept her from venturing far. It wasn’t until a week later that she found an armored cash-in-transit truck parked outside a bank.

She was a doctor, yes, but she wasn’t the “angel of mercy” people imagined. Beneath the white coat lived a cold, pragmatic soul. An orphan raised in a dilapidated, starving institution, she had once thought her life was changing for the better when a middle-aged man and a young woman came to adopt several children. Little Ling Mo had hoped for a happy home, never dreaming she was actually descending into a darker kind of hell.

A low growl snapped her out of her memories. A zombie in a blood-stained lab coat lunged from the shadows. Half its face was gone, exposing the bone beneath. Its body was a wreck—one arm dangled by a strip of flesh, and the meat on one leg had been chewed down to the bone. Its mouth, devoid of lips, dripped with foul, putrid saliva as it limped toward her.

Ling Mo glanced at the ID badge pinned to the tattered coat. She recognized him—a bright, cheerful young man who had recently joined the staff. He used to smile and call her “Sister Ling.” He had once told her he was getting married next month, finally starting a family of his own.

Her expression darkened. She drew a sharp dagger, ducked under the zombie’s clumsy swipe, and spun behind him. With practiced precision, she drove the blade deep into the gap in his skull and twisted.

The world seemed to hit a pause button. The zombie stopped thrashing and collapsed, motionless.

“Rest in peace,” Ling Mo murmured. She masked her melancholy behind a neutral gaze and turned to leave the pharmacy.

*****

The sun began to dip, painting the horizon in shades of crimson and gold.

Ling Mo checked her watch; it was six o’clock. Night was coming. She hurried toward the exit. In a world without electricity, the darkness would be absolute, and fighting zombies in the dark was a suicide mission.

As she reached her truck, she spotted three men skulking around it. They had likely spotted the food through the windshield and were trying to figure out how to break in. Fortunately, the glass was bulletproof, or they would have smashed it already.

Ling Mo started toward them but stopped when she saw a zombie creeping up behind the trio. The men were oblivious, their eyes locked on the truck. Ling Mo’s eyes narrowed. This zombie was showing a frightening level of intelligence by stalking its prey. If the undead were learning to hunt, the future of humanity looked grim indeed.

She had parked the truck far from the hospital to avoid the engine noise attracting a horde, meaning she couldn’t reach them in time to save them, nor could she shout a warning without drawing every monster in the vicinity.

Searching her surroundings, she found a decent-sized stone and hurled it toward them.

The thud of the stone was faint, but in the deathly silence, it was enough to make the men jump. Sensing its prey move, the zombie lunged.

“AAAHH!”

Faced with a snarling, hideous face, the three men panicked. One of them, caught off guard, was bitten hard on the shoulder. Instead of helping their comrade, the other two immediately bolted, leaving him to his fate.

Their screams acted like a dinner bell. Nearby zombies began to howl, and soon, more silhouettes were converging on the area.

Idiots, Ling Mo cursed under her breath. She wasn’t a saint, and she certainly didn’t feel like saving them now. A dozen zombies had already blocked the wide road between her and the truck.

With the light fading fast, she didn’t have the time to fight through a crowd to get back to the vehicle. Making a split-second decision, she abandoned the truck and ducked down a narrow side alley.

She spotted a small jewelry store with its doors hanging open. It looked empty. Without hesitation, she ducked inside, slammed the metal shutter down, and braced the blood-streaked glass door with a heavy stool.

She didn’t let her guard down. Even with the doors locked, there could be a straggler inside. Clutching her dagger, she moved silently, listening to the shadows.

A small back room yielded a frantic thud-thud against the door. A zombie inside had caught her scent.

After confirming the rest of the shop was clear, Ling Mo crept toward the inner door. It opened inward. She gripped the handle, twisted, and shoved it open with a violent burst of strength. The zombie inside was caught off balance and stumbled back. Ling Mo retreated into the open space of the shop.

The creature scrambled up and lunged. It was a mess of gore, its teeth broken and jagged from gnawing on something hard—likely bone. It was mindless, driven only by a primal urge to feed. Ling Mo easily sidestepped it and drove her blade into its temple.

The zombie went limp. Ling Mo pulled out her dagger and stepped into the small room. It was a nightmare of splattered blood. A tattered piece of cloth and a blood-stained teddy bear lay on the floor. In the corner, the severed head of a young girl lay in silence.

The mother must have brought her child to work. When the change happened, she likely tried to save the girl, only to turn and slaughter her own flesh and blood.

In this apocalypse, the young and the elderly suffered the most.

Ling Mo didn’t linger. She dragged the mother’s corpse into the back room and prepared to spend the night in the shop.

*****

Chu Xiaoran had been wandering the streets when something caught her eye—a glint of brilliant gold coming from inside a shop. It was so pretty she couldn’t help but wander in. The shop was filled with beautiful, golden trinkets, but they were all locked behind glass cases. She stood there like an idiot, pressing her face against the glass as if she could phase through it.

Suddenly, her sensitive ears picked up the sound of footsteps. Terrified, she dove behind a display counter.

A sweet, intoxicating scent filled the air. Hunger surged through her; saliva flooded her mouth, and her teeth began to ache with the need to bite. A low growl started to rumble in her throat, and she quickly clamped her hands over her mouth.

She heard the clatter of the metal shutter being pulled down. Then, the sound of a struggle—thud-thud-thud. There was another zombie in here! Xiaoran felt a spark of excitement. She hoped the other zombie would kill the intruder so she could swoop in and scavenge the leftovers.

But to her horror, the intruder killed the zombie in seconds.

Chu Xiaoran: “…” (Trembling internally)

Oh my god, this person is terrifying! How is she so strong? I absolutely, definitely cannot let her find me, or I’m a goner! Why are there such scary people in this world?!

Fear won out over hunger. She screamed internally—You can’t see me, you can’t see me!—and tried to crawl toward the exit. But she had vastly overestimated her own agility.

“Who’s there?!”

A voice as cold and sharp as an ice pick cut through the air. Xiaoran flinched so hard she lost her balance and collapsed onto the floor.

The sun had all but vanished now, leaving the shop in deep shadow as the blood moon began its ascent. Ling Mo turned, seeing a vague silhouette shivering on the floor. She gripped her dagger and began to walk forward, one slow step at a time.

Each footfall felt like a hammer blow to Xiaoran’s heart. She didn’t know how she could still feel her heart racing when it had long since stopped beating, but facing this “goddess of death,” she felt as if her heart might actually jump out of her chest.

As Ling Mo drew closer, she caught a glimpse of a familiar splash of green and froze.

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