Surviving the Apocalypse with the Young Miss - Chapter 72

Chapter 72: The Dilemma

Watching from behind the curtain, Tong Xiangyu’s heart climbed into her throat. Although Song Ge had warned that the city’s cats and dogs might have mutated, in her eyes, it looked like a poor little puppy rushing to its death.

The man, seeing the dog dare to lunge again, wound up and delivered another kick! This time he used more force, aiming to crush the dog’s organs and break every bone in its body. However, instead of flying back, the dog bit down on his shoe, refusing to let go no matter how hard he kicked.

The man panicked, flailing his legs. Song Ge heard the man who had first spotted the dog shout: “Brother Zhi, don’t worry, don’t move! I’ll grab it!”

He reached for the scruff of the dog’s neck, but the man being bitten snatched up his weapon—a solid, meter-long iron rod—and smashed it down on the dog’s head. The puppy’s skull caved in instantly, and blood poured from its mouth.

Tong Xiangyu clapped her hand over her mouth to stifle a scream. Song Ge watched coldly as the dog, its head crushed flat, refused to loosen its grip. It remained hyper-active, biting the man’s shoe and using its claws to ferociously scramble up his leg.

Suddenly, someone screamed in terror: “More dogs! The dogs are coming back!”

Song Ge saw them too. Several stray dogs of various breeds and sizes charged out from the shadows with a single goal. Among them was a giant black dog, half the height of a man, with pricked ears.

The unnaturally fast setting of the sun added to the chaos. Someone switched on a bright flashlight, and the group began a frantic struggle against the seven or eight dogs. Physically, these strong men should have been able to handle a few strays—only one was large, the others were below knee-height. A few hard blows should have killed them.

Yet, despite the men delivering lethal strikes, the dogs were eerily impossible to kill. Every time one fell, it returned with a more violent and aggressive attack. Song Ge saw the man with the iron rod impale a dog completely through. Before his look of relief could settle, the dog—with the iron rod still stuck through its body—lunged at him with even greater ferocity.

The fact that they were “undead” defied all reason. They knew about zombies, but they never imagined dogs would mutate this way. The man hesitated to drop his weapon; by the time he reacted, he was bitten. He let out a piercing scream: “AH—!!”

Once the man with the iron rod was bitten, the team scrambled to save him. Already outnumbered, their formation collapsed. Soon, the mutant strays tore them all apart.

As the last of the afterglow vanished, the sky turned dark with terrifying speed. Tong Xiangyu turned pale watching the men being mauled to death. Song Ge noted that the men didn’t turn into monsters; they simply died on the ground. The man with the iron rod was stripped of his flesh by several dogs until only a bloody skeleton remained.

The giant black dog let out a howl. Within moments, more strays gathered from all directions in the fading twilight. Song Ge watched expressionlessly, but she was inwardly shaken. Looking at those strong men, she could now imagine exactly what had happened to Zeus’s team.

These mutant dogs were more troublesome than the zombies. They were numerous, small, easy to hide, fast, and possessed great balance. They retained the ability to call for reinforcements, and likely still had their keen animal senses of smell and hearing…

Song Ge’s heart sank to the bottom. She closed the office door, barricaded it with desks and chairs, and crushed some human waste to spread by the door crack to mask their scent. When she finished, she returned to the window. It was pitch black now, lit only by the moon.

In the darkness, hundreds of pairs of glowing fluorescent eyes moved. Song Ge, despite her mental preparation, felt her scalp tingle as she pulled the curtains shut. The office was now in total darkness.

Tong Xiangyu grabbed Song Ge’s sleeve, asking in a panicked whisper: “Song Ge, what do we do? It’s just like you predicted—the dogs have mutated. With so many of them, how do we escape?”

Song Ge switched on a flashlight. “We didn’t see these dogs during the day. Like the monsters, they might only come out at night. We’ll wait for dawn and see.”

“What if they don’t leave during the day?”

“Instead of worrying about that,” Song Ge said, “worry about whether the sun will rise normally tomorrow. After all, it only set at 10:00 PM tonight.”

Tong Xiangyu froze. Right… the day was so long. If the night became equally long, the danger they faced would be exponentially greater.

“Don’t overthink it,” Song Ge said. “I will get you out.”

Hearing Song Ge’s calm voice, Tong Xiangyu’s heart settled significantly. If she were facing this alone, she would be dead from fright, but with Song Ge there, she always felt things weren’t that bad.

“Eat something first,” Song Ge said. “We’ll assess the situation when we wake up tomorrow.”

Tong Xiangyu had previously complained about the smell, but by now her olfactory senses were fatigued. She took out biscuits, chocolate, and dried meat. Song Ge only took the meat and gave the rest back.

They had planned to push tables together to sleep, but Song Ge discovered a sliding door near the bookshelf. She opened it cautiously to find a small six or seven-square-meter lounge with a tiny bathroom. The conditions were poor—the bedding on the single bed was a nauseating, unidentifiable color. There was no water in the bathroom, and it was horribly clogged.

Tong Xiangyu was frustrated that her period had arrived at such a time. When she finished changing and came out, Song Ge was already settled. Faint moonlight shone through a small window. The dirty bedding had been discarded; Song Ge was sitting at the head of the bed, leaning against the wall with her eyes closed. She had a feather duster nearby.

Knowing Song Ge was exhausted, Tong Xiangyu didn’t disturb her, but she didn’t want to sleep on the other side of the room. She quietly crawled onto the inner side of the bed and curled up next to Song Ge. She thought she wouldn’t be able to sleep, but after fourteen hours of activity while on her period, her body gave in. Soon, Song Ge heard her steady breathing.

Song Ge opened her eyes. The temperature difference between day and night was large, and since they were on a low floor, it was cold. She draped a thin blanket over Tong Xiangyu and peeked through the curtain. Dozens of wild dogs were still wandering around the government courtyard. She didn’t know if this was their routine or if they were staying because they had just had a full meal. Interestingly, there was still no sign of a single zombie.

Song Ge intended to keep watch, but eventually, she drifted into a light, alert sleep. As soon as the sunlight hit her eyelids, she snapped awake.

She had worried the sun wouldn’t rise, but seeing the scorching sun outside, she felt somewhat relieved. However, when she checked the time, she froze. The watch hands were at 3:20.

Was this 3:20 AM or 3:20 PM? It shouldn’t be sunny in the early morning. But if it were the afternoon, had they slept for seventeen hours? No, Song Ge knew her body; she couldn’t have slept that long.

Tong Xiangyu was still sound asleep. Song Ge peeked through the curtain again. The dozens of dogs were gone. Just as she was thinking of waking Tong Xiangyu to leave, she noticed something. Underneath a pickup truck, something was moving—a dog.

She frowned. Did these mutant dogs fear the light and heat, or did they simply prefer not to hunt under the scorching sun? If they didn’t leave… they would be surrounded the moment they went down.

Song Ge began searching the office for useful items. Tong Xiangyu woke up, called Song Ge’s name, and walked out of the lounge.

“Did I wake you? Sleep a bit more.”

Tong Xiangyu felt exhausted, her limbs aching and her head heavy. She shook her head. “No, it’s already so late.”

“It’s not late,” Song Ge said. “It’s only 3:30 AM.”

Tong Xiangyu froze, thinking she had misheard. “What did you say? What time is it?”

“Not even 4:00 AM.”

Tong Xiangyu was shocked, her sleepiness vanishing instantly. She looked at the scorching sun outside. “How is that possible?!”

Song Ge couldn’t figure it out either. She clicked a pen, tossed it back on the desk, and continued searching. “The weather is strange. We need to leave soon, but there are dogs downstairs. We need a plan.”

Tong Xiangyu went to the window to look. “Dogs? Where?”

Song Ge stopped abruptly, stepped over to Tong Xiangyu, and pulled her aside to hide. Tong Xiangyu tensed up. After a moment, Song Ge gingerly lifted the curtain. When she saw what was making the noise, her expression turned to bewilderment.

In the courtyard, where the blood was dry and the bodies were just bones, something was moving rapidly toward the building. Song Ge’s sharp eyes identified it as… a delivery box.

A delivery box?! Even with Song Ge’s high tolerance for the bizarre, she couldn’t imagine a box had mutated.

Tong Xiangyu saw Song Ge’s strange expression and became even more nervous. As the box “ran” through the gate, the small dog hiding under the pickup truck suddenly charged out, barking fiercely—it was the same white dog from yesterday!

The delivery box came to a screeching halt. Dog and box entered a standoff. The white dog barked incessantly. Song Ge watched the surroundings, waiting to see where the reinforcement strays would come from.

Suddenly, Tong Xiangyu cried out in surprise: “Baibai?”

Song Ge looked at her, then back out the window. Before she could ask who “Baibai” was, she saw the delivery box get flattened by the white dog. A head popped out from the mangled cardboard—a small, white poodle with matted fur and cloudy eyes.

The two white dogs faced off. Song Ge’s lips thinned as she remembered. No way… I was only joking before, but this dog actually followed us all this way?

The poodle had been startled by the lunge, but seeing the opponent wasn’t large, it took an aggressive stance. The stray attacked, the poodle dodged and counter-bit, but the stray dodged too. After a tentative exchange, they went back to staring each other down. Other strays began to gather in the shade to watch, though they didn’t join the fight.

Tong Xiangyu watched tensely, whispering: “Go, Baibai…”

Song Ge grabbed Tong Xiangyu’s hand and pulled her out of the office. Tong Xiangyu stumbled. “What’s wrong?”

“Going upstairs!” Song Ge said. She had a plan.

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