Surviving the Apocalypse with the Young Miss - Chapter 80

Chapter 80: Awake

Song Ge didn’t wake up.

Tong Xiangyu’s tears had run dry. She sat in silence, holding Song Ge in her arms, motionless.

From daylight to darkness.

The sun set, and night arrived. In the distance, the forest fire was still raging, lighting up the majestic mountains that stretched one after another. Half the sky seemed to be scorched crimson. The monstrous flames swept toward Taiyun, arrogant and unbridled.

Tong Xiangyu knew Song Ge’s choice had been correct. Even if they had turned back then, they would have had nowhere to hide. It was better to charge through. And they had made it through…

But if only she hadn’t brought Song Ge out of the base. If only this were a nightmare—if she could close her eyes and wake up on the big bed in that base room, or even tied up in the garage. No matter how terrifying the situation, Song Ge would have protected her, and she would have done her best to protect Song Ge…

Tong Xiangyu pressed her face against Song Ge’s ice-cold cheek, carefully tucking the clothes around her. The night was too cold; the wind made Song Ge feel even colder than the air itself. She had to take care of her. With such a severe injury, it would be disastrous if she caught a cold.

“Song Ge…” Under the glow of the distant fire, she gently stroked Song Ge’s stiff, cold face and whispered, “You’ll wake up, right?”

With no food or water and exhausted by grief, Tong Xiangyu finally couldn’t hold out any longer and fell into a deep sleep while holding Song Ge.

Not far away, a small figure hopped and bounded through the darkness, approaching rapidly.

—”Woof! Woof!”

Tong Xiangyu heard barking in her daze. Her consciousness snapped awake instantly. She threw her hand up to block the blinding, scorching sunlight. She quickly looked down at Song Ge in her arms. Song Ge hadn’t woken up; she remained motionless with her eyes closed.

After staring blankly for a long time, Tong Xiangyu reached out with trembling fingers to touch Song Ge’s pale face. Her fingertips froze in surprise—Song Ge had a pulse and body heat!! She pressed her palm against her skin; sure enough, it was warm. It wasn’t her imagination.

Tong Xiangyu hurriedly propped Song Ge up and reached for the water. However, when she turned her head, she saw a “pitch-black” little dog squatting next to the crate of water. Startled, she scrambled backward!

The little black dog barked at her twice, then happily chased its own tail in a circle. Watching this, Tong Xiangyu’s fear and vigilance faltered. Having finished its spin, the dog suddenly lowered its head and growled fiercely at something nearby, making a lunging motion. Two rats trying to scavenge food immediately scurried away. Having chased off the rats, the “little black dog” returned to Tong Xiangyu, jumping and tail-wagging as if seeking praise.

Tong Xiangyu hesitated. “Are you… Baibai?”

The “little black dog” barked happily: “Woof woof!!”

Baibai, having escaped the fire, was covered in soot or charred fur; its entire body was black. The fur on its paws was singed and patchy. It was already skin and bones, and in its current bedraggled state, it looked even more pitiful. But its spirit seemed high.

However… Tong Xiangyu looked at Baibai’s cloudy white eyes and knew the dog was already dead—this was a mutant dog. She remembered Song Ge’s warning to stay away from all cats and dogs.

To be safe, she said, “Baibai, move aside a bit. I need the water.”

Baibai seemed to understand; it hopped away and ran a short distance. Tong Xiangyu grabbed the water and unscrewed the cap. She gently lifted Song Ge. She was already familiar with the feeding process: she took a mouthful of water herself and passed it mouth-to-mouth to Song Ge. Most of it still spilled from the corners of Song Ge’s mouth, but then, Tong Xiangyu saw Song Ge’s throat move slightly.

She was ecstatic!

She fed Song Ge half a small bottle of water, carefully laid her down, and went to the car for food. Rising too fast made her dizzy. She stood still for a moment until the world stopped spinning, then ran to the car. She brought back a self-heating meal and a can of fruit.

The self-heating meal was easy enough with mineral water, but she couldn’t get the lid off the can… Scanning her surroundings, she picked up Song Ge’s knife and pried the edge of the lid slightly. In an instant, it opened easily.

Once the food was ready, she put on her clothes and shook out her sun-protection jacket, which was covered in dried blood. She found two sticks to prop the jacket up, creating a sunshade for Song Ge. Then she took a new sanitary pad from the backpack and carefully lifted the hem of Song Ge’s shirt.

Tong Xiangyu unfastened the hair-rope she had used as a bandage and poured a little water to prevent the pad from sticking to the wound. When she removed it, she saw the abdominal wound was no longer bleeding; it was plugged by a dark brown blood clot and skin.

She went back to the car and picked up a piece of metal plating that had been knocked off in the crash. The metal was scorching hot. She flinched, and only then did she notice her fingers were covered in dried blood. But the cut she had made with the folding knife yesterday was gone.

She froze, then pulled up her sleeve to check her left arm. The long gash from the accident had already formed a thick scab! The jagged scab looked like an ugly worm. But… she pressed it lightly; she felt no pain.

How could it recover so fast?!

Song Ge’s condition was normal. How could a wound that long scab over in a single night?!

Mutation… or evolution…

Song Ge’s words echoed in her mind. But she didn’t dwell on it. She poured water onto the metal plate and left it in the sun until it was hot. She tore open a clean sanitary pad, soaked the cotton inside with the warm water, and began cleaning the blood around Song Ge’s abdominal wound. After cleaning both the entrance and exit wounds, she applied new pads and tied them back in place to prevent infection or the wound reopening.

Having finished her chores, she sat on the ground beside Song Ge under the scorching sun. She ate the fruit, watching Song Ge lie motionless under the shade of the jacket. After a moment, she carefully reached out to check Song Ge’s breathing. It was too hot and her hands were shaking too much to tell. She pressed her fingers against the side of Song Ge’s neck; after a long wait, she finally felt a weak but unmistakable pulse.

Her nose tingled, and tears fell like broken pearls. Yesterday, she hadn’t dared to think about any of the terrible possibilities. She wiped her tears, laughing and crying at the same time.

After a while, Baibai wagged its short tail and approached her with a raspy bark. She turned to look at it, poured some fruit into the lid of the can, and pushed it over. She didn’t know if a mutant dog would eat such food. Baibai sniffed it, quickly ate the orange segment, and licked up the juice. Happy to see this, she poured more for it.

Soon, the self-heating meal was ready. She added more mineral water to cook it into a porridge-like consistency, then lifted Song Ge and carefully fed her the liquid food bit by bit.

In this way, Tong Xiangyu cared for Song Ge by the roadside for three days.

During these three days, she discovered that even the rats seemed to have mutated. It started when Baibai caught a rat trying to steal food and bit it to death. But when Baibai went to eat it, the rat flipped over and ran away, startling the dog! Baibai chased and pounced on it; Tong Xiangyu followed, picking up a rock to crush the mutant rat’s head.

Song Ge had said headshots were effective. Sure enough, once its head was crushed, it stopped moving.

The weather was brutally hot. Tong Xiangyu wore Song Ge’s watch and kept track of time, feeding her and giving her water on schedule. These days, the sun rose at 3:00 AM and set at 10:00 PM—nineteen hours of intense sunlight.

Tong Xiangyu used wet wipes to wipe the sweat from Song Ge. Although Song Ge had vital signs, she wouldn’t wake up. Tong Xiangyu was constantly afraid of her developing a fever, but her hand and forehead weren’t accurate enough to measure. She could only comfort herself by noting that the abdominal wound didn’t look red, swollen, or puss-filled; it seemed to be healing slowly.

As for the injury on her own arm, even the scab had fallen off. There was no scar; her arm was as smooth as ever, as if the wound had never existed.

It really was mutation and evolution. But she didn’t understand what triggered it, and since Song Ge’s physical condition was better than hers in every way, why was Song Ge’s recovery so slow?

Tong Xiangyu opened some water, took a sip herself, and then leaned down to gently pry open Song Ge’s lips and teeth with her tongue, feeding it in bit by bit. Over the last three days, she had done this so many times she was an expert. No blushing, no racing heart, no shyness. Every movement was simply born of the hope that Song Ge would drink a little more water and wake up sooner.

She kept praying. She finally understood why Yaoyao had said those things; when a person is truly powerless, all they have left is faith and prayer.

Even if… in a worst-case scenario, the person returning from the brink of death turned into a monster, she wouldn’t be afraid. While feeding Song Ge, she thought: Even if Song Ge becomes a monster, she’ll be like Baibai and won’t hurt me…

Just as the thought crossed her mind, she froze. Sensing something was off, she paused for half a second. Then, she tentatively swirled her tongue; Song Ge’s tongue in her mouth actually exerted force and followed along.

Tong Xiangyu’s ears and neck turned bright red instantly!

She pulled away immediately, her mind a mess of panic, embarrassment, and a flood of joy. She looked at Song Ge, a thousand things to say building in her chest, but Song Ge still had her eyes closed and didn’t move an inch. There was no sign of her waking up. Tong Xiangyu stared blankly, then lowered her eyelashes like a deflated balloon.

But she told herself not to be discouraged. This was already good news. In another two days—maybe in two days, Song Ge would wake up! The emotional highs and lows hadn’t broken her spirit; whether it took five days, seven days, five months, or seven months, she would stay with Song Ge and save her.

With that resolve, the next few times she fed her water, even when she felt Song Ge’s tongue move, she wasn’t surprised. She even pressed against it to tell her not to move and to drink properly.

However, after finishing a sip this time and preparing to lean back down, she saw Song Ge slowly open her eyes. The moment their eyes met, Tong Xiangyu choked and began coughing violently. She hurriedly turned her face away, covering her mouth to stifle the cough, and then turned back to confirm if Song Ge was truly awake.

She hadn’t seen wrong. Song Ge’s eyes were open.

Tong Xiangyu continued her earth-shattering coughing through her hand. Once she finished, she remembered the more urgent matters and asked in a mix of joy and frantic worry, “Song Ge, does your body still hurt? Are you hungry? Thirsty? Do you want to eat something first?”

As she asked, her vision blurred. She hurriedly wiped her tears. Song Ge looked at her and moved her lips.

“What did you say?” Tong Xiangyu leaned in to listen.

Song Ge’s voice was very weak. “…Taking advantage of me.”

Tong Xiangyu’s eyes widened. Normally, she would have been embarrassed and annoyed by such a comment and tried to explain herself, but after nearly a hundred hours of Song Ge being in a coma, the fact that she was awake and speaking…

The emotions in her chest surged, impossible to suppress, and all turned into tears. She gave a sob and stopped holding back, crying out loud like a wronged child.

Song Ge closed her eyes and then opened them, her pale lips moving again. Although Tong Xiangyu was crying, she heard Song Ge speaking. She immediately stopped sobbing and looked at her with teary eyes. “Song Ge, what did you say?”

“It’s just ‘taking advantage’… I didn’t say you couldn’t…” Song Ge’s tone was weak and sounded full of helplessness.

Tong Xiangyu suddenly burst into a laugh through her tears. She wiped her eyes, both embarrassed and indignant. “I wasn’t taking advantage of you, I was feeding you water!”

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