"Ah?"
Brian's sudden question made Sarah's face flicker with surprise. She hesitated for a moment, then whispered, "I... I let him go."
Brian shrugged. He had already guessed that would be the outcome. Glancing at the clock on the wall, he stood up from the sofa and said, "Let's go. It's time to get moving."
Exiting through the side door of the house, they headed straight for the house across the street. Brian had scoped out the route from the upstairs bedroom earlier; this road was mostly blocked off, so he figured they might be able to get through via the side window of the neighboring house.
As usual, they scoured the house for anything useful. They had no idea what lay ahead on their journey, so gathering as many supplies as possible was essential.
After climbing out through the window of the neighboring house, a massive crack in the ground appeared before them. It seemed to be the basement of one of the houses, likely blown open by an explosion. The entire ceiling had been blasted away, revealing a gap.
Peering down into the crack, they saw it was filled with red, fungus-like growths, and the air had turned a sickly yellow-green.
The basement was only about five meters wide, and there were no infected inside. There was an open window on the other side, and it would take less than five seconds to cross through the basement.
"What do we do? Should we go in?" Sarah asked uncertainly, eyeing the dangerous area.
"No way. The air looks bad. We don't know if those spores can infect us through the air, but we can't take that risk." Brian shook his head, rejecting the idea of entering the basement. He glanced around; the left side was blocked off, and the right side led to the main road, which was now swarming with infected.
That route was out. He looked back at the window they had climbed out of, considering whether they should go back and find another way.
"Sigh, we could go up," Sarah suggested, looking up at the two-story apartment building in front of them.
Following her gaze, Brian looked at the height of the second-floor balcony, estimating it to be a little over three meters high. His eyes lit up. "I remember there was a folding ladder inside the house. Not sure if it'll be tall enough, but let's give it a try."
Back inside the house they had come from, Brian quickly retrieved a small ladder from a storage room, about a meter and a half tall.
"Got it. Be careful," he said, extending one end of the ladder out the window and cautioning Sarah. If she slipped and fell, it would surely attract the attention of nearby infected.
They successfully maneuvered the ladder outside, and Brian followed, placing it against the wall.
"...Why is it still so short!" Brian scratched his head, then climbed up the ladder and straddled the middle rung, estimating the remaining height. He nodded to Sarah below and waved her up.
"Come on, step on my shoulders. You should be able to reach. Then tie the rope to the railing, and I'll climb up using the rope."
"Okay!" Sarah didn't hesitate, climbing up the ladder and taking Brian's hand. As her feet touched his shoulders, she glanced down and immediately felt dizzy and unsteady.
"Sarah, don't look down," Brian sensed her legs trembling and knew she had looked down. He tightened his grip on her legs, supporting her, and quickly said, "Take a deep breath, steady yourself. Don't be afraid. I've got you."
"Whoosh~" Brian's voice acted like a shot of adrenaline, giving Sarah immense courage. She took a deep breath, steadied herself, looked up, grabbed the railing, and with a few kicks against the wall, she managed to climb up.
As soon as she reached the top, she saw an infected standing not far down the hallway, its back to her. The shocking sight nearly made her scream in fright.
Quickly covering her mouth with her left hand, Sarah suppressed the scream and frantically waved her right hand to signal Brian not to make any noise and avoid alerting the infected.
Brian, seeing her signal, understood there was likely an infected nearby and waited silently, not daring to make a sound.
After a moment, seeing that the infected didn't move, Sarah let out a quiet sigh of relief. She carefully took off her backpack, pulled out a rope, and, while keeping an eye on the infected, tied one end of the rope to the railing.
Grabbing the rope that Sarah threw down, Brian stood on the highest rung of the ladder and easily climbed up.
Silently climbing into the hallway, Brian saw the infected in front of him and pulled out his dagger, preparing to eliminate the threat. But a small hand suddenly reached out and stopped him.
Confused, he looked at Sarah, who pointed to his dagger and whispered, "This time, let me do it!"
Looking into Sarah's determined eyes, Brian nodded and handed her the dagger. In this environment, everyone needed to grow, so he didn't try to dissuade her. He just followed behind, ready to protect her.
Gripping the dagger tightly, Sarah inched closer to the infected. She was extremely nervous, but she couldn't stand being someone who always needed protection anymore.
If she were in danger, Brian would protect her, but who would protect Brian if he were in danger? She couldn't keep hiding behind him; she had to face these dangers head-on.
Recalling how Brian had dealt with the infected, Sarah raised her right foot and kicked the infected's inner knee with all her might. Caught off guard, the infected instantly knelt. Then, a slender arm wrapped tightly around its neck from behind, preventing it from making any noise. The sharp dagger found its mark, stabbing into the infected's temple at just the right moment, quickly dispatching it.
"Wow, impressive," Brian couldn't help but praise, having watched Sarah's seamless actions. "I didn't expect you to have hidden skills like that. Guess I underestimated you."
"Alright, let's keep moving. We don't have much time," Sarah said, rolling her eyes at Brian and handing the dagger back to him. She glanced at the fallen infected, feeling a bit proud of herself.
"Wait, there's someone over there," Brian suddenly said, noticing a young black woman emerging from a restaurant across the way. Her backpack was empty, clearly indicating she hadn't found any food inside.
As she tried to slip into another convenience store, an infected with half its head covered in mushroom-like fungus appeared from her previous hiding spot. The fungus had grown from the infected's eye socket, destroying one of its eyes.
Instead of lunging at the woman with a roar like other infected, this one stealthily followed her, seemingly trying to close the distance without alerting its prey.
"What... what's wrong with that infected?" Sarah asked in horror, pointing at the uniquely shaped infected. She could tell it was completely different from the others and looked far more eerie.
"Figures," Brian said with a grim expression, recognizing the infected. It was the largest fungal coverage he had seen so far, and it appeared to have completed an "evolution" into a second stage. He knew his suspicions were correct: as time passed, the spores inside the infected were continuously altering their hosts' bodies, making them stronger to infect more prey for the fungus.
On the other side, as the evolved infected closed in, it suddenly let out a hissing roar and lunged at the young woman. The roar also awakened all the nearby infected, who seemed to receive some kind of signal and began running toward the sound.
The young woman quickly turned around at the sound of the roar. Seeing the infected lunging at her, she panicked but reacted swiftly, raising her pistol and firing a shot at the infected's head. The bullet struck the fungal growth on the infected's head, causing it to burst, but the infected kept coming.
The young woman's eyes widened in terror as the infected continued to advance. She let out a scream and turned to run, but the evolved infected was faster.
In just a few steps, it caught up to her and knocked her to the ground.
"Ah——!"
A blood-curdling scream echoed through the entire neighborhood, the desperate wail piercing the hearts of all the survivors hiding nearby.