"What the hell is that?" Gao Chujing instinctively swallowed hard, stepping back a few paces to lean against Thomas Xu, his eyes fixed on the two doors. Just as he was about to say something else, there was another loud bang from the doors, and some cracked white wall plaster fell down, clearly impacted by something stronger.
"Bang… bang…"
The drum-like sound of continuous impacts came from outside the door, reminiscent of ancient siege battles, as if dozens of burly men were outside wielding a massive battering ram, striking the door one blow after another.
The two large doors were gradually becoming difficult to bear, with the two bolts responsible for holding them in place swaying as if they were being blown by the wind, seemingly on the verge of breaking. Moreover, the gap between the doors was gradually widening, clearly deformed from the impact.
"No matter what's outside, we need to think of a way to get out of here quickly!" Juan shouted loudly, a terrible premonition filling his heart. The thing banging on the door outside was likely even more terrifying than the hunters. The only thought in his mind was to leave this place immediately, to get away from here for good.
"Bang…"
Another loud crash echoed as a steel bolt finally snapped under the pressure, a piece flying to the ground at Thomas Xu's feet, spinning around. The two gray fire doors bulged inward like a beer belly filled to the brim. Thomas Xu shone his flashlight into the gap, and a pair of grayish-white eyes glared fiercely at them, clearly belonging to the creature that was banging on the door!
"Fucking hell, let's go!" Thomas Xu no longer entertained any thoughts of luck. The thing crashing into the door was at least two meters tall, with a rotting head larger than his backside. If it weren't for the lack of other compound eyes on its head, Thomas Xu would have definitely thought it was a terrifying corpse William.
"Yue Yunfei, how do we open that roll-up door on the west side? Hurry and tell us!" Thomas Xu, running, urgently looked at Yue Yunfei, but Yue Yunfei decisively said, "There's no time to open that door. It will take at least five to eight minutes. Our only choice now is to go back to the second floor and think of another way!"
"Damn! Why didn't you say that earlier!" Thomas Xu gritted his teeth in anger and sprinted towards the west staircase. However, when everyone reached the exit on the west side, Yue Yunfei suddenly shouted, "Not good!" because he forgot that the two doors were locked from the outside. He raised his hand and banged twice on the lock, but the steel fire door didn't budge at all against such attacks.
The two large doors behind them were shaking and could collapse at any moment under the assault of the living dead. Yue Yunfei was getting anxious too. He tossed his remaining few bullets from his Glock 17 to Juan, then took off the assault rifle from his back, pulling the trigger all the way down. He fired another dozen bullets, but aside from the dense gunfire, the powerful Type 81 rifle still achieved nothing.
"Get out of the way! Let me try!" Thomas Xu somehow found a galvanized pipe, raised it, and thrust it into the gun hole on the door. Several men immediately came up to help hold the pipe, shouting "One, two, three" as they began to push with all their might.
"Ah! The living dead, the living dead are coming out…"
Raina's scream made everyone shudder. The men who were prying at the door turned to look, and they saw the two doors, which had already been on the verge of collapse, finally crash to the ground with a loud bang, shaking the entire basement.
A tall, almost grotesquely overweight living dead stepped in first, its bear-like body forcing it to lower its head to avoid the door frame. A sinister grin hung on its rotting face, and it seemed to possess extraordinary vision that ordinary living dead did not have, immediately spotting the group of humans huddled together across the way. It reached out a finger to point at them and let out a piercing shriek.
Behind the large zombie, there was a group of ordinary zombies, all huddled together like sardines in a can, seemingly afraid to make any move. After the large zombie let out a loud roar, the ordinary zombies seemed to receive a command and instantly charged towards the humans.
One after another, they surged past the large zombie, eagerly pouncing on Thomas Xu and the others. Under the light of the fire, their terrifying figures were elongated, and they emitted all sorts of eerie howls from their throats. Just listening to them was enough to send chills down one's spine!
"Hurry, hurry, hurry, hurry…"
Thomas Xu shouted "hurry" five times in a row, but beside him, Hu Laoda and Gao Chujing were trembling like leaves in the wind, only making things worse. Fortunately, Yue Yunfei and Thomas Xu remained relatively calm, shouting "One, two, three, pull!" The two fire doors finally creaked open with a loud snap, and they managed to pry one of them open.
"Run!"
Thomas Xu, closest to the door, threw down the water pipe and took off running. The horde of zombies was already hot on his heels, and the grotesque face of the large zombie was becoming clearer. Even couples would likely abandon each other in such a dire situation, let alone Thomas Xu and the people in front of him, who were hardly men. He dashed into the dimly lit corridor, sprinting towards the second floor as fast as he could.
"Don't push me…"
This time, Hu Laoda's escape skills were of no use; the door had only been pried open a little. He was the weakest among the five men left. Even though the towering Juan had an injured arm, he could still protect his wife, Bowa, and easily shoved Hu to the outermost edge. Gao Chujing, used to squeezing onto buses, also took advantage of his robust build to slip into the door quickly. Perhaps his smallholder mentality kicked in, as he suddenly remembered that their leader, Ding Jie, was still behind. He hurriedly turned around, grabbed Ding Jie, and tucked her under his arm as he ran upstairs.
Hu Laoda, squeezed at the back, was so furious that he felt smoke coming out of his ears; he even had thoughts of shooting someone. Even Ruiena managed to slip into the door due to her small stature, but he was the one who got shoved to the back by Juan. At this moment, the fire in the basement had been completely extinguished by the swarm of zombies, and it was pitch black all around, with only a little dim light spilling from the corridor.
Hu Laoda had no time to think; he dashed into the corridor. Just then, a cold gust of wind brushed past the back of his head. In a panic, he turned around and immediately saw seven or eight zombies almost dancing with him. He let out a terrified scream, and his speed suddenly increased, as he desperately ran upstairs.
The fire escape stairs of a large hotel are naturally different from those of ordinary residential buildings. The height between floors is quite significant, especially the distance between the basement and the second floor, which consists of six sections of stairs and five turns. Just looking at it for a moment can make one feel physically and mentally exhausted.
Ambassador Hu ran up with all his might, but the pursuing zombies behind him were tireless. In comparison, their speed was surprisingly not slow, trailing just a few flights of stairs behind him. In this life-threatening situation, if Ambassador Hu's taut nerves dared to relax for even a moment, the zombies would immediately pin him down like a flower girl, ruthlessly ravaging him!
Boss Hu's lean figure was almost hollowed out by indulgence in wine and women, especially after the apocalypse. He had reached a point where he could hardly resist the company of women, and his favorite pastime was to spend the night with multiple partners. However, the aftereffects of his excessive indulgence soon became apparent at this moment. After running up two flights of stairs, Boss Hu began to feel weak. Suddenly, he stumbled and fell to the ground, hitting his head against the wall...