Apocalypse Escape: Day One of Survival

”So, can you confirm the exact location of this food shipment?”

”How would I know that? It’s not like I ever came here to inspect the cargo,” the woman said, shooting her husband an impatient glance. ”All I know is the location—the container terminal.”

’That’s as good as saying nothing. The container terminal must be full of cargo. It’ll be a massive pain for just the two of them to find it!’

Meanwhile, a battered Passat with its bumper half-dangling off was following the RV at a distance.

Song Xue was huddled in a corner of the back seat, trying to shrink herself into a ball and make herself as unnoticeable as possible.

Yet, even though she hadn’t said a word, the taunts still found her.

”And you claimed to be so close with Captain Gu’s teammates. And what happened? We had to wait in line for twenty minutes just to get out of the base!” a wiry woman with a weather-beaten face grumbled from the front passenger seat.

”You act like a princess all day long, but you sure don’t have a princess’s good fortune. Look at you, what special treatment do you get? What can you possibly do to help this family?” the woman huffed, running her mouth.

”Alright, that’s enough out of you,” the dark-skinned man driving the car interjected.

”What? She’s a jinx who brings ruin to her father, her mother, and her whole family! You’re telling me I can’t even talk about it?” the woman shrieked, refusing to back down.

”I said we should turn right and go to the supermarket, but you all just had to go check out the cruise ship terminal, didn’t you?”

”Is there even any food or water there?”

A small, skinny girl squeezed in next to Song Xue glanced up at the woman, her lips trembling, but she didn’t dare say a word.

On her left sat a large-framed boy who took up nearly two seats. He kept his head down, playing a single-player game on his phone, completely ignoring the woman’s incessant nagging.

”What do you know?” Song Kuang was getting extremely annoyed with his wife’s rambling. ”Everyone’s running to the supermarkets. Even the biggest ones have been picked clean, you hear me? How will we know if we can’t scavenge something if we don’t look elsewhere?”

”Hmph.” The woman curled her lip disdainfully, her gaze gradually focusing on the pristine-looking RV up ahead.

”Hey, isn’t that the RV from house number eighty-five? Your uncle Song Yaoguo’s family?”

”Yeah, that must be Ms. You’ai and her daughter, Xie Ning,” Song Kuang replied. He’d heard a little about what the mother and daughter had been up to since the apocalypse began.

”Tch, that girl Xie Ning really has all the luck,” the woman said, her voice turning sharp and whiny. ”Just a girl, and she got to move into the city. I heard her dad was some big shot at a research institute, even got assigned a huge villa.”

The envy in her tone was unmistakable.

She glanced at the huddled-up Song Xue again. ”Unlike some people, who have the delicate body of a pampered young miss but none of the luck.”

”Alright, that’s enough!” Song Kuang snapped. ”When we get to the terminal, everyone gets out. We’ll search the nearby area.”

”Enough of what?” Song Kuang’s wife shot her husband an angry glare. ”Was I wrong? Look at this damned girl! Ever since she came to our house, not only has she contributed nothing, but she’s also been a drain on our dwindling food supply.”

”Things are different now. This is the apocalypse! Another person means another mouth to feed. Do you think it’s just a matter of adding another pair of chopsticks? No! The rations we give her could last the rest of our family an extra day or two.”

As the sound of her aunt Ma Guilan’s incessant nagging and berating filled her ears, Song Xue curled into a tighter ball, burying her head between her knees, not daring to look up.

The skinny girl beside her instinctively squeezed her hand, as if trying to transfer some sort of strength to her, but unfortunately, Song Xue didn’t seem to notice.

Seeing that Song Xue wouldn’t even make a peep after all her scolding, Ma Guilan started to lose interest.

She turned her gaze back to the RV up ahead and continued her dissatisfied muttering. ”Someone like Song You’ai, a cheapskate who couldn’t even produce a son... She has such a nice vehicle but won’t even think to help out her relatives. Look how sturdy that RV is. Even the windows look like they’ve been reinforced.”

Song Kuang had no desire to deal with this woman anymore.

It wasn’t the first time she’d been so shortsighted, and he was sick and tired of listening to her daily gossip and complaints.

”Mom, I’m thirsty,” the chubby boy who had been playing games suddenly said, lifting his head.

”Here, here, Mom’s got water.” Hearing her precious son’s call, Ma Guilan hurriedly passed him the half-empty bottle of mineral water she had beside her.

”Jia Bao, dear, are you hungry? Do you want some crackers to tide you over?”

”Mom, I’m thirsty too,” said Song Zhaodi, who was sitting next to Song Xue. Her eyes were fixed longingly on the water bottle in her younger brother’s hands.

Seeing him gulp it down without any consideration for others, she couldn’t help but swallow, her throat dry and aching.

”Thirsty? What’s there to be thirsty about? You’re a big girl now, and you’re still trying to take things from your little brother,” Ma Guilan said, her face full of reproach. ”You’ve been useless since you were little. Instead of taking care of your brother, you’re always trying to compete with him.”

”SCREECH.” The car suddenly went over a ramp, and Song Kuang brought it to a stop. ”Quick, get out of the car! I saw a vending machine by the entrance.”

Song Jiabao stopped playing his game, his eyes wide and shining. ”Is there any soda?”

Song You’ai glanced at her rearview mirror. ”That Passat took the exit.”

Xie Ning was unconcerned. ”Let them.”

The military had already cleared out this area, so there were very few zombies.

However, there was no telling what the situation would be like farther ahead at the container terminal.

”Zombies! There are zombies!” a woman cried out in terror, clutching the dog in her arms.

The dog, squeezed too tightly, couldn’t help but stick its head out and bark. ”WOOF, WOOF!”

The man shot her a glare. ”Shut your dog up.”

He slammed on the gas, knocking over two of the zombies as the car roared past.

The dog-hugging woman frowned, worried. ”Don’t wreck the car. We finally found a good one. If you wreck it, we’ll have nothing to drive.”

Xie Ning opened her window a crack. As the RV slid past the zombies, she pierced their skulls with Metal Spikes.

She was becoming more and more proficient with her Metal Spikes. ’I have a feeling my Gold Ability is about to advance to the Third Rank.’

She raised her hand, and a sparkling, ordinary Crystal Core appeared in her palm.

Xie Ning looked down and saw a faint mist rise from the surface of the Crystal Core. After it slowly dissipated, the core appeared much clearer and more translucent than before.

This was likely the strange thing about her body.

Any Crystal Cores that passed through her hands would be mysteriously purified, making them ready for human absorption.

Xie Ning tossed the small Crystal Core into her flannel pouch. ”Mom, keep going.”

Song You’ai nodded firmly. ”Do you think that Audi up ahead is also going to the container terminal?”

Xie Ning nodded. ”Don’t worry about them. The terminal is huge. We won’t get in each other’s way.”

”True.” Song You’ai stepped on the gas. Not long after descending a wide platform, she saw the car ahead come to a sudden stop.

The couple had parked on the side of the pier, not daring to go any further.

Xie Ning tilted her head, peering through her window to see.

A dozen cargo ships were docked at the pier. Dozens of zombified crew members were trapped behind a gate, pounding on it relentlessly.