Thrive in Catastrophe Chapter 1
Translated by Winry
Preface
In AD 2020, the "Comet" virus raged across the Earth. A wide majority of humans were infected, and eventually, they zombified. The antibody that was invented under emergency research can only prevent the remaining ten percent of human population from being infected but could not cure those who were zombified. The government of every countries joined forces, and established a colossal underground city named "Charles" within a short period of time. Within the enclosed biological circulation system, mankind living underground, begin a new era. And in this era, three main fields have developed rapidly: information technology, brain science and virology.
Chapter 1 Aftermath
Charles calendar (CC) year 124, in a certain forest.
A throbbing pain in the head, and ears ringing.
Xiao Yan frowned, pressing his hand on his forehead, something warm and moist seeped through his fingers. He opened his eyes to look closely, it's blood.
Suddenly, he heard a terrifying scream coming beside him.
Following the sound, Xiao Yan saw his cla.s.smate, whose eyeb.a.l.l.s seem like popping out of his eyes, and his wide-opened mouth could not speak a word.
Only then, Xiao Yan recalled.
Their aircraft had crashed during their first exploration in a virgin forest, due to invasion on the pilot's brain, causing his complete lost of judgement, where he even failed to alter the aircraft control to manual mode.
The huge impact during landing caused Xian Yan to b.u.mp his head on the side window, leading to a short moment of unconsciousness.
By the time he woke up, he can clearly see the overwhelming fear on everyone’s face, including the two seniors beside him who are usually placid.
Xiao Yan’s side of the window landed on the ground, he could not see a thing.
And when he turned his head to the other side of the aircraft, he froze.
Countless zombies are sprawling savagely on their fallen aircraft, hitting aggressively on the windows, as if they will unbar everything and barge in anytime, ripping apart everything they see into their abdomen.
"Ah… They’re zombies! Zombies! What should we do!?"
"Pilots! Try restarting the system……"
The moment someone said that, the zombies that were carving up their newly-hunted flesh, flinged a head onto the window gla.s.s.
Flesh was gone from half of the face, revealing its eerie white skull and hollow eye sockets, leaving a smudge of red on the window.
The head is then grabbed by a zombie, stuffed into its mouth, and crunch.
It munched on his "food" while sticking its face on the gla.s.s, together with the mixture of yellow s...o...b..r and blood between its teeth, just a look of it causes nausea.
The "food" was once a pilot.
"AH——!" a young apprentice by the window went hysterical.
"Stop screaming! The sound will excites them even more!"
The captain in charge this inspection glared at the apprentice. He is now the only one remaining rational.
Pushing away the safety equipment from his body, the captain showed a gesture for silence.
"As everyone knows, our aircraft had crashed. And worse, the c.o.c.kpit is damaged. Not only did we lose two pilots, but also the possibility to restart the aircraft to depart from ground. But fortunately, this door stands between the c.o.c.kpit and the cabin we are in, these zombies may look scary, but they are not strong enough to breakthrough this door."
This is because they are only Level Zero, the type of zombies that exist as majority in this world. They seem fearsome, and slaughter mindlessly, but their mobility are close to human, aside from their ability to heal swiftly.
Captain White's words gradually soothed the anxiety of the apprentices.
"We have a total of 12 people, and calculating from this, the oxygen reaction device within this cabin can last for another six hours. And in this six hours, everyone, refrain from speaking, keep calm, to prevent the increase of oxygen consumption. If we are lucky, research base may send out Special Task Forces for investigation after noticing they have lost contact with our aircraft, then we will have the chance to survive. Is everyone clear?"
All of them nodded in understanding and kept quiet.
Most of them are students from Central Academy of Science, and are going to work as a researcher in the military, and the only reason of them leaving Charles City was for internship.
Xiao Yan sighed quietly. Calculating from the size of the aircraft cabin to the time the oxygen reaction device was activated, the oxygen can only last for another three hours at the most.
Captain White lied, but at the same time, he gave them hope.
d.a.m.n it—— Today might be his last day. If only he knew, he would have pushed his cla.s.smate Lily down on bed instead of admiring her from afar! Life is short, he should have enjoyed pleasure in a good time!
The apprentices sitting by the window can only have their eyes closed. The cabin is highly soundproofed, so they could not hear the sound of the zombies banging and pounding on the bulkhead, nor can they hear their monstrous roar.
However, with just one look at the window, one will have a sleepless night.
Or, whether they are able to survive through tonight is still unknown.
Xiao Yan was silently counting.
One, two, three…… three thousand six hundred……
An hour pa.s.sed, the Special Task Forces has yet to arrive.
From noticing their missing aircraft to tracing their location, if an hour is still insufficient, perhaps the base does not have plan to send someone for rescue.
Xiao Yan smiled wryly. He felt a little rueful that he only got a "B" in the academy grade test. If this aircraft are filled with Cla.s.s A students, he reckons the Special Task Forces would have arrived long ago. After all, talents are the most valuable resources.
The temperature within the cabin is rising, and the apprentices started unfastening their collars.
This means the oxygen is depleting, perhaps, they may not even last for two hours.
"Maybe we should open the door…… and escape……"
"Are you kidding! I would rather suffocate here than to be torn apart out there!"
"But……"
"There's are no buts, waiting for rescue is the only right choice. When you have the door ajar, you won't even have the time for a breathe of fresh air, the door will be thrust open by zombies."
After listening to Captain White's words, the cabin fell into dead silence.
The air was getting thinner, and it is clear that everyone was having difficulty in breathing.
Death was closing in, step by step.
Time pa.s.sed, and suddenly, a faint sound of aircraft engine was heard from above. Students who are in the midst of losing conscious woke up, staring blankly from the window.
A flash of sharp edge of a blade, was all they can see. Followed by zombies being cut into pieces, with their brown mucus splashing all over the place. A zombie's head was sent flying and landed on the window gla.s.s, leading to a ridiculous scream from the student sitting by the window.
Captain White let out a long sigh.
"It's…… the Special Task Forces……"
This, is an exciting news, even though they no longer have the stamina for excitement.
Xiao Yan's losing sense cleared up instantly.
Through the window, he saw a figure in black combat suit flashed before his eyes, a tint of gold slit opened his vision, and before he could discern what he saw, three zombies were slashed in half, and slid off the gla.s.s like garbage, leaving a few repulsive traces on the window.
Special Task Forces is also known as Special Armed Forces . The establishment of each base are inseparable from the extermination of zombies by this force.
They are ruthless killers, cold killing-machines, but at the same time, they are the only dependable "shield" during calamity.
When the "Comet" virus first erupted, mankind attempted to control the infected areas using atomic bombs, but this has resulted in more frenzied outbreaks of the virus after it absorbed the heat and nuclear radiation emitted from the atomic bomb.
The same thing happened when dealing with zombies. Bullets, missiles and other weapons that emit heat, will only increase the healing ability of the zombies, thus, the era of cold weapons returns. Everyone in Special Task Forces is a master of cold weapons.
Xiao Yan pressed himself on the gla.s.s and strained his eyes to look out from the window.
There he saw a big guy, with his fists clenched, and a weapon worn on his fingers. When he punched his fist onto the zombie's head, yellow fluid burst from the cracked skull.
The man tightened his body muscles, raised his legs, and kicked off the headless body.
They were plunged on the ground, bashed on trees, and despite not able to hear in the cabin, Xiao Yan can clearly imagine the sound of bone cracking and mucus splattering.
Another agile body was moving across the crowd of zombies, it was a female soldier.
She released a fast-spinning weapon so swiftly where one can hardly see with bare eyes.
The spinner slit through the zombies, dismembering them. Zombies may have fast healing ability but they could not regenerate parts that were cut off.
While the zombies are weaken from their disjointed limbs, the female soldier drew out a double-edge knife from her back, and whirled, the zombies were then beheaded or slit in half.
In less than thirty seconds, the fallen aircraft are free from the zombies' entrenchment.
Captain White moved towards the cabin door slowly and pressed a b.u.t.ton.
The door slid open. The humid air gushed into the cabin, together with the stench of blood and rotten flesh.
Some students threw up before they could remove their safety equipment.
"You have one minute, we are moving right away."
A cold voice spoke from outside, like having a blade trailing along the nerves, cold and ruthless.
Xiao Yan felt as if his brain was slit opened by the voice, and his enclosed thoughts are led into an immense s.p.a.ce.
"Hey! Hey! Hurry up! Don’t tell me someone in here broke your leg! Those who can’t walk, stay here and have yourself fed to the zombies!"
The big guy entered the cabin. The weapon between his fingers that had been bashing on zombies seconds ago, glowered in coldness.
He lift up the safety equipment roughly, s.n.a.t.c.hed a student, and threw him out of the cabin.
The student shrieked.
"Scream! Keep screaming! Those zombies are attracted by sound. Lure them here with your voice, and we'll head back to our aircraft. We'll be back to get y'all after the zombies are done eating. What do you say? I bet y'all would be quiet by then huh?
He looked at the students haughtily, with a gloating smile on his face.
Xiao Yan saw a tint of eagerness from his bloodthirsty eyes.
This guy isn’t joking.
The screaming stopped. The students removed their safety device and fled from the cabin.
And when they see the outside world at first glance, they couldn’t help but stunned.
Encircling their aircraft…… Was a mountain of zombies.
Only then Xiao Yan realised that there were only three special force soldiers that came to rescue.
A lean figure stood between the two aircraft, his golden-brown hair blew in the wind, creating waves of unusual omen, the refined and aloof look and piercing pressure in his icy-blue eyes, sinks into the depth of Xiao Yan's brain, causing an illusion of pain.
He holds a hilt in his hand, with the blade pierced deep into the ground, as if he would shatter the sky and the earth in split second.
For the first time, Xiao Yan found himself unable to shift his eyes away from this man.
It was also then he realised the tint of gold he saw previously, was his hair.
Xiao Yan was lost in thoughts until someone pushed him on the back and spoke in a lowered voice: " Stop staring at him, he’s Heine Burton."
"He’s…… Heine Burton?"
Xiao Yan was dumbfounded.
He never thought that the heroic figure within the Special Task Forces, is actually a man as elegant and fine-looking before his eyes.
Heine’s side-face is adamant, like a thousand-years cliff that was carved into a chiseled feature by the rain and wind.
Xiao Yan always thought he is a monster, rather than an existence where he could not tear his eyes off from.
Zombies need to be beheaded in order to stop their mobility completely, which is also known as "severing neuronal connection" in biological context.
A zombie that was sliced in half from the waistline, dragged along its falling organs, and let out a low growl while crawling towards the apprentices that are walking over to the other aircraft.
The big guy joyously watched the students trembled in fear, before stepping on the zombie's face.
It let out a screeching sound that made the students to shudder and tighten their shoulders.
Heine who has been indifferent for the whole time, turned to the big guy, and frowned, "Mark, it's filthy."
Mark shrugged, "Well, I can't have it chew on these delicate students, can I?"
Once said, he stomped down, followed by a exceptionally loud crack from the broken skull.
The sight was too much for the students.
They rushed towards the cabin in fear, and some even got stuck by the entrance.
It was chaotic.
Mark smiled in content, "Boss, these scaredy-cats' gonna be second lieutenant once they graduate, and we are still stuck in this bloodshed war, and not even getting a rank till death, that's just so unfair!"
"If you don't wipe your shoes clean, don't enter the c.o.c.kpit,” Heine said coldly.
He turned away and kept his blade into the sheath on his back, ignoring Mark’s complain.
"Lad, if you continue to stare at Colonel Burton, I’m gonna rip your eyes out and feed them to zombies."
The female soldier in neat short hair show her hostility to Xiao Yan.
She seems not older than early twenties, the black combat suit outlined her exquisite figure, as well as a faint trace of explosiveness wielding within her body.
If she was to punch Xiao Yan in his head, he has no doubt that his brain juice would burst out.
"Oh, sorry."
Xiao Yan quickly lowered his head and followed the others into the aircraft.
The female soldier was the first to enter the cabin. Mark was standing outside of the cabin, cleaning his shoes with the disinfectant from the fallen aircraft.
Until Heine nodded in approval, and only then, Mark entered the c.o.c.kpit.
The aircraft took off. And as they gradually leaving the dangerous terrain, everyone let of a sigh of relief quietly.
As Mark said, countless zombies eventually mobbed to the site of the plane crashed. They stretched out their arms and jumped, trying to drag down the distant aircraft.
It was a blood-curdling sight.
~~~ Coming up next: Chapter 2 Come back alive ~~~