Chapter Twenty-Four: The Rescue

"We're running low on fuel." Chen Ergou glanced down at the fuel gauge. The "Thorn" had been out for an entire day, yet they hadn't found a single living survivor.

Following the addresses provided by the survivor camps, the Tiger Squad had scoured nearly every street and alley in Changsha. But reality seemed to be playing a game of hide-and-seek with the team, and Zhao Qiang began to doubt whether the reports of missing persons from those camps were even true.

Zhao Qiang never regretted founding the Survivor Alliance. To him, every life was precious; the alliance was established to ensure that more people could be protected and that the spark of humanity would not be extinguished.

"There is one more place. If we don't find anything there, we'll pull back." Zhao Qiang studied the map. The next marked point was not far from their current position. If there were truly missing people there, and they died in despair because he had given up the search, Zhao Qiang would never have peace of mind.

The final search ended in failure as well. Hundreds of zombies were wandering aimlessly in the streets surrounding the target location. The sudden appearance of the Thorn startled them, and they immediately lunged toward the vehicle.

"Alright, let's head home." A disappointed Zhao Qiang had no choice but to abandon the search. The behavior of the zombies made it clear that no survivors could possibly exist in this area.

"Base calling Tiger Squad, Base calling Tiger Squad!" A call came through the headset from headquarters.

"This is Tiger Squad, what is it?" Zhao Qiang pressed the talk button. The base rarely contacted the team while they were on a mission.

"A survivor camp is under zombie attack and requires support."

"Received. Please give us the exact location."

"Hexi University Town, near Hunan University. Switch to Channel 4; you can speak with them."

"Received. We will head there immediately after refueling."

Zhao Qiang adjusted the radio frequency. The headset was immediately filled with frantic cries for help: "We're under attack!" "There are too many of them, we can't hold them back much longer!"

"This is the Tiger Squad of the Survivor Alliance. We are on our way. Estimated time of arrival: 10 minutes."

"Hurry! I'm afraid we can't hold out that long!" Through the radio, the roars of Smashers reached the ears of the team members.

Turning off the communication, Zhao Qiang felt his heart grow heavy. That survivor camp was made up of a group of terrified students. Thanks to the school's focus on safety, they had survived until now by hiding in a heavily fortified dormitory building. Since the disaster occurred near the winter break, most students had already finished their exams and returned home; only about a dozen remained, surviving on the food found in the campus convenience store.

According to their schedule, the Survivor Alliance, having relocated to the Jianglu Machinery Plant, had planned to rescue this group of survivors once they were settled. They had not expected to have to accelerate the process.

In ten minutes, so many things could happen. As the Thorn sped forward, the battle was already drawing to a close. The students had no firearms; they could only sharpen wooden sticks into makeshift spears to fight the zombie horde. Their strategy was simple yet somewhat effective: a few of the sturdier students acted as the primary defense, using spears against the foremost zombies, while the others constantly blocked the zombies' advance with desks, chairs, and other debris.

Even so, the students' defensive line had been pushed back to the final floor of the six-story dormitory. The dozen or so students had nowhere left to run. Expressions of despair and fear occupied their young faces. The boys' resistance seemed to have little effect; several makeshift spears had already been snatched away by the zombies, and the final line of defense was about to be breached. Some of the more timid female students had already begun to wail.

"Tiger, where are you?" Zhang Jun was exhausted to the point of collapse. Between the high-intensity combat and malnutrition, his body was at its limit.

Just today, even with the strictest food rationing in place, the last of their supplies had run out. To find food, a few of the physically fit sports students had risked charging out. Initially, it had gone well; each of the boys had returned with a large bag of food.

But their luck didn't last. Less than 50 meters from the dormitory gate, their fortune came to an end. A pack of zombie dogs, appearing out of nowhere, instantly claimed the lives of those young men. Zhang Jun would never forget how the boy named Wang Hao, at the very last moment, endured the agonizing pain of being torn apart by the zombie dogs to shove that bag of precious food through the gap under the iron gate.

Soon, the zombie horde swarmed in from all sides. The small iron gate was as fragile as paper in front of the Smashers. Zhang Jun had no choice but to swallow his grief, lead the students in piling everything they could find in the hallway, use the sharpened wooden sticks as spears, and stab fiercely through the gaps in the barricades at the zombies tearing them down.

"Hold on for two more minutes, we're almost there." The man's voice on the radio was calm, but to Zhang Jun, it sounded like a death sentence. Two minutes. Through the gaps in the desks and chairs, he could already see the terrifying face of a Smasher. Zhang Jun clutched the food his classmate had paid for with his life, while the other students huddled together.

"Will you avenge us?" Zhang Jun was in complete despair. He could feel the foul-smelling air from the zombies' gaping maws hitting his face. He didn't want to die, and he certainly didn't want to become one of these disgusting monsters after death. But the rescue team was two minutes away, and the zombies were less than two meters from him.

In the depths of despair, Zhang Jun suddenly heard the shrill sound of a siren outside. A sound he had once found grating now seemed like the most beautiful thing he had ever heard. The momentum of the zombie horde faltered at the piercing noise.

"They're here to save us!" Zhang Jun found strength from somewhere; he jumped up and scrambled frantically into one dormitory after another, dragging out bed frames, desks, chairs, and anything else he could find to pile behind the barricade. Inspired by him, several girls who had been sobbing uncontrollably jumped up and joined his efforts.

The rhythmic popping of gunfire erupted like a burst of beans. The zombie horde's attention was drawn to these sudden invaders. Gradually, the gunfire grew closer, and closer...

"Are you all alright?" That low baritone voice sounded again. This time, it didn't come from the radio, but was ringing out clearly just a short distance away, accompanied by the symphony of gunfire.