Chapter 9: Supermarket Night Terror (Additional chapter for Xiaomei's Crown)

  "37 sizes? No need to try, just find a bag and take it away. Xiao Wang, please also record this pair." Luo Xiaonian said with reason, when we came here, we drove over, but obviously, the outside streets are completely impassable by car. If one day we leave here, ninety percent of the possibility is that we will leave on foot. This pair of leather boots on my feet, leaving the air-conditioned car, would definitely freeze my toes off.

  Xiao Wang not only helped us keep accounts, but also helped us carry shopping bags. I almost fell in love with this little brother, he's so sharp-eyed.

  "There's a supermarket downstairs that sells sports shoes, although they're fake ones. Let's go and find a pair." Luo Xiaonian ran down the already stationary escalator.

  "Xiao Wang, you've already cleaned up downstairs, right? There won't be any zombies jumping out, will there?" Luo Xiaonian asked while walking.

  "Don't worry! Our director led us to search every corner of the underground floor, and all the bodies were thrown outside. Sister Luo, you can rest assured." Little Wang said confidently.

  I walked behind the two of them, still holding that big kitchen knife in my hand. After killing the zombies, I went to the bathroom to rinse the knife repeatedly and sprayed disinfectant on it. Then I wrapped a cotton scarf around the handle and tied it tightly, so even if my palms were sweating, I wouldn't have to worry about it slipping.

  The underground supermarket is as quiet as an ancient tomb, the promotional car beside the escalator sits lonely and still, its owner long gone. The KFC and Pizza Hut are empty, thinking of the hustle and bustle in these fast food places in the past, my heart feels a pang of sadness.

  We looked around and found that near the escalator, there were either fast food or promotional vehicles. However, one car had shoes on display, but they were just fake UGGs made of cowhide and faux fur. It seems it's not easy to find suitable running shoes.

  "Shoes can wait, let's go to the supermarket to buy towels and toothbrushes." Luo Xiaonian's gaze drifted towards the empty Hualian Supermarket. "Even on doomsday, you have to brush your teeth before sleeping, otherwise you'll get cavities, where are you going to find a dentist?"

  "Sister, I'll help you pick out towels!" Luo Xiaonian happily pushed a supermarket cart, and Wang also pushed one, putting our shoes inside.

  I didn't take anything, still holding the knife in front of me. It's too quiet here, so quiet that it makes my heart fearful. Although Wei Quan and the others have cleaned up downstairs, I still can't completely let my guard down.

  In the supermarket, there were piles and piles of food. Looking at all this food, I suddenly felt a sense of security in my heart. The end of the world could come, but at least Luo Xiaonian and I wouldn't starve to death. Look at those biscuits and snacks, look at those chocolates and candies, and so many potato chips - as long as we didn't eat too much, it would be fine.

  Unconsciously, we walked towards the kitchen utensil area. If I'm not mistaken, there's a small stall selling knives over there. Although we already have knives, I still want to own more, just in case these knives become blunt from chopping too much meat and bone.

  Lu Xiaonian picked up a sturdy flat-bottomed pot and smiled, saying, "Hong Tai Lang's signature weapon! Or I'll use this one..."

  Before she could finish speaking, a female zombie suddenly emerged from behind the shelf, making a "heh heh" sound, and rushed towards Luo Xiaonian. I was standing behind her, but it was too late for me to protect her!

  Luo Xiaonian threw his knife into a small cart and only held a flat-bottomed pot in his hand!

  "Ah!" Luo Xiaonian shrieked, swinging the frying pan with a loud thud, and the female zombie's head was slapped to one side. At the same time, I desperately pulled on the back of Luo Xiaonian's clothes, squeezed past her, and stabbed the sharp knife into the female zombie's right eye socket.

  The woman collapsed to the ground, I quickly drew out my knife and retreated rapidly, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Luo Xiaonian. The two of us panted heavily, almost forgetting that Little Wang was still there.

  "Little security guard!" Luo Xiaonian finally came back to her senses and shouted angrily, "Didn't you guys clean up this underground floor?"

  Xiao Wang stood far behind us, still holding onto the pushcart, in a daze. Upon hearing Luo Xiaonian's questioning, he suddenly jumped up like a zombie, "There are zombies! There are zombies!"

  "He's dead!" I said, both angry and annoyed. Looking at him, I also found it a bit ridiculous. "You guys didn't clean up very thoroughly."

  "Lao Jie, Director Wei led us to search, he said it was okay, I didn't know there was another one." Little Wang cried with a gloomy face, as if the zombie was released by him.

  "What kind of work attitude is this? If I were the boss, I would fire you all!" Luo Xiaonian was still in a state of shock and cursed repeatedly. When she saw the knife in my hand with brain matter, eye sockets, and blood all mixed together, she bent down and vomited again.

  "This is disgusting, but you have to get used to it, I...". I patted her back, wanting to say that I had killed several in the daytime without vomiting, but thinking that everyone's tolerance was different, I sighed and closed my mouth.

  "Sister, when will this heartbreaking dream come to an end?" Luo Xiaonian stroked her chest and sat up straight, her face paler than paper.

  I pulled her further away, found a pack of wet wipes for her to wipe her mouth, and pulled out two sheets to wipe the knife that had just saved our lives. The warm, fishy smell wafted into my nostrils, but I was able to hold back from vomiting now.

  "Xiao Nian, you know this isn't a dream, so you must overcome your nausea and face them. You have to take action!" I looked around cautiously, making sure there wouldn't be another unexpected fish jumping out in this supermarket.

  "Except for the fish, I haven't hurt any small animals." Lu Xiaonian cried with a sad face, and the flat pan stained with corpse liquid had been thrown away by her. She kept wiping her hands with wet wipes.

  "I've never hurt small animals before, but this has nothing to do with hurting them, it's about survival! Even if they weren't zombies, but murderers who wanted to kill you, wouldn't you defend yourself?" I sighed, remembering how scared I was when I saw my dad slaughter a chicken when I was little. It's really hard to imagine that I could become so brave.

  "Come on, come on, let's hurry up and get our stuff, we're leaving. Oh right," I saw a pile of goods that was all blankets, thinking that we would be spending the night in the mall, so I went over to grab a few big quilts and some pillows, "bring one for the kid."

  Lu Xiaonian pulled all the kitchen knives hanging in the supermarket onto her cart, thought for a moment, and then went to pick up several new flat-bottomed pots again.

  "You really plan on becoming a red tailed wolf?" I saw her holding a pot, and it was quite ridiculous.

  "Just now, this flat-bottomed pot did a great job, otherwise my face would have been scratched by that little scoundrel!" Luo Xiaonian had already calmed down, she weighed the pot in her hand, "Although it can't kill them, this thing is particularly handy when swung around, at least it can knock them dizzy! Standby!"

  We didn't have the mood to look for running shoes anymore, so we grabbed a few boxes of chocolates and several bottles of Coke and mineral water, then retreated to the escalator entrance. But then we discovered a serious problem - the escalator had stopped! How were we going to get all these carts of stuff upstairs?

  Look at us staring at Little Wang, Little Wang patted his chest, "Two Luo sister, let me handle these things, I'm strong and capable, carrying this little thing is nothing?"

  I patted him on the shoulder, "Good job!"

  Xiao Wang picked up a big bag of knives and carried two pairs of shoes, muttering to himself, "No one will steal them anyway, why can't I just leave the shoes upstairs..."

  Actually, there are a lot of things, mainly quilts and pillows, which are not heavy. The three of us went back and forth two or three times, and we managed to move everything to the first floor. To make transportation more convenient, we asked Little Wang to help carry up the three supermarket trolleys as well.

  Seeing the quilts we brought back, Wu Qiong thanked us repeatedly. The others were inspired and went downstairs to get their own quilts. Wei Quan kept reminding Xiao Wang to keep track of the accounts. When he heard that we encountered zombies in the supermarket, he was shocked and said that our previous inspection had been thorough enough. We didn't say anything else. In the end of the world, no one is responsible for all the dangers, if you want to survive, you have to rely on yourself.

  After everyone had washed up, the men locked the door of the projection room from the inside and took turns keeping watch for the night, while we women huddled together in the innermost seats of the projection room, wrapped tightly in our quilts, and spent the first night.

  The lights in the projection room were extinguished by Wei Quan at some point, and the fully enclosed hall was equally dark whether it was day or night. I woke up early, turned on my phone, and found that it was already 7 o'clock in the morning.

  Tuesday, December 2, 2014, the second day of the disaster.

  People gradually woke up and returned to the fifth floor of the mall. The sunlight shone down from the transparent glass roof, and the entire Kade was still quiet for a whole night. No one came to rescue the mall, no police, no army, and no volunteers.

  The female corpse with its head torn off in the fifth-floor toilet had been cleared away by the men, and the squatting pan had also been cleaned spotlessly by me and Luo Xiaonian using the cleaning tools reserved for janitors. We couldn't explain why we did this; we hadn't planned on staying in this mall for long anyway - it wasn't our home. But years of habituation to cleanliness made us unable to bear the filthy state of the toilet, which still reeked of that unbearable smell.

  Wei Quan arranged for us to go to the basement level of Mai Le's bread house and took some clean bread from the shelf as breakfast. The basement level has not only Mai Le's bread house, but also Bread New Language and other small dessert shops. Wei Quan said that those breads are all packaged, can last for several days, unlike Mai Le's bread house, which is just placed there bare, will fall dust after a long time, so eat Mai Le's first, no one objected. I and Luo Xiaonian usually only buy Mai Le's bread, familiar with the road, took a blueberry toast, one piece is enough for us to eat.

  "Director Wei, why don't we go to Yangguozi's place and have some bread? I can use the coffee machine to make some coffee and serve everyone." I made the suggestion, and everyone else also complained about not wanting to just stand there eating dry bread. Wei agreed completely.

  There is still a difference between the home coffee machine and the one in the coffee shop. After wasting two cups of coffee, I finally figured out the temperament of the YANGGUOZI home coffee machine, and soon cup after cup of cappuccino was placed in front of everyone. Luo Xiaonian helped everyone carry the coffee to the table, but found Wu Qiong crying.

  "Sister Wu, don't grieve! Hanhan needs you to live strongly." Lu Xiaonian anxiously consoled her, thinking that Wu Qiong was still mourning the loss of her family.