chapter 2

A child's cry.

It was sharp, desperate-a raw wail that echoed through the concrete walls.

He froze. A jolt of something flared inside him, sharp and unwelcome, before he crushed it down. It was probably a child's voice. He neither knew nor wished to find out.

He hadn't come here to help.

For him-Xie Kai-survival was all that mattered.

Compassion, guilt, anything resembling sentiment, had faded away in the early days of the apocalypse. It was too dangerous. Too costly. People died. People were dying.

He pushed forward, but his steps faltered. His fingers curled around the straps of his bag as he hurried toward the passage. Without realizing it, his feet had changed direction-he was no longer aiming for the second tunnel. His composure had slipped, and now he was moving toward the first one, the closer one.

He crouched down to enter in a rush, moving on instinct. A mistake.

Just as his body dipped forward, a sickening sense of wrongness prickled at the back of his mind.

Pure reflex jerked him back-just in time.

A hand shot out from the darkness.

Rotten. Corroded. Blue-tinged flesh stretched over bone.

Its long, blackened nails scraped against the air where his throat had just been. The hand twitched, fingers curling like claws, reaching mindlessly. Even without a bite, even without breaking the skin-those nails alone carried poison. A slow, insidious venom that would fester inside a living body, dragging them into undeath at a crawling, inevitable pace.

His breath hitched for just a second.

Xie Kai's grip tightened around the handle of his knife as he yanked it free from his belt. The blade, dull with age but honed to ruthless sharpness, gleamed under the weak, flickering light filtering through the sewer grates above.

With precise, practiced efficiency, he slashed downward. The edge of his blade sliced clean through the undead's reaching hand, severing fingers with a sickening squelch. The rotted flesh barely resisted-the decay had already softened the tissue-but the creature didn't flinch. It never would.

The undead never felt pain. Never hesitated. Never tired.

It lunged forward, mindless and unrelenting.

Xie Kai sidestepped, his movements swift, calculated. In a single fluid motion, he drew another weapon from his belt-a short, sturdy crowbar, its metal edge worn and dented from years of use. As the creature staggered past him, he swung.

The impact was brutal.

The first strike shattered the thing's shoulder, sending shards of brittle bone snapping beneath the force. The second caved in the side of its skull, splintering bone and rotted flesh like pulp. The undead crumpled, but it still twitched, its mouth opening and closing with mindless hunger.

One more blow-directly to the forehead-stilled it for good.

Xie Kai exhaled sharply, already moving. He turned toward the passage-

But before he could take a step, a blur of movement shot out from behind, where the cry had come from. The sound of dragging footsteps followed, too close now.

His body reacted before his mind did, pivoting sharply just as a boy-the same boy who had cried out-rushed toward him, arms outstretched as if trying to latch onto him for help.

Xie Kai twisted, dodging on instinct, but the child's weak grip still caught onto his sleeve. There was no weight to him.

If Xie Kai hadn't seen him, he might not have even registered the boy's presence at all. Just over ten years old-too young to have known the world before it all fell apart. Too young to remember what was lost.

Xie Kai himself had been twelve when it started. If not for his parents...

It didn't matter now.

He had no time to think.

Five-six. The undead were rushing forward.

Without hesitation, Xie Kai shoved the boy into the tunnel where he had just fought. The kid stumbled, clearly exhausted-injured, maybe? He didn't move with the urgency he should have.

An undead lunged.

Xie Kai whipped his crowbar up, metal clashing against rotting flesh as he blocked the creature's clawed hand inches from his face. Too close.

"Hurry."

His voice came out rough, hoarse-as if it hadn't been used in years.

The boy flinched, then scrambled forward, finally moving.

Xie Kai gritted his teeth, using all his strength to shove two of the undead backward, forcing them to crash into the ones behind them. The slight moment of disorder was all he needed.

He didn't waste it.

Without looking back, he glided into the tunnel, his clothes scraping against the walls in his haste.

The boy had already reached the manhole cover. Xie Kai saw him struggle, his small hands pressing up against it, trying to push it open.

It wouldn't budge.

Blocked? Or worse-bodies piled on top of it?

Xie Kai didn't stop to help. Instead, his eyes darted to the side-

The sewer gate.

Narrow. But he'd used it before.

His hands flew to the rusted bars, forcing them open.

The boy saw it too and quickly followed.

Somehow, they made it out.

Xie Kai didn't waste a second-sealing the lead tightly, dragging a dead body over it. But he knew it wouldn't hold for long. They had to move.