Apocalypse Cockroach

The man turned and aimed his shotgun at Yang Ke Er, preparing to pull the trigger any time. Zhang Xiao Qiang saw the opportunity and pounced on him.

“Bang!” a gunshot was fired and cement powder fell around them as the bullet hit the ceiling. Zhang Xiao Qiang and the man fell to the ground still interlocked with each other while the living room was filled with the smell of gunpowder. Both of them rolled on the floor while one tried to overpower the other. “Pa”, they knock onto the sofa’s leg and at the next moment, they hit the coffee table, shattering the glass. The shattered glass fell all around the floor cutting both of their faces and arms but no one seems to notice it.

Once the man’s grip loosens, Zhang Xiao Qiang snatched over the shotgun but immediately after that he took a strong hit to his nose. The man took the opportunity to give Zhang Xiao Qiang a headbutt when he was busy stealing the shotgun. It was like a spice shop opened up in Zhang Xiao Qiang’s face, as he could feel the taste of sourness, saltiness, bitterness and spiciness all at one go.

Zhang Xiao Qiang’s tears and mucus started to flow out. Before he could react, a pair of strong hands grabbed onto his throat. The pair of hands, full of calluses, start to tighten with force.

With the air stuck in his chest, unable to get out of his airway, Zhang Xiao Qiang’s face started to turn green, and his vision blurred from the lack of oxygen. The long forgotten flashlight was at a corner, illuminating the wooden floor. Unable to see both of them clearly, Yang Ke Er stood near the bedroom door waiting anxiously.

With the whole world spinning, Zhang Xiao Qiang lifted his right leg, using all his strength and successfully sent the man flying by landing a kick on his abdominal.

“Cough cough! Gasp gasp gasp!” Zhang Xiao Qiang remain seated, rubbing his poor throat. He started coughing and breathing heavily while at the same time trying to take in as much air as possible.

“Ahhhhhhhh!!” The man pounce onto Zhang Xiao Qiang again.

“Knock” Zhang Xiao Qiang frantically tries to bring up the shotgun and the barrel hits the man.

“Ahh!” The man cried, as he turned around and rushes down the stairs. He seems to be well aware of the surroundings and disappear quickly.

“Stop daydreaming! Quick, help me up!” Zhang Xiao Qiang was still seating on the wooden floor, demanding Yang Er Ke to help.

“Okay” Yang Ke Er ends her daydreaming and walks over to Zhang Xiao Qiang to help him up onto the sofa.

The fight that happen left Zhang Xiao Qiang confused. He retrieved the flashlight and shined it onto his watch. It is 5:20am. Seems like they will not be able to continue their sleep, and who knows if the man will come back or not.

Yang Ke Er heartlessly went back into the bedroom and continue her beauty rest while Zhang Xiao Qiang stay seated on the sofa, waiting for daybreak.

“Could he be the owner? Had he mistaken us as thieves?” Zhang Xiao Qiang thought.

“That can be it! Why wasn’t he staying here then? There are no zombies near here so it’s pretty safe...” he was confused.

“Is he hiding a secret? Such that he had to secretly return to his house at midnight instead.” Zhang Xiao Qiang continued to let his mind run wild.

“Morning uncle!” Zhang Xiao Qiang lifted his head, and saw Yang Ke Er walking out of the bedroom, rubbing her eyes. Looking through the glass door, it is now morning.

With the first story main entrance remains tightly locked the sunlight could only enter the house through the first story window. Still, it managed to slowly brighten the entire house.

“He did not enter from there, so how...?” following the passageway from the kitchen to the yard, the iron gate is unlocked with the lock hanging on the gate.

Opening the iron gate, a small walkway leads towards the hill. There wasn’t much vegetation on the hill. A few pine trees about the height of 2 to 3 humans can be seem along the walkway. Apart from the pine trees, rows of bushes were growing neatly on the hill.

“Stay here and wait for me. Don’t go loitering around.” Zhang Xiao Qiang instructed Yang Ke Er while he took the pair of monster horns and stuff them into 2 hollow bamboo sticks. He fits one-third of the horn into the 1-meter-long bamboo stick with the shape end of the horn sticking out of the bamboo pole.

“Then... What if you don’t return?” Yang Ke Er pursed her lips and asked.

“Then you better just die far from here as possible!! Watch your belongings!” Zhang Xiao Qiang doesn’t care about his unlucky mouth anymore. Holding onto the shotgun with the bamboo pole on his back, he follows the walkway into the hill.

Holding onto the shotgun, he stops every now and then looking at his surroundings staying on high alert. He continued for about 15 minutes.

Spotting a cave from afar, he continued on without any obstructions before reaching it. The cave is about 6 to 7 meters tall and about 5 meters wide. There were some carvings at the side of the cave. Loading the shotgun, Zhang Xiao Qiang ventured into the cave cautiously. The cave seems pretty deep. Near the entrance of the cave has carvings that read “be prepared for war”.

After walking about 10 meters in, he spotted a three wheeled agricultural vehicle. The vehicle is painted red, with the word “spear” painted in white at the side of the vehicle. Above the oil tank was a key. “A key...” Zhang Xiao Qiang tries to take a closer look.

With a strong force from behind, a big feet furiously lands on Zhang Xiao Qiang’s back. Zhang Xiao Qiang stumbled forward and falls flat on the uneven ground. “Bang” he fired the gun into the darkness as he accidentally pulled the trigger when falling. Without thinking too much, Zhang Xiao Qiang rolled over to the side.

“Dang” a huge boulder was thrown right in front of Zhang Xiao Qiang, and he quickly stood up, while drawing out his bamboo horn pole. He immediately faced the threat.

A man was standing behind the vehicle and Zhang Xiao Qiang couldn’t see him clearly as it is rather dark in the cave. But he could tell that the man is holding a kitchen knife and looked nervous.

“I knew it! You guys finally came, you are here to arrest me right?” The man shouted at Zhang Xiao Qiang.

Grabbing onto the bamboo horn pole with both hands, Zhang Xiao Qiang took 2 steps forward. He was then able to see the face of the man. He looked young, must be in his early twenties. He also looked strong as he clenches his hand into a fist while his other hand holding tightly onto the kitchen knife. His legs were trembling and he appeared to be afraid and nervous.

“You, don’t come over, I didn’t wish for that to happen, please don’t arrest me.” The man was getting agitated when he saw Zhang Xiao Qiang approaching him. His hands were now trembling like crazy but he continued to keep his kitchen knife pointed towards Zhang Xiao Qiang.

“Are you crazy?” Zhang Xiao Qiang whispered to himself. “Buddy, calm down, I’m a passerby, I’m not here to arrest you.” Zhang Xiao Qiang tried to convince him that he meant no harm.

“No, you are lying to me, you are here to arrest me, you are here to kill me. AAAHHHHHH!!!” The man roared and pounced towards Zhang Xiao Qiang with the knife.

“Ding!” Zhang Xiao Qiang blocks the attack with his bamboo pole, “Dong!” he lands a kick on the chest of the man which forced the man to stumble 10 steps back.

“AAAHHHH!” The man threw the knife at Zhang Xiao Qiang and ran towards the exit of the cave.

Zhang Xiao Qiang managed to use the bamboo poles to make a cross in front of him, thus successfully stopping the flying knife. “Deng!” the knife falls to the ground.

“Oh no, that little girl!” Zhang Xiao Qiang was afraid that the man will try to hurt Yang Ke Er and quickly chased after that man.

Once Zhang Xiao Qiang rushed out of the cave, he saw a shadow running towards the hill. He continued to chase closely until the man stopped at the stop of the top of the hill. They were now next to a cliff. Below the cliff was a stone pit and there was no more road to run.

“Don’t come closer, I didn’t wish for it to happen, I didn’t want to kill them, you can’t blame me!” The man continues to blabber on while backing up, all the way to the edge of the cliff.

“........” Zhang Xiao Qiang went speechless. He was attacked during midnight and had to remain on high alert until morning and he now has to witness this man going crazy in front of him. Zhang Xiao Qiang wanted to turned his back and ignore the guy but was afraid that he would stab him from the back. Killing him wasn’t on his mind as he didn’t have the heart to kill him.

“I did kill them, but they were no longer my grandparents, no longer my parents, not my brother and sister-in-law, they were monsters, they ate Xiao Hao in front of me.” The man’s face looked ferocious as he mumbled non-stop.

“Hey buddy, take it easy, no one is saying that you are wrong!” Zhang Xiao Qiang pretended to persuade him but deep down, he felt indifferent. Zhang Xiao Qiang could tell that the guy had no internet and wasn’t aware that the world had changed, therefore thinking that he had became a murderer.

“HAHAHAHA! Don’t try to lie to me, I know you are here for me, I am not going to jail, you can’t catch me!” The man went crazy and jumped off the cliff!

Zhang Xiao Qiang stood at the edge of the cliff and looked down. The man was lying above a huge rock, with fresh blood flowing down from the rock onto the ground. “Stupid idiot” Zhang Xiao Qiang commented.

It’s too scary if one doesn’t know how to get on the internet, that was Zhang Xiao Qiang’s final conclusion about the world.

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