Suo Tian, who had been watching the car window the whole time, seemed to sense my movement.
He turned his head slightly, glanced at me, and gently held my hand in reassurance.
Only when my hand was enveloped by his warm palm did I feel a little calmer, though cold sweat was still pouring down my body.
Before long, the sweat from my palm had dampened his hand completely.
Outside the car, the horde of walkers continued to growl lowly as they pressed past the vehicles.
From time to time, a few would turn their heads toward the car, their dull eyes sweeping over the windows.
Every time that happened, I felt my entire head tense up painfully.
Whenever Suo Tian felt my body stiffen, he would lightly move his fingers against my hand, trying to ease my fear.
Just as the two of us stayed perfectly still in the car, quietly waiting for the horde to pass, something suddenly happened outside—one of the cars abruptly let out a shrill alarm.
The sound startled me so badly that I jolted in place.
Suo Tian's brows furrowed instantly; after giving my shoulder a calming pat, he raised himself slightly to peek outside, then hissed sharply as his expression turned grim.
The car alarm continued blaring, and the walkers, who had only been growling before, suddenly went berserk the moment the noise broke out.
The sound was drawing them in.
My heart began pounding wildly.
With Suo Tian pinning me down, I couldn't get up to look outside and could only imagine what was happening.
How had a car alarm gone off all of a sudden?
None of the vehicles we checked earlier had working alarms—so it couldn't have come from ours.
That could only mean one thing: a walker must have slammed into some random car, accidentally triggering it.
That thought brought me a small measure of relief—but only for a second.
Then, like a bolt of lightning, something hit me: Shen Feng and Xu Shu didn't have walkie-talkies!
It all happened too fast.
The middle-aged man had only managed to warn everyone through the radios, but Shen Feng and Xu Shu wouldn't have heard a thing…
Suo Tian was still staring intently out the window, his gaze fixed in the direction of the sound—most likely where the car alarm was coming from.
"What's wrong? What happened?" I asked anxiously, my heart pounding.
Please, I prayed silently, don't let it be them.
Suo Tian didn't turn to me.
His face tightened, and as he drew his blade, he said in a low, grim voice, "Shen Feng and Xu Shu are out there."
My mind exploded with a deafening boom.
The very thing I feared most had happened!
I immediately pushed myself up, following Suo Tian's gaze—and there, about ten meters away, on top of a car whose headlights were flashing in sync with the blaring alarm, Shen Feng and Xu Shu were huddled together, desperately hacking at the walkers trying to climb onto the roof.
The sight was terrifying.
In the flickering light, I could see the horde was packed so tightly that it was almost impossible to tell one body from another.
The narrow gaps between cars were completely filled, and the area around their vehicle was surrounded by a solid wall of walkers.
Two people against an entire swarm—they were clearly being overwhelmed.
I clenched my teeth hard, braced my hands against the seat, and was about to rush out—but Suo Tian's hand slammed down on my shoulder, forcing me back.
He shot me a quick, firm glance and said in a low, commanding tone, "Stay here. Don't move."
Then, using both hands for leverage, he pushed off the front seats, sprang forward in one swift motion, and quickly opened the sunroof.
Before the nearby walkers could even react, he leapt out into the darkness.
After Suo Tian went out, he immediately drew the attention of a large number of walkers nearby.
They all opened their mouths wide and lunged toward our car.
In almost an instant, the entire vehicle we were in was surrounded densely by the walkers' bodies.
Through a few gaps between them, I could see Suo Tian swiftly moving across the rooftops of the cars, heading in the direction where Xu Shu and Shen Feng were.
The walkers outside didn't notice me inside the car—all of them were drawn to Suo Tian and let out guttural roars as they chased after him when he leapt away.
I sat there, staring fixedly at Suo Tian's movements, frozen for a long moment before snapping back to my senses.
Quickly, I found a walkie-talkie and some batteries in the front seat, put them together, and was just about to press the talk button—when I suddenly remembered: we had all turned our walkie-talkies off earlier.
Even if I spoke now, no one would hear me.
And if, because of that, Uncle Gazi and the others—the kids and elders in their car—got discovered, I might as well die.
By now, Suo Tian had reached the area near Shen Feng and Xu Shu, stopping atop a car close to theirs and drawing a large horde of walkers his way.
As he swung his blade and cut them down, it looked like he was shouting something at Shen Feng and Xu Shu.
Seeing the endless waves of walkers packed between the cars around them, I could barely suppress the urge to move.
I bit down hard on my lip, shoved the walkie-talkie into my pocket, drew my dagger, and climbed up through the sunroof, copying Suo Tian's movements.
Before getting out, I noticed—there was still a car key in the ignition.
A thought flashed through my mind.
I turned it, and sure enough, the car started instantly.
Perfect!
I quickly switched on all the headlights and leapt out through the sunroof.
The walkers that had been moving toward Suo Tian's group immediately turned their attention to me, drawn by the noise and lights, swarming around.
Exactly what I wanted!
Before they could all crowd over, I dashed across several cars, distancing myself from the Volkswagen that now blazed like a beacon, drawing the horde.
Earlier, I hadn't dared make any noise, afraid of attracting walkers.
But now that we'd already been exposed, there was no need to hold back—so long as Uncle Gazi's group stayed inside, the commotion Suo Tian and I caused wouldn't put them in danger.
When I was about two or three cars away from Suo Tian, Shen Feng, and Xu Shu, I stopped and began hacking away at the walkers swarming toward my car.
They came in droves—mouths gaping, bodies and faces rotten, some even missing limbs.
Their grotesque, disgusting faces filled me with pure hatred.
When people are cornered, they always seem to summon a strange surge of rage, a burning fury that fills your whole body until you just want to destroy everything in front of you.
My strikes grew noticeably faster than before, but the crowd was so dense that no matter how hard I swung, a few walkers still managed to climb up onto the hood.
I caught a glimpse of them out of the corner of my eye and tried to move to deal with them, but I couldn't free myself in time.
Just as the two walkers were twisting toward me, a flash of silver streaked past—two throwing knives struck cleanly into their foreheads.
Without even looking toward Suo Tian, I steadied myself and dove right back into the frenzy of cutting down walkers.
The black-clad men from the other cars finally noticed the commotion on our side and began leaping out of their vehicles, moving swiftly toward us.
When the bearded man shouted, "No guns! You'll draw even more of them!" everyone immediately switched to close combat—brandishing daggers, long knives, and even a few small chainsaws as they bounded across the car roofs like kangaroos, closing the distance between us.
They paired up, two to a car, holding their positions on the rooftops and joining the melee.
With their help, our situation improved significantly.
For a while, the only sounds filling the air—aside from the walkers' dense, guttural roars—were the wet slashing of blades and the dull hum of the chainsaws.
Though things seemed a little better, there were still far too many walkers.
Without the heavy firepower we'd had before, it was impossible to cut them all down by hand.
And at this rate, even if we kept up this rotating defense, exhaustion would soon take us all down.
Just as panic began to creep in, Suo Tian suddenly shouted from ahead, "Everyone, over here!"
As I looked up, I saw him already leaping across the car roofs in the opposite direction.
Xu Shu and Shen Feng reacted first, following his lead and jumping toward that side.
I glanced ahead—beyond that point was the roadside, where the number of walkers was noticeably fewer.
And just past the road was a small cliff, about four or five meters high.
If we could climb up there… My heart jolted.
Was Suo Tian planning to lead us up the cliff?
The black-clad men began jumping that way as well.
Our group bounded from car to car like a chain of kangaroos.
Just moments ago, I had cursed these abandoned vehicles for blocking our path—who would've thought they'd become our lifeline now?
As I leapt across several cars, I suddenly remembered the others—Yangyang and the rest—still hiding inside the vehicle.
I quickly shouted at the top of my lungs, "Uncle Gazi! Stay put! Don't make a sound! And don't come out! Whatever happens, don't make a sound!!"
The walkers couldn't understand me anyway, so I repeated the warning several times before hurrying after Shen Feng and the others, who had already reached the base of the cliff.
Suo Tian had several throwing knives in his hands.
As he quickly wound them together, I noticed that each knife's handle was tied with an extremely thin cord—much finer than the ones we used back at the shelter.
He knotted them rapidly, and before I could see clearly what he was doing, Suo Tian hurled the bundled knives forcefully toward a spot high on the cliff.
Then, gripping the cord tightly, he shifted his stance and, using the tension for leverage, planted his feet against the rock wall and began climbing swiftly upward.
In almost the blink of an eye, he had scaled the cliff and disappeared over the top.
"Go!" Suo Tian shouted down as he turned back and tossed the cord to Shen Feng.
Without hesitation, Shen Feng grabbed the rope and mimicked Suo Tian's movements.
Thanks to his training and natural strength, he climbed up quickly and reached the top with little effort.
Xu Shu followed next, then the black-clad men.
They all moved fast, and I stayed back, deciding not to slow them down—I knew climbing would be tough for me.
Instead, I focused on hacking down the approaching walkers while waiting.
One by one, the black-clad fighters made it up.
Soon, everyone was safely on the cliff—everyone except me.
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