Commander Li Wenqiang moved back through the doorway without hesitation, Liu and Tan falling in behind him as the massive home swallowed them again.

The transition from open air to enclosed space tightened the sound immediately, the quiet of the house settling back into place as if their earlier presence had never disturbed it.

"Left side," Li said.

Liu peeled off without a word, clearing the nearest room with a controlled sweep. Tan shifted right, checking the adjacent space while Li continued forward into the hallway, his pace steady and deliberate. Every door was opened, every room was cleared, every line of sight confirmed.

The house was large, larger than it had appeared from the exterior, with multiple rooms extending deeper into the structure.

But every room was completely empty.

Sure, it was clean, what little there was in there was organized. But there was no stored supplies, no hidden reserves, nothing that matched what five people would need if they decided to stay.

And these five had definitely decided to stay.

Li paused briefly at the threshold of another room, his gaze moving across the space before stepping through. Shelving units lined one wall, bare except for a few scattered items that held no value. Drawers opened cleanly, surfaces wiped clear of dust, and even the corners were vacuumed properly.

There wasn’t even a single dust bunny in here, let alone something to eat or drink.

He closed the drawer and stepped back into the hallway.

"Clear," Liu called from the adjacent room.

"Clear," Tan followed.

Li moved toward the next section of the house, adjusting his path to maintain coverage while opening up new sightlines. The layout forced narrower angles now, walls closing in, visibility reduced compared to the open living space.

Still nothing.

The structure had been stripped, maybe by the first group of survivors that can come out. But nothing showed that it had been looted in haste.

Li let out a long sigh as he pinched the bridge of his nose. There had to be supplies here. He just had to find them.

He raised his arm to continued the search when a low sound cut through the quiet.

Distant. Muffled. Moaning.

Li stopped abruptly and held his breath.

Then it came again.

A low impact. Then another. Then something heavier, less controlled.

And from outside.

Tan glanced toward the front of the house, his posture tightening just enough to register the change. Liu shifted position, adjusting his stance to face the direction of the sound.

Li didn’t hesitate to give the order. "Move!" he bellowed.

They reversed direction immediately, clearing back through the hallway with the same precision they had entered with. The sounds grew louder as they approached the front of the house, no longer isolated impacts but a layered noise—movement, collision, something dragging across the ground.

Li reached the entry first and pushed the door open.

The scene outside had changed in under ten minutes.

The perimeter was no longer still. Instead, figures moved beyond the initial line of soldiers, uneven and uncoordinated, their bodies dragging forward in broken patterns.

Zombies.

There was a lot more than there should have been, and they didn’t move in a straight line. They also didn’t rush blindly toward the closest target. It was almost like the night zombies had merged with the day zombies.

And these one had a specific target. They were coming from all directions only to converge when they got close to the convoy, closing in much faster than they should be.

"Contact!" one of the soldiers shouted and the first shots rang out before his voice had finished echoing.

The soldiers were firing in controlled bursts, and each one was a headshot.

Two zombies dropped. Then three more. The front line of men held for half a second longer before another group of zombies pushed through from the side, forcing the formation to shift.

"Left flank!" someone called out, the voice so high pitched that it might as well have been a scream.

Li stepped forward onto the porch, his rifle coming up as he took in the spread. The convoy remained in position, soldiers moving to reinforce the perimeter, but the pressure was increasing faster than it should have. The spacing between the incoming infected tightened, their approach no longer scattered.

They were being pulled in.

"Hold the line!" Li ordered.

He fired once. Clean. A zombie dropped mid-step, its body folding before it hit the ground. He adjusted, fired again, tracking movement instead of reacting to it.

Another fell.

Then another.

But it didn’t slow them down at all.

"Sir—more coming from the rear!" Chen called out.

Li shifted his position, recalculating angles, adjusting coverage. "Fall back to the vehicles! Keep the civilians behind you!"

The soldiers moved, tightening formation around the convoy as they created a controlled retreat. Survivors were pushed toward the trucks, doors opening, bodies moving faster now as the situation shifted from procedure to survival.

Li’s attention flicked once to the base of the porch.

The five stood exactly where they had been left.

The woman at the center.

The men positioned around her.

Not moving forward to the convoy or back into the safety of their home.

In fact, they weren’t reacting at all. They were watching.

"Get to the vehicles!" Li called out to them, thinking that they were just frozen in fear. But they still didn’t respond.

One of the soldiers broke formation long enough to move toward them. "Move! Now!"

The woman looked at him.

Then past him at the line of soldiers struggling to hold the perimeter.

At the shifting formation.

At the tightening circle.

"Why?" she asked, her head cocked to the side as she pulled the lollipop out of her mouth. "You look like you have enough trouble saving yourself," she continued, her voice carrying just enough to reach him without effort.

The soldier hesitated for a fraction of a second. But that was enough.

A zombie broke through the weakened edge of the line, slamming into him before he could recover. The impact drove him to the ground, his weapon discharging once before it was knocked free. The infected collapsed on top of him, hands clawing, teeth finding flesh.

The shot that followed came too late.

Li didn’t look away at the sight of his dead comrade. The one who had died trying to save someone who didn’t want to be saved.

Fuck that.

"Pull back!" he snapped. "All units—fall back to the convoy!"

There was no hesitation this time.

The line broke cleanly, soldiers moving in controlled retreat as they covered each other’s withdrawal. The remaining survivors were shoved into the vehicles, doors slamming shut as engines revved higher.

Another wave pushed forward.

Too many zombies.

Too close.

"Go!" Li ordered and the convoy moved.

One vehicle clipped the edge of a fallen body as it turned, wheels catching briefly before gaining traction again. The line of soldiers collapsed inward as they mounted up, returning fire in controlled bursts as the distance widened.

Li stepped back, firing once more before turning and moving with his men. He didn’t wait for the last shot. He didn’t wait for the last body to fall.

The mission had changed.

Survival came first.

The convoy pulled away, engines roaring as it forced through the thinning line of infected, leaving the house, the yard, and the remaining dead behind.

------

The sound of vehicles faded as the zombies continued toward the house, desperate to get to their target. Rouxi turned around calmly, entering her house before they could even get close.

The four men followed her without a word, the last man locking the door behind him.

Not a single person... dead or alive... saw that the grass had parted just a tiny bit.

Something green slid through it, too smooth, too fast to be fully seen, even if someone was looking for it. It moved low, close to the ground, weaving between fallen bodies without disturbing them until it stopped.

A zombie at the back of the horde tried to take another step forward only for something green to twist around its ankle, taking it to the ground.

The movement was fast, precise. A thing of beauty.

It pierced through the skull of the still moaning zombie cleanly, a narrow tip driving inward before splitting just enough to anchor. For a single second, something inside the wound glowed—a bright, unnatural green.

Then it was gone.

The green thing retracted just as quickly as it had appeared, disappearing into the green grass in front of the mansion