Last Days On Earth

Chapter 5: Changes (1)

Ye Ke’s a mechanical engineer major. Today’s the day of the English exam and the students partaking in the exam needed to head over to the English hall. Without passing the exam, one will never receive their certificate degree. Want it badly? Sorry. The school’s unwilling to hand it over without passing English.

Ye Ke thought himself a lazy cow. He’d not turned over his missing work to his English teacher. He needed to find excuses to miss the exam. And this was his excuse. Work not turned in. He could do it next time. No big deal. All he wanted was to sleep and never wake again. He’s sure there are others who thought the same as him.

His good friend, Han Song left early in the morning due to the information garnered last night.

He woke Lao Wang, Chen Zihan, and Zhou Kai, shouting to them that they needed to hurry and attend their English exam. They were late and needed to hurry. Han Song hadn’t bothered with Ye Ke. He knew fairly his friend would only fall asleep. So he sighed helplessly and went about with his life.

……

The midday sun was pouring hot and an echoing scream from the background awoke Ye Ke from his deep sleep. Though more than two years have passed since the time spent in the military, his sensitivity to the background noises hasn’t dimmed much. He’d gone to places where sounds could be heard from all four corners of the world. Bombs here, whistles there, orders here, guns ringing there. It was too much at first but over time, he’d gotten used to it.

He put on a shirt and rolled out of bed. He walked towards the balcony and leaned over. His face looked rather sluggish and eyes somewhat droopy at the moment but in the instant he saw the scene before him, his eyes widened in shock. He’d never forget what he saw. He couldn’t. It was ingrained deep within.

He saw countless students fearfully rushing out of the campus building. Their hands wailed, their faces contorted, their mouths screaming from all directions. It was chaotic.

Behind them were figures following them. The figures moved awkwardly and violently. Ye Ke saw large pieces of flesh cover their body and deep red sticking to their clothing. Then he saw one of the violent figure pounce on a female student. Its teeth gnashed on the student’s flesh, tearing her apart.

The students who saw this screamed louder and louder and moved quickly. They dared not save her nor rescue her for fear of the unknown. The students ran and quickly headed towards the dormitory building.

Then more and more figures appeared. They moved extraordinarily fast but their bodies were extremely uncoordinated. In the process, two of the figures had stumbled and lost their balance on a path which blocked their movements.

Ye Ke’s breath quickened as he looked at the chaos below him.

He felt stuffy. He didn’t feel good. He needed to vomit. Holding it in, he ran to the toilet, opened the lid, and quickly let out the food from last night. He coughed. He breathed hurriedly and cold sweat formed on his forehead.

What happened? He thought.

What he saw just now, the way they moved, what they did… it’s like one of those zombie movies.

Like many others, he too feared the unknown and what was currently unfolding.

“What the fuck are you all doing?! You can’t let anyone sleep?!”

Another male student who slept through the English exam like Ye Ke awakened from the chaos. Only wearing bottoms and without a shirt on, he leaned on the balcony and cursed disdainfully but what he saw frightened him so.

“Fuck! What the fuck?! What the fuck?! The fuck is this?! What the fuck?!”

His face paled and quickly looked away as he ran straight to the toilet and vomited painfully. He couldn’t withstand the sight. He saw bodies torn apart. He saw flesh cut open. He saw their bellies, their guts spread all over the ground. He saw people eating each other. He saw red everywhere.

Had the world gone mad?!

While in the bathroom, Ye Ke heard sounds of doors opening and closing from outside the dormitory hall. Noises clattered from all around.

The students lucky to escape earlier on rushed back to their room as fast as they could.

Ye Ke ran straight to the door and pulled it open. Ye Ke saw Wang Hao’s once proud and resolute face turn pale and somewhat twisted. His body trembled while he held a door key in hand. Thereafter, Wang Hao swiftly rushed in and slammed the door shut. He moved to the side and pushed the wardrobe closer to block the door.

Ye Ke’s eyes widened. He never knew Wang Hao could be so strong in the face of adversity.

Wang Hao body was still shaking from fear. He was about to move the second wardrobe closet till a hand grabbed his shoulder and shook Wang Hao violently.

“Hey, Old Wang! Wang Hao! Wang Hao!”

Wang Hao could feel sweat drenching his skin and the throbbing of his own eyes. He could hear the ringing screams vibrating in his ears and the thumping of his own heart beating against his chest. His fingers curled into a fist and he could feel his nails digging into his palms. And though he can’t hear his rapid breathing, he could feel the oxygen flooding in and out of his lungs ever so quickly.

Wang Hao ignored Ye Ke’s calling and attempted to continue what he set out to do.

Ye Ke looked at him and made a decision. He lunged and kneed Wang Hao’s abdomen causing him to groan and fall to the ground in fetal position. Ye Ke quickly grabbed the bed quilt, threw it on him, and swiftly ran to the balcony because he heard a loud familiar voice.

“Please! Anyone! Help! Please!”

“Open the door! Open the door for me! Please open the door! I’ll give you money! I’ll give money to anyone who will open the door for me! I’ll give you all my money!” The man pleaded helplessly as he pulled out his wallet and took out fat stacks of paper.

“Come on! Open the door! I’ll hack you to death! Open the fucking door!”