Apocalypse Ground Zero: Refusing To Leave Home

Every head pointed toward the basements as the marked people beneath us screamed, and the zombies that were trying to kill us answered by moving faster.

Gu Han’s people ran through the street with no idea where they were supposed to go. Which stood to reason considering that they needed colored cloths to know which places were theirs.

I watched as some tried to reach the largest house while others pulled children out of doorways and headed toward the southern road.

The armed men on the rooftops were firing into the crowd.

Which was stupid because that only made the zombies look up.

"Idiots," I muttered, really not impressed.

Chenghai put me down behind the SUV, but his hand remained around my waist until I proved without a shadow of a doubt that both legs were willing to hold me.

Gu Han stood near the center of the street, shouting orders at people who had stopped listening the moment the zombies showed up.

In case you were wondering, this was my definition of ’too stupid to live’.

But not my circus, not my monkeys.

"Use the southern route!" he yelled. "Get the vehicles moving!"

Garage doors opened along the far side of the cul-de-sac.

Three reinforced trucks rolled out one after another. Their engines were already running, and the backs were packed with crates, fuel cans, water containers, and everything else Gu Han had decided was too important to leave behind.

There wasn’t room for the people in the houses.

Then again, there probably wasn’t supposed to be.

The first truck turned toward the southern barricade before Yuche stepped into the road and closed his hand.

The entire barricade folded inward. Cars, steel beams, fencing, and broken gates twisted together until the route became one solid wall of metal.

The truck slammed on its brakes as the second driver tried to reverse.

Lingyun leaned out through the broken kitchen window and sent a narrow line of fire beneath the vehicle. The engine caught fire with a sharp crack. Smoke filled the cabin of the vehicle, and the driver threw himself through the door before the front exploded.

Lingyun disappeared behind the wall again immediately afterward.

At least he had listened to part of the instruction.

The third truck drove straight through a wooden fence and headed behind the houses.

Zhenlan raised one hand.

Wind struck the side of the truck hard enough to lift two wheels off the ground. It rolled once, hit a tree, and stopped upside down with the tires spinning.

Gu Han stared at it.

The escape he had spent days preparing had lasted less than a minute.

Ah... karma was a bitch.

Another wave of zombies hit the northern barricade. The metal bent beneath the weight, and bodies began pushing through gaps between the cars.

My scar burned every time the marked people moved, but I tried to ignore it.

The threads didn’t feel like separate lines anymore. They had twisted together beneath the street, pulling the dead toward the cul-de-sac while something much farther away tested the other end.

Gu Han looked at me. "Stop it," he growled through gritted teeth.

I thought I had heard him wrong.

He walked closer, stepping around a body one of his guards had left in the road. "You opened the connection. Close it."

Of course.

He chained people beneath houses, moved them around like tracking devices, and left the dead close enough to hit the barricades within minutes. But somehow, all this shit was still my fault inside his head.

"I didn’t bring them here," I pointed out, looking at him like he was stupid. Because... and I’m sure I would shock some people... I found him really... really... stupid.

"You activated the subjects," he hissed back.

"The subjects have names, asshole."

His face tightened. "This isn’t the time for that."

I almost laughed.

People were screaming around us. Zombies were climbing over his walls. His vehicles were burning, crushed, or upside down.

And apparently, basic human decency had an inconvenient schedule.

Gu Han turned toward Chenghai instead. "Make her close it."

Chenghai stared at him and I really wanted to laugh out loud. He was looking at Gu Han like I was. Of course, he didn’t bother to answer the man, but he didn’t need to. His hand stayed at my back while his other closed into a fist.

Gu Han looked toward Zhenlan. "You understand what happens if she leaves it open."

Zhenlan walked closer until lightning crawled across the wet road between them.

"What happens," he said, "is your plan finishes killing your people."

Gu Han stepped back like we were the villains in his story.

The roots beneath the nearest houses tore through the pavement.

Two hidden basement entrances ripped open in the middle of the street, dragging metal doors, broken concrete, and lengths of chain into daylight. The people inside cried out as rain and smoke reached them.

The zombies changed direction immediately and every head turned toward the openings.

Gu Han watched the dead move.

Then he looked toward the largest house behind him.

His hand slipped beneath his jacket.

Yuche ripped the hidden gun away before he could draw it. The weapon flew across the street, twisted around Gu Han’s wrist, and tightened until the bones shifted beneath the skin.

Gu Han screamed in pain, almost calling to Lingyun, who appeared briefly at the kitchen window. "Now he has his own restraint."

Then he ducked back before Yuche had to remind him again.

Gu Han pulled uselessly against the metal wrapped around his arm. None of his men came to help him. The ones still alive were trying to reach their families, find another exit, or get inside a building before the road disappeared beneath the dead.

He looked around at the people he had planned to abandon.

Then he ran.

He didn’t head toward the barricades or the overturned truck. He sprinted for the largest house, dragging the twisted gun against his wrist while my roots followed beneath the road.

Gu Han reached the steps and threw himself through the front door, looking for a place to hide.

A second later, something slammed into the basement beneath him.

The impact shook every window in the house.

Dust burst from the foundation, and one of the marked people below started screaming my name.

I looked down at the roots spreading beneath my feet.

Whatever had moved through the tunnel was much too big to be human.

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