Apocalypse Cockroach

Editor: DT

Zhang Xiao Qiang didn’t sleep well last night. Ever since the 2 big dogs woke him up, he had become insecure when sleeping, making his sleep very light. Just a breeze swaying the grass would wake him up and make him start patrolling the surrounding area with his spear. After making sure that nothing was out of the ordinary he would add more wood to the fire and continue sleeping.

Its not that he didn’t want to wake up Yang Ke Er to keep watch, but seeing her curled up by the campfire, wrapped in blankets and sleeping tight, Zhang Xiao Qiang shook his head. Getting her to keep watch would basically be the same as not having anyone keep watch. Just like this Zhang Xiao Qiang kept tossing about until daybreak, and after waking up Yang Ke Er he decided to take a nap.

The fire continued to burn, boiling the water in the lunchboxes, waiting to use the boiling water to make tea. In the absence of vegetables, the only replacement was tea.

“Uncle!” Yang Ke Er called out weakly from the side.

“What????” Zhang Xiao Qiang said not looking up from the flames.

“Can I go wash myself???”

“The creek doesn’t have a lid, go wash yourself!” Zhang Xiao Qiang muffled in reply.

“There are dirty things in the water!” Yang Ke Er’s voice was getting louder.

“???????” Zhang Xiao Qiang looked at her with questioning eyes.

“Yesterday, my husband and I drove out of the city....” Yang Ke Er started telling her story again.

Yesterday, as they drove out of the city, there was a survivor in a residential building. That survivor was trapped upstairs and asked them for help, and her boyfriend said that the zombies downstairs made it impossible to pass. The survivor then motioned for them to drive the truck to the back.

Behind the building was a lawn, and because the surrounding suburbs had not be developed, normally there wouldn’t be many people there, and so naturally there wouldn’t be many zombies either. After they stopped behind the building, the survivor escaped from the roof using the PVC drain pipe, climbing down and going out of the city with them.

The survivor was a middle aged man over 40 years old, he was also a believer in the 2012 doomsday, so he relied on the food that he stored in his house to survive till now. Unfortunately while he had food he didn’t have enough water. It seemed like he was about to die of dehydration before he met them.

They didn’t get a chance to find a bottle of water on the road, but she and her boyfriend did keep a few bottles of soft drink. However people are selfish. Her boyfriend said that they didn’t have any water, and that they were going to think of something after leaving the city.

That man after seeing a pool of water by the road couldn’t take it anymore. He got out of the car and drank as much as he could. After getting back into a car for 10 minutes, the middle ages man felt like throwing up, so he threw up out the window of the car.

After throwing up again and again! That man became a zombie.

“There’s definitely something wrong with the water!! It was so scary. Before he turned into the monster he was just sitting behind me. Now that I think of it, I feel scared!” she said sounding like she had more to say and patting her chest.

That unlucky kid must have drank a large amount of rain water. Zhang Xiao Qiang only had a few drops splashed into his mouth before he went through a large amount of suffering, while that guy drank till he was full. If he didn’t become a zombie it wouldn’t be fair.

“As long as you don’t drink any, nothing will happen!” Zhang Xiao Qiang taught her through experience, thinking about the time he was completely drenched in rainwater but was completely fine!

She looked down at her legs, not making a sound, silently protesting at Zhang Xiao Qiang.

“Look” Zhang Xiao Qiang said as he went passed her, walked to the creek and started to wash his hands. The stream was cool in the early morning, chilling his hands stiff. A few months without the humans polluting it, the water was clear and bright without the slightest impurity.

Zhang Xiao Qiang stood up and flung the water on his hands, some of it hit the fire causing it to roar. Yang Ke Er who was watching him took a few steps back. Feeling unsafe she took a few more steps back. She kept going until she felt safe before stopping to observe him.

Seeing her intently observing his actions, made him uncomfortable. “Not thick skinned enough!” Zhang Xiao Qiang said in self-contempt. He couldn’t even stand a little girl’s gaze.

5 minutes... 10 minutes... half an hour... After 1 hour she was still staring at him. “Are you done???” Zhang Xiao Qiang grew weary.

Yang Ke Er at this time then hesitatingly headed towards him, taking 3 steps forward and 1 step back before standing 5m away and no longer wanting to get any closer: “You really haven’t become a monster?” she asked in a sceptical tone.

“Do monsters talk to people about ideas? Or teach you how to wash??” Zhang Xiao Qiang said impatiently.

“Oh!” Yang Ke Er relaxed, and walked by the stream. Turning her head at Zhang Xiao Qiang she said: “Can you turn away?”

“You can wash yourself somewhere where I cant see you!!” Zhang Xiao Qiang responded unyieldingly.

“If I can’t see you I’ll be scared of the monsters!!” Yang Ke Er pulled an unfair card. Zhang Xiao Qiang turned around.

After ten or so minutes had passed, Zhang Xiao Qiang once again looked over at her. He was not some sort of righteous gentleman, and so naturally would not give up on an opportunity to take advantage of the situation. Yang Ke(r) had stripped down to her underwear. She seemed to notice something, and slightly turned her body.

When she turned away, there was naturally nothing to see, so he put on the behaviour of a gentleman.

Zhang Xiao Qiang started to sneak a peek again, the early spring coolness had not yet passed. Yang Ke Er rubbed her arm, and her little calf was gently shivering. Her desire to be clean overwhelmed her fear of the cold. Yang Ke Er took off her bra, and Zhang Xiao Qiang’s eyes moved up.

“What? Those fried eggs were pushed up by the bra? What are they then? Fried quail eggs?” Zhang Xiao Qiang felt cheated. PASS.

His eyes moved towards her hips. She was wearing cute sky blue underwear with crayons printed on them. The cute underwear was supposed to be tight fitting, but they were a little loose on her, had he not seen her delicate white thighs, Zhang Xiao Qiang would have thought those were a zombie’s butt. Nothing in that department either. PASS.

Finally he hopefully glanced at her waist, “Where is her waist?” Her upper body and lower body were of the same thickness, nothing there either. PASS.

Zhang Xiao Qiang felt lost, he tried so hard to find something but found nothing. No chest, no waist, and no hips.

Not long after she finished washing, wearing only long johns, she began washing her clothes in the stream. He watched as the water turned from brightly clear to muddy black. Zhang Xiao Qiang sighed, “How dirty was she!!”

After washing her clothes she gathered them around the fire to dry them. Zhang Xiao Qiang was cooking a meal, calculating how much he needed to make for an extra person. Right now they can only have 2 meals a day, Yang Ke Er would ignore any opinions that Zhang Xiao Qiang might have.

Yang Ke Er held onto the lunchbox and ate. Zhang Xiao Qiang was also holding the lid of the lunchbox while eating fragrant glutinous thai rice accompanied with chilli sauce and sweet beef sauce mix.

Yang Ke Er took a few bites “Wow...” and threw up acidic water onto the ground.

She isn’t infected is she? “Whats wrong?” Zhang Xiao Qiang carefully took a step back as he asked the question.

She looked at him pitifully, “I might be pregnant!!” “Huff...” Zhang Xiao Qiang let out a breath of air. As long as she’s not infected it’s fine.

“If you’re pregnant then you’re pregnant. Just give birth!” Zhang Xiao Qiang said without care.

“I don’t want to be a mother so early, Im only 14! Boohoo...” she started crying.

“Badang!” The lid in Zhang Xiao Qiang’s hands fell onto the ground. He was a little dizzy. He had thought all this time that she was 17-18 years old, since her height and appearance seemed that way!

“What can I do as a 14 year old? Catch loaches, hang frogs, not do homework, draw transformers on textbooks!” The most intimate contact that Zhang Xiao Qiang had with a girl at that age were, drawing a turtle on the back of a girl’s seat, he tore her textbook, and she gave him a slap!

Zhang Xiao Qiang once again thought about how that slap felt, Zhang Xiao Qiang stroked his cheek as he looked at her crying loudly.

Is this world changing too quickly, or I just don’t understand it?

“You’re already messing with love at such a young age?” Zhang Xiao Qiang carefully asked.

“My whole class does it! A girl that can’t find a husband would be laughed at, and boys that can’t find a wife are known to be incompetent! Booohooo...” she said as she was crying.

Zhang Xiao Qiang was once again speechless. He claimed to be a new era recluse, but now he realised he couldn’t even keep up with the times!?

“Why did you do stuff like this so early? This isn’t good for your body.” Zhang Xiao Qiang guiltily said to her, fearing that she would find him old-fashioned.

“I didn’t want to either, but in the container, other than making love what else was there to do!!!” she said to him confidently.

Zhang Xiao Qiang was completely silent.