Free Web NovelChapter 5: The Price of Survival
The heavy steel bumpers of the armored SUV slammed into the ornate, wrought-iron gates of the Han estate with a deafening screech of tearing metal.
The impact jolted through the chassis, but the vehicle didn’t skip a beat. It plowed right through the wreckage, throwing two zombies who had been clinging to the bars violently into the concrete courtyard, and roared out onto the main residential avenue.
The wealthy, manicured neighborhood was completely unrecognizable.
Thick plumes of black smoke choked the morning sky as high-end sports cars and luxury sedans sat smashed into light poles and stone walls. The avenue was a chaotic gauntlet of fleeing civilians, abandoned luggage, and blood-splattered asphalt. The moment the thunderous growl of the SUV’s engine echoed down the street, heads snapped toward them.
"Stop! Please, stop!" freeweɓnovel.cøm
A man in a torn, expensive designer suit lunged from the sidewalk, waving his arms frantically. He was dragging a young girl by the hand, her eyes wide with terror. He threw himself directly into the path of the oncoming vehicle, screaming at the top of his lungs, gambling that the driver would have a conscience.
In the passenger seat, Han Ye’s body tensed. His dark eyes darted from the man to Lin Qing’s face. In his past life, his stepmother had been a bleeding heart before she panicked, always crying and paralyzed by guilt. He braced himself for her to slam on the brakes, an action that would inevitably get them swamped by the screeching horde chasing the man from the shadows.
Lin Qing didn’t even blink. Her gaze remained icy and fixed on the road ahead.
"Hold on," she said, her voice flat and completely devoid of emotion.
Instead of braking, her foot pressed firmly down on the accelerator. The engine roared louder, and the massive SUV accelerated straight toward the man.
Seeing the terrifying, matte-black grill of the military beast accelerating toward him without a hint of hesitation, the man’s face twisted in horror. At the absolute last second, he grabbed his daughter and threw himself into the roadside bushes.
The SUV blasted past them, the displaced wind tearing at their clothes.
As they sped through the intersection, another desperate civilian managed to sprint from a driveway, leaping onto the running board of the SUV and grabbing the heavy roof rack. He slammed his fist against the bulletproof glass of the driver’s window, his face pale and twisted with desperation. "Let me in! You have space! Let me in, you selfish bitch!"
Lin Qing didn’t look at him. She executed a sharp, aggressive swerve to the left, deliberately clipping the side of an abandoned delivery truck.
Crunch.
The impact was minor for the armored SUV, but it instantly smashed the man between the two vehicles. He let out a choked gasp and vanished from the side mirror, tumbling into the asphalt where three snarling infected immediately fell upon him.
Han Ye sat in silence, his small fingers gripping the seat belt. A profound, chilling realization settled into his five-year-old mind. This woman wasn’t just capable—she was ruthless. She possessed the cold, calculating mindset of a battlefield commander. She didn’t see people; she saw variables and liabilities.
He liked it. It was the first time since his reincarnation that he felt a genuine sliver of safety.
Lin Qing glanced at the dashboard, her eyes scanning the digital cluster. Her satisfaction was instantly cut short. A bright amber light was flashing next to the fuel gauge, accompanied by a soft, persistent chime.
Fuel Level: 8%.
"Damn it," Lin Qing muttered, tapping the steering wheel. "Your dad kept this thing ready for war, but he forgot to fill the tank."
"The garage has an underground reservoir, but it requires a manual pump," Han Ye said, his voice still slightly raspy as he wiped away a fresh smudge of dried blood from his upper lip. The strain of using his awakened power was still taking a toll on his tiny body. "We didn’t have time."
"We won’t make it out of the city limits, let alone to the northern suburbs on fumes," Lin Qing said, her mind quickly mapping out the route. "We need a petrol station. Now, before the grid completely locks up."
She navigated the heavy vehicle through the worsening gridlock, taking side streets and driving over curbs to bypass the clogged main intersections. Ten minutes later, she spotted the familiar illuminated sign of a highway petrol station on the edge of the residential district.
The station looked eerily desolate. Three cars sat abandoned near the pumps, their doors wide open, one of them still dripping oil onto the concrete. The convenience store’s glass storefront was entirely smashed, candy wrappers and broken bottles littering the tarmac.
Lin Qing pulled the SUV up to the furthest pump, keeping the engine running.
"Listen to me," Lin Qing said, turning to Han Ye. She reached into her waistband, checked the safety on the pistol, and handed it back to him. The boy took it with practiced ease. "Keep the doors locked. If anything happens, you shoot. I’m going to fill the tank. I’ll be as fast as I can."
Han Ye held the heavy gun in his small lap, his eyes scanning the perimeter with intense focus. "Don’t take too long. The noise of the car will draw them."
Lin Qing slipped out of the driver’s seat, keeping her body low against the frame of the SUV. The air smelled strongly of copper, smoke, and spilled gasoline.
She grabbed the heavy nozzle from the pump, swiped Han Zheng’s military override card through the reader—thankfully, the station still had automated power—and jammed the nozzle into the SUV’s fuel tank, locking the trigger.
The digital display began to tick upward, agonizingly slow.
0.5 Gallons... 1.0 Gallons...
Lin Qing kept her back to the vehicle, her eyes scanning the dark, ruined interior of the convenience store. Her intuition was screaming at her. The silence was too heavy.
She wasn’t wrong.
From the shadows of the broken storefront, two figures stumbled out. They were gas station employees, their blue uniforms shredded and soaked in dark, viscous fluid. Their jaws hung open at unnatural angles, wet clicks emanating from their throats as their milky white eyes locked onto Lin Qing’s living warmth. They began to shuffle forward, their movements accelerating into a frenzied, limping sprint.
Lin Qing reached for her waistband, only to realize she had left the pistol with Han Ye. She cursed silently, her eyes darting around for a weapon—a metal pipe, a screwdriver, anything.
At the exact same moment, she didn’t hear the silent shadow creeping up from the opposite side of the pump.
It wasn’t a zombie. It was a living, uninfected man—a desperate truck driver who had been hiding in the service bay.
Seeing a lone woman operating a massive, luxury armored SUV, a primal, ugly greed had overtaken his fear. He didn’t want to ask for a ride; he wanted the vehicle for himself. He raised a heavy, rusted iron tire iron, sneaking up behind Lin Qing’s blind spot, his eyes wide with frantic, murderous intent.
He lunged, swinging the heavy iron bar straight toward the back of Lin Qing’s skull.
Right at that split second, the old, poorly maintained automated fuel pump gave a violent, mechanical glitch. The high-pressure internal valve failed, causing the pressurized nozzle inside the SUV’s tank to violently kick backward.
The heavy metal nozzle snapped out of the car like a whipped snake.
*SPLASH!*
A violent, high-pressure jet of raw, flammable gasoline sprayed directly into the lunging truck driver’s face. The fuel blasted straight into his wide, frantic eyes and open mouth.
"AHHHGH! MY EYES! IT BURNS!"
The man dropped the tire iron, instantly clapping his hands to his face as the fuel blinded him and scorched his throat. He shrieked in absolute agony, stumbling backward blindly, his heavy boots tripping over his own feet.
His loud, agonizing screams acted like a flare in the dark.
The two oncoming zombies, who had been focused on Lin Qing, instantly shifted their trajectory toward the louder, more frantic source of noise. They lunged at the blinded truck driver, their heavy bodies slamming him to the concrete. The man’s screams turned from pain into raw, unadulterated terror as their teeth tore into his neck.
Lin Qing stood there, the nozzle still sputtering in her hand, completely dumbfounded.
She looked at the tire iron on the floor, then at the man being ripped apart three feet away, and then at the broken pump handle. She hadn’t even known the man was behind her. If the pump hadn’t malfunctioned at that exact microsecond, her skull would have been fractured.
’What the hell is this luck?’ she thought, a chill running down her spine. It was as if the universe itself was bending its rules to keep her breathing.
She didn’t waste time thanking her lucky stars. She jammed the sputtering nozzle back into the car, letting it pump for another five seconds until the gauge hit just above half a tank—enough to get them out of the city.
Pulling the nozzle out, she slammed the fuel cap shut and vaulted back into the driver’s seat, slamming the door lock button.
Han Ye was looking out the window, his eyes wide as he watched the zombies tearing into the truck driver. He looked at Lin Qing, his voice trembling slightly with a mixture of awe and suspicion. "You... you knew he was there?"
"Of course I did," Lin Qing lied flawlessly, throwing the SUV into drive and stomping on the gas pedal. "Always watch your flanks, kid."
The heavy SUV peeled out of the petrol station, leaving the horrific scene behind as they accelerated onto the open, crumbling highway toward the northern mountains.
