Chapter 2 - Heartless, Jerk, Bastard
Chapter 2 – Heartless, Jerk, Bastard
“It’s true! I made the first move; it was my own doing! I’m just a fool, an idiot, alright?” Lin Yaoyao exclaimed in frustration, rising to her feet with teary eyes. She angrily stomped towards her room, slammed the door shut with a loud thud.
Once inside her room, she collapsed onto the bed, her eyes moist but no tears escaping. She regretted her impulsive actions deeply. Why did she let herself get carried away like that? Lin Yaoyao angrily struck the pillow with her fist, as if she were striking Ling Tian’s nose.
She turned her head and gazed at the door, wondering if Ling Tian would come in to apologize, hold her, and offer soothing words, promising to be responsible in the future. But none of it happened. All her fantasies remained unfulfilled.
“Heartless, heartless, jerk, bastard! Rot in hell! Ahhh …” After venting her frustration on the pillow, Lin Yaoyao had no choice but to bear it all by herself.
She swore to never have anything to do with Ling Tian, that jerk. He was icy, wasn’t he? She would make sure to be even colder in the future and make him experience what it felt like to be ignored by someone.
With a heart filled with regret and disappointment, Lin Yaoyao lay in bed for a long time before drifting off into a fitful sleep. During her slumber, she had a recurring dream, one she had experienced more than once.
In this dream, she saw familiar apocalyptic scenes. Under a blood-red, hazy moon, unkillable zombies swarmed the world. Dimly lit skyscrapers filled with smoke and chaos. The sound of zombies feasting on flesh echoed everywhere, and it felt so vivid and real.
This time, the dream was precise down to the time and location. Each scene from her dreams corresponded to real-world places, and the time was clearly set on New Year’s Day, January 1st.
She woke from this nightmare, a dim light shone through the curtains. It was dark and silent. They surreal vision in her dreams terrified her. She quickly picked up her phone and turned on the screen. The phone’s light illuminated her panic-stricken face. She glanced at the screen. It was September 8th, nearly midnight at 11:55.
“It’s this dream again!” She turned on the bedside lamp and rubbed her head vigorously, attempting to erase the vivid dream images from her mind.
Some people tend to forget what they dream about after they wake up, but not Lin Yaoyao. She could remember every minute detail of her dreams as if they had happened in reality, every subtle image vividly etched in her memory.
It was not her first time having this strange dream. Previously, the dream had been vague, like incomplete fragments pieced together. But this time, it was detailed down to the minute and even had a specific date, much like a complete and vivid movie.
The rotten faces of zombies … the broken limbs and scattered internal organs … Everything drenched and dripping blood was all too real!
“Why do I keep dreaming of a zombie outbreak? And worse, zombies that can’t be killed?” She rubbed her head, attempting to clear her mind of the dream’s images, and calm her suddenly racing heart.
Just as her heartbeat had begun to steady, her pupils suddenly contracted. There were strange noises coming from the living room outside. These sounds were identical to the ones in her dream – the eerie sounds of chewing, as if something was being devoured.
Lin Yaoyao’s heart, which had just calmed down, started to race once more.
Thump! Thump!
Her gaze fixed on the direction of the door, hair all over her body standing on end. Because in her nightmare, there were scenes just like what might unfold next: strange, grotesque chewing noises, and herself being attacked by zombies. Everything in her dream seemed like it was about to happen.
Lin Yaoyao locked onto the door, with one hand silently reaching for the bedside table, where she retrieved a dagger. She was an intern police officer, and her father had told her to always have something on hand, even if it couldn’t be a gun, it should be something. This dagger was given to her by her father.
She gripped the dagger slowly, and with her other hand, reached for her slippers. Silently and carefully, she started moving towards the door. She made no sound. She was on high alert, her breathing almost suspended.
In the pitch-black night, she could hear only her own pounding heartbeat, and the eerie chewing noises from outside. One hand gripped the dagger in a reverse grip, while the other moved silently, opening the door.
Even the creaking sound of the door was minimized. After opening it, she cautiously peered into the living room. It felt like, at any moment, the pitch-black darkness might reveal a horrifying scene of zombies feasting on flesh, just like in her dream.