The car remained still.
The only sounds were from rogue zombies growling at the speeding van.
Shae Harris, seemingly satisfied after chattering for so long, chose to wave at each zombie passing by.
Ming Jun ignored her and began to read a manga about a zombie apocalypse.
Luckily, he had bought a new one a day before the apocalypse.
The two people sitting behind them sat away from the window, trying not to look at any zombie.
They eventually sat shoulder to shoulder in the middle of both seats.
Yi Zheng focused on dodging the zombies trying to slam into the van.
He narrowed his eyes, feeling that something was wrong.
The zombies seemed more sensitive than usual—it felt like they were practically waiting for him to arrive.
He glanced at the rearview mirror and saw the zombies still chasing after him.
There were signs of them forming a new horde.
He began to suspect that the zombies might actually be attracted to these kids.
Because it certainly feels like the zombies are obsessed with them.
Yi Zheng considered whether he should dump the van and make a dash alone to a nearby building and lock the door.
As for these kids—well, their survival depended on themselves.
Suddenly, he saw a zombie bolt out of a street.
Its leg muscles were large, and it was sprinting.
Soon, it managed to reduce the distance between itself and the van.
Just as its hand reached out to punch the van—
Someone else dashed past and slammed a metal baton into the zombie.
The zombie staggered back.
Then, a whole group of people appeared from nowhere and started to fight the zombies.
Yi Zheng glanced at the twenty people desperately fighting the horde and continued driving.
He didn't care to understand why they saved him—because he already had a guess who they were.
"Woah, those guys are brave and amazing," Shae Harris stuck her head out the window, trying to watch them fight.
"Who are they?" Ming Jun wondered.
Meanwhile, Wei Zhi and Mori Aoi were trying to calm down after the fright they just experienced.
In fact, Wei Zhi had almost jumped out of the window when he saw the mutant zombie about to touch the van.
Luckily, they were saved in time.
"You haven't heard of those damn fanatics?" Yi Zheng asked, surprised.
His eyes, though, were still focused on the road.
But this time, he was driving slower because there was random stuff blocking the road.
Probably causes by the group still entangled with the zombies.
"There are cults in the end times too?" Ming Jun asked, incredulous.
"Cult or not, they're really strong—and they saved us," Shae Harris said.
"That's because they're crazy bastards with a very serious mental problem," Yi Zheng said, thoroughly disgusted.
"And they also made sure to slow us down," he added, having the urge to go back and drive them over.
Damn fanatics.
"Isn't it too early for them to be so organized?" Ming Jun asked.
He felt that a day after the apocalypse wasn't enough time for them to already be so organized—to block roads and still have time to save people.
"I don't think one month into the apocalypse can be considered early," Yi Zheng said, one eyebrow raised.
The five of them became stunned at that information.
They remembered "dying" during the first day of the apocalypse.
And then they woke up, so they thought only a few hours had passed.
They couldn't have expected a whole month to pass.
No wonder the building they woke up in was thoroughly cleaned out.
Most places probably were.
They didn't know how to feel about that—but they accepted it in the end.
There's nothing they could do about it. Besides, it's not like there's anyone who would miss them.
"Tsk. Unfortunately, those fanatics are done fighting," Yi Zheng muttered as he stopped the van.
There was really no point in trying to get away.
These fanatics were like glue.
They would stick to you until you agreed to do what they wanted.
The group of twenty people had a few light injuries, but they were mostly okay.
They hurriedly walked to the van with cheerful smiles on their faces.
The five studied them curiously—but they couldn't find anything obviously wrong.
"Friend, that was dangerous," the leader came up to Yi Zheng at the driver's seat and said.
The rest of the group gathered around the van, smiling at the others.
"Luckily, we were on our way here to search for survivors."
"It must be our lucky day because we found you guys."
"Now we'll be happy to escort you to the base."
"Why don't you just follow us?" the leader said amicably.
"What if I don't want to go to your base?" Yi Zheng replied.
He had heard a lot of whispers about this group of fanatics.
But this was the first time actually meeting them.
"Impossible."
"The point of a human being is to find a group to exist with.
They say humans are social animals who have a basic need for human interaction,
and it's our duty, responsibility, and purpose to ensure that every human gets to experience this," the leader said, his tone fervent.
"That's right. The apocalypse is no place for a human to survive on his own," another voice spoke up.
"You haven't experienced the joy of communal living yet, so that's why you're ignorant enough to say something like that," another voice chimed in.
"But don't worry. We, the Guides, are here to show you the error of your ways and lead you to your rightful place," another added.
"My fellow humans, it's only zombies who live on their own—and that's because their intelligence has been reduced to that of an animal," someone else spoke.
"And as everyone knows, zombies are the enemy of humanity," the leader declared while displaying the pistol in his possession.
It was an ordinary pistol, but it had bullets.
Yi Zheng narrowed his eyes.
The rumors were true.
These guys were crazy fanatics obsessed with sending people to bases.
They called themselves the Guide—wanderers who traveled around the world looking for lone survivors.
A noise, particularly loud, caught the fanatics' attention.
It was the rumbling sound from their stomachs.
The five of them hadn't eaten the first day of the apocalypse, and they'd been asleep for a month.
So the last time they ate was a month ago.
The fanatics latched onto that fact.
"You poor kids…"
"You guys must have been lonely survivors for so long that you starved yourselves."
"What kind of human would we be if we didn't make sure to send you to a base?"
"They have warm food that'll make sure you're stuffed till you want to explode."
"As a woman, I don't think I can leave you kids out here alone after hearing such a loud cry for help."
"Yes, yes, you must follow us to a base."
"Don't worry about anything and just leave it to us."
"It must be fate that we were investigating this area just so we could meet you."
"Here, have the food I brought for the journey."
"Here's some water too."
"And I have candies in my pocket."
"Now eat well."
The voices came from different people in different directions.
They offered words with each breath, and now they searched themselves to offer food.
They stuffed it into the car and kept their eyes focused on the five of them.
The five didn't know why…
But they could feel a sense of wrongness about these fanatics.
And this feeling was even worse than Yi Zheng's instincts.
They didn't like anything about them—even though their words were pleasing to the ear.
In fact, without that feeling, they seemed quite nice.
But alas, the only thing the five thought they were was… disgusting.
Yes. That's the word.
They found everything about them repulsive.
So they naturally tried to reject the food they were given.
But the eyes of the fanatics made them tremble.
It felt like they were going to attack if they refused.
So they had to swallow their disgust and take a bite of the food they were given.
"How is it?" the leader asked kindly.
"Okay…" Shae Harris was the only one who managed to squeeze out a few words.
"I have a feeling that you kids are very interesting," the leader said, eyeing them.
The five of them shivered.
They thought that statement sounded a bit… perverted.
"You don't have to worry about hunger ever again. After all, the base will feed you," the leader smiled with encouragement.
"We should head out if you don't want to miss lunchtime," he added, indicating it was time to go.
Yi Zheng glanced at the crazy people and agreed.
"Is it really okay to follow them?" Shae Harris whispered into his ear.
"Don't worry. They do actually lead people to a base.
"It's just that they're completely insane, so people don't like them.
"But it's also pretty safe to follow them—because they're the only ones crazy enough to put their lives on the line for strangers," Yi Zheng said, not caring if they heard him.
As expected, they just smiled and shook their heads in exasperation.
As if they were just misunderstood, and it was some silly rumor.
"Lead the way," Yi Zheng said to the leader.
He nodded, and the group started walking.
They gathered around all sides of the van and killed any stray zombie they came across.
They made sure that no zombie got close to the van.
Soon, they reached a point where the base was visible.
It was a school building, and some teams could be seen entering and exiting the school gate—
The gate guarded by men holding guns.
"We want to park our van outside the base," Yi Zheng said.
"Of course. We're not forcing you into any decision you make," the leader replied.
Only the decision to come here, Yi Zheng thought, rolling his eyes.
"Alone," Yi Zheng added.
"Just don't forget to go to the base after you're done," the leader said.
He walked to the school gate, followed by the other members—
But they still stood there with their eyes focused on the van.
Yi Zheng smiled at them and turned the van into another street.
The area around the school base was clear of zombies, so he freely found a place to park.
"Those people are scary…" Wei Zhi said once the car stopped.
"Unfortunately, we don't have much of a choice.
"They'll come looking for us if we try to run away—and they wouldn't use words to bring us back here next time," Yi Zheng said, stepping out of the van.
He hadn't realized that they meant the group caused a sense of fear in them.
He thought they meant the group was scary because they were so crazy.
But he was right, though, in saying they had no choice.
And they understood that much better than he did
So the five of them finally got out of the van.
But they carried all the food they were given and threw it far away.
They didn't want anything touched by them.
Yi Zheng walked swiftly to the school gate while the others tried to keep up with his pace, following behind.
They happened to meet the Guide on their way to look for them.
Upon seeing that they hadn't run, the leader nodded at them and headed in another direction—
Probably on another journey to look for survivors.
Yi Zheng glanced at the base, which seemed well organized, and walked to the school gate.
Well, the place didn't look that bad on the surface, he thought.