5 Chaotic streets

And at this moment, an urgent news broadcast came on the TV in the airport lobby. "Hello, everyone. We have an urgent news update.

Approximately an hour ago, a special infectious virus began spreading on Earth. This virus has an extremely high outbreak rate, with nearly a hundred percent chance of infection."

"Once infected by this virus, people turn into mindless creatures without pain or death. According to the latest official investigation, this virus has already started spreading throughout the entire human continent..."

"Now, let our military expert, Conrad, address you all: Based on the latest official reports, the disaster caused by this new virus is global. It is a common enemy for all of humanity.

The zombies and those bitten by them must be kept far away or strictly controlled. They will unconditionally attack anyone around them. Please exercise extreme caution."

"Please rest assured that this virus is a global disaster for humanity, but there is no need to panic. Stay at home, secure your doors and windows, avoid making noise, and prevent attacks. The country will do its best to resolve the disaster and rescue everyone..."

At this moment, the people in the airport lobby watched the news report on the wall-mounted TV in silence. Some were filled with fear, while others shed tears.

Angelica calmly observed everything and dialed her brother's number on her phone, but it was busy. It had already been an hour since the apocalypse began, and she was deeply concerned about Derick's well-being.

Helplessly, Angelica tried to contact several friends abroad whom she had met during academic exchanges in the United States. Fortunately, one call connected quickly, but out of three calls, only one person answered. The rest resulted in a busy signal.

The person who answered seemed extremely panicked, as if still on the run. They spoke hurriedly for a few moments before hanging up. However, based on the information Angelica obtained, she learned that the zombie virus had indeed erupted simultaneously worldwide, just as reported on TV.

This indicated that the disaster would not be resolved quickly. The rescue forces from the government were unlikely to arrive promptly, and even maintaining the functionality of government institutions was questionable.

There was no military district in Grizzly City, and the nearest one was located in the surrounding county several dozen kilometers away.

At least half of the global population had been infected by the zombie virus, with a higher prevalence among the elderly and children. Surprisingly, adults seemed to be infected less frequently, perhaps due to their stronger physical condition.

Larry's face turned grim. Whether it was due to the news on the television or the casualties caused by killing the zombies earlier, he decided to temporarily relocate the surrounding crowd to the cafeteria on the third floor.

There, they would have access to food, water, and barricades to ward off zombie attacks.

Angelica followed the crowd into the cafeteria, leaving Larry and a few other security personnel outside to keep watch. Larry looked down through the staircase on the third floor, where dozens of zombies were aimlessly wandering on the second floor.

Fortunately, they hadn't come close to the staircase yet, or else their scent might have attracted them.

According to the news, zombies had highly sensitive hearing and smell. They could sense the presence of living beings within a range of at least forty to fifty meters. Once detected, a horde of zombies would swarm towards them.

Carefully observing the area, the two lower floors of the airport were eerily quiet, except for the sounds of zombies moving and unintentionally colliding with objects. Larry wondered if everyone else had been killed or managed to escape the airport lobby.

Looking through the floor-to-ceiling windows on the third floor, he could only see the runways outside, engulfed in flames. Multiple plane crashes had caused complete devastation. "If only I still had my gun," Larry expressed his helplessness.

Unfortunately, he had given his firearm to a comrade on duty on the ground floor, and apart from a few gunshots he heard during the initial zombie attack, there had been complete silence afterward.

Worrying about his comrades on one hand and contemplating the future on the other, Larry was deep in thought.

Inside the airport cafeteria on the third floor, Angelica repeatedly dialed phone numbers, but they were all busy, including those of the dozens of survivors around her. It was rare to find a working line to make an outbound call.

On the other side, Derick found himself in trouble. He had already traversed several streets, but on one road leading to the airport, it was densely packed with zombies.

There were easily over a hundred of them, and judging by the atmosphere, it seemed that there had been an open-air concert in this area before, which attracted a large crowd.

However, this road was the closest route to the airport. If he took a detour, he would have to walk an additional hour. Derick didn't want to delay even for a moment. He feared that if he arrived late and something happened to his sister, he would regret it for the rest of his life.

Hiding inside a nearby shop, Derick took a few sips of water and anxiously looked at the horde of zombies a hundred meters away. He tried calling his sister several times but received no response.

Meanwhile, the online news was exploding. The servers of major social media platforms couldn't handle the load, and many people couldn't log in. However, they could still access news updates.

Derick briefly checked the messages and indeed found that the zombie virus had erupted globally. However, he couldn't comprehend why the previous world he lived in hadn't experienced a zombie outbreak.

Was it because parallel worlds had some differences?

Nevertheless, he discovered a few important pieces of information. Zombies relied on sound and scent to detect living humans. With this knowledge, it was not entirely impossible to lure these zombies away.

Derick knew that even though he was agile, he wouldn't dare to take the risk of challenging the horde of zombies.

Typically, his limit was dealing with five zombies simultaneously, and he had to be constantly vigilant not to be caught or bitten by them.

Derick had witnessed the fate of those infected by the zombie virus, and he didn't want to become one of those mindless creatures.

Suddenly, through a gap outside the shop, Derick spotted two men on the opposite side of the road sneaking towards the middle of the street, being extremely cautious not to alert the zombies.

Derick became intrigued. These two men couldn't possibly be seeking death. Following their path, he noticed a police officer lying motionless next to a red car in the middle of the street, wearing a police uniform that identified his profession.

"Could this police officer have weapons?" Derick's interest was piqued.

In such chaotic times, a gun was definitely a valuable asset. Derick started contemplating his options...