Chapter 460 - 72 - Attacked again

They had been walking for another hour when Liang Wei suddenly stopped.

Chen nearly walked into him.

"What?"

Liang Wei didn't answer immediately. His head tilted slightly as he listened, his good hand lifting as if asking them to stay quiet. Chen's expression changed at once. He released Skyy's hand and brought the rifle up. Skyy noticed the difference immediately — the warmth from a moment ago disappeared, replaced by the familiar alertness Chen always carried whenever something felt wrong. He tightened both hands around his metal pipe and moved closer behind him without being told.

For several seconds, nothing happened.

The forest was strangely quiet. No birds. No insects. Even the leaves above them barely moved. Chen's brows crunched together.

"Liang Wei."

"I heard something."

"Where?"

"I don't know."

Chen's jaw tightened. Very useful.

He slowly scanned the trees ahead. The forest was thick here, filled with tall trunks and tangled bushes that made it difficult to see more than twenty or thirty meters in any direction.

Then something cracked to their left.

Chen spun.

A tree moved.

Not the branches — the entire tree. Its trunk suddenly bent sideways with a horrible splintering sound before something slammed into it from the other side. Wood cracked apart, and the upper half of the tree came crashing down through the branches.

"Move!"

Chen grabbed Skyy around the waist and threw both of them aside. The tree smashed into the ground where they had been standing. Skyy hit the dirt hard enough to knock the breath from his lungs. Before he could even understand what had happened, Chen was already dragging him back to his feet.

"Behind me."

Skyy stumbled behind him, clutching the pipe.

Something stepped through the broken branches.

At first Skyy thought it was human. Then it lifted its head.

Its face had rotted unevenly, one cheek almost completely gone, exposing dark teeth beneath. The skin across its forehead was stretched strangely tight, and thick black veins disappeared beneath what remained of its hair. Its body was much larger than an ordinary person's, but that wasn't what made Chen's stomach sink.

The air around it was moving.

Leaves lifted from the ground. Small stones trembled.

Chen's eyes narrowed.

A powered zombie.

"Back up."

Skyy obeyed immediately. The zombie stared at them. Its cloudy eyes moved from Chen to Skyy. Then its head twitched.

Chen saw the movement.

"Skyy, down!"

Skyy dropped without questioning him.

The zombie thrust one arm forward. Something invisible slammed into them.

Chen barely managed to throw up a wall of wind before the force hit. The collision exploded through the trees with a deafening crack. Leaves and dirt burst into the air, and Chen's boots slid several feet backward.

"What the hell..."

His wind barrier trembled. The zombie pushed again. Chen gritted his teeth and forced more power into it.

The pressure suddenly stopped.

Chen didn't wait. He twisted his wrist. The air around him sharpened. Three compressed blades of wind shot through the forest. The first sliced through branches. The second struck the zombie across the shoulder. The third hit its neck.

Chen expected the head to fall.

Instead, the wind blade stopped halfway through.

Chen's expression changed. The zombie's neck had been cut deeply enough that dark blood poured down its chest, but some invisible pressure around its body had weakened the attack before it could finish the job.

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me."

The zombie charged.

Chen fired. The first bullet struck its chest. The second hit its shoulder. The third tore through its cheek.

It didn't stop.

Chen stepped in front of Skyy.

"Run!"

Skyy froze.

"Chen—"

"Go!"

Liang Wei didn't need to be told twice. He was already gone. Skyy caught sight of him disappearing between the trees, one hand clutching his wounded arm as he ran.

"You bastard!" Chen shouted after him.

The zombie reached them. Chen threw both hands forward. Wind exploded outward. The creature was lifted from its feet and hurled backward through the trees. It crashed into a trunk hard enough to crack the bark.

Chen immediately turned.

"Skyy, move!"

Skyy didn't. His fingers were white around the pipe.

"I can help."

"With that?"

Skyy glanced down at his pipe.

Chen almost laughed despite the situation.

"Run first. Help me by not getting killed."

The zombie stood up.

Chen's brief amusement vanished.

"How is that thing still moving?"

Its shoulder sat at an unnatural angle. Half its cheek was missing. The cut across its neck was still pouring blood. Yet it straightened as if none of those things mattered. The leaves around its feet began rising again.

Chen shoved Skyy behind a thick tree.

"Stay there."

"Chen—"

"Stay."

This time there was no room to argue.

Skyy pressed his back against the trunk, breathing quickly.

Chen ran toward the zombie. Wind gathered around his arms.

The zombie struck first.

Chen felt the pressure change and jumped aside just before the invisible force smashed into the ground. Dirt erupted beside him. He rolled, came up on one knee and sent another wind blade directly toward its legs. One knee buckled. Chen rushed in. He formed the wind around his hand into a short, violently spinning blade and drove it toward the zombie's neck.

The creature caught his wrist.

Chen's eyes widened. Its grip tightened.

"Fuck—"

He twisted his body and kicked it in the chest. The zombie barely moved. Its other hand swung. Chen managed to turn his face away before the blow landed, but the force still caught him across the side of his head.

His vision flashed white. He hit the ground.

"Chen!"

Skyy stepped out from behind the tree.

"No!"

Chen pushed himself onto one elbow. Blood ran from the corner of his mouth. His head rang badly enough that the forest seemed to tilt around him.

"Stay back!"

The zombie turned toward Skyy's voice.

Chen saw it. His stomach dropped.

"Hey!"

He forced himself upright and sent a violent burst of wind into the creature's back. The zombie stumbled. Its head turned toward him again.

"That's right," Chen muttered, wiping blood from his mouth. "Come here."

Skyy stared at him from behind the tree. Chen was doing it deliberately. Every time the zombie's attention shifted toward Skyy, Chen attacked it again. He was keeping it focused on himself.

Skyy's grip tightened around the pipe.

The zombie charged Chen again.

This time Chen was ready. He sidestepped and drove a wind blade into its side. Black blood sprayed across the ground. Before the creature could recover, he struck again. And again. Cuts opened across its body. But the thing simply wouldn't fall.

Chen's breathing grew heavier. Using his power this continuously was beginning to burn through his strength. The zombie didn't seem to have the same problem.

Its strange ability struck again.

Chen tried to block. The pressure shattered through his wind. He was thrown backward. His back slammed into the ground. The rifle flew from his hand and disappeared into the bushes.

Chen gasped.

Before he could roll away, the zombie was on him. A knee came down on his stomach. All the air left his lungs. Chen grabbed its arms as rotten fingers reached for his throat.

"Fuck..."

He pushed. The zombie pushed harder. Its face lowered toward his. Black saliva hung between its teeth. Chen turned his head away as its jaws snapped beside his cheek.

His wind gathered again, but his concentration kept breaking under the weight pressing down on him. He tried to shove it away. Nothing. Its hand closed around his throat.

Chen's eyes widened. The pressure increased. His fingers dug into its wrist. His lungs screamed.

Then he heard someone running.

Not away. Toward him.

Chen's eyes shifted.

Skyy.

His heart nearly stopped.

Skyy came out from between the trees gripping the metal pipe in both hands. His face was pale. His entire body was trembling. But he was running straight at them.

Chen tried to shout at him to stop. Nothing came out.

Skyy raised the pipe.

The zombie turned its head.

Too late.

Skyy swung with everything he had. The metal pipe struck the side of its skull with a sickening crack. The zombie lurched sideways. Skyy gasped, nearly losing his grip.

It wasn't enough. The creature began turning toward him. Skyy's eyes widened. For one second, fear completely took over his face.

Then his gaze dropped to Chen beneath it. Something changed. Skyy's mouth tightened. He grabbed the pipe with both hands, lifted it over his shoulder and drove the broken end forward.

Straight into the zombie's head.

The metal punched through the weakened side of its skull. Skyy screamed as he shoved harder. The zombie's body jerked. Its fingers released Chen's throat.

Skyy didn't stop. He pushed until the pipe went deeper and the creature finally collapsed sideways.

Chen immediately rolled away from it, coughing violently.

For several seconds, there was nothing but harsh breathing.

Skyy stood over the body. His hands were still wrapped around the pipe. Blood had splashed across his shirt and cheek. His chest rose and fell rapidly. The zombie didn't move.

Skyy stared at it. Then his fingers suddenly loosened. The pipe slipped from his hands and hit the ground.

"Chen."

He stumbled toward him.

Chen had managed to sit up, one hand around his throat as he coughed. Blood covered half his face from the earlier blow, running from his temple down his cheek and along his jaw.

Skyy dropped to his knees beside him.

"Chen."

His voice shook badly this time.

Chen looked up. Skyy's eyes were already wet.

That scared expression immediately irritated him more than the zombie had.

"I'm fine."