Chapter 463 - 76 - Flooded tunnels

The railway tunnel was worse than Chen expected.

It took them nearly two hours to reach it, following the directions the woman had given them through the abandoned town and along an old stretch of railway swallowed by weeds. The tracks eventually disappeared beneath a steep hill where a wide concrete entrance opened into darkness.

Chen stopped several meters away.

Water covered the tunnel floor.

Not a shallow layer either.

The black surface began near the entrance and stretched as far as their flashlights could reach. Old railway tracks disappeared beneath it, along with overturned crates, broken signs and pieces of debris floating near the walls.

Liang Wei looked miserable.

"I told you this place was bad."

Chen ignored him and crouched at the edge. He dipped the end of a branch into the water, testing the depth. The ground dropped sharply a few meters in.

"How far does the flooded section go?"

Liang Wei shook his head. "I don't know."

That wasn't useful.

Chen turned his flashlight toward the tunnel. Most of the ceiling lights were broken. A few still hung from rusted wires, but none had power. Beyond the reach of the flashlight, there was nothing but darkness.

Skyy stood close behind him.

"Can we swim through?"

"We might have to."

Skyy looked at the water.

Chen immediately noticed the uneasiness on his face.

"You can swim?"

"Yes."

The answer came a little too quickly.

Chen stared at him.

Skyy sighed. "A little."

Of course.

Chen rubbed his forehead.

They couldn't turn around. The highway was blocked, the forest route would take too long, and according to the diary they didn't have the luxury of wasting another day looking for something safer.

They prepared as well as they could.

Anything that couldn't get wet was wrapped and tied inside their bags. Chen checked his rifle before securing it across his back. It wouldn't be much use while swimming anyway. He kept his knife where he could reach it quickly and gave Skyy another flashlight after fastening a strap around his wrist.

"Don't leave my side."

Skyy nodded.

Liang Wei entered first.

The water reached his knees, then his waist. By the time they were twenty meters inside, all three were swimming.

It was freezing.

Skyy sucked in a sharp breath when the water reached his chest. Chen immediately caught his arm and pulled him closer.

"Slowly. Don't fight the water."

"I know."

"You're kicking like you're trying to murder it."

Skyy glared at him but adjusted his movements.

Chen kept one hand beneath Skyy's arm until he found a rhythm. After that, they moved slowly through the tunnel with Liang Wei several meters ahead.

Their flashlights created thin white paths across the water.

Everything outside those beams disappeared.

The deeper they went, the quieter it became. Even the outside wind vanished. There was only the sound of water moving around their bodies and the occasional drip from somewhere overhead.

Then something brushed Skyy's ankle.

His entire body jerked.

Chen immediately caught him before he went under.

"What?"

"Something touched me."

Liang Wei stopped ahead.

All three flashlights moved toward the water.

Nothing.

Chen looked down, but the water was too dark to see more than a few centimeters beneath the surface.

"Probably debris."

Skyy nodded, although his hand closed tightly around Chen's arm.

They continued.

Something bumped against Chen's shoulder.

He turned his flashlight.

A swollen human face floated inches away from him.

Chen recoiled.

The corpse drifted past, face down, its clothes hanging loosely from bloated skin.

Skyy made a strangled sound.

Then the corpse's eyes opened.

"Back!"

It lunged.

Chen shoved Skyy away as rotten fingers grabbed his shoulder. The zombie's mouth snapped toward his face, but Chen drove his knife beneath its jaw and forced the blade upward.

The body went limp.

For one second.

Then something grabbed his leg from below.

Chen was dragged underwater.

Cold blackness swallowed him.

His flashlight spun wildly from his wrist, briefly illuminating the tunnel beneath them.

Chen's stomach dropped.

Bodies.

There were bodies everywhere.

Dozens of them lay tangled along the submerged railway tracks. Some were trapped beneath debris. Others were wedged between broken seats and pieces of metal.

And several were moving.

Chen kicked hard.

A zombie clung to his ankle, pulling itself upward. Chen twisted and slashed at its face, but the water slowed every movement.

Above him, Skyy's muffled scream carried through the water.

Chen's head snapped upward.

Another zombie had grabbed Skyy.

Wind exploded outward.

Even underwater, Chen's power responded.

The water around him surged violently, tearing the zombie from his leg. Chen shot toward the surface and broke through gasping.

"Skyy!"

Skyy was struggling several meters away, one hand desperately holding a zombie's throat away from his face.

Chen thrust his palm forward.

The water erupted.

The zombie was ripped sideways and slammed into the tunnel wall with enough force to crack its skull.

Chen swam straight to Skyy.

"Are you bitten?"

"No!"

"Check."

"I'm not!"

Chen grabbed the back of his neck and looked him over himself before finally breathing again.

A scream came from ahead.

Liang Wei.

He disappeared beneath the surface.

Chen swore and swam toward him.

Liang Wei resurfaced briefly, choking, before something dragged him down again.

Chen dove.

His flashlight caught Liang Wei struggling against two zombies. One had its teeth buried deeply into his upper arm.

Chen didn't hesitate.

A concentrated burst of wind tore through the water. One zombie was thrown away. Chen grabbed the other by its clothes and drove his knife repeatedly into its skull until its jaw finally released.

He hooked an arm around Liang Wei and dragged him upward.

They broke the surface together.

Liang Wei screamed the moment air reached his lungs.

His arm was badly torn.

Blood poured into the water.

Chen's expression tightened.

"Move!"

More bodies were stirring beneath them.

They swam.

There was no longer any attempt at silence. Chen kept Skyy directly beside him while supporting Liang Wei whenever the injured man began to sink. Behind them, splashing grew louder as zombies pulled themselves free from the debris.

The tunnel floor finally began rising.

Chen's boots struck concrete.

"Stand!"

Skyy found his footing first. Together, they dragged Liang Wei forward until the water dropped from their chests to their waists, then their knees.

Chen turned and threw out both hands.

Wind screamed through the tunnel.

Water surged backward in a violent wave, knocking the pursuing zombies away and buying them enough time to reach dry ground.

All three collapsed.

For several seconds, nobody spoke.

Then Chen heard Liang Wei's breathing.

Wet.

Weak.

He rolled over immediately.

Blood had soaked most of Liang Wei's sleeve.

Skyy crawled over.

"We have to stop it."

Chen tore the damaged fabric away and pressed cloth against the wound.

The bite was deep, but the blood loss worried him more than the infection. Liang Wei had already been injured before they entered the tunnel, and the struggle underwater had reopened his earlier wound as well.

"Press here."

Skyy placed both hands over the cloth.

Liang Wei groaned.

His face had become frighteningly pale.

Chen tightened a strip of fabric above the wound, but the bleeding wasn't slowing enough.

"Stay awake."

Liang Wei's eyes fluttered.

"Didn't... run this time."

Chen's hands paused for half a second.

"No. You didn't."

A weak smile appeared on Liang Wei's face.

Chen looked down at the blood spreading beneath their hands.

He knew.

Skyy knew too.

Skyy's eyes were already red, but he kept pressing against the wound as though enough pressure could somehow keep the man alive.

Liang Wei's breathing became shallower.

"City S..." he whispered. "Tunnel splits farther ahead. Left side... western station."

Chen leaned closer to hear him.

"Left. I got it."

"Don't take... right."

His eyes closed.

Skyy shook his shoulder gently. "Liang Wei?"

Nothing.

Chen checked his neck.

He waited.

Then slowly withdrew his fingers.

Skyy stared at him.

Chen shook his head.

For a while, Skyy didn't move. His blood-covered hands remained pressed against the cloth even though there was no reason to keep holding it there.

Chen reached over and gently pulled his hands away.

Skyy looked down at them.

"He was bitten."

"I know."

Skyy's voice became quieter. "Maybe I could have..."

Chen knew exactly what he was thinking.

He caught Skyy's hands before he could reach toward Liang Wei again.

"You can't fix blood that's already gone."

Skyy's eyes lifted to his.

Chen didn't know whether that was entirely true. They still didn't understand Skyy's power well enough. But Liang Wei had stopped breathing before either of them could even think about experimenting with it.

And Chen wasn't going to let Skyy blame himself.

He cleaned the blood from Skyy's fingers with the edge of his wet shirt, then helped him stand.

Behind them, something splashed in the darkness.

Chen looked back.

They couldn't stay.

He picked up Liang Wei's flashlight from the ground and placed it beside his body before taking the man's small pack. Food, ammunition, anything useful couldn't be wasted now.

Skyy stood quietly beside him.

Chen took his hand.

"Come on."

This time, when they entered the darkness ahead, there were only two sets of footsteps.

Farther inside the tunnel, the passage divided.

Chen lifted his flashlight.

The right tunnel disappeared into complete darkness.

The left carried a faint current of cold air.

He remembered Liang Wei's final words.

Left side. Western station.

Chen tightened his grip on Skyy's hand and turned left.