C61 (1/2)
At this time, everyone became interested as they started discussing all at once.
”Could the Zombie have been frozen to death? We're still suffering! ” San Mao slapped his thigh and said.
San Tu stretched out his hand and said, ”That's impossible. We've just met a lot today.”
I remembered what San Tu said about opening the supermarket's isolation door to lure Zombie into the museum. I sighed along with Monkey San Mao.
”According to the officials before the defense of the city, humans were infected with Solam Virus, which led to the transformation of the Zombie. Could it be that this virus is not very resistant to low temperatures, causing the Zombie to go indoors to avoid the cold?” Monkey's guess was somewhat reasonable.
”There's this possibility …” San Tu nodded his head, drank a mouthful of tea and continued: ”Most of the bacterial viruses do not have a strong resistance to heat and cold, that's why we get a fever.”
”That makes sense. It's so cold this year, could it be that the heavens are helping us?” the monkey said again.
”Humph!” I sneered. ”God? This disaster might even be caused by the heavens! ”
”Let's talk about this coldness …” I sipped my tea and continued. ”Absolute temperature isn't much colder than usual, and the thermometer is only minus seven or eight degrees Celsius, partly because we don't have an air-conditioning heater, partly because we're dirty, partly because we feel colder, and partly because there's less human activity. All kinds of machines, cars, household appliances, they don't turn, and the city gets colder without the heat island effect.”
”Uncle Chen Yuan, where did this zombie come from?” Suddenly, Little Casey's childish voice came from behind me. I turned my head to see that it was either the fire or our conversation, which attracted the attention of the two ladies.
Little Casey was with his three big brothers and sisters, and both her expression and eyes seemed to become lively, as if she had regained her innocence in an instant. The two girls even recombed her hair and braided two of her braids, making her look even more adorable.
”This …” I thought about what happened at the military base in the valley. After a moment of silence, I sighed and said, ”Uncle doesn't know either.”
”Oh …” Casey responded with disappointment. After that, he lowered his head and went silent for a moment, and then muttered in a very soft voice: ”Are they still going to get better?”
At that time, she was locked in a classroom with a few other children, and the door to the classroom was securely locked. It should have been because the adults knew that they had been bitten, that's why they shut them up in order to protect their children, and only after we cleaned up the Zombie howling outside the classroom, did we open the door and find the dying Little Casey, while the other children had all died, and Little Casey had to rely on eating herself and other people's excrement to survive.
I can't imagine how a ten-year old child managed to survive those few days, eating up the food bit by bit while watching his companions die one by one. I watched helplessly as my parents transformed into terrifying Zombie s that hovered outside the window, moaning and howling …
I couldn't help but hold onto Little Casey's head, and quietly hugged him. Everyone became silent. They knew that they could not use lies to comfort her. In this cruel world, they could only let her learn to be strong and grow up.