Chapter 66: It's a Zombie
Chapter 66: It's a Zombie
An Ran is lost in thought, and before she realizes it, Doll finishes feeding and peacefully falls asleep against her chest. She gently removes her nipple from the baby’s mouth, and seeing the little one’s eyes closed and lips pouting, An Ran puts the pacifier back in.
"You have to grow up quickly. Your mother hopes you grow up healthy," she murmurs. Stretching out her hand, An Ran brushes the soft, sparse hair on the baby's head. It is surprisingly delicate, and she can’t help but shed a couple of tears. Looking at the baby's innocent little face, she feels a pang of sympathy. The child is born into a world turned upside down, and survival is uncertain.
So, in order for the doll to live and leave the hospital, An Ran has to cherish her own life no matter what. She can’t die now. If she has to die, it has to be after she and the doll leave the hospital.
Suddenly, she hears footsteps outside the door. An Ran thinks it might be Hu Zhen or Chen Jiao coming down. Sitting with her back to the ward door and gazing down at the doll in her arms, she doesn’t look back.
The slightly ajar door creaks open, and the footsteps approach slowly. An Ran’s heart races as a nerve in her mind pulls taut. She turns her head just enough to glimpse the figure behind her—and gasps!
The figure isn’t Hu Zhen or Chen Jiao; it is a zombie!
As An Ran fully turns around, the zombie lunges at her. Reacting instinctively, she jumps up with the doll in her arms, then quickly rolls the zombie onto the bed and wraps it in a quilt. She sets the baby on Hu Zhen's bed and grabs a fruit knife from the bedside table. Climbing onto bed 16, she straddles the zombie and drives the knife down, stabbing it repeatedly until it lies still beneath the quilt.
In the dim light of the room, An Ran stands silently beside her bed, her brow furrowed as she looks at the dead zombie sprawled on her bed.
Something is wrong. She has clearly cleared out all the zombies on the fourth floor; where did this zombie come from to get into her hospital room? She is so sure there are no zombies left on the fourth floor that she hasn’t closed the hospital room door tightly and has just laid down to sleep. If she had closed the door properly, this zombie wouldn’t have been able to sneak into the room. So where did this zombie come from?
Puzzled, An Ran decides to gather herself. While the baby quietly sucks on the pacifier, she picks her up and heads to the fifth floor.
Hu Zhen and Chen Jiao are still asleep, so An Ran takes some food and returns to the fourth floor. She places the baby back in the ward, locks the doors and windows, and begins to explore the fourth floor, checking every corner and flipping through the leaflets scattered around.
In the hospital, there are always brochures about nursing practices. For example, the obstetrics department on the fourth floor has pamphlets promoting breastfeeding and the use of cod liver oil for newborns.
As An Ran flips through the leaflets, she thinks about her own experiences with breastfeeding. Has she given the baby cod liver oil or anything similar? Should she collect some?
Lost in thought, she wanders toward the nurse station on the fourth floor. Normally, she would head directly to the other side of the corridor, but today, as she approaches the nurse station, a zombie suddenly emerges from the door behind it.