Brian pushed aside the overgrown weeds in front of him, constantly scanning the edges of the warehouse for any clues that might lead to an entrance. He kept glancing ahead, wary of any sudden dangers that might emerge.
"Hmm?"
As he struggled to climb over a pile of debris, something caught his eye—a tiny gap along the edge of the warehouse. He approached it and squatted down, pressing on the sheet metal where the gap was. To his surprise, as he applied pressure, the metal caved in, revealing more hidden gaps along the edge.
A faint smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. "I knew it," he thought to himself. "These people left themselves a way out."
It wasn't hard to guess. In places like this, where conflicts and shootouts were common, everyone needed a way out. No one would rely solely on the front door, especially in a place like this.
Brian glanced around to get his bearings. He was now at the back of the warehouse. Carefully, he removed the entire sheet of metal and peered inside. He saw an office with a desk and chair in the middle, and a sofa by the door.
"This is it!" Having found the entrance, Brian quickly stood up and hurried to the other end of the warehouse to get Sarah. He needed to tell her that he had found a way in.
On the other side, Sarah was walking slowly down the wide road, holding a metal pipe and carefully searching for a way into the warehouse. She noticed that the edges of the warehouse were covered in red-painted warnings like "Do not open!" and "Monsters inside!"
"Strange, who wrote these?" Sarah muttered to herself, not realizing that as she focused on the red letters, an infected was slowly rising from the ground behind her. It let out an excited roar when it spotted her and lunged forward.
Sarah's heart skipped a beat. She had checked her surroundings just moments ago—how could there be an infected behind her? The scene immediately reminded her of the black woman in the convenience store who had faced a similar "evolved" infected.
Fear gripped her heart. She knew she wasn't a match for such a monster, but she didn't want to die here. She wanted to keep living. Her will to survive overcame her fear, and she swung the metal pipe behind her without looking, hitting the infected squarely on the head with a loud "thud."
The infected stumbled but quickly lunged again. Sarah's blow hadn't done much damage, but it gave her a chance to turn around and see that it was just a regular infected, not the terrifying evolved kind. Her heart rate slowed a bit. Regular infections were still dangerous, but at least they were manageable.
As the infected lunged again, Sarah nimbly dodged and struck its head with the pipe once more. The pattern repeated several times, and she found herself getting better at evading its attacks.
The infected grew frustrated. It roared and lunged again, but this time, a bright dagger appeared from behind and stabbed it in the skull, stopping its roar mid-sentence. The infected collapsed to the ground, its eyes still fixed on the little girl, as if it couldn't believe it had lost.
Brian pulled out the dagger and rushed to Sarah's side, examining her with concern. "Are you okay? Did it hurt you?"
"I'm fine," Sarah replied with a smile, waving the metal pipe in her hand. "I gave it a good beating!"
"Alright, no matter what, if this happens again, you have to call for help, okay?" Brian said, shaking his head in a mix of relief and exasperation.
"Where did this thing come from?" he asked.
Sarah pointed behind the junked car. "It must have been hiding there. I was looking at those red words, and it suddenly appeared behind me."
She glanced back nervously, still shaken by the close call. She silently vowed to always check her surroundings in the future.
Brian followed her gesture and found a bucket of red paint with a notebook on top and a brush lying beside it. There were scattered handprints and footprints on the ground, clearly left by the infected. He picked up the notebook and began to flip through it, curious about its contents. Sarah joined him, eager to see what was inside.
The notebook turned out to be the diary of the infected, but it had only recently started, with very few entries. However, Brian found some crucial information:
September 10, 2013
I never thought I'd be writing a diary. I've been trapped here for four days now. Food is running out, but those monsters are still lurking outside. Damn it, can't they go somewhere else?
I can't keep waiting like this. I need to do something. There aren't that many of them. Maybe I should take the initiative?
September 11, 2013
Haha!
These monsters rely on their sight to find prey. What a bunch of fools. They didn't even notice me sneaking up on them.
I remember Ford left a car for his brother Morris. He must be dead by now. God is on my side.
There are some really strange things in there. Half their heads are covered in disgusting mushrooms. But that's good. The monster is missing an eye, so it's easier to deal with. I'll take care of it tomorrow.
September 12, 2013
I'm such an idiot. The one-eyed monster could pinpoint my location by sound. Fortunately, I reacted quickly and locked them in the warehouse. But that monster scratched me. Damn it.
I painted some warnings on the warehouse door with red paint. It should alert people to the danger inside. After working for so long, I'm tired. I'll rest against the car and leave this place...
The diary ended the day before yesterday. The person had been infected shortly after.
Brian closed the notebook quietly and looked at the warehouse. According to the diary, there were definitely "evolved" infected inside, and they had developed keen hearing, allowing them to detect nearby sounds instead of relying solely on sight.
Despite the potential danger, Brian was determined to go inside.
"Let's go. I found a hole over there that leads inside," he said, tucking the diary into his pocket and leading Sarah to the other side of the warehouse.
They crawled through the hole and found themselves in the office. Sarah immediately spotted the desk and remembered the hidden compartment mentioned in the note. She squatted down to inspect the area under the desk.
Sure enough, there was a noticeable depression in the floor, but it was partially covered by the desk. To access whatever was hidden there, they would have to move the desk, which would surely make noise and alert any infected outside. Sarah looked at Brian questioningly.
"No rush. Let's deal with the infected outside first," Brian said. He had been preparing for this possibility ever since he learned about the "evolved" infected. He had been racking his brain, recalling movies and games he had seen, looking for weapons that were easy to make and effective. The simple yet deadly "Molotov cocktail" became his top choice.